The Saturnalia kw52j834d

Table of contents :
Frontmatter
Introduction
The Author and His Writings (page 1)
The Saturnalia (page 2)
The Characters in the Dialogue (page 3)
The Dialogue (page 13)
The Vergilian Criticism (page 17)
The Saturnalia in the Middle Ages (page 23)
Macrobius: The Saturnalia
Book 1 (page 26)
Book 2 (page 159)
Book 3 (page 189)
Book 4 (page 254)
Book 5 (page 282)
Book 6 (page 385)
Book 7 (page 440)
Appendix A: Doctors and Dons (page 519)
Appendix B: Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism (page 520)
Appendix C: Lines from Homer, Lucretius, and Vergil Where the Text of Macrobius Differs from the Oxford Classical Text (page 522)
Selected Bibliography (page 529)
Index of Citations: Homer, Lucretius, Vergil (page 533)
General Index (page 541)

Citation preview

Macrosius: The saturnalla

NUMBER LXXIX OF THE

RECORDS OF CIVILIZATION SOURCES AND STUDIES

MACROBIUS

TRANSLATED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

by Percival Vaughan Davies

NEW YORK AND LONDON

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1969

aA 3/8 Mle

CD26.

Copyright © 1969 Columbia University Press Library of Congress Card Number: 67-16233

Printed in The Netherlands

RECORDS OF CIVILIZATION: SOURCES AND STUDIES Edited under the Auspices of the Department of History Columbia University GENERAL EDITOR

W. T. H. Jackson, Professor of German and History PAST EDITORS

1915-1926

James T. Shotwell, Bryce Professor Emeritus of the History of International Relations 1926-1953

Austin P. Evans, Professor of History 1953-1962

Jacques Barzun, Seth Low Professor of History EDITOR: EUROPEAN RECORDS

W. T. H. Jackson, Professor of German and History CONSULTING EDITORS: EUROPEAN RECORDS

Gerson D. Cohen, Associate Professor of History Gilbert Highet, Anthon Professor of Latin Language and Literature Gerhart B. Ladner, Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles Paul O. Kristeller, Professor of Philosophy John H. Mundy, Professor of History on the Mathews Foundation

Jacob W. Smit, Queen Wilhelmina Lecturer and Associate Professor of Germanic Languages EDITOR: ORIENTAL RECORDS

Wm. Theodore de Bary, Horace Walpole Carpentier Professor of : Oriental Studies CONSULTING EDITORS: EUROPEAN RECORDS

Ainslie T. Embree, Associate Professor of Indian History Chih-tsing Hsia, Associate Professor of Chinese Donald Keene, Professor of Japanese Ivan Morris, Professor of Japanese Burton Watson, Associate Professor of Chinese

C. Martin Wilbur, Professor of Chinese History | SPECIAL EDITOR FOR THIS VOLUME

Thomas A. Suits, Associate Professor of Classics, University of Connecticut

TO THE MEMORY OF | ROBINSON ELLIS SOMETIME PROFESSOR OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Nolis dicere nil valere nisum

translator s pREfAcE THIS TRANSLATION of the Saturnalia of Macrobius was made from

the text of Eyssenhardt’s second edition (Teubner, Leipzig, 1893). By the time that the new Teubner text had been published, in 1963, the translation had been completed; but two readings proposed by its Editor have been adopted, and each has been duly acknowledged in a footnote. The rest of the footnotes are of three kinds: (1) Brief explanatory notes. (Two additional notes, too long for inclusion as footnotes, have been placed, as Appendix A and Appendix B, at the end of the translation. )

(2) References to passages in Greek and Latin authors and to certain books, to some of which an amateur of the classics might perhaps care to turn. These references are not meant to be anything like a full list of sources and parallels: for such information a reader should turn to Jan’s edition and to the new Teubner text.

(3) References (a) to the medieval authors Bede and John of Salisbury, made because both writers used the Saturnalia, and (0)

to Isidore of Seville, for his place as a connecting link between ancient and medieval scholarship.

A third appendix (Appendix C) contains references to lines in Homer, Lucretius, and Vergil, wherein the reading cited by Macrobius differs from that of the Oxford Classical Text. In seeking to render into English the excerpts from Homer and Vergil the translator has chosen stare super antiquas vias, nevertheless he is not unaware that there are some who may well prefer

versions in a modern idiom, and they have their remedy. The renderings here offered of these excerpts have little, if any, claim to originality, being for the most part recollections of earlier reading and borrowings from or adaptations of translations to be found in well-known works.

Columbia University Press has had the index compiled in ac-

x TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE cordance with its usual indexing standards and practices, utilizing material of a lengthier manuscript index prepared by the translator. The Editors of the series and the Press have determined, in accordance with the practice of other volumes in the series and with the requirements of space and expense, how much of the text of the original could be included in the translation.

In addition to a due recognition of the books named in the bibliography and notes, grateful acknowledgment is made of the help given throughout by Dr. Thomas A. Suits, who undertook the exacting task of “Special Editor” in the project and whose scholarship and taste have, time and again, come to the rescue.

P.V.D. Tunbridge Wells, Kent January, 1968

| Introduction The Author and His Writings. . . . 2... 1... . I

Lhe Saturnalia . 2... ww 2

The Characters in the Dialogue. . . . . .... 3

The Dialogue . . . . . 1... wwe ee ee The Vergilian Criticism. . . . . 2... OU

The Saturnalia in the Middle Ages. . . . 1. . 1.) 23 Macrobius: The Saturnalia

Booki. . . . . . we ee ek 26 Book2. . 2... 2 2 1. ee ee ee 5

Book3. . 2... 2. we eee ee eee 8Y Book 4... 2. 1 2. ee ee ee ee 254 Book 5... . 1. ew ee eee ee ee ee 282 Book 6... 6. 1. ee ee ee ee ee 385 Book7. 2. 1. ee ee ee ee eee ee 440

Appendix A: Doctorsand Dons... ..... . . 519 Appendix B: Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism . . . 520 | Appendix C: Lines from Homer, Lucretius, and Vergil Where the Text of Macrobius Differs from the

Oxford Classical Text . . . . . 2... 1... 522 Selected Bibliography . . . 2. 2. 1. ww ee 529 Index of Citations: Homer, Lucretius, Vergil . . . . . . 533

General Index. . . 2... we eee ee 54

THE AUTHOR AND HIS WRITINGS ALL THAT is known for certain of Macrobius is that he had a son,

Eustachius, to whom he dedicated two of the works which pass under his name, and that he was not a native of Italy but had been “born under an alien sky” 1—the many references to Egypt in his Saturnalia suggesting that he may perhaps have been a native of that country.

In most of the manuscripts he is called Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius (the order of the names varies), vir clarissimus et illustris,

and the official titles lend some probability to an identification of

the man with the Macrobius to whom reference is made in the Theodosian Code as Vicar of Spain, 399 a.p., Proconsul of Africa, 410 a.D., and Grand Chamberlain (praepositus sacri cubiculi), 422 A.D.2 It is not unlikely that he is the scholarly Theodosius to whom the fabulist Avianus (or Avienus) dedicated his work.® Although the works of Macrobius contain no reference to Christianity, he may have been a Christian; and a holder of the office of praepositus sacri cubiculi would have had, officially, to accept the new State religion. But such official acceptance of Christianity by Macrobius would not necessarily be inconsistent with the genuine sympathy with the old religion, which his apparent connection with staunch supporters of paganism would seem to imply.‘ Three works attributed to Macrobius are extant: excerpts from a 1 Saturnalia, preface, 11. Stahl (pp. 4-5) summarizes the conjectures which have been made about Macrobius’ birthplace. 2 Codex Theodosianus 16. 10. 15; 11. 28. 6; 6. 8. 1. The Code also mentions a Macrobius who was fined in q4oo a.v. for making unauthorized use of the public posting service (8. 5. 61), an abuse which the Macrobius of 16. 10. 15 was required, in 399, to check. 3 Robinson Ellis, ed., The Fables of Avianus, pp. Xvi-xix, xxx. 4 Stahl, pp. 6-9. In this connection it may be noted that there are no traces of Christianity in the Fables of Avianus.

2 INTRODUCTION grammatical treatise (dedicated to a certain Symmachus) on the differences and affinities of the Greek and Latin verb; a Neoplatonist commentary on Cicero’s Sommium Scipionis, and a considerable part of a longer work, the Saturnalia.

THE SATURNALIA The causes of the decline of Latin literature were many and by interaction would be cumulative in their effects. Perhaps the two most potent causes were the growing gap between the spoken and the written word (as Latin gradually developed into the Romance languages and dialects) and the discouraging of original creation by the retention of rhetoric, with its stock themes, as the staple of education long after such training had ceased to have much practical value.5

Certainly education under the Empire, so far from fostering original work, tended rather to stereotype literature and to produce

that “cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators” which, in Gibbon’s view, at that time “darkened the face of learning’. Nettleship, too, in a lecture on Aulus Gellius, with whose Noctes Atticae Macrobius would have been acquainted, has referred to “the passion for making epitomes, selections, florilegia, and miscellanies of all kinds” which “arose among the Romans in the first century after Christ, and continued in activity for a long subsequent period”;7 __ and the Saturnalia, it must be confessed, is one of the results of this activity. The work is in the form of an imaginary dialogue. In the preface to it the author says that his aim is to put his wide and varied reading at the disposal of his son and so to provide him with a store of 5 See H. Bardon, La Littérature Latine Inconnue, II, Chap. 6, who refers also to the absence of imperial or private patronage of letters, to the effects of the barbarian invasions, to the supersession of Rome as the administrative capital of the Empire, and to the hostility of Christianity to pagan literature. See also F. H. Dudden. The Life and Times of St. Ambrose, I, 10-11. 6 FE. Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chap. 2. 7 Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature, p. 248.

INTRODUCTION 3 useful information. He expressly disclaims any literary merit for the work, since it is intended to be no more than a collection of things which he considers to be worth knowing; and it would seem in fact

to consist of extracts from notebooks containing excerpts from writers whom he had read.§ Like the Noctes Atticae, then, the Saturnalia has preserved much anonymous and other material which

would otherwise have been lost; and, in addition to its value on this account, there is also the intrinsic interest of the Vergilian

criticism and of the varied antiquarian lore which the book contains.®

THE CHARACTERS IN THE DIALOGUE Of the twelve chief characters most, and—although there is no compelling evidence of this—quite possibly all, are real persons. Macrobius indeed admits that it is doubtful, in view of their ages, whether the interlocutors could actually have met, but he claims that in taking leave to make them meet for his dialogue, no less than in his use of the dialogue form, he is following the example of Plato (1. 1. 3. 5, and 6). He would seem, too, to have been at some pains to make the speakers fit their parts and to suggest individual characteristics, but there are also times when he forgets that he is writing a dialogue and would appear to be transcribing 8 Cf. the elder Pliny who nihil ... legit quod non excerperet (Pliny the Younger Epistulae 3. 5. 10). It is clear from his preface that Macrobius was not concerned to give chapter and verse for his borrowings; nor would such refer-

ences have been of any great use to the young Eustachius. The criticism by Muretus (Jan, p. lvitt), which compares Macrobius with plagiarists “qui ita humani a se nibil alienum putant ut alienis aeque utantur ac suis,” is witty but irrelevant. ® In the excerpts from Greek and Latin authors the text as cited in the Saturnalia often differs from the received text, and sometimes, too, the same pas-

sage from an author is cited differently at different points in the Saturnalia.

This may be explained by the fact that the more popular the author, the greater was the number of manuscript copies of his work in circulation, and, consequently, the greater the number of variant readings. There is the further possibility that Macrobius at times may have been quoting from memory; (e.g., at 6. 6. 13, where, citing Aeneid 6. 405, he has Aeneid 4. 272 in mind). See Appendix C.

4 INTRODUCTION from notebooks for the benefit of his son.1° Of these twelve characters, half are prominent members of the Roman nobility (1. 1. 1)—three of them (Praetextatus, Symmachus, and Flavianus) being leaders of the “anti-Christian Fronde”—and

the remaining six are men of learning, interested in the topics which they severally discuss; but, although Sidonius—in Gaul— could say, a hundred years or so later (Epistulae 8. 2), that culture was the sole criterion of nobility and, although, for the purpose of the dialogue, Macrobius refers to Flavianus and Eustathius as par insigne anticitiae (1. 6. 4; cf. 1. 5. 13) and represents Praetextatus as having invited Eusebius to take the place of Postumianus (1. 6. 2), it may be doubted whether—in Rome—all of these remaining six would have been on quite such intimate terms with the others as the dialogue might suggest."

Praetextatus

Vettius Agorius Praetextatus was a worthy representative of the last generation of paganism in the latter half of the fourth century. He is described by Ammianus Marcellinus as “a senator of noble character and old-time dignity”; 1? and by the same writer mention is made of the high distinction with which he discharged the office Prefect of the City (367 a.p.). It was as Perfect of the City that he put an end to the sanguinary dispute between Damasus and Ursinus for the papacy by banishing the latter.1% Reference is made in the Saturnalia to his serenity and strength 10 There are many references to a “reader,” but all are not necessarily incompatible with the dialogue, and the occasional use of the second person singular may often be accounted for by supposing that the speaker is addressing

his host or his questioner. Nevertheless, in 1. 20. 6 and 16 and in 1. 23. 17 Macrobius would seem to be addressing his son; and inserui in 5. 4. 4, transcribere in 6. 2. 30, and the use, by a Greek speaker, of noster in 5. 21. 7 and mos in 5. 21. 17 can hardly be explained otherwise than as slips. 11 Servius, as a grammarian, Eusebius, as a rhetorician, and Eustathius, as a philosopher, are introduced into the dialogue because so much of the Saturnalia is taken up with these aspects of Vergil’s works, and the contents of the seventh Book would account for the inclusion of the physician Disarius. See Appendix A: Doctors and Dons. 12 Ammiuanus Marcellinus 22. 7. 6. Cf. Symmachus, who, writing of Praetextatus, says: gaudia corporis ut caduca calcavit (Epistulae 10. 12. 2). 13 Ammuanus Marcellinus 27. 3. 12 and 9. 8-9.

INTRODUCTION 5 of character (1. 5. 4)—a quality, however, sometimes accompanied in a Roman by a certain priggish self-consciousness and lack of humor

—traits which Praetextatus is made to show, for example, in his rebuke to the young Avienus for seeming to disparage Socrates (2. 1. 4) and perhaps rather more certainly in his remark that his household gods would not approve of any entertainment that suggested a cabaret (2. 1.7). His antiquarian interests are well illustrated

by his discussion of the origins of the festival of the Saturnalia (1. 7-10) and of the Roman calendar (1. 12-16). His intimate knowledge of pagan religious observances—he is said to be sacrorum

ommum unice conscius (1. 7. 17)—is illustrated both by his discourses on Vergil’s acquaintance with pontifical law (3. 4-12) and by the long speech in which he explains that all the gods of Greek and Roman mythology represent the attributes of one supreme divine power—the sun (1. 17-23).44 A sepulchral monument’

records the sacred offices which he had held; and the same monu- . ment testifies also to his scholarship, for it tells of his services to

letters in revising and emending the texts of Greek and Latin authors. Nevertheless, as presented in the Saturnalia, he gives the impression of being something of a pedant, and Evangelus has some

grounds for taunting him with making a parade of his learning (I. II. 1). Symmachus

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, statesman, orator, and man of letters, was a younger contemporary and a close friend of Praetextatus. An inscription to his memory records the offices which

he held?® and refers also to his oratory, which was said by Prudentius to be more than a match even for Cicero’s.!7 His correspondence, drastically edited by his son, shows the remarkably wide circle of friends, both pagan and Christian, with whom he was intimate. He must have been a much pleasanter person than 144 On the monument referred to in the following note his wife, addressing him, says: divumque numen multiplex doctus colis. 15 CIL VI. 1779. See Ellis, Avianus, p. xxxu, and Glover, pp. 162-64. To Jerome, of course, Praetextatus was miserabilis Praetextatus ... homo sacrilegus et idolorum cultor (Contra loannem Hierosolymitanum 8). 16 CIL VI, 1699.

17 Prudentius Contra orationem Symmachi 1. 632-34 (cf. 2. 55-58).

6 INTRODUCTION Praetextatus and the difference between the two is well exhibited 18

by the difference between the tone of the famous third Relatzo, addressed by Symmachus, as Prefect of the City in 384, to Theodosius for the restoration of the Altar of Victory (which had been removed from the Senate House by Gratian in 382) and that of the sarcastic reply of Praetextatus to Damasus:—“Make me bishop of Rome, and [ will be a Christian straightaway.” ! In the Saturnalia the oratorical style of Symmachus is described as rich and ornate (5. 1. 7), and it is he who undertakes to discuss

the most striking examples of Vergil’s use of rhetorical devices (1. 14. 14, and Book 4). Macrobius presents him as meeting the some-

what dull decorum of Praetextatus with a proposal that the company should amuse themselves after dinner by recalling witty and

humorous sayings of men of old times (2. 1. 8); and he is introduced, appropriately, as relating a number of Cicero’s jests (2. 3). Later (7. 1. 2) he views with some apprehension a suggestion by Praetextatus that the conversation inter pocula should be in no lighter vein than that which had preceded the dinner. A subscriptio to a manuscript of the first Book of the Cozmmentary records that one Aurelius Memmius Symmachus amended and punctuated his copy of the text with the help of one Macro-

bius Plotinus Eudoxius (i.e., the latter acting as the ‘“counterreader”); and this suggests the duration in a later generation of a friendship between the families of the Symmachus and the Macrobius of the Saturnalia. Flavianus

Virius Nicomachus Flavianus, who too held a number of public offices, was a kinsman of Symmachus and the families were also

connected by marriage. An inscription in which he is styled historicus disertissimmus is evidence of literary tastes.2° Like Prae18 As Ellis has remarked (The Fables of Avianus, p. xx). 19 Jerome Contra loannem Hierosolymitanum 8: “Facite me Romanae urbis episcopum et ero protinus Christianus.” And yet it would be less than fair to Praetextatus to overlook the evidence (CIL VI, 1779) of his happy union with his wife Paulina: contuncti stmul vixerunt annos XL. 20 CIL VI, 1782. He may have been the author of the work De vestigiis et dogmiatibus philosophorum (now lost) referred to by John of Salisbury in Policraticus 2. 26 (4605), 8. 11 (7494 and 7554) and 8. 12 (758a and 7614). See Webb,

INTRODUCTION 7 textatus and Symmachus he was a staunch supporter of the old Roman religion and gave his life for it at the battle on the Frigidus (394 A.D.).?#

He is said by Macrobius to have surpassed even his father Venustus” in the distinction of his character, the dignity of his life, and in the abundance and depth of his learning (1. 5. 13). In the proposed discussion on Vergil he promises to speak of the poet’s knowledge of augural law’ (1. 24. 17), but his contribution to that discussion (it probably formed part of the now incomplete third Book) has not survived. He is referred to in the dialogue as a friend of Eustathius, another character in the dialogue (1. 6. 4), and in the seventh Book he counters certain remarks made by his friend about the natural properties of wine (7. 6).

The Albin Of the two Albini, politely described by Praetextatus as by far the most learned men of the time (6. 1. 1), Caecina is a contempo-

rary of Symmachus (1. 2. 15) and is thought by Jan to be the Albinus mentioned in the prologue as the father of the Decius who is represented there as asking Postumianus for an account of the symposium—an account which, Decius says, but for his father’s

departure for Naples as soon as the holidays of the Saturnalia were over, he could have had from him (1. 2. 2-3). He is identified by Dill and Glover with the Publilius Caeonius Albinus, the pontiff who had a Christian wife and of whom Jerome speaks with respect.*4 I, 141; II, 294, 304, 309, and 314. He also wrote Annales, which were used by Ammianus Marcellinus;, see Dil, p. 155. 21 “Nearly forty years after the battle on the Frigidus the Emperors Valentinian and Theodosius did justice to the virtues and distinction of Flavianus in a monument which is still extant” CJL VI, 1783; Dill. p. 20. For an account of

the battle and a description of the terrain, see T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders (Oxford, 1885-99), I (2d ed.), 569ff. and Dudden, Life and Times of St. Ambrose, I, 42o9ff.

22 Perhaps the Vicar of Spain mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus (23. 1.4 and 28. 1. 24). 23 In the anonymus Carmen contra paganos the object of the attack (who, although not named, is generally supposed to be Flavianus) is called Etruscis semper amicus. See Dudden, II, 427”; H. Bloch, The Last Pagan Revival in the West, p. 230,n68; and, for the text, Riese, Anthologia Latina, supplementum, pars prior (carmina in codibus scripta), p. 13. 24 Dill, p. 14; Glover, p. 171; Jerome Epistulae 107. 1.

8 INTRODUCTION Both Caecina Albinus and Furius Albinus—the latter’s name appears twice? in the manuscripts as Rufius—may perhaps be connected with the family of Albini mentioned by Rutilius Namatianus (C.416 A.D.) .76

In the Saturnalia Caecina’s contribution to the conversation 1s to discuss the reckoning of the civil day at Rome (1. 3), substituted sacrifice (1. 7. 34), “sweetmeats” (2. 8. 3), and the luxury preva-

lent in Rome under the Republic (3. 13). This last topic is subsequently dealt with at greater length by Furius (3. 14-17). Both Caecina and Furius, in fulfillment of their undertakings (1. 13. 19),

illustrate by quotations Vergil’s debt to earlier Latin writers (6.

, 1-5); and in the seventh Book they put a number of questions of a physiological or physical nature to the physician Disarius (7. 8). In the seventh Book, too, Caecina recalls an account given by an authority on pontifical law of the origin of wearing a ring on the fourth finger of the left hand (7. 13. 11-16). Avienus

Avienus cannot be identified with any certainty, but he may perhaps be the fabulist Avianus or Avienus—an identification which becomes more probable if the Theodosius to whom the Fables are dedicated may, as has been suggested, be taken to be the author of the Saturnalia.?? He is represented in the dialogue as a worthy and modest young man (6. 7. 1; 7. 3. 23), with a fund of anecdotes (2. 4-7), but given to making impetuous interruptions (1. 6. 3; 2. 3. 14; 7. 2. 1) and whispered asides (1. 4. 1; 5. 7. 1)—a device which enables Macrobius to extend at need the scope of a discussion or to introduce a new topic (1. 5. 1-3; 1. 17. 1; 5. 1. 2 and 6; 5. 3. 16; 7. 3. 1).28 And 25 Saturnalia 1. 2. 16 and ft. 4. tf. 26 De reditu suo 1. 167-76, 466-74.

27 See above, note 3. Referring to the fact that much of the Saturnalia is taken up with a discussion of Vergil’s poetry. Ellis observes (p. xiv) that “no remnant of Roman literature is more informed with the diction of Vergil than the Fables” [of Avianus], adding (p. xxxiv) that every fable has echoes or actual imitations of the Aeneid. 28 A good example of this device is the neat touch by which in 7. 3. 1. Avienus puts to Eustathius the very kind of leading question which the latter had recommended in the previous chapter.

