Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius

Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius was a Roman grammarian and Neoplatonist philosopher who flourished during the reigns of Honorius and Arcadius (395–423).

Life and Works

Macrobius presenting his work to his son Eustachius. From an 1100 copy of Macrobius' Dream of Scipio.

Macrobius was of African descent. He may be identical with a Macrobius who is mentioned in the Codex Theodosianus as a praetorian prefect of Spain, proconsul of Africa, and lord chamberlain, although he has also been identified with a Theodosius who served as praetorian prefect of Italy. The fact that Christianity is not mentioned in any of his writings, despite the predominance it now asserted in every aspect of Roman life, coupled with his vigorous interest in pagan rituals, has led scholars to the conclusion that Macrobius was undoubtably pagan, with his Saturnalia, with its idolisation of Rome's pagan past, having been described as a pagan machine de guerre^[1]. Macrobius was thus one of the last pagan writers of Ancient Rome.

Saturnalia

The most important of his works is the Saturnalia, containing an account of the discussions held at the house of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus during the holiday of the Saturnalia. It was written by the author for the benefit of his son Eustathius (or Eustachius), and contains a great variety of curious historical, mythological, critical and grammatical discussions. There is but little attempt to give any dramatic character to the dialogue; in each book some one of the personages takes the leading part, and the remarks of the others serve only as occasions for calling forth fresh displays of erudition.

The first book is devoted to an inquiry as to the origin of the Saturnalia and the festivals of Janus, which leads to a history and discussion of the Roman calendar, and to an attempt to derive all forms of worship from that of the Sun. The second book begins with a collection of bons mots, to which all present make their contributions, many of them being ascribed to Cicero and Augustus; a discussion of various pleasures, especially of the senses, then seems to have taken place, but almost the whole of this is lost. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth books are devoted to Virgil, dwelling respectively on his learning in religious matters, his rhetorical skill, his debt to Homer (with a comparison of the art of the two) and to other Greek writers, and the nature and extent of his borrowings from the earlier Latin poets. The latter part of the third book is taken up with a dissertation upon luxury and the sumptuary laws intended to check it, which is probably a dislocated portion of the second book. The seventh book consists largely of the discussion of various physiological questions.

The primary value of the work lies in the facts and opinions quoted from earlier writers. The form of the Saturnalia is copied from Plato's Symposium and Gellius's Noctes atticae; the chief authorities (whose names, however, are not quoted) are Gellius, Seneca the philosopher, Plutarch (Quaestiones conviviales), Athenaeus and the commentaries of Servius and others on Virgil.

Scipio's Dream

Macrobius is also the author of a commentary in two books on the Dream of Scipio narrated by Cicero at the end of his Republic. The nature of the dream, in which the elder Scipio appears to his (adopted) grandson, and describes the life of the good after death and the constitution of the universe from a Stoic and Neo-Platonic point of view, gave occasion for Macrobius to discourse upon the nature of the cosmos, transmitting much classical philosophy to the later Middle Ages. Of a third work On the Differences and Similarities of the Greek and Latin Verb, we only possess an abstract by a certain Johannes, doubtfully identified with Johannes Scotus Eriugena (9th century).

See editions by L. von Jan (1848-1852, with bibliog. of previous editions, and commentary) and Franz Eyssenhardt (1893, Teubner text); on the sources of the Saturnalia see H. Linke (1880) and G. Wissowa (1880). The grammatical treatise will be found in Jan's edition and H. Keil's Grammatici latini, v.; see also GF Schömann, Commentatio macrobiana (1871).

Gallery

Cicero's Dream of Scipio described the Earth as a globe of insignificant size in comparison to the remainder of the cosmos.^[2] Many early medieval manuscripts of Macrobius include maps of the Earth, including the antipodes, zonal maps showing the Ptolemaic climates derived from the concept of a spherical Earth and a diagram showing the Earth (labeled as globus terrae, the sphere of the Earth) at the center of the hierarchically ordered planetary spheres.^[3] (See also: flat Earth).

Images from a 12th century manuscript of Macrobius' Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis (Parchment, 50 ff.; 23.9 × 14 cm; Southern France). Date: ca. 1150. Source: Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, ms. NKS 218 4°.

Initial E shaped in the form of a writing man, probably representing Macrobius himself.	The Universe, the Earth in the centre, surrounded by the seven planets within the zodiacal signs.	The five climes of the Earth. Frozen climes in yellow; Temperate climes in blue; Torrid clime in red.	Sketch map showing the inhabited northern region separated from the antipodes by an imagined ocean at the equator.
Diagram showing a lunar eclipse.	Diagram showing a solar eclipse.

Notes

See also

• Allegory in the Middle Ages
• Macrobius (crater) (named after him)

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius.

• Macrobius: The Saturnalia, the Latin text of the critical edition edited by Ludwig von Jan (Gottfried Bass; Quedlinburg and Leipzig, 1852), web edition by Bill Thayer.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Iohannis (Scoti) defloratio de Macrobio.

• Iohannis (Scoti) defloratio de Macrobio, a paraphrase of Macrobius' De uerborum Graeci et Latini differentiis uel societatibus

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Macrobii excerpta Bobiensa.

• Macrobii excerpta Bobiensa, some extracts from Macrobius' De uerborum Graeci et Latini differentiis uel societatibus

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Bibliography.

• Bibliography on Macrobius' grammatical work

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.