INTRODUCTION 9 so it is that, when, at the end of the first day of the festival, some

of the company undertake to discourse on various aspects of Vergil’s genius, Avienus is made to say that he will not take it upon himself to speak about any of the poet’s merits but rather will listen to what the others have to say and then offer such observations as it may occur to him to make (1. 14. 20; cf. 6. 7-9). Servius

Servius, the famous commentator on Vergil (fl. 390), is introduced as a young man who has recently joined the ranks of the professional “grammarians” (1. 2. 15), remarkable for his learning (1. 24. 8; 6. 7. 2), and lovable for his modesty. His modesty and shyness are referred to elsewhere in the dialogue (2. 2. 12; 7. 11.1),

and so too are his lectures on Vergil (6. 6. 1). A discussion of certain linguistic forms (1. 4) and an explanation of Vergil’s use of certain words, phrases, and grammatical constructions (6. 7-9)

are naturally put into his mouth by Macrobius, together (less obviously) with the lengthy lists of fruits in the concluding chapters of the third Book. Nettleship has shown that Macrobius did not draw on Servius for his Vergilian criticism but that both Macrobius and the real Servius drew from the works of earlier commentators and critics.?®

Eustathius

Fustathius, who, Jan suggests, may perhaps be the Greek Neo-

platonist Eustathius of Cappadocia, is described as a friend of Flavianus (1. 6. 4) and a learned philosopher (1. 5. 13; 7. 1. 8). His exposition of Vergil’s knowledge of philosophy and astronomy,

which was to open the proceedings of the second day of the Saturnalia (1. 24. 18 and 21), has not survived; but in the fifth Book of the dialogue he gives instances of lines and passages which

Vergil has taken or adapted from Homer (5. 2-14) and makes a number of comparisons between the two poets (5. 15-17. 6). He also compares Vergil, to his disadvantage, with Pindar (5. 17. 7-14) 29 In his essay, “The Ancient Commentators on Virgil.”

10 INTRODUCTION and illustrates further the Roman poet’s debt not only to Homer but also to many other Greek writers (5, 17. 15-5. 22. 15). He remarks too on Caesar’s debt to the Egyptians and to the Greeks for the development of the Roman calendar (1. 16. 38-44); in the second Book, in connection with the use of wine and touching the pleasures of the senses, he refers to Plato, Aristotle, and Hippocrates (2. 8. 5-16); and, in the seventh Book, argues in favor of the discussion of questions of philosophy at table (7. 1. 5-24). The seventh Book also contains his observations on tact in conversation

at dinner (7. 2 and 3) and his arguments with his fellow Greek, the physician Disarius, on a number of physiological subjects (7. 14-16). Eusebius

Eusebius is an elderly (7. ro. 1) Greek rhetorician, who takes the place of the lawyer Postumianus at the symposium and later

tells him what passed at it (1. 2. 7; 1. 6. 2). His discourse on Vergil’s knowledge of oratory (to which reference is made in 1. 24. 14) may have formed part of the missing chapters at the end of the fragmentary fourth Book, for at the beginning of the fifth Book he is found discussing styles of oratory. In the seventh Book he considers certain concomitants of old age with the physician

Disarius (7. 10). Jan suggests that he may be the Alexandrian rhetorician of that name. Disarius

Disarius (who may be the medicus mentioned by Symmachus in the forty-third letter of the ninth Book of his Letters) was also a Greek (7. 5. 2; 7. 5. 4) and, like Eusebius, getting on in years (7. Io.

1). He is said to be the best of the medical profession in Rome (1. 7. 1), and Praetextatus, on whom he called in company with Fvangelus and Horus (1. 7. 1), makes his presence the ground for proposing that the conversation after dinner on the last day of the Saturnalia shall touch on topics of medical interest (7. 4. 1-3). It is in the course of this conversation that the others in turn put to him

the miscellaneous questions that make up the greater part of the

seventh Book. As a follower of the physician and anatomist

INTRODUCTION Il Erasistratus, he sharply criticizes incursions by philosophy into the field of medicine (7. 15. 1) and thereby provokes a retort from the philosopher Eustathius (7. 15. 14).

Horus

Horus may possibly be the Orus referred to in a letter of Symmachus (2. 39) as “philosophus ritu atque eruditione praecipuus.” He was, as his name would suggest, an Egyptian (1. 15. 4; 1. 16. 37;

7. 13. 9). After a successful career as a professional boxer he had, like Cleanthes, turned to philosophy (1. 7. 3) and, now a man of dignity and distinction (1. 16. 38), practiced the asceticism of a Cynic (7. 13. 17). In the first Book a question from him serves to introduce accounts by Praetextatus of the origins of the worship of Saturn (1. 7. 14) and of the Roman calendar (1. 15. 1); and it is some criticism by him (now lost) of the luxury of the time that leads to Caecina’s reference to luxurious living under the Republic (3. 13. 16). In the seventh Book he makes the interesting remark that the practice of cremation had fallen into disuse (7. 7. 5).

Evangelus

Evangelus, who with Disarius and Horus called on Praetextatus after the other guests had assembled, is described as an impudent fellow with a bitter wit and a shamelessly caustic tongue, whose presence was likely to accord ill with a quiet gathering (1. 7. 2) 9° Finding himself in the presence of a large company who courteously rise as he enters, he greets Praetextatus with clumsy jocularity; but he is mollified by a polite invitation to join the party, with

his two companions, and he takes no part in the conversation which immediately follows until references by Praetextatus to honors paid to slaves and to the origin of the festival of the Sigillaria make him charge his host with superstition and with seeking to show off his learning (1. 11. 1). Later, his call for more wine (2. 8. 4) serves to enable Macrobius to refer to Plato’s remarks on 80 Glover (p. 175) suggests that Evangelus may be the man of that name referred to in a letter of Symmachus (6. 7) as having an animus incautus.

12 INTRODUCTION the beneficial effect of wine at a dinner party and to what Aristotle and Hippocrates had to say about intemperance (2. 8. 5-16). In the seventh Book, Evangelus intervenes with a question about the human brain, designed to trap Disarius (7. 9), and afterward rudely interrupts an argument between Eustathius and Disarius with a mocking request to be told which came first, the egg or the hen (7. 16. 1). Disarius, however, in all seriousness puts the

case for either proposition, and Evangelus then, referring to an incident which had occurred on his country estate at Tibur, asks why game goes bad more quickly in moonlight than in sunlight and why the insertion of copper nails checks such decomposition (7. 16. 15). But his chief role in the dialogue is to lead up to the criticism of Vergil and then to intervene from time to time (e.g., 3. 10-12; 5. 2. 1) with disparaging remarks. Thus it is that, when Praetextatus has come to the end of the long exposition (1. 17-23) which had been prompted by a reference to a line in the Georgics, he objects to Vergil’s being called on to corroborate theological

theories; and he objects, too, to an uncritical admiration of the poet, worthy only of a schoolboy. For Vergil, as he reminds his audience, thought so little of his Aeneid that he directed his executors to burn it, for fear, Evangelus suggests, of being blamed not only on moral grounds—for representing Venus begging from her lawful husband a gift of armor for her illegitimate son—but also on artistic grounds—for offenses against literary taste in the awkward arrangement of the poem and in his use of Greek words and outlandish expressions (1. 14. 1-7). However, the others present will have none of this. For them Vergil had taken all knowledge to be his province (1. 16. 12), and the conversation before dinner on the last two days of the Saturnalia is concerned with the poet’s merits as they see them. It appears that, in spite of his name, Evangelus is not a Greek, for, unlike the Greeks present on the occasion, he speaks of Vergil

as “our poet” (1. 24. 2). The question, arising from his name, whether or not he was a Christian, cannot be answered with any

probability one way or the other. But the name may have had associations with Christianity; and, if Evangelus was in fact a Christian,?! he would have been distasteful to an admirer of the 31 The charge of superstition which he brings against Praetextatus (1. 11. 1) may be of significance in this connection.

INTRODUCTION 13 old religion. It is tempting therefore, and perhaps not unduly fanciful, to see in this unprepossessing character a reflection of Macrobius’s own opinion of the Christians of his time.

THE DIALOGUE After the preface and the explanatory chapter which follows it,

the scene opens (1. 2. 15-20) on the eve of the festival of the Saturnalia, at the house of Praetextatus, who is at home to his friends and is discussing with Furius Albinus and Avienus the ques-

tion of when, exactly, the festival is due to begin. Then Symmachus, Caecina Albinus, and Servius call, and a discourse by Caecina on the divisions of the civil day follows (1. 3), the rest of the evening being spent in the examination of certain grammatical usages (1. 4 and 5).88

On the next day, the first day of the festival, Nicomachus Flavianus, Eustathius, and Eusebius join the company (1. 6. 4); and later, after Praetextatus has explained the origin of his own and certain

other family names and of the custom of the wearing of the toga praetexta by boys (1. 6. 5-30), Evangelus, Disarius, and Horus arrive

(1. 7. 1-13). The conversation now turns to the origin of the 382 Although there are examples of happy mixed marriages (see, e.g., Glover, p. 172), the positive principles of Christianity were, in the fourth century, much less evident than a narrow intransigence. The old religion, on the other hand,

stood for disciplined tolerance and tradition and the maintenance of the Pax Deorum. The Senatorial opposition to Christianity had a firm regard for the legacy of the past—in the words of Furius Albinus (3. 14. 2), vetustas nobis semper, si sapimus, adoranda est—and no less firmly believed that departure from traditional observances would call down the wrath of the gods. It is not surprising, then, that Julian could refer to Constantine as novator turbatorque priscarum legum et moris antiquitus recepti (Ammianus Marcellinus 21. 10. 8). 33 Great importance was attached to a correct use of the Latin language and

the avoidance of any unusual word. Hence this discussion of grammatical forms and the reference in it to Caesar’s insistence on “analogy” (1. 5. 2). See W.R. Hardie, Lectures on Classical Subjects, p. 279, and Aulus Gellius 19. 8; and cf. Quintilian 8. 3. Hence, too, Macrobius’ apology in the preface (11) for any possible failure by him, as one “born under an alien sky,” to do justice to the Latin idiom; although, if the Theodosius to whom the Fables of Avianus are dedicated is in fact the author of the Saturnalia, the apology was unnecessary, for in the preface to the Fables Theodosius is complimented on his mastery of Latin.

14 INTRODUCTION festivals of the Saturnalia and Sigillaria (1. 7. 14-1. 11), with the legends of Saturn and Janus, and with a long digression on the treatment and behavior of slaves. The chief speaker is Praetextatus, who continues with an account of the development of the Roman calendar (1. 12-16) and a detailed exposition of the theological doctrine of syncretism, which makes all the gods of the pagan pantheon manifestations of a single divine power, the sun (1. 1723)~—a doctrine which conveniently enables its holder to combine a profession of monotheism with the practice of polytheism.

A slighting remark by Evangelus (1. 24. 2) serves to introduce the main theme of the Saturnalia: Vergil’s many-sided erudition.

The poet had already been described as an authority on every branch of learning (1. 16. 12), and Symmachus and others now undertake to illustrate his knowledge of philosophy and astronomy, of augural and pontifical law, and of rhetoric and oratory; and, further, to exemplify his use of the works of earlier Greek and Latin writers (1. 24. 10-21). At this point the company go in to dinner. The second Book records the conversation which follows, izzter pocula. Symmachus suggests (2. 1. 15) that each of the diners in turn repeat a witty saying of some famous man of old; and, when the others have made their contributions (2. 2), he proceeds himself to relate a number of Cicero’s jests (2. 3). Avienus then recalls certain bons mots attributed to Augustus and his daughter Julia

and to certain others (2. 4-6), going on to tell the story of Caesar and Laberius and of the latter’s professional rival Publilius Syrus, and referring also (in connection with the Roman stage of those days) to the rivalry of the actors Pylades and Hylas (2. 7). In the last chapter of the Book, the arrival of the dessert prompts some remarks by Flavianus and Caecina on “sweetmeats,” and there follow references by Eustathius to Plato on the use of wine and to Aristotle and Hippocrates on indulgence in sensual pleasures—a discourse (2. 8) which ends abruptly, since the last part of the Book has been lost. The third Book relates to proceedings at the house of Flavianus on the second day of the festival. The exposition by Eustathius on the scholarly Vergil’s knowledge of philosophy and astronomy*4 34 Knowledge which Quintilian (1. 4. 4) holds to be necessary for the understanding of poetry.

INTRODUCTION 15 has not survived, nor has the account by Flavianus—which would have followed it—of the poet’s knowledge of augural law (1. 24.

17 and 18); but the first twelve chapters of what is left of the third Book are devoted to the illustration of Vergil’s acquaintance with the details of pontifical law.?* In these chapters the speaker (Praetextatus) cites lines which refer, for example, to ceremonial

purification by running water or by aspersion (3. 1) and shows (sometimes with etymological explanations) ®* the exactness with

which Vergil brings out the ritual significance of a word or expression. The care with which he marks the ceremonial distinction made between the classes of sacrificial victims is also noted (3. 5),

and the fact that he assigns to a god not only the sacrifice appropriate to that god but also the god’s special style of address (3. 6). Moreover, such knowledge of the pontifical law is not obtruded but (with docta elegantia) is often indirectly and allusively revealed.s7 There is a gap after the twelfth chapter, for in the thirteenth the second course of the dinner is in progress, and Caecina Albinus, in reply to some comment by Horus on the luxury of their times (3. 13. 16), is arguing that earlier generations took much more thought for such pleasures. Furius Albinus then emphasizes Caecina’s point by reference to the regard had under the Republic for skill in dancing (3. 14), to the high prices paid in

those days for certain fish (3. 15-16), and to a long series of sumptuary laws (3. 17). Servius follows with a disquisition (which reads rather like a nurseryman’s catalogue) on the various kinds of nuts, apples, pears, figs, olives, and grapes (3. 18-20); but this is brought to an end by Praetextatus, who remarks on the lateness of the hour and reminds the guests that the party will reassemble on the morrow, the third and last day of the festival, at the house of Symmachus (3. 20. 8).

Both the beginning and the end of the fourth Book have been lost, and what remains treats of the use made by Vergil of the rules of rhetoric.*8 The speaker would seem to Symmachus who enumer35 Cf. W. Y. Sellar, The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age: Virgil, p. 374. 36 F.g., religiosus (3. 3. 8), delubrum (3. 4. 2). 37 E.g., cum faciam vitula pro frugibus (Eclogues 3. 77), where the word vitula suggests the terms vitwlari and vitulatio. 88 Cf. Butler’s Hudibras (Part I, Canto 1, line 89): For all a Rhetorician’s Rules Teach nothing but to name his Tools.

16 INTRODUCTION ates the devices employed by the poet to depict or evoke emotions (x4.0n).2° By way of illustration a speech is analyzed (4. 2. 4-8) ,*° and examples are given of rhetorical “figures” (4. 6. 9-24). From the opening words of the fifth Book it appears that Symmachus was followed by Eusebius, and it is probable therefore that

the fourth Book ended with the discourse which the latter had undertaken to give on Vergil as an orator (1. 24. 14). At any rate, at the beginning of the fifth Book, Eusebius is represented as having

just ceased from speaking and, after refusing to be drawn into making a comparison between Vergil and Cicero*t as models for an orator, as going on to refer to four kinds of oratorical style, all of which (he maintains) are to be found in the poems of Vergil, who may be said to unite in himself the distinctive eloquence of

each of the ten Attic orators (5. 1. 20). Evangelus, however, scoffingly takes leave to doubt whether Vergil, “a Venetian of peasant parentage,” could have had any acquaintance with the liter-

ature of Greece (5. 2. 1) and so enables Macrobius, in the rest of the fifth Book and in the sixth, to illustrate at some length Vergil’s knowledge of both Greek and Latin authors and the use which he made of it. The contents of these two books will be considered below, in the section dealing with the Vergilian criticism in the Saturnalia. The seventh and last Book of the Saturnalia, like the second Book

and chapters thirteen to twenty of the third, purports to record the after-dinner conversation of the company, and many of the topics discussed are taken from the Quaestiones Convivales of Plutarch.* ‘The first question posed is whether philosophy is suited

to a convivial gathering (7. 1), and this is followed by a talk, by

Eustathius, on tact at table (7. 2-3). The rest of the Book is devoted to the consideration of a wide variety of subjects, many of a nature which may be described, loosely, as “scientific”: for example, whether a simple or a mixed diet is more easily digested 8° Cf. Quintilian 6. 2. 8: ma80¢, quod nos vertentes recte ac proprie adfectum

dicimus. 40 ‘The speech of Juno in Aeneid 7. 293-320.

41 Cicero was to be considered on some future occasion (1. 24. 5) —possibly an indication that the Saturnalia is an earlier work than the Commentary. 42 According to Archbishop Trench in Plutarch: His Life, His Lives, and His Morals, etc. (London, 1873), these “questions” record actual conversations. See Glover, p. 1737.

INTRODUCTION 17 (7. 4-5); why women rarely become drunk but old men readily (7. 6); why women feel the cold less than men (7. 7); what causes gray hair and baldness (7. 10), blushing and pallor (7. 11); why a ring is worn usually on the fourth finger of the left hand (7. 13); why fresh water is a better cleansing agent than sea water (7. 13); the nature of the nervous system (7. 9) and of vision (7. 14); which came first, the egg or the hen (7. 16); and some observations on the curative property of copper (7. 16). The abrupt ending of the Book suggests that the conclusion of the work has been lost.‘

THE VERGILIAN CRITICISM The central topic in the Saturnalia is an appreciation of Vergil. A close acquaintance with the poet’s works was part of the intellectual equipment of an educated Roman, and these works are discussed in three (4, 5, and 6) books and in certain chapters of two more (1 and 3) books of the seven of which the Saturnalia, as we have it, consists.

Suetonius in his Vita Vergili (s.43) says that Vergil had never lacked hostile critics, adding (no doubt with the Homeromastix of Zoilus in mind) that this was not surprising, since Homer too had had his detractors. ‘Thus Carvilius Pictor wrote an Aeneidomastix, Vipsanius Agrippa censured Vergil as the inventor of a new kind of affectation in language (movae cacozeliae repertor) ;

and Herennius published a list of his Faults (Vitia), Perellius Faustus of his Thefts (Furta) and Octavius Avitus of his Resemblances (‘Opoidtntés), 1.€., passages in Vergil reminiscent of passages in the works of other authors. On the other hand a Reply to the Detractors of Vergil was written by Asconius, and the poet may have had other friendly critics whose names have been lost. Since Vergil’s poems, from the first, not only became a textbook for schools but also continued to supply teachers of grammar and rhetoric with material to illustrate their rules, these early critical 43 It is noteworthy that the conversation in the Saturnalia never touches on contemporary politics.

18 INTRODUCTION works were for long current, and Nettleship has shown that Macrobius drew freely from them.** Literary criticism at Rome was essentially practical and regarded its objects from the outside; it would be unreasonable therefore to

find fault with Macrobius for failing, as a critic, to do full justice to Vergil as a poet. Moreover, a critic after all is by way of being, as it were, a signpost, pointing only to those qualities in the object of his criticism to which he wishes to direct attention, and he may fairly be allowed to point to matter of his own choosing. It is clear, from the preface to the work, that the purpose of the Saturnalia was educational; and the aspects of Vergil’s poems which interested Macrobius are those which are set out in the last chapter of the first - Book.4® With Vergil’s poetry as such Macrobius was not primarily concerned, since he was deliberately dealing with the poet’s tech-

nique and with the undertones of learning in the poems and not with subtle overtones of poetry. Nevertheless, much of what he, or the earlier critics whose works he has excerpted, has to say, and in particular the examination of passages which illustrate Vergil’s debt to other writers,4¢ contain valuable criticism and often show considerable judgment. But the emphasis throughout is on Vergil’s erudition and skills; and this is what might be expected, since literary criticism at Rome,

whatever the nationality of the critic, did not attempt (as Greek criticism) to consider the ultimate nature and aim of poetry but reflected rather the utilitarian bent of the Roman character.47 And indeed nearly all extant Latin poetry is written with a purpose— Catullus being, perhaps, the only Latin poet who could truly say, “TI do but sing because I must’”—nor could anything well be more utilitarian and prosaic than the very origin of existing Latin litera-

ture, which begins with a translation of the Odyssey written to serve as a textbook. Thus, except from time to time in literary coteries, achievement in letters was not held in any very great regard at Rome, and it is significant that Vergil does not even 44 “On Some of the Early Criticisms of Virgil’s Poetry.” 45 See, above, p. 3. 46 See Appendix B: Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism.

47 F.g., Horace Epistles 2. 1. 162-63: “In the peace which followed the Punic wars the Roman began to ask himself whether Sophocles and Thespis and Aeschylus had anything to offer that was of use.” Cf. the remark of the elder Pliny, that the Roman was “obstinately attached to virtue and utility.”

INTRODUCTION 19 include such excellence among the accomplishments which, if

beneath the high calling of the Roman people, might yet be cultivated by “lesser breeds without the Law.” #8 Not unconnected with this “practicalism” was the close connection of Latin poetry with scholarship, for what in Greece came to pass naturally was at Rome, toa great extent, consciously contrived.

That is why to call a poet doctus was to pay him a high compliment; and, just as Servius begins his commentary on the sixth Book of the Aeneid with the words totus quidem Vergilius scientia plenus

est, so for Macrobius Vergil is ommnium disciplinarum peritus (1. 16. 12) and poeta aeque in rebus doctrinae et in verbis sectator elegantiae (3. 11. 9) —an authority in every branch of learning, whose

aim it was to combine erudite subject matter with elegant diction. The literary criticism in the Saturnalia begins with the fourth Book, which illustrates Vergil’s command of the technique of rhetoric, and, since rhetoric played so important a part in Roman education, these illustrations would be of particular interest to the young Fustachius. In one of his minor poems’? Vergil had bidden farewell

to “the worthless paintpots of the rhetoricians and the tinkling cymbals of idle youth,” but, although it is necessary always to bear

in mind that, like much other Latin poetry, the poems of Vergil were written for reading aloud, the Aeneid leaves a reader today in no doubt but that the poet had remembered all that Epidius had taught him.5° This fragmentary fourth Book may, indeed, reasonably be held to be the least readable part of the literary criticism, and yet among the quotations chosen to illustrate the devices of the rhetoricians are many of Vergil’s best known and best loved lines.

The fifth Book opens with some remarks by Eusebius on the different kinds of oratorical style, with examples taken from Vergil’s poems (5. 1). But in the rest of the Book the speaker is Eustathius, who had undertaken earlier to discuss Vergil’s use of Greek models—a use of which he had then described as a cautious use and one which might even have the appearance of being accidental, since Vergil sometimes skillfully concealed the debt, althrough at other times he imitated his model openly (1. 24. 18).

49 Catalepton 5. , 48 Aeneid 6. 847-53.

50 Cf. H. W. Garrod, The Oxford Book of Latin Verse (Oxford, 1952), p. xxxvil: “How much of the Aeneid was written ultimately by Epidius I hardly like to inquire.”

20 INTRODUCTION After suggesting that the Aeneid in effect may be regarded as a mirrored reflection of the Iliad and Odyssey (5. 2. 13), Eustathius goes on to quote a number of parallel passages, taken haphazard, in some of which Vergil’s lines so closely resemble their Homeric originals that they merely show (in Professor Saintsbury’s words) *!

“that Vergil was an excellent translator, and was, rather more frequently than becomes a great poet, content simply to translate.” The speaker then proceeds, book by book of the Aeneid, to make, without comments, a systematic survey of passages which are imitations of or translations from Homer (5. 4-10)—material which may have come from the Resemzblances of Avitus to which Suetonius refers or from some similar critical work. This section of the Book is followed by three chapters of parallel passages, cited, with brief comments, to suggest that Vergil sometimes improves on his model (5. 11), Sometimes equals it (5. 12), and sometimes falls short of it (5. 13). Thus, in the similes of the bees (5. 11. 2-4) Vergil is said to have shown a more careful observation of nature; and elsewhere (e.g., 5. 11. 10-13 and 23) it is suggested that his renderings contain

a greater wealth of detail and are closer to reality. On the other hand, there are times when his verse seems to be somewhat meager

in comparison with Homer’s (e.g., 5. 13. 1 and 26) or to lack his model’s vivid touches, as in the descriptions of the chariot races (5. 13. 3) and the foot races (5. 13. 4 and 5) and in the similes of the

waves (5. 13. 20 and 21). Moreover, in the incident of the eagle and the serpent (5. 13. 28-30) Vergil has omitted details which, in the speaker’s submission, are the very soul of Homer’s description, with the result that in the Latin “only a lifeless body is left.” Vergil

is censured, too, for inaptly describing the spreading of a rumor in terms which Homer had applied to the growth of strife, since strife and rumor are not comparable and Vergil’s comparison is therefore inappropriate (5. 13. 31 and 32). After a somewhat technical discussion, reminiscent of the lecture room, of apparently unmetrical lines (5. 14. 1-4), examples are cited

from Homer and Vergil of lines which would seem to differ in no way from the language of everyday speech (5. 14. 5) and of the effective use made by each poet of a repeated phrase (5. 14. 6), 51 Saintsbury, A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe, I, 332;

see also his A Second Scrap Book, p. 250, and A Last Scrap Book, p. 71 (London, 1923 and 1924).

INTRODUCTION 21 a compound epithet (5. 14. 7-8), and a narrative of past events (5. 11-15).

When the “catalogues” are considered, Homer’s geographical arrangement is preferred to Vergil’s disregard of any such methodical order, and the former’s consistency in his references to individual persons to the latter’s not infrequent inconsistency (5. 15. I-13); but no attempt is made to excuse Vergil’s inconsistencies on the ground that the Aeneid lacked its author’s revision. Credit

is given to Vergil for varying the form of words with which he introduces his Italian chieftains,®? but it is submitted that, although

Flomer too can show a comparable variety, his normally simpler technique well becomes a poet of an earlier age (5. 15. 14-19). Proverbial sayings are met with both in Homer and in Vergil (5. 16. 6-7); and Vergil, like Homer, will sometimes, by way of relief, introduce a narrative or some other matter calculated to please the mind or the ear (5. 16. 1-5)—although there are times, too, when each poet treats the same story or myth in different ways (5. 16. 9-14). The unrealistic account, in the seventh Book of the Aeneid, of the beginnings of the war in Italy is attributed to a need to improvise for lack of a model in Homer or some other Greek (5. 17. 1-4); and the reference to “some other Greek” serves to introduce comments on Vergil’s debt both to Apollonius Rhodius—from whose story of Medea he adapted the story of Dido (5. 17. 4-6)— and to Pindar, for a description of Etna in eruption—a description which (in a detailed criticism also to be found in Aulus Gellius)® is condemned as clumsy and “unnatural” (5. 17. 7-14). Examples are then given of Vergil’s use of proper names from the Greek and of Greek inflexions to illustrate his devotion to the Greek language (5. 17. 15-20), the book ending with instances of recondite allusions, cited by Macrobius to show that the poet’s learning embraced all the literature of Greece (5. 18-22). The sixth Book begins with an account by Furius Albinus of Vergil’s debt to the earlier writers of Rome, the speaker quoting, 52 For a criticism of the style of Vergil’s catalogue, see E. Fraenkel, “Some

Aspects of the Structure of Aeneid vu, Journal of Roman Studies, XXXV (1945), I-14.

53 Aulus Gellius 17. 10. Common subject matter is not necessarily an indication that Macrobius has borrowed from Aulus Gellrus; each may have drawn from a common source. See Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature, pp. 264ff.

22 INTRODUCTION first, lines taken wholly or in part from these writers (6. 1) and then comparing whole passages (6. 2). Furius explains that his aim is to show the good use which Vergil has made of his reading of the works of his predecessors; but he is aware, he says, that he may be affording hostile critics an excuse to accuse Vergil of plagiarism,®4 and he therefore carries the war into the enemy’s country by referring to the reply made by Afranius when he was charged with having borrowed too freely from Menander, and by suggesting that in fact it is the old writers who are in Vergil’s debt, since his use of their works has enabled those works to survive. Moreover, he continues, Vergil has shown such nice judgment and skill in his borrowings that to read the originals is to realize that their words sound better in their new than in their former context (6. 1. 2-6). Furius Albinus then goes on to point out that Vergil has sometimes _ borrowed from Homer at one remove by imitating lines of Ennius or of some other of his predecessors who had taken them from the Greek. And he ends by begging his hearers not to underestimate

the writings of these early Latin poets on account of the roughness of the versification, for, thanks to the labors of succeeding ages, it is from them that the later, more smoothly woven, verse derives (5. 3. 9).

Caecina Albinus follows Furius. First, he illustrates Vergil’s debt to the old poets for single words which, from a neglect of these old writers, were sometimes thought to be Vergil’s own invention, drawing attention also to the poet’s use of even foreign

words (peregrina verba); and he concludes by citing a number of picturesque epithets which also have been borrowed by Vergil from earlier Latin authors (6. 4-5). The conversation is then carried on by Servius, with comments on certain unusual expressions and constructions. These are for the most part Vergil’s own and may perhaps be examples of the “affec-

tation” criticized by Agrippa and of the “faults” censured by Herennius: among them are examples of “figures,” which by a more

careful arrangement of this Vergilian section of the Saturnalia might have been included in the fourth Book (6. 6) .55 The section 64 Macrobuus here is probably excerpting from a reply to the Furta of Perellius Faustus or to a similar work by a hostile critic. See also Appendix B. 55 Probably Macrobius was transcribing notes taken by him from the works of two separate authors.

INTRODUCTION 23 ends with an explanation by Servius (largely etymological)®* of some words and constructions the meaning of which was often misunderstood (6. 7-9) .57

THE SATURNALIA IN THE MIDDLE AGES In the fourth century the hostility of a Christian “Establishment” at first provoked in the pagan opposition a revival of interest in the classical writers of Rome. Then the growing pressure of the barbarian invasions brought home to Christian and pagan alike the need to safeguard a common cultural inheritance in the face of a common enemy and so led to a measure of that peaceful coexistence

for which Symmachus had pleaded. Later, ironically enough, it was the Christian monasteries—scornfully referred to by Rutilius as slave-barracks (ergastula)**—that preserved many of the precious

relics of Latin literature through the long “Gothic night” of the Middle Ages until their rediscovery, for the most part by laymen, at the dawn of the Italian5® Renaissance.

The influence of the works of Macrobius upon the writers of the Middle Ages is discussed at length by Stahl in the introduction

to his translation of the Commentary on the Dream of Scipio.® It is proposed therefore to mention here only three names—writers

who were concerned more with the Saturnalia than with the Commentary.

Isidore of Seville

Isidore of Seville (c.560-636), a link between the learning of antiquity and the Middle Ages, in the fifth Book of his Etymo56 A combination of grammatical with literary exposition is characteristic of Latin literary criticism. See W. R. Hardie, Lectures on Classical Subjects.

p- 280, and note 33, above. |

57 The same material is also discussed by Aulus Gellius (2. 6; 5. 8; 10. 11; 16. 5 and 6; 18. 5. The rest of Book 6 has been lost. 58 Rutilius Namatianus De reditu suo 1. 447. 59 Of the countries of Europe, only Italy had always had an educated laity—a legacy from educated paganism. See F. W. Hall, Companion to Classical Texts (Oxford, 1913), p. 96; and Momigliano, ed., The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century, pp. 213-17. 60 Stahl, pp. 42-55.

24 INTRODUCTION logiae may be making use of the accounts given by Macrobius in the Saturnalia of the divisions of the civil day at Rome (1. 3), of the magnus annus (1. 14), and of the Kalends, Nones, Ides, and other days of the Roman calendar (1. 15-16). There are references in Isidore’s eleventh Book to the ring finger (the digitus medicinalis) and to the derivation of the word pollex, which are comparable with

what Macrobius has to say (7. 13. 7 and 14); and, in the thirteenth Book (13. 16. 4), to the fresh waters of the Black Sea, which are referred to by Macrobius (7. 12. 34). Again, passages in the nineteenth and twentieth Books of the Etymologiae (19. 1 and 2; 20. 5) suggest acquaintance with the chapter in the Saturnalia (5. 21) in which the names of various kinds of drinking vessels are discussed. Nevertheless, the possibility that Macrobius and Isidore have drawn from a common source—e.g., Athenaeus in the case of the drinking vessels—cannot be overlooked.

Bede

Bede® (673-735) is said to have had access to an abridgment of the Saturnalia known as the Disputatio Hori et Praetextati, of which traces may be found in the references in chapters 7, 9, 12 and 13 of

his De temporum ratione to the Roman day, the Roman month, and the Kalends, Nones, and Ides (Saturnalia 1. 3 and 12-15). There is, however, no evidence, in chapter 28 of Bede’s work, that he had read what Macrobius (7. 16), following Plutarch, has to say about the influences of the moon.

John of Salisbury In the Policraticus (sive De Nugis Curialium et Vestigiis Philosophorum) *® of John of Salisbury (d.1180) there are numerous excerpts from the Saturnalia often reproduced verbatim,® although words

or passages in Greek are omitted. As Jan and Webb have re-. 61 See Bedae opera de temporibus, ed. C. W. Jones. 62 See Webb. With the subtitle cf. the De nugis curialium of Walter Map. 68 References, by book and chapter (and by the column in Migne) are given in the footnotes in the translation.

INTRODUCTION 25 marked, John appears to have had a more complete text of the Saturnaha than that which we have today; for in Book 8 (chapters 6, 7, and 16) of the Policraticus there are references to statements made by one “Portunianus”—now generally taken to be the Postumianus who reports to Decius the account given to him by Eusebius of what had been said at the symposium (Saturnalia 1. 2. 1-14)— which must have been taken from parts of the text of the Saturnalia no longer extant,® as well as a sentence (described as a quotation from Macrobius) which would seem to fit into the lacuna at the end of the second Book.® 64 Jan, I, 1-l1, Webb, I, xxxviu; see also Webb’s article, “On Some Fragments of Macrobius’ Saturnalia.” 65 See Webb, II, 254, 17; 256, 212; 257, 217; 263, 213 and 721); 264, 723; 268, N14, 270, 13.

66 Webb, II, 341, mir. |

the saturnalia - BOOK 1 PREFACE [1] Many and various, Eustachius my son, are the things on which in this life of ours Nature has led us to set our affections; but of all Nature’s ties the strongest is our love for our children, and it is her will that we should take such pains to train and instruct them that nothing else could give a parent so much pleasure as to succeed in these aims and nothing so much distress as to fail. [2]

That is why I too regard your education as my chief care. In seeking to make it complete I have preferred the short cut to the roundabout route and, impatient of all delay, instead of waiting for you to make your own way forward through those studies, and only those, on which you are yourself diligently engaged, I purpose

to put my own reading as well at your disposal. In this way the whole of the material carefully gathered by my labors, after your birth and before it, from a number of different works in Greek or Latin will furnish you with knowledge; and, if ever you have occasion to call to mind some historical fact, buried in a mass of books and generally unknown, or some memorable word or deed, it will be easy for you to find it and produce it, as it were, from a literary storehouse. [3] Moreover, things worth remembering have not been heaped together in confusion, but a variety of subjects of different authorship and divers dates have been arranged to form, so to speak, a body, in such a way that the notes which I had made without any plan or order, as aids to memory, came together

like the parts of a coherent whole. [4] You should not count it a fault if I shall often set out the borrowings from a miscellaneous reading in the authors’ own words (for the present work undertakes to be a collection of matters worth knowing, not a display of my command of language),

but be content with information of things of ancient times,

BOOK I, PREFACE 27 sometimes set out plainly in my own words and sometimes faithfully recorded in the actual words of the old writers, as each subject has seemed to call for an exposition or a transcript. [5] We ought in some sort to imitate the bees;! and just as they, in their wanderings to and fro, sip the flowers, then arrange their spoil and distribute it among the combs, and transform the various juices to a single flavor by in some way mixing with them a property of their own being, [6] so I too shall put into writing all that I

have acquired in the varied course of my reading, to reduce it thereby to order and to give it coherence. For not only does arrangement help the memory, but the actual process of arrangement, accompanied by a kind of mental fermentation which serves to season the whole, blends the diverse extracts to make a single flavor; with the result that, even if the sources are evident, what we get in the end is still something clearly different from those known sources. [7] We see nature acting in this way in our own bodies without any effort on our part, since the food we take is a heavy burden to the stomach for as long as it remains in its original state and floats

there in a solid mass, but when it has been transmuted, then, and not until then, it passes into the blood and strengthens us. And so it is with the food of the mind: we must see to it that we do not allow what we have absorbed to remain unchanged and thus fail to assimilate it, but we must, as it were, digest it. To do otherwise is to feed the memory, not the mind. [8] Let us gather then from all sources and from them form one whole, as single numbers combine to form one number. Let our minds aim at showing the finished product, but conceal all that has helped to produce it; just as the makers of scented unguents take special care to ensure that their preparations have the property of no one scent but blend the essence of all the odors into a single perfume. [9] Or take a choir: it consists, as you see, of many voices and yet all those voices form a unity; for in a choir one voice is high, another low, another of the middle register, there are men’s voices and the voices of women, and among them the notes of the pipe; and yet, although individual voices do not emerge, the voices of all are heard and from a number of different sounds there comes a harmony. 1 Seneca Epistulae 84; John of Salisbury 7. 10 (6604-0).

28 | MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [10] This, then, is what I would have this present work be: a repository of much to teach and much to guide you, examples drawn from many ages but informed by a single spirit, wherein—

if you refrain from rejecting what you already know and from shunning what you do not—you will find much that it would be a pleasure to read, an education to have read, and of use to remember; [11] for, to the best of my belief, the work contains nothing that it is either useless to know or difficult to comprehend, but everything in it is calculated to quicken your understanding, to strengthen your memory, to give more dexterity to your discourse, and to make your speech more correct—except in so far as the genius of the Latin language may in places prove to be a stumbling block to me born under an alien sky. [12] And so, if after all there happen

at times to be some with the leisure and the will to make the acquaintance of my work, from them I would seek, and would hope to win, a reasonable indulgence, should my words lack the elegance of the native Roman tongue.?

[13] But here I am indeed imprudent, and I have incurred that neat rebuke which Marcus Cato’ gave to the Aulus Albinus who was consul with Lucullus. [14] ‘This Albinus composed a History of Rome in Greek and wrote in the preface to the effect that no one ought to criticize him for any lack of arrangement, or faults of style, “for,” said he, “I am a Roman, born in Latium, and the Greek language is altogether foreign to me”; and on that ground he claimed the privilege of being excused from censure for any mistakes he might have made. [15] After reading this, Marcus Cato

said: “Upon my word, Aulus, you carry your trifling too far in choosing to apologize for a fault instead of refraining from committing it. As a rule, one asks for pardon after making a mistake through inadvertence or after doing wrong under compulsion; but

who, pray, compelled you to do that for which you would ask pardon in advance?” [16] And I shall now proceed to indicate the theme of the work

in the form, as it were, of a prologue.

2 Cf. the apology to the reader in the preface to the Metamorphoses of Apuey “Aulus Cellius 11. 8. See also Cicero Brutus 81.

CHAPTER 1 [1] During the festival of the Saturnalia leading Roman nobles, and some scholars with them, meet at the house of Vettius Praetextatus and devote the annual celebration to conversation on matters relating to the liberal arts, inviting each other in turn to dinner, in friendly hospitality, and separating only for repose at night. [2] For the whole of the rest days! the better part of the day is devoted to serious discussions, but at dinner their talk 1s on topics that become the festive board. In this way there is always some subject under review the whole day long, for learned treatment or light, although the conversation at table will of course take a more jovial turn, as having pleasure for its aim rather than some earnest purpose. [3] Certainly in Plato’s well-known Symposium (as in the works of other writers who have described such banquets) the conversation of the guests does not touch on any matter of graver import, but the theme is love, treated with diversity and charm; and Socrates indeed here, so far from seeking as usual to press his opponent hard and to tie him up in tighter and tighter knots, seems to be engaging in a sham fight rather than a battle and all but giving his victims the chance to slip away and escape. [4] Now the table talk, while decent and above reproach, must also be attractive and pleasant, but the morning discussions will be of sterner stuff, as befitting men of learning and distinction. And, if in the writers of old a Cotta, a Laelius, and a Scipio? shall continue to discuss matters of the highest importance for as long as Roman literature shall endure, surely a Praetextatus, a Flavianus, an Albinus, a Symmachus, and a Eustathius, men of like distinction 1 Fowler, Essays, p. 79. 2 See Cicero De natura deorum, De re publica, De amicitia, De senectute.

30 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA and no less worth, may be permitted to express themselves in the same way.

[5] I trust too that no one will think that I am acting unfairly if one or two of the characters who meet reached maturity a generation later than Praetextatus, for the dialogues of Plato prove that this license is permissible.’ Thus Parmenides, for example, lived so long before Socrates that the latter as a boy could hardly have met

the former in his old age, and yet they are represented discussing certain abstruse problems together; and a famous dialogue is wholly taken up with a discussion between Socrates and Timaeus, although

it is well known that the two men did not belong to the same generation. [6] Again, Plato makes Paralus and Xanthippus, the sons of Pericles, converse with Protagoras on his second visit to Athens, notwithstanding the fact that long before that time, the two had been carried off by the disastrous plague at Athens. ‘Thus,

with the example of Plato to support me, it has seemed inappropriate to go to the length of reckoning on my fingers the ages of the persons whom I have brought together.

[7] To enable the words of each speaker to be more easily recognized and distinguished, I have introduced Decius questioning Postumianus about the talks and the participants in them. But now, not to keep the reader any longer from what he is waiting for, the

conversation between Decius and Postumianus will explain how the colloquy began and how it progressed. 3 Cf. Athenaeus 11. 5o5f.

CHAPTER 2 [1] The rest days, said Decius, which we enjoy for much of the

month of. January have come conveniently; for I have been looking for a chance to meet you, Postumianus, and for the most favorable opportunity of questioning you, since on pretty well every other day, as being a day for legal business, it is impossible to find a single hour in which you are not engaged, either speaking on behalf of your clients’ cases in court or considering them at home. But now—for I know that you devote this leisure to serious matters and not to trifles—if you will be so good as to answer the questions which I have come to ask, you will have done something which will not only, I think, give you pleasure but will certainly win my warmest thanks.

[2] The first thing that I want to know is whether you were present at the dinner party which a succession of hosts hospitably prolonged for several days, and whether you took part in a con-

versation to which, so I hear, you give the highest praise and commend to everybody in the most complimentary terms. I should

have heard of that conversation from my father but for the fact

that, when those famous parties were over, he left Rome for Naples, where he is now staying. However, I have lately met others, who have spoken with admiration of that powerful memory

of yours, which has enabled you more than once to recount in order everything that was said on that occasion. [3] My dear Decius, said Postumianus, all my life—as you can

have seen for yourself, so far as your age permits, and can have heard from your father Albinus—all my life, the one thing to my mind most worth while has been to devote such leisure as I may have had from my work at the bar to meeting men of learning, like yourself, and to talking with them, [4] for nowhere can the

32 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA educated mind find more useful or more seemly relaxation than in taking some opportunity for learned and polite conversation and friendly discussion. [5] But as for this dinner party of which you

speak, you refer, no doubt, to the occasion on which the most learned of our nobility and the others who were with them recently

met at the house of Vettius Praetextatus, and, by parting only to meet again at the house of another of the guests, gave a pleasant variety to their proceedings? That, replied Decius, is just what I am here to ask about. Please describe the party, for all the guests are such close friends of yours that I am sure that you were there. [6] I should have been glad to be there, said Postumianus, and

indeed I do not think that my presence would have been unwelcome. But at the time I had a number of cases to examine which concerned friends of mine, and so, when I was asked to the dinner,

I replied that I should have to spend the holidays in study rather than in dining, and I suggested that another, with no business cares to engage and occupy him, should be invited instead. ‘That is what was done; [7] for Praetextatus gave instructions for an invitation to be sent to the rhetorician Eusebius in my place—a ready speaker and an accomplished man, one who, among the Greeks, is superior

to all practicing rhetoric to-day and one who is well versed in Latin studies too. [8] How then, said Decius, do you come to know what passed—

those topics which, they tell me, were propounded and discussed in so pleasant and friendly a fashion, with abundant illustrations of

value for the conduct of life and with a wealth of many-sided learning?

[9] The day of the winter solstice, replied Postumianus, that is to say, the day which followed the festival of the Saturnalia when those dinner parties were held, I was spending at home, all the more pleasantly since I had no legal business in court. Eusebius called, accompanied by a few of his pupils, and said at once, with a smile: [10] “I confess, Postumianus, that I have much to thank you for, and not least for this, that in begging to be excused by Praetextatus you made room for me at his table; so that I find not only your kindness but fortune herself too combining in my favor to win for me a benefit from you.” [11] “Well,” said I, “won’t you repay the debt you have so kindly and generously acknowledged

BOOK 1, CHAPTER 2 33 and enable me to spend this all too rare leisure of mine in such a way as to imagine that I am one of the company now in which you found yourself then?” [12] “Indeed I will,” said he, “I shall not tell of the food and the wine—both were plentiful without being extravagant—but I shall recall to the best of my ability what was said by the guests when they met, and especially what they said when not at dinner, in the course of those days. [13] When I listened to that conversation, I thought that I was entering the life of those whom

| philosophers speak of as the Blessed. And I learnt too of what had passed on the day before I joined the company, from Avienus, who told me of it. I have put all into writing, that nothing be forgotten

and omitted; but, if you wish to hear my account of it, you must not suppose that a single day will be enough to recall what it took so many days to say.” [14] What then, said Decius, was the conversation which Eusebius reported? Who took part in it, and how

did it begin? Here I am, all attention, a listener who will not grow tired.

[15] Toward evening on the day before the festival of the Saturnalia, replied Postumianus, Aurelius Symmachus and Caecina Albinus, closest of friends by reason of their age, their habits, and

their pursuits, called on Vettius Praetextatus, who was at home to all who wished to meet at his house; and Servius, who had recently joined the ranks of the professional grammarians, a man as

remarkable for his learning as he is lovable for his modesty, was close behind them, walking with his eyes fixed on the ground after the manner of one who wished to pass unnoticed. [16] As soon as he saw his visitors, Praetextatus went forward to meet them and greeted them warmly; then, turning to Furius Albinus who, together with Avienus, happened to be in the house, he said: What do you say, Albinus? Our friends, whom we shall do right to call the leading lights of Rome, have come, as you see, at just the right

time. Shall we tell them of the matter which we had begun to discuss? [17] Why not? replied Albinus. There is nothing that I should like better, for nothing could give them or us greater pleasure than to debate some learned topics. [18] My dear Praetextatus, said Caecina, when all were seated,

J am as yet unaware of the matter to which you refer, but I am quite sure that it is well worth knowing, since the rest of you have been discussing it and you refuse to leave us out of the discussion.

34. MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [19] You must know, then, replied Praetextatus, that the subject of our talk was this. Tomorrow will be the first of the days dedi-

cated to Saturn. But when are we to say that the festival of the Saturnalia begins? or, in other words, when are we to suppose that tomorrow begins? [20] We have indeed touched lightly on some small points that bear on the question; but your researches in the written authorities are too well known for your modesty to deny, and so I would have you proceed to set out for the benefit of us all everything that you have learned and know about the subject of our inquiry.

CHAPTER 3! [1] There 1s, I see, said Caecina, no need for me to tell people what they know already, for you have yourselves learned everything and forgotten nothing of all the work of our predecessors on the matter which you invite me to speak about. But I should be sorry 1f anybody were to think that I felt the honor of being asked for my opinion to be a burden, and so I will briefly recount whatever my all too poor memory shall bring to mind. Then, as soon as

he saw that all were ready and eager to hear him, he began as follows.

[2] Marcus Varro in his work on Human Antiquities,? writing of days, says: “Persons who are born in the course of the twentyfour hours between one midnight and the next are said to have been

born on one and the same day.” [3] These words suggest that he so divided the reckoning of a day that the birthday of a man born after sunset but before midnight is the day which preceded the night, but that, on the other hand, the birthday of one born during the last six hours of the night is held to be the day which dawned after that night. [4] Varro also wrote in the same book that the Athenians have a different method of reckoning and say that the whole interval of time between one sunset and the next is a single day; and that the Babylonians have yet another rule, for they call the period from one sunrise to the beginning of the next sunrise a day; and, as for the Umbrians, they say that the interval between one midday and the next is one and the same day; [5] “but this,” says Varro, “is too absurd, for the birthday of an Umbrian born at 1 In connection with this chapter see Isidore of Seville 5. 30-31 and Bede | De temporum ratione 7. 2 Aulus Gellius 3. 2.

36 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the sixth hour on the Kalends of a month will have to be regarded? as comprising half of the first day of the month and up to the sixth hour of the second.”

[6] There is plenty of evidence to show that the Romans, as Varro said, reckoned each day as running from one midnight to the

next; for of the religious ceremonies held at Rome, some are “diurnal,” others “nocturnal’—the term “diurnal” being taken to cover any ceremonies held between the beginning of a day and midnight, but any which begin after the sixth hour of the night being taken to belong to the “nocturnal” ceremonies of the following day.‘

[7] Moreover, the ritual practice in connection with the taking of auspices also points to the same method of reckoning; for, since

the magistrates must, on one and the same day, both take the auspices and perform the act touching which the auspices have previously been taken, they take the auspices after midnight and perform the act after sunrise; and thus they are said to have taken the auspices and performed the act on the same day. [8] Again, if the tribunes of the people, who may not be absent

from Rome for a whole day, leave the city after midnight and return after “first torchlight” but before the midnight following, they are not regarded as having been away for a day, because by returning before the sixth hour of the night they spend a part of that day in Rome. [9] Furthermore, I have read that the jurist Quintus Mucius used to say that a woman who began to cohabit with a husband on the first of January and left him on the twenty-seventh of December following,® in order to interrupt the husband’s possession, had not interrupted it, because the three nights’ absence from her husband, required by the Twelve ‘Tables to effect the interruption,® could 3 Le., by Roman reckoning. 4 Reading (with Bornecque) et ea quae diurna sunt ab initio diei ad medium noctis protenduntur; ab hora sexta noctis, sequentis [sc. diei] nocturnis sacris

tempus impenditur. The text is corrupt. The distinction would seem to be between acts which have to be performed in the course of a day of twentyfour hours (running from midnight to midnight) and acts performed at night between midnight and the following daybreak. 5 A.d. iv Kal. lan., December then having only twenty-nine days. 6 One of the ways in which a marriage could be contracted at Rome in early times was by uszus, 1.e., by the continuous cohabitation of a man and woman as husband and wife. If the wsus lasted without interruption for a year,

BOOK I, CHAPTER 3 37 not be completed, since the last six hours of the third night belonged to the following year, which would begin on the first of January. [10] Vergil, too, suggests the same method of reckoning, but (as became a poet) by means of an indirect and veiled allusion to an old established practice, in the lines:

The dank night wheels her course midway, and now I feel

the breath of the cruel steeds of dawn [Aeneid 5. 738] for with these words he reminds us that what at Rome is called the civil day begins to run from the sixth hour of the night.

[11] In the sixth Book of the Aeneid too the poet has described the time when the night begins, for he says:

Dawn with her rose-red car even now had passed in her heavenly course the middle of the sky’? [Aeneid 6. 535] and a few lines later the sibyl added: Aeneas, night comes on apace, and we but spend the hours in

weeping. [Aeneid 6. 539] Thus Vergil’s description of the beginnings of the day and the night is in the closest conformity with the definitions of the civil law.

[12] The divisions of the civil day are these: first, “the middle

turning point of the night”; then “cock crow”; after that, “the silence”, when the cocks are silent and men are still asleep; then “first light”, when day becomes discernible; after that, “morning” (mane), when the light of day is clear. [13] Now we use the word mane either because daylight begins to rise from the world below, that is to say, from the abode of the Manes,’ or departed spirits, or (and this to my mind is more likely to be the true meaning of the word) because it is a word of good omen; for at Lanuvium the word mane means “good’”—just as we too use its opposite z77ane the woman passed into the man’s 7zanus [hand], and so passed from her own agnatic family to come under the potestas of the head of her husband’s family.

The Twelve Tables, however, enacted (Warmington, III, 462) that the absence by a wife from her husband’s home for three consecutive nights in any one year (trimocti absentia) broke the period of prescription and manus did not then arise. Gaius (1. 111) remarks that the law regarding usus and the trinoctii absentia had become obsolete by his time (1e., in the time of Marcus Aurelius). 7 Le., it is past midday im the world above. 8 Jsidore of Seville 8. 100; 10. 139.

38 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA in the sense “not good,” as, for example, in such expressions as immanis belua [a monstrous beast] or imzmane facinus [an abominable deed] and in all other like phrases.®

, [14] Then comes the period “from morning to midday” (meridient), that is to say to the middle of the day (medium diet); after midday comes the time called “the day’s decline”, and then “the end of the day,” namely, the very last time of day [for legal business ]—just as in the Twelve Tables we read: “Let sunset end proceedings.”19 [15] “Evening” (vespera) follows, a word borrowed from the Greeks, who speak of Eonépa, from Hesperus, the

evening star; and it is for this reason too that Italy is called “Hesperia,” because it lies toward the setting sun. Afterward come the divisions “first torchlight,” “bedtime,” and “the dead of night”—

this last being the period unsuitable for the transaction of any business. These are the divisions of the civil day observed at Rome.

[16] It follows therefore that the beginning of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum) will be midnight in the night which is about to come (zoctu futura), although it is customary not to begin the festivities until tomorrow (die crastini). ® Varro (De lingua Latina 6. 2. 4) refers to an adjective manus, used in early

Latin with the meaning “good”; and probably it is from this adjective that the name Manes was given, as a euphemism, to the spirits of the dead. 10 Warmington, III, 430.

CHAPTER 4 [1] Hereupon all praised Caecina Albinus for a memory which might well be likened to a storehouse of ancient lore. And then Praetextatus, seeing Avienus whispering to Furius Albinus, said: Come, Avienus, what have you been confiding to Albinus, as something which you would not wish the rest of us to hear?

[2] 1 am much impressed, replied Avienus, by the authority with which Caecina has spoken, and I am aware that such profound learning cannot be mistaken. Nevertheless, the expressions noctu futura and die crastini which he has used in preference to the regular forms futura nocte and die crastino struck my ear as strange.

[3] For noctu is not a noun but an adverb; and, moreover, futzra as a declinable word cannot agree with an adverb: surely, too, noctu is related to nocte as diu is to die. Again die and crastini are not in _ the same case, and yet in such an expression only identity of case

enables declinable words to be joined. And then I wish to know what is the difference between the forms Saturnaliorum and Saturnalium and why we should prefer to use the former. [4] Caecina smiled but did not reply, and Symmachus then asked Servius for his opinion. In a company such as this, said Servius, a

company of men whose learning no less than their noble birth commands respect, my place should be to learn rather than to teach. Nevertheless, I shall comply with your wishes, sir, and do as you bid, explaining first the declension of the word Saturnalia and afterwards the origins of those other expressions which are old-fashioned rather than new. [5] To say Saturnalium is to follow the rule: for declinable words with a dative plural ending in -bus never have more syllables in the genitive plural than in the dative,

but the genitive has either the same number of syllables as the

40 -MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA dative (for example: monilibus, monilium, sedilibus, sedilium) or one syllable less (for example: carminibus, carminum, liminibus, liminum); and therefore, given Saturnalibus, Saturnalium rather

than Saturnaliorum is the regular form of the genitive. [6] But those who say Saturnaliorum have the support of distinguished authorities; for Sallust, in the third book of his Histories, speaks of Bacchanaliorum,; and Masurius in the second book of his Calendar

says: “The day of the Wine Festival (Vinaliorum) is sacred to Jupiter and not, as some suppose, to Venus.” [7] Moreover, to summon the grammarians as witnesses, Verrius Flaccus in his little

book entitled Saturn says: “The days of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum) are regarded as festivals by the Greeks also”; and again, in the same work: “I think that I have written a clear account of the

arrangement of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum).” So, too, Julius Modestus in his treatise On Rest Days speaks of “the rest days of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum) ,” and in the same book says: “Antias

relates that Numa Pompilius was the founder of the Agonalia (A gonaliorum) .”

[8] But you will say that the question is whether there are any grounds to support the usage of these authorities. To be sure, there are; and, since it is not unfitting that a grammarian should be confronted with points of grammatical analogy, which are after all his business, I shall try to discover, by inference, what it is that has led these men to turn aside from the regular form of the word and to say Saturnaliorum rather than Saturnalium. [9] In the first place, then, I think that they wished to mark the difference between these names, which are names of festivals and are neuter in gender and have no singular number, and names which are declined in the singular as well as in the plural; for such words as Compitalia, Bacchanalia, Agonalia, Vinalia, and the others like them are names of festivals and are not used in the singular; or, if you do use the singular form, it will have a different meaning unless you add “festumm,” and say Bacchanale festum, Agonale festum, and so on—the word Bacchanale or Agonale being now not a substantive but an adjective, or what is called in Greek an “epithet.” [10] They were minded, therefore, to use a distinctive form for the genitive in order to show by this method of declension that the

word was the name of a festival. And they knew also that not

BOOK I, CHAPTER 4 41 infrequently some declinable words with a dative plural ending in -bus have a genitive plural in -rum (for example: domibus, domorum; duobus, duorum; ambobus, amborum). [11] So too with the word viridia: when it is used as an epithet, the genitive ends in -z7 (thus viridia prata has viridium pratorum);, but when we wish to indicate the essential greenness of a place we say viridiorum, as for example in the phrase “the beautiful appearance of the verdure (viridiorum) ,” for viridia is then used as a substantive and not as an adjective. [12] However, such was the freedom with which the old writers used the genitive in -rz772 that Asinius Pollio frequently employs the form vectigaliorum, although the singular vectigal is found no less often than the plural vectigalia, and although we read: “And in his

Jeft hand held the sacred shield (ancile),”+ we nevertheless come across the form anciliorum for the genitive plural. [13] We must therefore ask ourselves if it is absolutely true to say that this form of the genitive is confined to names of festivals or if the truth 1s rather that the old writers took pleasure in variety. For you see that

we find other words than those which stand for the names of

festivals declined in this way, as is clear from the reference that I have made to the existence of such forms as viridiorium, vectigaliorum, and anciliorum. [14] What is more, I find even the names of festivals declined according to rule in old writers; for Varro says that the day of the Feralia (Feraliumz) takes its name from the practice of carrying (ferendis) dishes of food to the tombs—he did not say Feraliorum—and elsewhere he uses the form Floralium, not Floralhorum, in a passage referring not to the Floral Games (Ludi Florales) but to the festival of the Floralia itself. [15] Masurius,

too, in the second Book of his Calendar says: “The day of the festival of Liber (Liberalium) is called by the pontiffs the day of the “Sacrifice in Honor of Mars”; and again, in the same book, he says: “That night and the day which immediately follows it, which is the day of the Festival of the Groves,” using the form Lucarium, not Lucariorum (just as many authors have said Liberalium, not Liberaliorum). [16] We must conclude, therefore, that the old writers allowed 1 Vergil, Aeneid. 7. 188.

42 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA themselves freedom to vary inflections and would say, for example,

both exanimos and exanimes, inermos and inermes, hilaros and hilares; so that it is certainly permissible to say both Saturnalium and Saturnaliorum, the former having the support of the grammatical rule as well as of precedent, the latter relying on precedent alone—although the precedents are many.

[17] As for the rest of the words which struck our friend Avienus as strange, we have the evidence of old writers to defend their use. Ennius—unless someone thinks that the more polished elegance of our age requires one to reject him—has combined the words zoctu and concubia in the following lines:

And on that night, at the time of sleep (qua ... noctu ... concubia), the Gauls by stealth attacked the citadel’s topmost walls, surprised the sentries, and cut them down.? [18] And in this passage it should be observed that the poet has not only said zoctu concubia, but he has used the expression qua noctu as well. This was in the seventh Book of the Annals; in the third Book the same usage appeared more clearly still, in the line: This night (bac noctu) the fate of all Etruria will hang by a

thread.

Claudius Quadrigarius, too, in the third Book of his Annals writes: “The Senate, however, met by night (de nocte), but it was late at night (moctu multa) that they broke up and went home.” [19] Nor is it irrelevant, I think, at this point to remind you also that in the Twelve ‘Tables the decemvirs, clean contrary to the accepted usage, said nox for noctu. The words are as follows: If a theft shall have been committed at night (zox), and one shall have killed him (7) [the thief], let him be held to have been lawfully killed.t And here

it should be noted further that the word used for “him’—for the accusative case of 7s—is not eum but i772.

[z0] Again, our learned friend has the authority of the old writers to support his use of the expression diecrastini; for it was their custom to say sometimes diequinti and sometimes diequinte, joining the words together to serve as an adverb, as is clear from 2 Warmington, I, 92. 3 Warmington, I, 56. 4 Warmington, III, 482.

5 Aulus Gelltus ro. 24. |

BOOK I, CHAPTER 4 43 the fact that the second syllable of the double word is short, although the “e” of die is long by nature when the word stands alone. [21] I have said that the last syllable of this adverbial expression was sometimes written -e and sometimes -i, for it was generally the custom of the old writers to end with either letter indifferently,

writing, for example, praefiscine and praefiscini, or proclive and proclivi. [22] And here I am reminded of that line of Pomponius, in the Atellan farce entitled Maevia, which runs: For three days now I have eaten nothing: on the fourth day

(diequarte) I shall die of hunger. [Ribbeck, II, 284] [23] In the same way diepristine was used with the meaning die pristino [on the day before], although we now transpose the component parts and use the word pridie, as though to say pristino die. [24] I do not deny that we find die quarto in our reading of the old authors, but this expression is used with reference to something which has happened in the past and not to something in the future, for that most learned man, Gnaeus Matius, in his Mimziambs, instead

of saying as we do nudius quartus for “four days ago,” says die quarto in the lines: It was lately, four days ago, as I recall, and he certainly broke

’ the only pitcher in the house. [Baehrens, p. 282 | The distinction then will be this: that we say die quarto when we are referring to the past, but diequarte with reference to the future.

[25] However, I would not have you think that I have overlooked the expression diecrastini, and here is an example of such usage from the second Book of the Histories of Caelius: “If I might have the cavalry now and you are prepared to follow me with the rest of the army, on the fifth day (diequintz), I shall have dinner ready for you on the Capitol at Rome.” [26] Your Caelius, remarked Symmachus, took both the story and the expression diequinti from the Origins of Marcus Cato, who wrote: “And so the commander of the cavalry gave the Carthaginian general this advice: ‘Send the cavalry with me to Rome and on the fifth day (diequinti) dinner shall be ready for you.on the Capitol.’® [27] And I think, added Praetextatus, some further proof of the old usage is to be found in the words with which the praetor, 6 The reference is to the advice given to Hannibal by Maharbal, to march on Rome after the battle of Cannae (Livy 22. 51).

44 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA in accordance with the custom of our ancestors, regularly proclaims

the rest day called the Compitalia. The words are these: “On the ninth day (dienoni) the Roman People, the Quirites, will celebrate the Compitalia.”

CHAPTER 5 [1] Curtus, Fabricius, and Coruncanius of old, said Avienus, looking at Servius, and that famous triple band of brothers, too, the Horatii, who belong to a still earlier age, talked clearly and intelligibly with their fellows, using the language of their own day and

not that of the Aurunci or Sicani or Pelasgi, who men say were the first inhabitants of Italy. But you, Servius, might as well be conversing now with Evander’s mother, in seeking to recall for our use words which became obsolete many generations ago; and, what is more, you have summoned in support of this medley of expres-

sions a number of distinguished persons whose memories were stocked with the fruits of their constant reading. [2] You, my friends, all proclaim that you find pleasure in antiquity because of the honesty, sobriety, and moderation of those times. Very well then; let us show in our lives the manners of the past but speak in the language of our own day. For I always remember and take to heart what Gaius Caesar, that man of outstanding genius and wisdom, wrote in the first Book of his treatise On Granrmatical Analogy: “I should avoid,” he said, “a rare and unusual word as I would a rock.”! [3] After all, continued Avienus, there is a thousand of such words (lle verborum talium est) which, although they were used frequently, on good authority, long ago, have by later ages been, as it were, discharged from service and discarded.? I could give plenty of instances of these words now, were not the approach

1 Aulus Gellius 1. 10; John of Salisbury 8. 10 (748c).

2 For examples of such use by Macrobtus of the genitive case after sulle, see below: 5. 14. 7 (ville talium vocabulorum) and 5. 16. 7 (mille sententiarum taliugy) .

46 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA of night a warning that we must presently be going our several ways.

[4] Hush, pray, said Praetextatus with characteristic earnestness, let us not so far forget ourselves as to do harm to the respect that

is due to antiquity, the mother of the arts. Indeed you go far to betray your love for what is old in your attempt to dissemble that love, for your expression “There is a thousand of words” has an odor of antiquity about it. [5] It is true that Cicero in his speech on behalf of Milo’ has left us this passage: “Before Clodius’s estate, that estate on which, thanks to those extravagant basements, fully

a thousand of able-bodied men was employed’—not “were employed,” the usual reading in the inferior manuscripts—and in his sixth Philippic* he says: “Who was ever found in that Janus who would credit Lucius Antonius with a thousand of sesterces?’”’ And

it is true that Varro too, a contemporary of Cicero, in the seventeenth Book of his Hz2an Antiquities has written: “It is more than a thousand and one hundred of years.” Nevertheless in using this construction Cicero and Varro have only relied on the authority of their predecessors, [6] for Quadrigarius in the third Book of his Annals wrote: “There a thousand of men is killed,” and Lucilius in the third Book of his Satires has the line:

From gate to harbor is a thousand [of paces], six thence to Salernum.®

[7] Indeed, in another passage Lucilius has even declined 77zlle, for in the fifteenth Book he says:

No jolting Campanian steed, although it has beaten this horse in a run of a thousand of paces, or two thousand (milli passum atque duobus), will keep up with him over a longer distance but will look as if he were going the other way’ and likewise in the ninth Book he says: 3 Pro Milone 20. 53. See also Aulus Gellius 1. 16. 46. 5. 15. ° Cicero is referring to the mzedius [middle] Janus as the place, in or near the Forum, where banking and moneylending business was carried on at Rome. References are found, e.g., in Cicero, Horace, and Livy, to three lani (sumamus,

medius, and imus). These are generally held to have been square archways, or “thoroughfares” (transitiones perviae), with rooms above, but they may have been three parts of a continuous arcade. 6 Warmington, III, 38. 7 Warmington, III, 162.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 5 47 You with but one thousand of sesterces (milli nummum) can gain a hundred [thousand].° [8] In saying milli passum for mille passibus and milli nummum for mulle nummis Lucilius has shown clearly that 7zille is a noun, 1S used in the singular number, has an ablative case, and that its plural

is milia. [9] For mille does not stand for the Greek yid1a but for xlAtdc, and just as one can say one ylAiacg and two y1A1ddEc, so the old writers, following a definite and regular principle, used to say unum mille and duo muilia.®

[10] But tell me, Avienus, continued Praetextatus, when it comes to voting on the use of words, would you disfranchise those learned

men whom Cicero and Varro were proud to imitate, and would you thrust them from the bridge’ as though they were old men in their sixties?

[11] Well, he added, we might go on to say more about this, did not the lateness of the hour require us to part—although I am as sorry to see you go as you are to go. But what are your wishes for tomorrow? Most people spend the day in games of backgammon

and draughts. I suggest, however, that we spend it from early morning until dinnertime in such sober conversation as that in which we have been engaged. And at dinner, too, instead of indulging in heavy drinking and lavish dishes, I suggest that we pass the time decently in learned inquiries and in exchange of informa-

tion from our place at table. [12] If we do so, we shall find the rest days more productive of good than all our workaday business; for we shall not, as the saying goes, just be allowing our minds to unbend—Musonius, you know, says loosening (remuittere) your

mind is like losing (amittere) it—but the charm of pleasant and improving talk will afford our minds a measure of soothing relaxa§ Warmington, III, 112. ® Aulus Gellius 1. 16. 8. 10 The “bridges” (pontes) were the narrow gangways leading from the enclosures in which the tribes or centuries assembled to vote up to the tribunal of the presiding magistrate (cf. Cicero De legibus 3. 17. 38). There was, how-

ever, a popular belief that, of old, men over sixty years of age used to be thrown from a bridge into the Tiber and drowned, whence the proverb sexagenarios de ponte and the application of the term depontani to men in their sixties. 11 Or: “in exchanging accounts of what we have read (ex lecto).”

48 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA tion.!2 If such is your pleasure, you will win the warmest approval of my household gods by meeting here. [13] No one, replied Symmachus, at any rate no one who regards himself as a not unworthy member of this company, will refuse to accept the proposed meeting or its president. But, to complete the party, I move that we invite these others to join us and dine with us: Flavianus, who has proved that he has surpassed that admirable man Venustus, his father, by the distinction of his character and the dignity of his life no less than by the abundance and depth of his learning; and with him Postumianus, who adds to the renown of

the bar by the high reputation of his pleading, and Eustathius, a man so proficient in every branch of philosophy as by himself to take for us the place of those three gifted philosophers who were the boast of our predecessors. [14] And here I refer, of course, to those famous men whom the Athenians once sent as envoys to the Senate, to seek the remission of a fine of some five hundred talents

which had been imposed on their city for the sack of Oropus.'8 [15] They were the philosophers Carneades of the Academy, Diogenes the Stoic, and Critolaus the Peripatetic, each of whom, we are told, lectured separately before a large crowd in the most frequented parts of Rome to display his ability. [16] The eloquence of Carneades is said to have been forcible and vehement, that of Critolaus adroit and well-turned, that of Diogenes restrained and sober; nevertheless, when they appeared before the Senate, they

engaged the senator Caelius’* to act as an interpreter. But our friend Eustathius, who has studied the doctrines of every school— choosing to follow those that are most susceptible of proof—and combines in himself all the styles of speech that those Greeks displayed, is so competent to act among us as his own interpreter that it would be impossible to say in which tongue he would discourse with the greater ease and elegance—in Greek or in Latin.

[17] Ihe proposal made by Quintus Aurelius, to invite the companions suggested, met with general approval; and, this decision reached, the guests, all taking leave of Praetextatus first and then of each other, returned to their several homes. 12 Aulus Gellius 18. 2. 1. 8 Aulus Gellius 6. 14. See also Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, p. 50. 14 G. Acilius? See Aulus Gellius 6. 14.

CHAPTER 6 [1] On the next day, as they had agreed the day before, all came early in the morning to the house of Vettius Praetextatus, who was

waiting for them in the library. [2] This, said he as he received them, I see will be a famous day for me; for you are here, and those whom we decided to ask to be of our company have also promised to come—all except Postumianus, who felt that he ought rather to

be getting up his briefs. But when he declined the invitation, I asked the rhetorician Eusebius in his place, a shining example of the learning and eloquence of Greece. And I have suggested to all that they should give us the pleasure of their company from daybreak; since no public business would properly be carried on today, a day on which you certainly will not see anybody wearing formal dress, whether civil dress or military (togatus,! trabeatus, paludatus, praetextatus) .

[3] You refer, Praetextatus, to the words used to describe different kinds of dress, said Avienus, interrupting, as was his way, and you mention a name which Rome and I revere—your own. It occurs to me therefore to ask a question which will not, I think,

seem absurd; for, since neither the toga nor the trabea nor the paludamentum has given rise to the formation of a proper name, why, pray, has the usage of old times led to such occurrence only in the case of the praetexta; or else what is the origin of your name? [4] While Avienus was speaking, in came Flavianus and Eustathius, a pair well known for their friendship, and shortly afterward Eusebius. Their arrival added to the life of the gathering, and after an exchange of greetings they sat down, asking, as they did so, what the discussion on which they had chanced was about. [5] You have come in the nick of time, said Vettius, for I was looking for some1 Cf. Martial 6. 24.

50 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA one to take my part. Our friend Avienus is raising the question of my name and is demanding to know its origin—for all the world as if proof of parentage were required of it. No one bears the name “Togatus” or “Trabeatus or “Paludatus,” and so he asks us for an explanation why “Praetextatus” is used as a proper name. [6] The temple door at Delphi bore the inscription “Know Thyself,” and this is also a maxim of one of the Seven Sages. What an ignoramus then I must be thought to be, if I am ignorant of my own name! And so I must now tell of its origin and how I come to bear it. [7] Tullus Hostilius, the third king of the Romans, was the first to introduce the use at Rome of the curule chair, lictors, and the

toga picta, and toga praetexta: it was after his conquest of the Etruscans, for whose magistrates they were the insignia of office. At that time children used not to wear the praetexta® because, as the other attributes which I have mentioned, the dress marked the holding of a public office. [8] Afterward, however, ‘Tarquinius Priscus (son of the Corinthian exile, Demaratus) who, some say, was called Lucumo—he was third‘ after Hostilius and the fifth‘ after Romulus to reign at Rome—celebrated a triumph over the Sabines; and, since in that war his son, a lad of fourteen years, had

killed one of the enemy with his own hand, he made a public speech in the boy’s honor and presented him with an amulet (bulla) of gold and a purple-bordered toga praetexta, to show by rewards

indicative of manliness and office that the lad had displayed a courage beyond his years. [9] For just as the toga praetexta was worn by a magistrate, so it was the custom for a victorious general to wear on his breast at his triumph an amulet containing charms

believed to be of the greatest potency against the evil eye. [10] This then is the origin of the custom by which boys of noble birth came to wear the praetexta and the bulla as a presage of, and a prayer for, manliness like that of him who first received these rewards while yet a boy. [11] According to other authorities, when that same Priscus with the shrewdness of a farseeing ruler was organizing the citizens in 2 Originally the garb of royalty, later the embroidered toga worn by a victorious commander at his triumph (purple, embroidered with gold and interwoven with golden stars; see Appian Romana Historia 8.66; Suetonius Nero 25).

3 Girls as well as boys wore the praetexta in childhood. See Propertius 4. 11. 33. See also Fowler, Essays, p. 42. 4 Reckoned inclusively.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 6 51 classes, he considered that the dress of the free-born boys was also a matter of first importance. And he therefore ordained that boys of patrician birth should wear a golden bulla with a purple-bordered toga, provided that their fathers had held a curule office, [12] the rest of these boys being allowed the use of the praetexta only, such use being subject to a provision that their fathers had served in the cavalry as prescribed by law. Sons of freedmen, however, had no right to the praetexta, still less had resident aliens, since these last had no relationship with the citizens of Rome. [13] But afterward the right to wear the praetexta was granted to the sons of freedmen

also, for the following reason which Marcus Laelius, the augur, relates. He says that during the second Punic War, in consequence of a number of portents, the duumvirs [recte decemvirs],° pursuant to a decree of the Senate, consulted the Sibylline Books and, after inspection of the books, proclaimed a day of public prayer to be held on the Capitol and the provision of a feast for the gods from

the proceeds of a collection of alms to which freedwomen with the right to wear the long robe® were also permitted to contribute.

[14] Prayers were offered by boys, both free-born and sons of freedmen, and a hymn was sung by maidens who had both parents living. Subsequently, sons of freedmen, too, provided that they had been born of lawfully wedded mothers, were allowed to wear the toga praetexta, but in place of the honor of a golden amulet they wore a bulla of leather round their necks. [15] Verrius Flaccus tells of a reply received from an oracle to

the effect that a plague raging at Rome was due to the fact that men were “looking down on the gods.”7 The reply caused dismay in the city, for it was not understood. But on the day of the Games in the Circus a boy happened to be looking down on the procession from an upper room and told his father the order in which he had seen the sacred and secret objects arranged in the coffer on the car. The father reported the incident to the Senate, and they resolved that the route along which the procession passed should be screened. So the plague ceased; and the boy who had solved the riddle of the oracle received the right to wear the toga praetexta as a reward. 5 See 1. 17. 29, below. Cf. Livy 22. 1 and 27. 37. See also Fraenkel, Horace,

ee The “long robe” was a mark of a woman of good character; cf. Horace Satires 1. 2. 29.

7 Cf. Aristophanes Nubes 226.

52 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [16] Learned antiquaries relate that at the time of the rape of the Sabine women, one (named Hersilia) was carried off clinging to her daughter and was given by Romulus to be the wife of a certain

Hostus, a man of outstanding valor who had come from Latium to the place of refuge set up by Romulus at Rome. She was the first of the Sabine women to give birth to a child, a son, to whom, as the first to be born in a foreign land (im hostico), she gave the name of Hostus Hostilius. Romulus, too, honored the boy with a golden bulla and the distinction of the praetexta; for the story goes that, when Romulus called the Sabine women together to console them for their capture, he promised to confer a signal honor on the

child whose mother was the first to bear a citizen of his city of Rome.

[17] Some believe that free-born boys were allowed to wear the heart-shaped figure of the bulla on the breast, in order that the sight

of this figure might remind them that excellence of heart was needed to make them men; and that the further gift of the toga praetexta was made to the end that the blush of the purple might

teach them to order their lives with a modesty befitting their free birth. [18] I have spoken of the origin of the praetexta, and I have also given the reasons for supposing that it was granted as a badge of childhood. I must now briefly explain how it came about that the name for this kind of dress passed into use as a proper name.8 [19]

It was formerly the custom for Senators, when they went to the House, to be accompanied by sons who were still wearing the praetexta. One day, when the discussion of a matter of considerable importance had been adjourned to the morrow, it was resolved that no one should refer to the subject of the debate until a decision had been reached. [20] ‘The mother of a young Papirius, who had been with his father in the Senate, asked her son what business had come before the House, but the boy replied that the business was secret

and might not be mentioned. This made the woman all the more eager to hear about it, for the secrecy of the matter and the boy’s silence provoked her curiosity, and she therefore questioned him

more closely and more urgently. [21] Then, because of his mother’s insistence, the boy had recourse to a neat and humorous falsehood: the question debated was, he said, whether the advantage 8 Aulus Gellius 1. 23.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 6 53 and interest of the state would be better served by one man having two wives or one woman two husbands. [22] On hearing this, the woman was filled with alarm and hurriedly left the house to carry the news to the other wives. Next day the matrons of Rome flocked in great crowds to the Senate, begging with tears and entreaties that one woman should be married to two men rather than two women

to one man. [23] The Senators, as they entered the House, were amazed at the unrestrained behavior of the women and were at a loss to know the meaning of their demand, for such a mad and unseemly departure from the natural modesty of the sex seemed to presage some disaster, and they were disquieted. [24] But the general dismay was relieved when the young Papirius stepped forward and told the House all that had happened—what his mother

had insisted on hearing and his own fictitious reply. [25] The Senate warmly commended the lad’s loyalty and ingenuity but resolved that in the future boys should not be admitted to the House with their fathers, an exception being made in favor of the young Papirius alone, who was honored subsequently by decree with the surname “Praetextatus,” for the discretion he had shown, in silence and in speech, while still of age to wear the praetexta. [26] This surname afterwards remained in our family as the family name.

The Scipios, continued Vettius, got their name just because a Cornelius was given the surname “Scipio” [a staff] for acting as a staff to guide his blind father (another Cornelius), and from him this name passed as a surname to his descendants. So too with your

friend Messala, Avienus: he derives his name from the surname which Valerius Maximus received after his capture of the famous city of Messana in Sicily. [27] And there is nothing surprising in the fact that surnames become family names, since the opposite also happens and surnames have been formed from family names—

Aemilianus, for example, from Aemilius and Servilianus from Servilius.

[28] Messala and Scipio, interposed Eusebius, received their sur-

names, as you say, the former for valor and the latter for filial piety, but what of Scropha and Asina? Tell us, please, the origin of these surnames, for they belong to men of no ordinary worth; and

yet the names would seem to suggest an insult rather than a compliment.

54 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [29] These names, replied Praetextatus, are neither complimen-

tary nor insulting in their origin; they are the result of chance circumstances. The Cornelii were given the surname “Asina’’ because a head of the Cornelian clan—buying some land or marrying

a daughter—being required to produce the usual guarantors, brought a she-ass (asina) with a load of money to the Forum as a tangible security in their place. [30] As for Tremellius, he got the surname “Scropha” from the following incident. He was at his country estate with his children and household when his slaves stole

and killed a sow (scropha) which was wandering away from a neighbor’s land. The neighbor summoned guards and surrounded the other’s whole estate, to prevent any possible removal of the animal,

and then called on the master to return it to him. But Tremellius had heard from his bailiff what had happened, and so he put the dead body of the sow under some rugs on which his wife was lying and invited the neighbor to make a search. When they came to the

bedroom, Tremellius swore that there was no sow in his house, “Except,” said he, pointing to the bed, “the one lying in those rugs.” And for this humorous oath he was given the surname Scropha.

CHAPTER 7 [1] While Praetextatus was recounting these anecdotes, one of the slaves, whose duty it was to admit callers, announced that Evangelus was at the door and with him Disarius, who at that time was regarded as the most distinguished of the medical profession at Rome. [2] Frowns on the faces of most of those present made it clear that they found the appearance of Evangelus disturbing and unpleasant, according ill with a quiet gathering; for he was an

impudent fellow with a bitter wit and a shamelessly mordant tongue, who cared nothing for the dislike which his provocative language, directed against friend and foe alike, used to stir up against him everywhere. Praetextatus, however, with the unruffled kindliness which he showed to all alike, gave orders to admit the visitors and sent to meet them. [3] Horus too, who had been just behind, came in with them, a man whose mind matched his body in strength, for after countless victories as a boxer he had taken up the study of philosophy and, as a follower of Antisthenes, Crates, and Diogenes himself, was of no little repute among the Cynics. [4] Finding himself in the presence of a large and distinguished company who rose as he entered, Evangelus said: Is it just chance

that has brought all these gentlemen to your house, Praetextatus, or have you met deliberately to consider some matter of importance which called for the absence of witnesses? If that is so—and I think it is—I shall go away rather than meddle with your secrets; for I shall be glad to keep clear of them, although, as ill luck will have it, I have blundered upon them. [5] Vettius, who for all his unfailing forbearance, serenity, and strength of character was somewhat put out by this impudent question, replied: [6] If you had given a thought to the conspicuous integrity of these men, or to me, you would not suppose that we

56 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA were sharing any secret which could not be disclosed to you or, for that matter, to all the world. For I have not forgotten—and I am sure that all here know well—that hallowed precept of philosophy: “Speak with your fellow men as though in the hearing of the

gods and with the gods as though in the hearing of your fellow men.”! The second half of this precept forbids us to ask anything of the gods, if it were unbecoming to admit to our fellows the wish to have it. [7] But as a matter of fact we have met in honor of the sacred rest days, and it is our intention to avoid idleness and

to put the leisure afforded by them to good use by spending the whole day in learned conversation, to which each of us is to contribute his share. [8] For if, during the celebration of a sacred festival, no religious ordinance forbids us to scour a watercourse, and if the laws of gods and men allow us to dip our sheep then to keep them healthy,? surely we may be held to show respect for religion if we devote to the hallowed study of literature days that are appointed to be kept holy. [9] But since, by the grace of some god, you and your companions, Evangelus, have also come to be of our company, let us prevail upon you all, if it is your pleasure, to

pass the day with us and share our talk and our table. In making this request I feel sure that I have the concurrence of all present here today. [10] To be sure, replied Evangelus, it is not considered bad form to turn up uninvited at a discussion, but to gate-crash a dinner

party prepared for others® is mentioned with disapproval by Homer,’ although the offender then was a brother, and, if a great king received only one Menelaus, beware lest it be thought unduly presumptuous on your part to have three. [11] Then all supported Praetextatus and begged and in a friendly manner invited the new arrivals to join them, addressing themselves most often and most pressingly to Evangelus, but without overlooking those who had come in with him. [12] I take it, said Evangelus, mollified by the unanimity of the

request, I take it that you are all acquainted with the book by Varro—one of his Menippean satires—called You Never Can Tell 1 Cf. Seneca Epistulae to. 5. 2 Cf. 1. 16. 12 and 3. 3. 10-12. 3 John of Salisbury 8. 7 (731d). 4 Iliad 2. 408; cf. Plato Symposium 174c.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 7 57 What the Evening Has in Store for You? In it he lays down the rule that the number of diners should not be less than the number

, of the Graces nor more than the number of the Muses.> But here, not counting the master of the feast, I see that there are as many

of you as there are Muses.’ So why seek to add to a perfect number?

[13] Your presence will confer this benefit on us, replied Vettius,

that our full member will then equal that of the Muses and the Graces together; and it is meet that the Graces attend a feast in honor of the chief of all the gods. When all were seated, Horus turning to Avienus, with whom he

was on the most friendly terms, said: [14] In this worship of Saturn, whom you call the chief of the gods, your ceremonies differ from those of that most devout of people, the Egyptians, for they had admitted neither Saturn nor Serapis himself to the secret places of their temples until after the death of Alexander of Mace-

don, when pressure by their despotic rulers the Ptolemies compelled them to accept the cult of these gods, after the manner of the inhabitants of Alexandria, who used to hold them in special reverence. [15] Nevertheless, in obeying the royal command, the Egyptians were careful not altogether to violate their religious observances; for the law of their religion required them to propitiate the gods with prayers and incense only, never with the blood of beasts, whereas it was the custom to sacrifice victims to these two newcomers. They therefore placed the temples of Saturn and Serapis outside a city’s boundary, in order that they might worship

them with the blood of the appointed sacrifice without defiling the city’s temples by the killing of beasts. That is why no town in Egypt has admitted a shrine of either of these two gods within its walls. [16] And I hear that you have accepted one of them with reservation and indeed with reluctance, although you worship the other, Saturn, with greater honors than are paid to any of the rest of the gods. If, then, there is nothing to prevent my knowing it, please let me hear why this is so. [17] All here are equally competent and learned, Avienus replied

and added (with intent to leave it to Praetextatus to answer the question asked): but Vettius has special knowledge of everything 5 Aulus Gellius 13. 11; John of Salisbury 8. 10 (748c). 6 The nine present include Praetextatus.

58 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA that relates to religious ceremonies and he can tell you the origin

of the reverence paid to Saturn and reveal the reason for the } customary festival. Praetextatus at first tried to refer the question to the others but yielded to a general demand that he should deal with it himself, [18] and, as silence fell, he began as follows: The laws of religion,

he said, allow me to disclose the origin of the festival of the Saturnalia so far as the account of its origin is a matter of myth-

ology or is made known to all by the physicists. But of the secret nature of the deity I may not treat, for it is not permissible even at the sacred rites themselves to tell of the hidden principles which flow from the fountain of pure truth, and whoever attains to knowledge of them is bidden to keep such knowledge locked in his breast. Our friend Horus, then, may join with me in a survey of the origin of all that may properly be made known. [19] According to Hyginus, who has followed Protarchus of Tralles, Janus ruled over the country now called Italy, and he and Cameses, who was also a native of it, held the land in joint sovereignty, the country being called Camesene and the town Janiculum. [20] Later the kingdom passed to Janus alone. Janus is believed to have had two faces and so could see before

him and behind his back—a reference, no doubt, to the foresight and shrewdness of the king, as one who not only knew the past but would also foresee the future, just as Antevorta and Postvorta are worshipped at Rome as deities most fittingly associated with divination.?

[21] When Saturn arrived by ship, Janus received him here as his guest and learned from him the art of husbandry, thereby improving a mode of life which, before men understood how to make use of the fruits of the earth, had been brutish and rude; and he rewarded Saturn by sharing his kingdom with him. [22] Janus was also the first to strike coins of bronze, and in this too he showed his high regard for Saturn; for on one side of a coin he stamped the image of his own head but on the other side a ship, that posterity might preserve the remembrance of Saturn, whose coming had 7 On the functions and nature of Janus see the review by E. Gierstad of L. A. Holland’s Janus and the Bridge in Journal of Roman Studies, LIIl (1963), 229.

: BOOK I, CHAPTER 7 59 been by ship. And that the bronze coinage was so marked is evident even today from the game of chance in which boys throw pennies __ in the air, calling “heads” or “ships,” for the game bears witness to the old usage. [23] Janus and Saturn reigned together in harmony and built two

neighboring towns by their joint endeavors, as is clear not only from the line in Vergil which runs:

This fortress town the name Janiculum, that Saturnia, bore [Aeneid 8. 358]

but also from the fact that later generations dedicated two successive months to these personages, December having in it the festival of Saturn and January embodying the name of Janus. [24] It was during their reign that Saturn suddenly disappeared, and Janus then devised means to add to his honors. First he gave the name Saturnia to all the land which acknowledged his rule; and then he built an altar, instituting rites as to a god and calling these rites the Saturnalia—a fact which goes to show how very much

older the festival is than the city of Rome. And it was because Saturn had improved the conditions of life that, by order of Janus, religious honors were paid to him, as his effigy indicates, which received the additional attribute of a sickle, the symbol of harvest. [25] Saturn is credited with the invention of the art of grafting, with the cultivation of fruit trees, and with instructing men in everything that belongs to the fertilizing of the fields. Furthermore, at

-Cyrene his worshipers, when they offer sacrifice to him, crown themselves with fresh figs and present each other with cakes, for they hold that he discovered honey and fruits. Moreover, at Rome men call him “Sterculius,” as having been the first to fertilize the fields with dung (stercus). [26] His reign is said to have been a time of great happiness, both on account of the universal plenty that then prevailed and because as yet there was no division into bond and free—as one may gather from the complete license enjoyed by slaves at the Saturnalia.

[27] Another tradition accounts for the Saturnalia as follows. Hercules is said to have left men behind him in Italy, either (as certain authorities hold) because he was angry with them for neglecting to watch over his herds or (as some suppose), deliberate-

ly, to protect his altar and temple from attacks. Harassed by brigands, these men occupied a high hill and called themselves

60 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Saturnians, from the name which the hill too used previously to bear, and, conscious of the protection afforded to them by the name

of Saturn and by the awe which the god inspired, they are said to have instituted the Saturnalia, to the end that the very observance of the festival thus proclaimed might bring the uncouth minds of their neighbors to show a greater respect for the worship of the god. [28] I am aware too of the account given by Varro of the origin of the Saturnalia. The Pelasgians, he says, when they were driven from their homes, made for various lands, but most of them flocked to Dodona and, doubtful where to settle, consulted the oracle. ‘They received this reply: “Go ye in search of the land of the Sicels and the Aborigines, a land, sacred to Saturn, even Cotyle, where floateth

an island. Mingle with these people and then send a tenth to Phoebus and offer heads to Hades and a man to the Father.”8 Such was the response which they received, and after many wanderings

they came to Latium, where in the lake of Cutilia they found a floating® island, [29] for there was a large expanse of turf—perhaps

solidified mud or perhaps an accumulation of marsh land with brushwood and trees forming a luxuriant wood—and it was drifting

through the water by the movement of the waves in such a way as to win credence even for the tale of Delos, the island which, for all its lofty hills and wide plains, used to journey through the seas

from place to place. [30] The discovery of this marvel showed the Pelasgians that here was the home foretold for them. And, after having driven out the Sicilian inhabitants, they took possession of the land, dedicating a tenth of the spoil to Apollo, in accordance with the response given by the oracle, and raising a little shrine to Dis and an altar to Saturn, whose festival they named the Saturnalia. [31] For many years they thought to propitiate Dis with human

heads and Saturn with the sacrifice of men, since the oracle had bidden them: “Offer heads to Hades and a man (g@ta) to the Father.” But later, the story goes, Hercules, returning through Italy with the herds of Geryon, persuaded their descendants to replace these unholy sacrifices with others of good omen, by offering to Dis little masks cleverly fashioned to represent the human face, instead of human heads, and by honoring the altars of § Dionysius of Halicarnassus Antiquitates Romanae 1. 15 and 19; Pliny Epistulae 8. 20. ° Reading enantem.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 7 61 Saturn with lighted candles instead of with the blood of a man; for the word ¢@ta means “lights” as well as ‘‘a man.” [32] This is the

origin of the custom of sending round wax tapers during the Saturnalia, although others think that the practice is derived simply

from the fact that it was in the reign of Saturn that we made our way, as though to the light, from a rude and gloomy existence to — a knowledge of the liberal arts. [33] I should add, however, that I have found it written that, since many through greed made the Saturnalia an excuse to solicit and demand gifts from their clients, a practice which bore heavily on those of more slender means, one

Publicius, a tribune, proposed to the people that no one should send anything but wax tapers to one richer than himself. [34] I find, Praetextatus, interposed Albinus Caecina, a substituted sacrifice, such as that which you have just mentioned, made in later times at the rites of the Compitalia, when games used to be held at crossroads throughout the city, that is to say, on the restoration of these games by Tarquinius Superbus, in honor of the Lares and of Mania, in accordance with an oracle of Apollo. For that oracle

ordained that offering should be made “for heads with heads,” [35] and for some time the ritual required the sacrifice of boys to the goddess Mania, the mother of the Lares, to insure the safety of the family. But after the expulsion of Tarquinius, Junius Brutus, as consul, determined to change the nature of the sacrificial rite. By his order heads of garlic and poppies were used at the rite, so that the oracle was obeyed, in so far as it had prescribed “heads,” and a criminal and unholy sacrifice was discarded. Jt also became the practice to avert any peril that threatened a particular family by hanging up woolen! images before the door of the house. As for the games themselves, they were customarily called “Compitalia” from the crossroads (compita) at which they were held. But I interrupted you. Pray go on. [36] You have referred, said Praetextatus, to a parallel instance of a change for the better in the ritual of a sacrifice. The point is well taken and well timed. But from the reasons adduced touching 10 Cf. the story told by Ovid (Fasti 3. 339), how Numa cheated Jupiter of a human sacrifice. See also Plutarch Numa 15. So too Vulcan accepted an offering of fish in the place of human victims (pisciculi pro animis humanis) ; Festus, p. 276. 11 Reading Janeae. Cf. Festus, p. 273: pilae et effigies viriles et muliebres ex lana Conpitalibus suspendebantur in conpitis.

62 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the origin of the Saturnalia it appears that the festival is of greater antiquity than the city of Rome, for in fact Lucius Accius? in his Annals says that its regular observance began in Greece before the foundation of Rome. [37] Here are the lines:

In most of Greece, and above all at Athens, men celebrate in honor of Saturn a festival which they always call the festival of Cronos. The day is kept a holiday, and in country and in town all usually hold joyful feasts, at which each man waits on

his own slaves. And so it is with us. Thus from Greece that custom has been handed down, and slaves dine with their masters at that time. 12 Warmington, II, 590.

CHAPTER 8 [1] We must now say a few words about the temple of Saturn itself. I find it recorded that Tullus Hostilius, after two triumphs over the Albans and a third over the Sabines, consecrated a shrine

to Saturn in fulfillment of a vow and that the festival of the Saturnalia was then first instituted at Rome; although Varro in his

sixth book, which deals with sacred buildings, writes that King Lucius ‘Tarquinius contracted for the building of a temple of Saturn

in the Forum, but that it was the dictator Titus Larcius who dedicated it during the Saturnalia. I am aware too that in the writings of Gellius? we are told that a temple of Saturn was built by decree of the Senate and that Lucius Furius, a military tribune, was put in charge of the work. [2] The god also has an altar in front of the Senaculum, and the rites are performed there with head uncovered, in conformity with

the Greek use, because it is thought that such was the original practice, first of the Pelasgians and afterwards of Hercules. [3] Ihe Romans made the temple of Saturn the public treasury;

because it is said that, while the god lived in Italy, no theft was committed within his borders; or else because, under him, nobody held any private property, but It was impious to mark out the ground or part the field with boundary stone; men garnered for the common store, [Vergil Georgics 1. 126] so that the common wealth of the people would properly be placed . 1 Presumably of his Antiquitates rerum divinarum. 2 Gnaeus Gellius, a contemporary of the Gracchi and the author of a history of Rome.

64. MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA in the temple of the god under whose rule all men had all things in common. [4] Nor must I omit to mention the horn-blowing Tritons placed

on the gable of the temple of Saturn, to show that from the time of this commemoration of the god up to our own day history is, as it were, to be seen by our eyes and heard by our ears; whereas before that time it was unheard, unseen, and unknown, as witness the T'ritons’ tails, buried in the ground and hidden from view. [5] Saturn, too, is represented with his feet tied together, and, although Verrius Flaccus says that he does not know the reason, my reading of Apollodorus suggests an explanation. Apollodorus says

that throughout the year Saturn is bound with a bond of wool but is set free on the day of his festival, that is to say, in this present month of December. And he finds in this practice the origin of the proverb “The gods have feet of wool’—the story in fact signifying the growth to full life, in the tenth month, of the seed which has been kept alive in the womb and which, until it issues into the light of day, is confined in nature’s gentle bonds. [6] Moreover, Saturn, as Cronus, is identified with Time (ypdvoc).

For just as the mythographers in their fables give divergent accounts of the god, so the physicists to some extent recall a true picture of him. Thus it is said that Saturn, having cut off the privy parts of his father, Heaven, threw them into the sea and that from them Venus was born and received the name Aphrodite from the foam [d&ppdc] out of which she was formed—[7] a myth from which we are meant to understand that, while chaos lasted, times and seasons did not exist, since time has fixed measurements and those are determined by the revolution of the heavens. Cronus then is held to be the son of Heaven, and he, as we said a moment ago,

is Time.’ [8] And since the seeds of all things which were to be created after the heavens flowed from the heavens and since all the elements which could comprise the complete universe drew their origin from those seeds, it followed that, when the universe had been provided with all its parts and members, then, at a fixed point in time, the process whereby seeds from the heavens caused the elements of the universe to be conceived came to an end, inasmuch as the creation of those elements had now been completed. However, the power of generating an everlasting succession 5 Cicero De natura deorum 2. 25. 64.

BOOK 1, CHAPTER 8 65 of living creatures passed from the heavenly fluid to Venus, so that thereafter all things were created by the intercourse of male and female.

[9] It is the myth of his assault on his father that has also led our authorities to call the god Saturnus, deriving the name from the Greek word o40n, which means the male member, as though to say “Sathunnus”; and, since Satyrs are prone to lewdness, this

name is thought to have the same derivation and to stand for “Sathunt.” As for the god’s attribute of a sickle,‘ it is held by some to indicate that time reaps, cuts off, and cuts short all things.

[10] It is said that Saturn used to swallow his children® and vomit them forth again, a myth likewise pointing to an identification of the god with time, by which all things in turn are created, destroyed, and brought to birth again. [11] His deposition by his son indicates, simply, that as times grow old they are superseded by the times that succeed them. His bonds point to the fact that all periods of time are by an immutable law of nature interconnected, or else to the fact that [the stalks of] all the fruits of the field are made up of cord-like substances and knots alternately arranged.

[12] And the legends which relate that his sickle fell to earth in Sicily would suggest that this land is of all lands the most fertile. 4 See Hesiod Theogony 173-200; Ausonius Eclogarium 23. 36, Ovid Ibis 216. 5 See Hesiod Theogony 459.

CHAPTER 9 [1] I have reminded you that Janus reigned in company with Saturn, and I have just set out the opinions which the mythographers and the physicists hold about Saturn. I shall now proceed to set forth also the theories propounded by each of these authorities about Janus.

[2] The mythographers say that, when Janus was king, every man’s house was sacred and inviolable and that for the protection thus afforded divine honors were decreed for him, the entrances into and exits from a house being dedicated to him in gratitude for

his favor. [3] Xenon, too, relates in the first book of his Italian Antiquities that in Italy Janus was the first to build temples to the gods and to ordain religious ceremonies and that for this he was

rewarded with the privilege of being for all time the first to be called on by name at a sacrifice. [4] Moreover, some think that he has received the epithet of “two-faced” because of his knowledge of the past and foreknowledge of the future. [5] The physicists on the other hand produce strong evidence for his divinity. For there are some who identify Janus with Apollo and Diana and maintain that he combines in himself the divine attributes of both. [6] Indeed, as Nigidius, too, relates, Apollo is worshiped among the Greeks under the name of “the God of the

Door” (Thyraios), and they pay honors at altars to him before their doors, showing thereby that he has power over their going out and their coming in. Among the Greeks Apollo is also called

Ayvietc “the Guardian of the Streets” (Aguieus), as presiding over the streets of a city (for in Greece the streets within a city’s boundaries are called @yviat); and to Diana, as Trivia, is assigned the rule over all roads. [7] At Rome all doorways are under the charge of Janus, as is evident from his name which is the Latin

BOOK I, CHAPTER 9 67 equivalent of the Greek Thyraios; and he is represented as carrying

a key and a rod, as the keeper of all doors and a guide on every road. [8] Nigidius declared that Apollo is Janus and that Diana is Jana, that 1s to say, Jana with the addition of the letter “D,” which

is often added to the letter “i” for the sake of euphony (as, for example, in such words as reditur, redhibetur, redintegratur, and the like). [9] Some are of the opinion that Janus represents the sun and that his two faces (geminus) suggest his lordship over each of the two heavenly gates, since the sun’s rising opens and his setting _ Closes the day. The fact that men call on the name Janus first when any god is worshiped is held to indicate that it is through him that access may be had to the god to whom the sacrifice is being made, and that it is as it were through his doors that he suffers the prayers of suppliants to pass to the gods. [10] Again, it is as marking his connection with the sun that an image of Janus commonly shows him expressing the number three hundred with his right hand and

sixty-five with his left; for these numbers point to the measure of | a year, and it is a special function of the sun to determine this measure.

[11] Others hold that Janus is the universe, that is to say, the heavens, and that the name is derived from ezndo, since the universe

is always in motion, wheeling in a circle and returning to itself at the point where it began. That is why Cornificius remarks, in the third book of his Derivations, “Cicero does not call the god ‘Janus’ but “Eanus,’ as though from eundo.’® [12] And it is for this reason that the Phoenicians in their sacred rites have portrayed the god in the likeness of a serpent coiled and swallowing its own tail, as a visible image of the universe which feeds on itself and returns to itself again. [13] Thus, among us too, Janus looks toward the four quarters of the world, as for example in the statue brought from

Faleru. And Gavius Bassus, in his book on the gods, says that figures of Janus have two faces, since he 1s the doorkeeper of both heaven and hell, and that the figures are quadriform, as though to show that his greatness embraces all the regions of the world. [14] Moreover, in the ancient songs of the Salii he is hymned as the god of gods; and Marcus Messala (who was the colleague of Gnaeus 1 See Pliny Historia naturalis 34. 16. 33. 2 De natura deorum 2. 27. 67.

68 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Domitius in the consulship and held the office of augur for fiftyfive years) begins a reference to Janus, as follows: “He it is who fashions all things and guides them; he it is who in the compass of the heavens has joined together water and earth—the force which is naturally heavy and tends to fall downward to the depths below —with fire and air, which are light by nature and tend to soar to the boundless heights above; and it is this mighty power of the heavens that has united two opposing forces.”

[15] Again, in our sacred rites we invoke Janus as Janus Geminus, Janus Pater, Janus Junonius, Janus Consivius, Janus Qui-

rinus, and Janus Patultius and Clusivius. [16] I have already explained why we call on the god as “Geminus”; we call on him as “Pater” as the god of gods; and as “Junonius” because the beginning

not only of January but of all the months is his, and Juno has authority over all the Kalends—and so it is that Varro in the fifth Book of his Antiquities of Religion writes that twelve altars, corresponding to the twelve months, are dedicated to Janus. He 1s

called upon as “Consivius” from conserendo, as the patron of “sowing,” that is to say, as the patron of the propagation of the human race, whose sowing and increase are of him; and he is invoked as “Quirinus,” as the lord of battles, from the spear which

the Sabines call curis. Finally, we invoke him as “Patultius and Clusivius’”® because his doors are open (patent) in time of war and

shut (clauduntur = cluduntur) in time of peace; and for this custom the following reason is given. [17] In the war which fol-

lowed the capture of the Sabine maidens the enemy rushed to attack a certain gate (situated at the foot of the Viminal Hill and afterward, in consequence of what occurred, known as the gate of Janus) and the Romans hurried to shut it; but, after it had been shut, the gate then opened again of its own accord. This happened a second and yet a third time; and, since the gate could not be

closed, a large body of armed men stood on guard before its threshold, while the fight went on fiercely elsewhere. Suddenly a

rumor spread that our troops had been routed by Tatius. [18] Whereupon the men who were guarding the approach to the gate fled in terror, and the Sabines were just about to burst in through the open gate when (so the story goes) a great stream of water came gushing in a torrent through it from the temple of Janus, and 3 Cf. Ovid Fasti 1. 129.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 9 69 large numbers of the enemy perished, either scalded by the boiling

heat of the water or overwhelmed by its force and depth. It was therefore resolved to keep the doors of the temple of Janus open in time of war, as though to indicate that the god had gone forth to help the city. So much, then, for Janus.

CHAPTER 10 [1] But to return to our account of the Saturnalia. It was held to

be an offense against religion to begin a war at the time of the Saturnalia, and to punish a criminal during the days of the festival

called for an act of atonement. [2] Our ancestors restricted the Saturnalia to a single day, the fourteenth before the Kalends of January, but, after Gaius Caesar had added two days to December, the day on which the festival was held became the sixteenth before

the Kalends of January, with the result that, since the exact day was not commonly known—some observing the addition which Caesar had made to the calendar and others following the old usage —the festival came to be regarded as lasting for more days than one.

And yet in fact among the men of old time there were some who supposed that the Saturnalia lasted for seven days (if one may

use the word “suppose” of something which has the support of competent authorities); [3] for Novius, that excellent writer of Atellan plays, says: “Long awaited they come, the seven days of the Saturnalia” [Ribbeck, II, 328]; and Mummius too, who, after Novius and Pomponius, restored the long-neglected Atellan to favor, says: “Of the many excellent institutions of our ancestors this is the best—that they made the seven days of the Saturnalia begin when the weather is coldest” [Ribbeck, II, 332]. [4] Mallius, however, says that the men who, as I have already

related, had found protection in the name of Saturn and in the awe which he inspired, ordained a three-day festival in honor of the god, calling it the Saturnalia, and that it was on the authority of this belief that Augustus, in his laws for the administration of justice, ordered the three days to be kept as rest days. [5] Masurius and others believed that the Saturnalia were held on one day, the fourteenth day before the Kalends of January, and

BOOK I, CHAPTER IO 71 their opinion is corroborated by Fenestella when he says that the virgin Aemilia was condemned on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of January; for, had that day been a day on which the festival of the Saturnalia was being celebrated, she could not by any means have been called on to plead, [6] and he adds that “the day was the day which preceded the Saturnalia,” and then goes on

to say that “on the day after that, namely, the thirteenth day before the Kalends of January, the virgin Licinia was to plead,”

thereby making it clear that the thirteenth day too was not a festival.

[7] On the twelfth day before the Kalends of January there is a rest day in honor of the goddess Angeronia, to whom the pontiffs offer sacrifice in the chapel of Volupia. According to Verrius Flaccus, this goddess is called Angeronia because, duly propitiated, she banishes anxiety (amgores) and mental distress. [8] Masurius adds

that an image of this goddess, with the mouth bound up and sealed, is placed on the altar of Volupia, because all who conceal

their pain and care find, thanks to their endurance, great joy (voluptas) at last. [9] According to Julius Modestus, however, sacrifices are offered to Angeronia because, pursuant to the fulfillment of a vow, she delivered the Roman people from the disease known as the quinsy (angina).

[10] The eleventh day before the Kalends of January is a rest day in honor of the Lares, for whom the praetor Aemilius Regillus

in the war against Antiochus solemnly promised to provide a temple in the Campus Martius. [11] The tenth day before the Kalends is a rest day in honor of Jupiter, called the Larentinalia. I should like to say something of this day, and here are the beliefs generally held about it. [12] In the reign of Ancus, they say, a sacristan of the temple of Hercules, having nothing to do during the rest day challenged the god to a game of dice,? throwing for both players himself, and the stake for which they played was a dinner and the company of a courtesan. [13] Hercules won, and so the sacristan shut up Acca Larentia® in the temple (she was the most notable courtesan of the 1 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 3. 5. 65. 2 For Hercules and the throwing of dice, see Pausanias 7. 5. 10 and Frazer’s Pausanias, 1V, 173.

8 Cf. Aulus Gellius 7. 7.

72 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA time) and the dinner with her. Next day the woman let it be known that the god as a reward for her favors had bidden her take

advantage of the first opportunity that came to her on her way home. [14] It so happened that, after she had left the temple, one Carutius, captivated by her beauty, accosted her, and in compliance

with his wishes she married him. On her husband’s death all his estate came into her hands, and, when she died, she named the Roman people her heir. [15] Ancus therefore had her buried in the

Velabrum, the most frequented part of the city, and a yearly rite was instituted in her honor, at which sacrifice was offered by a priest to her departed spirit—the rest day being dedicated to Jupiter because it was believed of old that souls are given by him and are given back to him again after death. [16] Cato, however, says that Larentia, enriched by the profits of her profession, left lands known

as the Turacian, Semurian, Lintirian, and Solinian‘ lands to the Roman people after her death and was therefore deemed worthy of a splendid tomb and the honor of an annual service of remembrance. [17] But Macer, in the first Book of his Histories, maintains that Acca Larentia was the wife of Faustulus and the nurse of Romulus and Remus and that in the reign of Romulus she married a wealthy Etruscan named Carutius, succeeded to her husband’s wealth as his heir, and afterward left it to her foster child Romulus, who dutifully appointed a memorial service and a festival in her honor.

[18] One can infer, then, from all that has been said, that the Saturnalia lasted but one day and was held only on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of January; it was on this day alone that the shout of “Io Saturnalia” would be raised, in the temple of Saturn, at a riotous feast. Now, however, during the celebration of the Saturnalia, this day is allotted to the festival of the Opalia, although the day was first assigned to Saturn and Ops in common. [19] Men believed that the goddess Ops was the wife of Saturn and that both the Saturnalia and the Opalia are held in this month

of December because the produce of the fields and orchards are thought to be the discovery of these two deities, who, when men have gathered in the fruits of the earth, are worshiped therefore as the givers of a more civilized life. [20] Some too are of the opinion 4 Perhaps the ager Solonius to which reference is made in Livy 8. 12. 2. Cf. Cicero Epistulae ad Atticum 2. 3. 3.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 10 73 that Saturn and Ops represent heaven and earth, the name Saturn being derived from the word for growth from seed (satus), since such growth is the gift of heaven, and the name Ops being identified with earth, either because it is by her bounty (ops) that life is nourished or because the name comes from the toil (opus) which is needed to bring forth the fruits of trees and fields. [21] When men make prayer to Ops they sit and are careful to touch the earth, signifying thereby that the earth is the very mother of mortals and is to be approached as such.

[22] Philochorus says that Cecrops was the first to build, in Attica, an altar to Saturn and Ops, worshiping these deities as Jupiter and Earth, and to ordain that, when crops and fruits had been garnered, the head of a household everywhere should eat thereof in company with the slaves with whom he had borne the toil of cultivating the land, for it was well pleasing to the god that honor should be paid to the slaves in consideration of their labor. And that is why we follow the practice of a foreign land and offer sacrifice to Saturn with the head uncovered.

[23] I think that we have now given abundant proof that the festival of the Saturnalia used to be celebrated on only one day, the fourteenth before the Kalends of January, but that it was afterward prolonged to last three days: first, in consequence of the days which Caesar added to the month of December, and then in pursuance of an edict of Augustus which prescribed a series of three rest days for the Saturnalia. The festival therefore begins on the sixteenth day be-

fore the Kalends of January and ends on the fourteenth, which used to be the only day of its celebration.® [24] However, the addition of the feast of the Sigillaria has extended the time of general excitement and religious rejoicing to seven days. 5 See notes by Watson and by How, in their editions of select letters of Cicero, on secundis Saturnalibus (Epistulae ad Atticum 13. 52. 1).

CHAPTER 11 [1] Oh, said Evangelus, this is something that I cannot stand any

longer: that our friend Praetextatus, to parade his learning and show how well he can talk, alike chose a moment ago to ascribe the

practice of slaves taking meals with their masters to the cult of some god—as if, indeed, the gods would take any account of slaves or as if any sensible man would disgrace his house by keeping such low company in it—and is seeking now to refer to a religious rite the festival of the Sigillaria, the festival at which we amuse infants

in arms with little masks of clay. He is regarded as a leading authority on matters of religion, and he makes that an excuse for bringing in the element of superstition. In fact, it would seem as if some divine law forbade us ever to disbelieve him.

[2] All shuddered at these words, but Praetextatus only smiled and said: I am quite willing, Evangelus, for you to regard me as superstitious and unworthy of credence, if I fail to give reasons to prove to you that both my statements are true. Let us speak of the slaves first. Are you joking or in earnest when you suggest that there are human beings whom the immortal gods regard as beneath their divine care and providence? Or perhaps you refuse to reckon a slave a human being? Let me tell you, then, what deep resentment was felt in heaven at the punishment of a slave.

[3] In the four hundred and seventy-fourth year after the foundation of Rome a certain Autronius Maximus, after flogging one of his slaves, had him fastened to a gibbet and led through the Circus before the beginning of the Games. This conduct angered Jupiter, and he ordered a certain Annius in a dream to inform the Senate of his displeasure at the brutal act. [4] Annius, however, concealed the matter; whereupon his son died unexpectedly, and 1 Cf. Livy 2. 36; Cicero De divinatione 1. 26. 55.

BOOK I, CHAPTER II 75 after a second warning, which too was disregarded, the man himself suddenly became paralyzed. So at last, by the advice of his friends, he was carried to the Senate in a litter and told his tale. Hardly had he finished speaking when he was immediately restored

to health and left the House on foot. [5] To propitiate Jupiter, therefore, a decree of the Senate and the Maenian Law added a day to those Games in the Circus, the day being called instauraticius, not (as some suppose) from the gibbet—otavpdc in Greek—but to mark the restoration of Annius to health, for according to Varro the word instaurare is equivalent to instar novare, to renew. [6] You see, then, Evangelus, what grave concern the greatest of the gods felt for a slave. But how do you come to have this bitter and groundless contempt for slaves, as though they were not made of and nourished by the same elements as yourself, drawing the

breath of life as you do, and that from the same first principle? [7] For reflect, I pray you, that those whom you call your chattels are born in the same way as you, enjoy the same sky, live like you, and die like you. “They are slaves,” you say.? No, they are human

beings. You repeat, “They are slaves.” Very well then, they are your fellow slaves, if you will but bear in mind that you are as much at the mercy of fortune as they are. You may live to see your slave a free man and he to see you a slave. How old was Hecuba when she became a slave? How old was Croesus? The mother of Darius? Diogenes? Plato himself? [8] And, after all, why do we shudder so at the word slavery? Of course a man may be a slave, but it was his destiny, and it may well be that, although he is a slave, his spirit is free. The fact that he is a slave will be to his prejudice only if I can point to someone who is not a slave. For one man 1s a slave to lust, another to greed, another to a desire for

power; all men are slaves to hope and all to fear. Assuredly, no form of slavery is more shameful than that which is self-imposed; [9] and yet, while we spurn as a worthless wretch one bent beneath

the yoke which fate has placed upon him, we refuse to tolerate any criticism of the yoke which we have put upon our own necks. [10] You will find among slaves one whom no bribe can tempt, and again you will find a master kissing the hands of another man’s slaves in the hope of gain. I shall judge my fellow men, then, not by their lot in life but by their character, since a man’s character is 2 Seneca Epistulae 47; John of Salisbury 8. 12 (756a-757¢).

76 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA his gift to himself, but his status is assigned to him by chance. For just as a man is a fool who in buying a horse looks at its saddlecloth and bridle instead of at the animal’s points, so the biggest of fools is the man who thinks that a fellow man should be judged by his clothing or by his rank (which is no more than a garment to clothe us). [11] No, my good Evangelus, it is not only in the Forum and Senate House that you should seek a friend; look carefully, and you will find one in your home as well. All that you have to do is to show kindness and courtesy to the slave with whom you live, conversing with him and sometimes taking counsel with him as with a friend. Certainly it was that the master might never be the object of ill will nor the slave of insult that our ancestors called the master the father of the household and the slaves its members. [12] And so, take my advice; let your slaves feel respect for you rather than fear. Perhaps someone will say that I am now degrading the master and, so to speak, emancipating the slave, in asserting, as I have, that a Slave should show respect rather than fear. But to think thus will be to forget that what is enough for the gods is not too little for the master. Moreover, an object of respect is also an object of affection, and affection cannot be coupled with fear. [13] What do you suppose was the origin of that oft-quoted and arrogant proverb which says that in every slave we possess we have

an enemy? hey are not our natural enemies, but we make them our enemies by the inordinate pride, insolence, and cruelty that we

show toward them, when luxurious living makes us so prone to anger that to be crossed in anything leads to an outburst of violent rage. [14] For at home we assume the guise of passionate tyrants and seek to exercise over our slaves the full power permitted to us

rather than to limit that power to what is fit and proper. And indeed, to say nothing of other kinds of cruelty, there are masters who, as they greedily gorge themselves with the abundance of their tables, refuse to allow the slaves who stand around them to move their lips even to speak, but every sound is checked with the rod. It may be accidental, but it does not escape the blows, and a cough, a sneeze, or a hiccup is punished with a severe thrashing. [15] That is why these slaves who may not speak before their master speak of him behind his back. But those who were free to speak not only

BOOK I, CHAPTER I1 77 in their master’s presence but also with him, whose mouths were - not, so to speak, sewn up, they were found ready to lay down their lives for their master and to bring on their own heads the danger which threatened him; they would speak at table, but under torture they would hold their tongues.

[16] Would you have me review instances of the action of generous feelings in the heart of a slave? Hear, then, first, the story

of Urbinus. He had been condemned to death and was in hiding on his estate at Reate, but the hiding place was betrayed. Whereupon one of his slaves, to represent him, put on his master’s ring and garments, lay down in the bedroom into which the pursuers were forcing their way, offered his neck to the swords as the soldiers entered and received the blow intended for his master. Urbinus was afterward restored to his former position and then erected a monument to the slave, with an inscription to tell the story of his devotion. [17] Aesopus, a freedman of Demosthenes, who was privy to his

late master’s adultery with Julia, was for long put to the torture but steadfastly refused to betray his patron, until Demosthenes, convicted by the evidence of others who also knew the facts, himself confessed.

[18] ‘That you may not argue that it is easy for one man to keep a secret, take the case of Labienus. No form of torture prevailed to make his freedmen reveal the place in which they had helped him to hide. And that none may say that the freedmen showed this

loyalty out of gratitude for the gift of freedom rather than from any innate goodness of heart, let me tell you of generosity shown toward his master by a slave who had himself received punishment at that master’s hand. [19] Antius Restio had been proscribed and was fleeing, alone and by night. But, while the other slaves were

plundering the man’s goods, one who had been put in irons and branded on the forehead was set free, after his master’s condemnation, by a compassionate stranger. ‘This slave went in search of his fugitive master, urged him to be of good courage—for he knew, he

said, that it was not his master but his own fate that should be regarded as responsible for the outrage he had suffered—hid him,

and ministered to his needs. [20] Later, when he saw that the pursuers were at hand, the slave killed an old man whom he chanced to meet, built a pyre, and threw the body on it. When the

78 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA pyre was alight, he ran to meet the men who were looking for Restio, saying that he had avenged himself on the proscribed man and had inflicted on him far crueler treatment than he had himself received from him. The slave was believed, and Restio was saved.3 [21] Then there is the story of Caepio. He had been minded to kill Augustus, and, after the discovery of his crime and his subsequent condemnation, he was conveyed by a slave to the Tiber in a chest, taken to Ostia, and brought thence by night to his father’s country house near Laurentum. Later, when the pair were shipwrecked at Cumae, the slave hid Caepio secretly at Naples, and,

when captured by a centurion, neither bribes nor threats could induce him to betray his fugitive master.

[22] When Asinius Pollio was seeking to compel the men of Padua to surrender their money and arms, they went into hiding to escape the harsh demand. A reward and their freedom were offered to any slaves who would betray their masters, but, as is well known, in no single instance was the bribe effective. [23] Let me now tell you a story to illustrate a display not only of fidelity but also of a kindly and fertile ingenuity in slaves. At the siege of Grumentum certain slaves left their mistress and went over to the enemy. When the town had fallen, these slaves, in ac-

cordance with an agreed plan, attacked their house and dragged the woman out with every appearance of threatening to wreak vengeance on her, crying out to all that met them that at last they had the chance to punish a cruel mistress. But after carrying their mistress away as though to kill her, they protected her with the greatest respect and loyalty. [24] You will find too a man of servile status displaying a greatness of heart that preferred death to disgrace. For Gaius Vettius, a Pelignian from Italica, when seized by his own troops for surrender

to Pompey, was killed by his slave, who then took his own life rather than survive his master. [25] When Gaius Gracchus was fleeing from the Aventine, a slave named Euporus (or, as some say,

Philocrates) refused to leave his side while any hope of safety remained and protected him in every way he could; but afterward, when his master was killed, he stabbed himself in the bowels and breathed his Jast over the body. [26] When Publius Scipio himself,

the father of Africanus, was wounded in a battle with Hannibal 3 Cf. Martial 3. 21.

BOOK I, CHAPTER II 79 and the rest of his men were deserting him, he was placed on a horse by a slave who single-handed brought him safely through to camp. [27] If it is a small matter to have shown devotion to a master

while he was alive, what of the spirit shown too by a slave who exacts retribution for a master after his death? For example, when king Seleucus had been killed by a friend, a slave of his became that friend’s slave and avenged his former master by stabbing his murderer as he dined. [28] Again, I find combined in the person of a single slave two

virtues which to a high degree give distinction also to men of noble birth—the ability to exercise sovereign power and the great-

ness of heart which can think lightly of such power. [29] For Anaxilaus of Messana, the founder of Messana in Sicily and the tyrant of Rhegium, was content to have entrusted to the care of his slave Micythus the children of tender age whom he was leaving

behind him at his death. Micythus was conscientious in the performance of his duty as guardian of the children and ruled the city so mildly that the men of Rhegium did not disdain to be governed by a slave. Afterward, when the boys came of age, he handed over their property and the sovereignty of the state to them, and he himself, taking only a small sum of money for the journey, went away to Olympia where he lived to a peaceful old age. [30] There are many instructive examples too of public service rendered by men of servile status. Thus, in the [second] Punic War, when there was a shortage of citizens for enlistment in the army, Slaves who undertook to fight in place of their masters were given the citizenship and called volunteers (volones), because their

undertaking was voluntary. [31] Moreover, after the defeat at Cannae eight thousand slaves were bought to serve in the army; and, although it would have cost less to ransom the prisoners, the Romans in that emergency chose rather to entrust the defense of the state to slaves.4 And after the memorable and disastrous losses at the battle of Lake Trasimene, freedmen also were called on to take the oath for military service. [32] In the Social War twelve cohorts of freedmen were enlisted and served with evident and notable valor. We know too that Gaius

Caesar, when he was replacing casualties in his army, accepted 4 Livy 22. 57.

80 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA slaves from his friends and made use of their gallant services. And

Caesar Augustus also enrolled several cohorts of freedmen in Germany and Illyricum and gave them the title of “volunteers” (voluntariae) .

[33] You must not suppose that such practices were peculiar to Rome. For, when the tribes that live near the river Borysthenes were attacked by Zopyrion, they liberated slaves, enftranchised

aliens, and abolished debts, and so were able to withstand the enemy. [34] At Sparta, when only fifteen hundred Lacedaemonians were left fit to bear arms, Cleomenes raised an army of nine thousand men from manumitted slaves. And the Athenians too, when the resources of the state were exhausted, freed slaves.

[35] Nor should you conclude that examples of meritorious actions are confined to male slaves, for here is a story of a deed done by female slaves,5 which is no less memorable than those which I have recounted and as beneficial to the state as any service you would find rendered by any persons of noble birth. [36] It 1s common knowledge that the Nones of July is the Festival of the Handmaids, both the origin of and the reason for this celebration being well known, for on that day women, free and slaves together, offer sacrifice to Juno Caprotina under a wild fig tree, to commemorate the generous courage with which female slaves were inspired to save the honor of Rome. [37] The occasion was after the capture of the city by the Gauls, when (although the Gallic rising had been

put down) the resources of Rome were at such low ebb that her neighbors were on the lookout for an opportunity to attack her. They made Postumius Livius, the chief magistrate of Fidenae, their leader, and he sent and bade the Senate of Rome, if they wished

what was left of their city to survive, to hand over to him their married women and unmarried daughters. [38] The Senators hesitated in anxious debate, but a female slave named Tutela (or Philo-

tis) promised that she and the rest of the maidservants would represent their mistresses and surrender in their place. They there-

fore assumed the dress of the matrons and their daughters and, followed by a company whose tears gave convincing evidence of

grief, were delivered to the enemy. [39] In the camp—on the pretense that the day was celebrated as a feast day at Rome—they freely plied with wine the men to whom they had been allotted by 5 Fowler, Festivals, p. 177.

BOOK I, CHAPTER II SI Livius, and, when they had stupified them with drink, they sent a signal to the Romans from a wild fig tree near the camp. [4o] A sudden attack by the Romans was successful, and the Senate in gratitude ordered all the slaves to be manumitted, gave them dowries from the public funds, and allowed them to wear the style of dress which they had assumed. The day itself was named Nonae

Caprotinae, after that wild fig tree (caprificus) from which the signal that led to the victory was received; and it was resolved that there should be a yearly festival and sacrifice, at which the juice

of the wild fig tree should be offered in memory of the deed to which I have referred. [41] Nor is the intelligence of a slave unsuited to or incapable of the study of philosophy. Phaedo (one of the disciples of Socrates

and so close a friend of both Socrates and Plato that the latter named after him his inspired book on the immortality of the soul) was a slave, although his person and his talents were those of a free man. Cebes, himself a follower of Socrates, is said to have bought

him, at the latter’s instigation, and to have had him trained in philosophy. Phaedo afterward won fame as a philosopher, and his discourses on Socrates, which show very great taste, are still read.®

[42] There were not a few other slaves, too, who afterward became distinguished philosophers, and among them the well-known

Menippus whose books Marcus Varro has sought to rival in the satires which he calls “Menippean,” although others call them “Cynic.” Furthermore, Pompylus, a slave of Theophrastus the Peripatetic, a slave of Zeno the Stoic called Perseus, and a slave of

Epicurus whose name was Mys were philosophers of note who lived at that time. Diogenes the Cynic was also a slave, although he was in fact a free man who had been sold into slavery. [43] When

Xeniades of Corinth, wishing to buy him, asked him whether he knew anything in the way of a trade, he replied: “I know how to govern free men (liberz).” Whereupon Xeniades, struck by this reply, bought him and set him free, and entrusted his children to him, with the words: “Take my children (Jiberi) and govern them.” [44] As for the famous philosopher Epictetus, he is too fresh in our

memories for the fact that he also was a slave to be reckoned among things forgotten and unknown. [45] And two verses of his, written of himself, are quoted, in which you may find the further

6 Aulus Gellius 2. 18. Cf. Athenaeus 11. 507¢. |

82 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA hidden meaning that those whose lives are a struggle against sorrows of many kinds are not necessarily hated by the gods: Slave, poor as Irus, halting as I trod, I, Epictetus, was the friend of God.’

[46] You now have a case made out, I think, to prove that the name of slave is not to be regarded with aversion and contempt, since even Jupiter has been moved to take thought for a slave; and it has been established that many slaves have shown themselves to be loyal, prudent, brave—and even philosophers. I must now deal briefly with the Sigillaria, for I would not have

you think that I spoke of a matter calling for a smile rather than reverence.

[47] Epicadus relates that Hercules after killing Geryon drove his herds in triumph through Italy and from a bridge (now known as the Sublician Bridge), which had been built for the occasion, cast into the river a number of human figures equal to the number of the comrades he had chanced to lose on his journey, his object being to ensure that these figures might be carried by the current to the sea and so, as it were, to restore to their ancestral homes the bodies of the dead.® This is said to have been the origin of the practice, which has persisted, of including the making of such figures in a religious rite. [48] In my opinion, however, a truer account of the origin of this practice is that which, I remember, I recently recalled,® namely, that, when the Pelasgians learned, by a happier interpretation of the words, that “heads” meant heads of clay not heads of living men and came to understand that @wtdc meant “of a light” as well as “of a man,” they began to kindle wax tapers in honor of Saturn, in preference to their former ritual, and to carry little masks to the chapel of Dis, which adjoins the altar of Saturn, instead of human heads. [49] Thence arose the tradi- | tional custom of sending round wax tapers at the Saturnalia and of | making and selling little figures of clay for men to offer to Saturn, | on behalf of Dis, as an act of propitiation for themselves and their — families. [50] So it is that the regular use of such articles of trade — 7 Anthologia Graeca 7. 676. Tr. H. Macnaghten, Verses Ancient and Modern (London, 1911). 8 Cf. Ovid Fasti 5. 650-60. ® See above, 7. 31.

BOOK I, CHAPTER II 83 begins at the Saturnalia and lasts for seven days. These days, in consequence, are only rest days (feriatos), not all of them are festivals. For we have shown that the day in the middle, namely the thirteenth day before the Kalends of January,!° was a day for legal business; and this has been attested by other statements made

by those who have given a fuller account of the arrangement of the year, months, and days, and of the regulation of the calendar by Gaius Caesar. 10 See above, 10. 6.

CHAPTER 12 [1] At this point Praetextatus thought to end his discourse, but Aurelius Symmachus interposed, saying: Please go on, for it is a pleasure to listen to you, and tell us also how the year is ordered,} before you find yourself put to the trouble of having to answer questions, should any of the present company be ignorant of the old arrangement of the year or of the more exact rules by which that arrangement has subsequently been changed. Indeed, I suggest

that by your reference to the addition of days to the month of December you have yourself encouraged your audience to look for information on this subject. Thereupon Praetextatus took up the thread of his exposition and continued as follows.

[2] The Egyptians,’ he said, are the only people who have always had an exact method of determining the measurement of the year. With other nations the methods varied; and, although the numbering might be different, all alike were in error. It will be enough, then, if I refer to the customs which obtained in a few

countries. Thus, in Arcadia the year was arranged into three months; in Acarnania into six; and the rest of the Greeks reckoned that their own year properly consisted of three hundred and fiftyfour days.

[3] With these variations it is not surprising that of old Rome too had its own year, arranged—on the authority of Romulus—in a

series of ten months. The year used to begin in March and to consist of three hundred and four days: six months having thirty days each, namely, April, June, Sextilis, September, November, and 1 In connection with this subject reference should be made to Fowler, Festivals. See also Ovid’s Fasti, Plutarch’s Numa, and Bede De temporum ratione

"2 CE Herodotus 2. 4. .

BOOK I, CHAPTER 12 85 December, and four comprising thirty-one days each, namely, March, May, Quintilis and October; and today, too, in these four months the Nones fall on the seventh day, whereas in the rest of the

months they fall on the fifth. [4] When the Nones fall on the seventh day of the month, the Kalends would return seventeen days after the Ides, but, when the Nones fell on the fifth day, the Kalends would begin again eighteen days after the Ides. [5] Such was the arrangement made by Romulus; and he dedicated the first month of the year to his father, Mars. That March was the first month of the year is shown most clearly by the fact

that Quintilis is the fifth month after it and that thereafter the months took their names from their numerical order. [6] Moreover, on the first day of March a new fire was kindled on the altars of Vesta, that the charge to keep a new fire alight might begin with

the beginning of the year. At the beginning of March, too, new laurel wreaths replaced the old in the Royal Palace (Regia) and also in the meeting places of the Tribes and in the houses of the flamens; and in the same month people went to Anna Perenna to offer public and private sacrifices for prosperity throughout the year and for years to come. [7] In March schoolmasters were paid

their dues for the year that had been completed; the Assemblies held their first meeting; the taxes were put out to farm; and matrons

would wait on their slaves at dinner, just as the masters of the household did at the Saturnalia—the women by this compliment calling on the slaves at the beginning of the year to give ready obedience, the men rendering thanks for service done. [8] Romulus called the second month April, or “Aphril” as some

suppose, who would spell the word with an aspirate, after the Greek word for the foam(d@pdc)from which Venus is believed to have sprung. It is said that it was the intention of Romulus to name

the first month after his father Mars and the second after Venus the mother of Aeneas and thus to make the beginnings of the year the special care of these deities, from whom Rome traced her

origin—since today too in our sacred rites we call Mars our “father” and Venus our “mother.” [9] But others suppose that Romulus showed a deeper understanding, or even acted under the

sure guidance of divine providence, in so arranging the initial months as to assign the first to Mars, often the slayer of men—in the words of Homer, who knew the god’s nature:

86 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Ares, blood-stained Ares, bane of men and sacker of cities [Iliad 5. 31]

and then to dedicate the second to Venus, as the goddess whose kindly influence was such as to appease the other’s violence. [10] Certainly in the twelve signs of the Zodiac as well, each of which is held to be the appointed abode of an appointed deity, the first sign, the Ram, has been allotted to Mars and thereafter the next in order, the Bull, to Venus. [11] Again, the Scorpion, which is placed over against these two signs, is so divided as to be common to Mars and Venus. And in this division there is held to be evidence of a divine

plan, for the hinder part of the Scorpion, which is armed with a sting as with a powerful dart, is the house of Mars, and the part in front, which the Greeks call ‘the Yceke” and we call “the Balance,”

belongs to Venus, who (as it were with a yoke of harmony) joins in marriage and unites in friendship. [12] Cingius, however, in the treatise on the calendar which he has left us, says that certain writers show their ignorance in supposing that the ancients named the month of April after Venus, since in the course of this month no festival, no notable sacrifice, was appointed in her honor by our ancestors, nor are her praises sung, as are those of the other deities, even in the hymns of the Salii. [13] Varro, too, agrees with Cingius, stating that even in the time of the kings the name of Venus, in either its Latin or its Greek form, was unknown at Rome, so that the month of April could not

have been named after her. [14] But, whereas before the vernal equinox the sky is generally dull and overcast, the sea closed to shipping, and the land itself covered with water, frost, or snow, and whereas in the spring, that is to say in the month of April, all the above become open (aperiantur), and the trees too, and everything else that the earth holds, begin to open out into buds, we must understand that it is from all these signs of opening that the month is deservedly called Aprilis, as though for Aperilis—just as at Athens the corresponding month is called Anthesterion, because everything is then in flower.’ [15] Nevertheless, Verrius Flaccus

admits that is was afterward ordained that matrons should offer sacrifice to Venus on the day of the vernal equinox;‘ but, since the 3 In this month the Anthesteria, or “Festival of Flowers,’ was held at Athens. 4 See Fowler, Festivals, p. 67.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 12 87 reason for this practice is out of place here, I must refrain from discussing it.

[16] Romulus gave May the third place, and there is a wide divergence of views among the authorities about the name of this month. Fulvius Nobilior, in the calendar which he deposited in the temple of Hercules “Leader of the Muses,” says that Romulus, after

dividing the people into “older” (maiores) and “younger” (tuniores)—to the end that the former should protect the state by counsel and the latter by arms—honored each class by calling this month May (Maius) and the month that followed, June (Junius) ® [17] Some relate that this month was transferred to our calendar from the calendar of Tusculum, which still has a reference to a god corresponding to Jupiter and called Maius, the name, that is to say, being derived from his greatness and majesty. [18] Cingius thinks that the month takes its name from Maia, whom he calls the wife of Vulcan, and he points by way of proof to the fact that the priest of Vulcan offers sacrifice to this goddess on the Kalends of May; but Piso says that Vulcan’s wife is called Maiesta not Maia. [19] Others maintain that it was Maia the mother of Mercury who gave her name to the month,® and they find the strongest proof of their theory in the fact that in this month all merchants sacrifice to Maia and Mercury together. [20] Some assert (and Cornelius Labeo agrees with them) that the Maia to whom sacrifice is offered in the month of May is the earth, and that Earth received the name Maia from its great size (magnitudine)—just as in the course of her rites Maia is also called the Great Mother—and they, further, infer the

truth of this opinion of theirs from the practice of sacrificing to the goddess a pregnant sow, which is the victim properly offered to Earth. They say too that Mercury is associated with the goddess in the rites because a human being receives the power of utterance

at birth by contact with the earth, and, as we know, Mercury is

the god of utterance and speech. [21] Cornelius Labeo is the authority for the statement that it was on the Kalends of May that a temple was dedicated to Maia, as the Earth, under the name of the Good Goddess, and he affirms that it can be shown from the more secret ritual itself of the sacrifice that the Good Goddess and Earth are identical. He adds that in the books of the pontiffs this same goddess is invoked as the Good Goddess and as Fauna, Ops, 5 Bede De temporum ratione 12.20. ° Ibid., 12. 21.

88 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA and Fatua—[22] as Good, because she is the source of all that 1s good for the maintenance of our life; as Fauna, because she is favorable (favet) to everything that serves the needs of living creatures,

as Ops [help], because it is on her help that life depends; and as Fatua, from fando (speech), since, as we have just said, infants at birth cannot utter a sound until they have touched the earth. [23] There are those who say that this goddess has the power of

Juno and for that reason bears a royal scepter in her left hand. Others believe that she is to be identified with Proserpine and say that sacrifice is made to her with a sow, because a sow devoured the crops which Ceres gave to mortals. Others again hold that she is “Hecate of the Nether World,” and the Boeotians, that she 1s Semele. [24] It is said too that she was the daughter of Faunus and that she resisted the amorous advances of her father, who even beat her with a rod of myrtle because, although plied by him with wine, she did not yield to his desires. There is, however, a belief that her father changed himself into a serpent and had intercourse with his daughter under that guise. [25] In support of all these beliefs the following evidence is adduced: that it is a sacrilege for a myrtle rod to be found in her temple; that a vine is spread above her head, since it was on this that her father had chiefly relied in his attempt

to seduce her; that it is not the custom to bring wine into her temple under its own name, but the vessel containing the wine 1s named a honey jar and the wine is called milk; and that there are serpents in her temple which, indifferent to their surroundings, neither cause nor feel fear. [26] Some identify the goddess with Medea, because herbs of all kinds are brought into her temple, from

which the priestesses commonly make medicaments, and also because no man may enter the temple on account of the wrong suffered by Medea at the hands of her thankless husband Jason. [27] In Greece she is called the “Goddess of Women,” and Varro (who says that she was the daughter of Faunus) adds that she was so modest that she never went outside the women’s quarters, that her name was never heard in public, and that she never saw, or was

seen by, a man—this being the reason why no man enters her temple. [28] And here too is the reason why in Italy women may

not take part in the rites of Hercules. For, when Hercules was bringing the cattle of Geryon through Italy, a woman in reply to his request for water to quench his thirst said that she could not

BOOK I, CHAPTER 12 89 give him any because the day was the feast of the Goddess of Women and it was unlawful for a man to taste of anything that had been prepared for the goddess. Hercules therefore, when about

to offer sacrifice, solemnly banned the presence of women and ordered Potitius and Pinarius, who had the charge of his rites, not to allow any woman to be present at them. [29] You see, then, how, having had occasion to consider the name Maia and having identified Maia with Earth and with the Good Goddess, we have had to relate all that we have ascertained about the latter. [30] June? follows May, and the name of the month is derived either (as I have already said) from the name given to a section of the people or (as Cingius thinks) from the fact that it was previously called Junonius in Latium and for long appeared under this name in the calendars of Aricia and Praeneste. Indeed, as Nisus says in his Commentaries on the Calendar, our ancestors for long continued

to use this name for the month, but later certain letters dropped out and from Junonius the month came to be called Junius. And certainly it was on the Kalends of June that a temple was dedicated

to Juno Moneta. [31] Some have thought that the month of June takes its name from Junius Brutus (Rome’s first consul), because it was in this month, on the Kalends of June, that he sacrificed to the goddess Carna on the Caelian Hill, after the expulsion of ‘Tarquin, in performance of a vow. [32] Carna is believed to be the goddess concerned with the care of man’s vital organs, and it is to her that one prays for the good preservation of the liver and heart and all the inward parts; and, since it was thanks to his heart that Brutus practiced the deception which won him a reputation for stupidity ®

and so enabled him to come forward and reform the state, he honored with a temple the goddess who has the care of these vital organs. [33] Offerings are made to her of bean pottage and bacon,

since these foods give strength to the body; and the Kalends of June are commonly called the Kalends of the Beans, because in this month ripe beans are added to the sacrificial offerings. [34] July follows—the month which, when March held the first place in the year, was called Quintilis from its numerical position

in the order of the months as prescribed by Romulus; and it kept this name even after the months of January and February had been placed by Numa before March, although it was then, clearly, no 7 Bede De temporum ratione 12. 23. 8 Livy 1. 56.

90 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA longer the fifth month but the seventh. Subsequently, however, in pursuance of a law proposed by Marcus (son of Marcus) Antonius as consul, the month was called July in honor of the dictator Julius Caesar, because he was born on the twelfth day of this month. [35] August is the next month, and it used formerly to be called Sextilis, until its complimentary dedication to Augustus, pursuant

to a decree of the Senate, of which the terms are as follows: “Whereas it is in the month of Sextilis that the Emperor Caesar Augustus has assumed his first consulate and has thrice® entered the city in triumph and that the legions have marched down from the Janiculum faithfully following his leadership; and whereas it is in

this month that Egypt has been brought under the power of the Roman people and it is in this month that civil wars have been ended; and whereas for these reasons this month is and has been the

happiest of months for this Empire: resolved that this month be called Augustus.” Likewise, on the same grounds, a plebiscite was made on a motion put to the people by Sextus Pacuvius, a tribune. [36] Ihe month of September keeps its original name. Domitian indeed had imposed on it the name of Germanicus and had given

his own to October. [37] But, when it was resolved to erase an ill-omened name from every monument of bronze or stone that bore it, these months too were divested of the titles which a tyrant had compelled them to bear. All subsequent emperors were careful

to avoid the unhappy consequences of an ill omen, and so the months from September to December retained their ancient names. [38] Such were the rules made by Romulus to measure the year.

By his arrangement it was, as I have already said, a year of ten months and of three hundred and four days; the months being so disposed that four had thirty-one days each and six had thirty. [39] But, since this method of reckoning agreed neither with the course of the sun nor the phases of the moon, it sometimes happened that the cold season fell in the summer months and, on the other hand,

the hot season in the winter months; and, on these occasions, as many days were allowed to pass unassigned to any named month as were needed to make the current month fit the season of the year and the appearance of the sky. ® Augustus celebrated triumphs on August 6, 7, and 8, 29 B.c. for victories in Dalmatia, at Actium, and at Alexandria. Cf. Vergil Aeneid 8. 714, Horace Odes 1.2.49; Suetonius Augustus 22;and Mommsen, Res Crestae d. Augusti, p. 9.

CHAPTER 13! [1] Romulus was succeeded by Numa. From such knowledge as he could acquire with only his natural genius to teach him—living, as he did, in an unkindly climate and in an age that was still uncivi-

lized—or perhaps learning something from the practice of the Greeks, Numa added fifty days to the year, to enlarge it to three hundred and fifty-four days, the period which he believed to correspond with the completion of twelve circuits of the moon. [2] To these fifty additional days he added six others, by taking one from each of the six months which had thirty days apiece, and the fifty-six days thus made available he divided equally to make two new months. [3] The first of those two months he named January and made it the first month of the year, as the month of the twofaced god who looks back to the year that 1s past and forward to the beginnings of the year to come. The second month he dedicated to Februus, the god who is believed to have charge over ceremonies of purification, for it was necessary that the city should be purified in the month in which Numa ordained the payment of due rites to the departed spirits.

[4] Afterward the neighboring peoples followed Numa’s arrangement and began to reckon their year with the same number of days and months as he, but with this single difference, that they

made their months consist of twenty-nine and thirty days alternately. [5] A little later, in honor of the odd number? (a mystery which 1 See Bede De temporum ratione 11. 2 Cf. Vergil Eclogues 8. 75 and Ciris 373: numero deus impare gaudet. A belief that odd numbers (and usually the odd numbers up to nine) are “lucky” or in some other way significant is often found in folklore. The belief has been held to be based on the fact that an odd number cannot be divided into two equal parts.

Q2 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA nature had brought to light even before the time of Pythagoras) Numa added a day to the year and assigned this day to January, in order that the principle of the odd number might be preserved and both the year and each month, with the sole exception of February, consist of an odd number of days. For, in a series of twelve months, if each month contained either an even or an odd number of days,

the total number of days would be an even number, but to give one of the months an even number of days made the total of the number of days in the year an odd number. [6] And so it was ordained that January, April, June, Sextilis, September, November, and December should be months of twenty-nine days each, with the Nones falling on the fifth day of the month, and, 1n all of them, the day after the Ides being reckoned the seventeenth day before

the next Kalends; [7] but March, May, Quintilis, and October had . thirty-one days, with the Nones falling on the seventh day of the

month, and in each of these months too (as in the other seven months) the period after the Ides up to [and including] the following Kalends comprising seventeen days. February alone kept its twenty-eight days, as though the shortness of the month and the even number of its days befitted the denizens of the world below. [8] In consequence of this division of the year by Numa Pompilius the Romans were now calculating the length of their own year,

like the Greeks, by the course of the moon. And so, like the Greeks, they had to provide an intercalary month. [9] For, when the Greeks noticed that they had been careless in fixing the number

of days in a year at three hundred and fifty-four (since the sun takes three hundred and sixty-five and a quarter days to complete its course through the zodiac, and it was therefore clear that their

year was eleven and a quarter days too short) they devised a regular system of intercalation by which they inserted ninety days, arranged in three months of thirty days apiece, in each period of

eight years. [10] The Greeks adopted this plan because it was troublesome and difficult to intercalate eleven and a quarter days each year, and they therefore preferred to multiply this number by eight and to insert the ninety days (which represent the product of eleven and a quarter days multiplied by eight) distributed into three 3 Cf. Herodotus 1. 32. See also the note on Herodotus 2. 4 in the commentary by How and Wells.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 13 93 months, as I have said. These days the Greeks used to call “supernumerary” and the months “intercalary.” [11] The Romans resolved to follow this system too, but they were not successful, since they overlooked the fact that, as I have

already reminded you, they had added one day to the Greek reckoning out of respect for the odd number, with the result that over the period of eight years there could be no conformity with the true position either in the number of the intercalated days or in their place in the calendar. [12] However, before the mistake was discovered, they calculated that in each period of eight years ninety

days were to be reckoned as supernumerary, in accordance with the example of the Greeks, and they distributed these intercalary days by means of four intercalations, of twenty-two and twentythree days alternately, every two years. But after every eighth year there was a surplus of eight intercalary days, the product of the single days by which, as we have said, the Roman reckoning of the length of their common year exceeded that of the Greeks. [13] When this error, too, was recognized, it was corrected as follows: in every third period of eight years sixty-six intercalary days were inserted, instead of ninety, to make up for the twenty-four days by which the Roman reckoning had exceeded the Greek in that number of years.

[14] Intercalation was always made in the month of February, as the last month of the year;4 and here too the Romans followed

the example of the Greeks, who also used to insert the supernumerary days in the last month of their year, as Glaucippus tells us, the author of an account of the sacred rites of the Athenians. But in one respect the Roman practice differed from the Greek, [15] for, whereas the Greeks inserted these days at the end of the last month of the year, the Romans made the intercalation not at the end of February but after the twenty-third day of that month, that is to say, after the celebration of the festival of the Terminalia was over. They made the five remaining days of February follow the intercalation, in accordance, I take it, with their old religious custom, namely, to ensure that March should in any case come _ immediately after February. [16] However, it often happened that the market days would fall sometimes on the first day of the year and sometimes on the Nones of a month; and, since either event 4 Te., for the purpose of religious observances (see above 12. 5-7).

94 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA was thought to be disastrous for the state, a means to prevent such coincidence was devised, as I shall explain later, after I have shown why the holding of a market on the first Kalends of the year or on the Nones of any month used to be avoided. [17] Whenever the day with which a year began was a market day, the whole of that year was one of unhappy occurrences and full of sorrow; and the disturbance for which Lepidus was responsible strongly supports this belief. [18] As for the Nones, it was

considered that a meeting of the whole population should be avoided on that day because the Roman people, even after the expulsion of the kings, paid particular honor to the Nones, which they believed to be the birthday of Servius Tullius. For, although the month of his birth was uncertain, it was generally agreed that he was born on the Nones, and noticeably large crowds used therefore to collect every month to celebrate that day; and, since those

who had charge of the calendar were afraid that, if the whole population assembled for market on those days, regret for the monarchy might lead to an attempt at revolution, they took care that the Nones and market days should not coincide. [19] Hence it came about that the disposal of that extra day, which, as I have said, was added to the year, was left to the discretion of the superintendents of the calendar to insert it where they would, the only proviso being that the day should be placed in the middle [sic] of the

festival of the Terminalia, or of an intercalary month, in such a way as to ensure that a market day with its crowds should not fall on a day which was regarded with mistrust. And that is why certain

of the old authorities have said that the Romans had not only an intercalary month but an intercalary day as well. [20] Different accounts are given of the beginning of the practice of intercalation. Licinius Macer attributes its origin to Romulus. Antias, in his second Book, maintains that it was the invention of Numa Pompilius and that the reason for it was connected with the

celebration of religious rites. Junius says that the practice was begun by King Servius Tullius, who, according to Varro, also instituted the market day. [21] Tuditanus, in the third Book of his Magtstracies, records that the decemvirs who added two to the Ten Tables of the Law brought a bill relating to it before the people; 5 Probably a reference either to the anti-Sullan activity in 77 B.c. or to the proscriptions of 43 B.c.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 13 95 and Cassius writes that the same authorities were responsible for the practice. Fulvius, however, says that it was the work of the consul Manius Acilius in 562 a.u.c., just before the beginning of the Aetolian War, but Varro traverses this statement with a reference

to an ancient law (engraved on a bronze column by the consuls Lucius Pinarius and Furius) to which the intercalary month 1s ascribed.

Such, then, are the accounts which have been given of the practice of intercalation.

CHAPTER 14 [1] But, nevertheless, religious scruples at times Jed to the omission of all intercalation. And sometimes indeed the number of days

in a year was increased or reduced through the influence of the priests, who deliberately lengthened or shortened the year in the interest of the tax collectors, with the result that a pretence of exactly observing the calendar in fact added to the confusion in it. [2] Subsequently, however, since there was thus no consistency in the marking of the times and seasons but all was still vague and uncertain, Gaius Caesar introduced a clearly defined arrangement

of the calendar, with the help of a clerk named Marcus Flavius, who provided the dictator with a list of the several days so arranged

that their order could be easily found and, that order once found, the position of each day would remain constant. [3] Caesar therefore began the new arrangement of the calendar by using up all the days which could still have caused confusion, with the result that the last of the years of uncertainty was prolonged to one of four hundred and forty-three days. Then, copying the Egyptians—the only people who fully understood the principles of astronomy— he endeavored to arrange the year to conform to the duration of the course of the sun, which it takes three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter to complete. [4] For just as the lunar cycle is the month, since the moon takes rather less than a month to make a circuit of the zodiac, so the solar cycle must be reckoned by the number of days which the sun takes to turn again to that sign of the zodiac from which it began its course. That is why the common year is styled the “turning” year and is held to be the “great” year! (since the lunar cycle is thought of as the “short” year), [5] 1 Cf. Macrobius Commentary 2. 11. 6-10; Ammianus Marcellinus 26. 1. 8; Isidore of Seville 5. 36. 3; Bede De temporum ratione 36, Cicero De natura deorum 2. 20. 51.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 14 97 and Vergil has combined these two descriptions of the solar year in the line:

Meanwhile the sun completes the turning of the great year. [Aeneid 3. 284]

It is for this reason that Ateius Capito too thinks that the word “year” (annus) is to be explained as a circuit of time; namely, because of old am used to stand for “around,” as, for example, where Cato in his Origins writes: “Let the plough be driven around the boundary,” using az instead of circum; or when we say ambire? for circumire. [6] Julius Caesar’ therefore added ten days to the old arrange-

ment of the calendar, in order that the year might consist of the three hundred and sixty-five days which the sun takes to pass through the zodiac; and, to allow for the remaining quarter of a day, he ordained that the priest in charge of the months and days should insert one day every fourth year in that month, and in that part of it, in which of old an intercalary month used to be inserted, that is to say, immediately before the last five days of February. This intercalary day he ordered to be called dissextus [as doubling the sixth day before the Kalends of March]. [7] The arrangement to distribute the ten additional days to which I have referred was as follows: January, Sextilis, and December received two days each, and April, June, September, and November one each. No addition

was made to the month of February, lest changes in connection with the worship of the gods below might result; and March, May, Quintilis, and October remained as they had been of old, because

they already had the full complement of thirty-one days apiece. [8] And, since Caesar made no change in these four months, they also have the Nones on the seventh day, as laid down by Numa. But in January, Sextilis, and December, the months to which Caesar

added two days apiece, although after his reforms each for the first time had thirty-one days, nevertheless the Nones come on the fifth day and the Kalends that follow return on the nineteenth day after the Ides, because Caesar would not insert the additional days before either the Nones or the Ides for fear that an unprecedented

postponement by two days (which would be the result of such 2 Cf. Festus, p. 4: am praepositio loquelaris significat circum. 3 Bede De temporum ratione 12. 89.

, 98 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA change) might interfere with religious ceremonies appointed to be held on a day fixed in relation to the Nones or Ides. [9] Nor yet would he insert the additional days immediately after the Ides for fear of disturbing appointed rest days, but a place was not made for them in any month until the celebration of the rest days held in that month had been completed. ‘Thus in January the allotted days to which we refer were the fourth and third days before the Kalends of February; in April, the sixth day before the Kalends of May; in

June, the third day before the Kalends of July; in August, the fourth and third day before the Kalends of September, in September, the third day before the Kalends of October; in November, the third day before the Kalends of December; and in December,

the fourth and third days before the Kalends of January. [10] Consequently, although, before this reform, in all the months to which days were added the Kalends of the following months re-

turned on the seventeenth day after the Ides; afterward, as the result of the additions, the Kalends returned on the nineteenth day after the Ides in the months which received two days and on the eighteenth in the months which received one. [11] In each month, however, rest days kept their appointed places. For example, if the third day after the Ides was generally observed as a festival or a rest day and used formerly to be known as the sixteenth day before the following Kalends, even after the number of days in the month had been increased, the religious observance remained unchanged and the ceremony was still held on the third day after the Ides, although (in consequence of an increase in the number of days in the month) the day was no longer the sixteenth day before the following Kalends but the seventeenth, if one day had been added to the month, and the eighteenth, if two days had been added. [12] That is why Caesar inserted the new days, in each case, toward the end of the month, at a time when all the rest days in the month were found to be over. Moreover, he caused these additional days to be marked in the calendar as fasti, so as to make more time available

for legal business; and he not only arranged that all these days should be such days of legal business but also that none should be a day on which an assembly might be held, his intention being that

this increase in the number of the days should not add to a magistrate’s power to exercise undue influence.

[13] Caesar’s regulation of the civil year to accord with this

BOOK 1, CHAPTER 14 99 revised? measurement was proclaimed publicly by edict, and the arrangement might have continued to stand had not the correction itself of the calendar led the priests to introduce a new error of their own; for they proceeded to insert the intercalary day, which represented the four quarter-days, at the beginning of each fourth year instead of at its end, although the intercalation ought to have been made at the end of each fourth year and before the beginning

of the fifth.5 [14] This error continued for thirty-six years, by which time twelve intercalary days had been inserted instead of the

number actually due, namely, nine. But, when this error was at length recognized, it too was corrected, by an order of Augustus that twelve years should be allowed to pass without an intercalary day, since a sequence of twelve such years would account for those

three days too many which, in the course of the thirty-six years, had been introduced by the premature action of the priests. [15] After that, one intercalary day, as ordered by Caesar, was to be inserted at the beginning of every fifth year,* and the whole of this arrangement of the calendar was to be engraved on a bronze tablet, to ensure that it should always be observed. 4 Reading annum... habitis ad limam dimensionibus constitutum... publicavit; et huc usque stare potuisset.... 5 J.e., the priests were intercalating every three years instead of every four (by our non-inclusive reckoning). 6 Le., after every four years.

CHAPTER 15! [1] This insertion of an intercalary day at the beginning of every

fifth year, said Horus, agrees with the practice which obtains in Egypt, the mother of the arts. But there the arrangement of the months seems to present no difficulty: all the months have thirty days each, and at the end of the twelve months (that is to say, after

three hundred and sixty days) the remaining five days of a year are then duly inserted between August and September, with an addition at the end of every fourth year of the intercalary day which represents the four quarter-days. [2] At Rome, however, there 1s

no unbroken arithmetical progress straight through the month from its first day to its last; but after the Kalends you proceed to the Nones; then, I gather, you turn aside to what you call the Ides; and again after that—unless | am mistaken, and indeed it is what you have just said yourself—to the Kalends of the following month.

[3] I should certainly be glad to know what all this means. And what is more, I cannot even hope to reach an understanding of the terms which you apply to the several days, when you call some of them fasti [business days] and others by various different names. I confess too that I do not know the meaning of your “market days,” which you say are so exactly and cautiously observed. Nor do I see any reason to be ashamed of my ignorance, for I am a foreigner, and even a citizen of Rome would feel it no shame to be taught by you, Praetextatus.

[4] My dear Horus, replied Praetextatus, to my mind neither you, as an Egyptian, nor even we Romans need blush to ask questions which all our predecessors thought to be well worth asking. For the Kalends, the Nones, and the Ides, and the many different rest days we keep, are matters which have occupied the attention 1 Cf. Isidore of Seville 5. 33; Bede De temporum ratione 12 and 13.

BOOK I, CHAPTER I5 101 of countless authorities, and I propose therefore to sum up briefly what all of them have said in this connection. [5] When Romulus was organizing his kingdom with an understanding keen indeed but untrained, he reckoned the beginning of each month from the day on which the new moon had chanced to appear. [6] Now the new moon does not always appear regularly on the same day of the month, but for definite reasons its reappearance sometimes comes more slowly and sometimes more quickly. Consequently, the preceding month had a greater number of days assigned to it when the moon reappeared more slowly and a smaller

number of days when it reappeared more quickly; and it was chance that first decided the number of days which each month was to continue to have. That is how some months came to have thirty-one days and others twenty-nine. [7] Nevertheless it was resolved that in every month the Ides should be reckoned the ninth day after [and including] the Nones, and it was arranged that there should be a period of sixteen days between the Ides and the Kalends

of the following month. That is why in the fuller month those two additional days fell between the Kalends of the month and its Nones, so that in some months the Nones were on the fifth day after the Kalends and in others on the seventh. [8] But Caesar, as I have already remarked, in order to safeguard dates which had been fixed for the performance of sacred rites, refused to change the arrangement of the Nones even in the months to which he added two days apiece; for his regard for religious observances led him to

insert those days of his after all the rest days in the month had been held. [9] In early times, then, before the clerk Gnaeus Flavius (against

the wishes of the Senate) had published a calendar there used to be assigned to a minor priest the duty of watching for the first appearance of the new moon and reporting its appearance to the high priest. [10] The two priests then offered a sacrifice, and afterward the minor priest, having called (calata)—that is, summoned—

the common people to the Capitol at the ward Calabra (which is near the Cottage of Romulus), publicly proclaimed the number of days which would elapse between the Kalends and the Nones, making his proclamation by repeating the word xad@ five times if the Nones fell on the fifth day of the month, and seven times if they fell on the seventh day. [11] Now xad@ is a Greek word

102 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA meaning “I call,” and so it was decided that the first of the days thus “called” should be named the “‘Kalends.” For this reason too the ward at which the proclamation was made was given the name “Calabra,” and a similar name [Calata] was given to the assembly, because all the people were “called” to it.

[12] The minor priest proclaimed aloud the number of days which would elapse before the Nones because, after the new moon, the country people had to assemble in Rome on the Nones, to hear from the high priest the reasons for the rest days to be held, and to

learn what sacrifices had to be offered during that month. [13] Some hold that the Nones are so called as marking the beginning of a new (zovae) reckoning; or else because the period from the Nones to the Ides is always reckoned [inclusively] as nine (novem) days, just as 1t was the custom among the Etruscans to have several ‘“Nones,” since these people used to pay their respects to the king and to transact their private business every ninth day. [14] Moreover, as for the name “Ides,” it is borrowed from the

Etruscans, who call the day “Itis,’ meaning by the word “Pledge of Jupiter.” For since we take Jupiter to be the author of light— and that is why the Sali in their chants sing of him as “Bringer of Light” (Lucetius) and the Cretans call him “The Day” (Ata) —the Romans also address him as “Father of the Day” (Diespiter). [15] And that day is rightly called “Pledge of Jupiter” on which the light does not end with the setting of the sun but even through the night moonlight prolongs the brightness of the day, for the Ides always fall at the time of the full moon, that is to say, in the middle

of the month. To the day therefore in which there is no darkness even at night men have given the Etruscan name of “Pledge of Jupiter’; and that is why ancient usage has ordained that all the Ides are to be kept as rest days sacred to Jupiter. [16] Others think that the Ides were called Vidus, from videndo [seeing], because the full moon is seen on that day; and that the letter “v’ was afterward dropped, just as by a contrary operation we have added a “v” to the Greek word for “to see,” ideiv, and say videre. Again, some believe that the word “Ides” comes from the Greek word eidoc, “form,” because the shape of the moon is fully shown on that day, and there are those who hold that the day is called after the “sheep of the Ides” (idzlis), a name of Etruscan origin and given to the sheep which is sacrificed to Jupiter by a

BOOK I, CHAPTER 15 103 priest on the Ides of every month. [17] In our opinion, however, a

truer explanation of the name is that we call the day which “divides” the month the “Ides”; for in the Etruscan language zduare

means “‘to divide”; so that the word for “widow” (vidua) would seem either to be an emphatic form of idua, that is to say, “utterly divided’? or else to mean “divided from a husband” (vir). [18] As all the Ides are assigned to Jupiter, so all the Kalends are Juno’s. We have this on the authority of both Varro and the priests.

And, moreover, the Laurentines keep up this tradition in their ancestral observances, for from their ritual they have given the goddess a distinctive epithet, speaking of her as “Juno of the Kalends,” and, further, they make prayer to this goddess on the Kalends of every month from March to December. [19] At Rome too, on all the Kalends, in addition to the offering made to Juno by the minor priest in the ward Calabra, the high priestess also (that is to say, the wife of the high priest) sacrifices a sow or a female lamb to Juno in the Royal Palace. And it 1s from this goddess that Janus derives the style Junonius, to which we have referred,° for it appears that just as all places of entry are regarded as belonging to him so all the Kalends are assigned to Juno. [20] Indeed, since it was the custom of our ancestors to begin the month with the first appearance of the moon, they rightly assigned the Kalends to Juno, for they identified her with the moon. Or else the explanation is to be found in the fact that the moon travels through the air (and this

is why the Greeks called the moon Artemis, that is to say, depdtoptc, because she “cleaves the air’), and Juno is the ruler of the air, so that the beginning of a month, the Kalends, was properly dedicated to her.

[21] I must not omit to mention that our ancestors held that marriages should not be joined on the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, since these days are under a religious ban and must therefore be avoided. With the exception of the Nones the days are in fact rest days, and atonement must be made for an act of violence done to

anyone on such days. It would seem that in marriage an act of violence is done to a virgin, and the celebration of a marriage on a rest day is therefore eschewed. Varro indeed relates that Verrius Flaccus, a high authority on pontifical law, used to say that, since 2 For such use of an intensifying particle ve- see 6. 8. 18, below. | 3 1.9. 15.

104 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA one might scour an old ditch on a rest day but might not dig a new one, it was more fitting for a widow than for a maid to be married

on a rest day. [22] But some one will suggest: “If the day of the Nones is not a rest day, why is the celebration of a marriage on it prohibited?” Here too the explanation is clear. For on the first day of a marriage the bride is in retirement, but on the next day she must begin to assume authority in her husband’s house and offer sacrifice. However, the day after Kalends, Nones, or Ides is, in each case, a day of ill omen; and so the day of the Nones was said to be a day unsuitable for marriages, in order that a bride might not enter on her privileges as a wife on the morrow of it, nor offer sacrifice

on a day of ill omen—a day on which the divine law forbids the performance of a religious act. 4 Dies ater; cf. Ovid Fasti I. 58, Varro De Lingua Latina 6. 29, Aulus Gellius 5. 17; see also 1. 16. 21 below.

CHAPTER 16 [1] Ihe sequence of our discourse [continued Praetextatus] has led us to mention certain specific days; and, since this too was a point raised by our friend Horus in the question which he put, a few words must be said about it.

[2] Numa, having divided the year into months, went on to divide each month into days, all of which were known as “festivals” or “working days” or “half-festivals.” “The festivals are days dedi-

cated to the gods; on the working days men may transact their private and public business; and the half-festivals are days shared between gods and men. [3] Thus on the festivals there are sacrifices and banquets in honor of the gods, public games and “rest days.” The working days include “court days,” “assembly days,” “adjournment days,” “appointed days,” and “battle days.” The halffestivals are not divided into other classes, but each is subdivided in such a way that at certain hours of the day judgment may be pronounced in a court of law and at certain other hours it may not; for when the victim is being slain no legal business may be done, but in the interval between the slaying of the victim and the placing of the offering on the altar such business may be done, although it is again forbidden when the offering is being burned. We must therefore speak at greater length of the division of days into festivals and working days. [4] The celebration of a religious festival consists of the offering

of sacrifices to the gods or the marking of the day by a ritual banquet or the holding of public games in honor of a god or the observance of rest days. [5] Public rest days are of four kinds: they are either “fixed,” “movable,” “extraordinary,” or “market days.” [6] In the fixed rest days all the people share; they are held on set and appointed days in set and appointed months; they are noted in

106 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the Calendar, and the observances are defined. Of such rest days

the chief examples are the Agonalia, the Carmentalia, and the Lupercalia. Movable rest days are those which are proclaimed yearly by the magistrates or the priests, to be held on days which may or may not be set days, such as, for example, the Feriae Latinae, the Feriae Sementivae, the Paganalia, and the Compitalia. Extraordinary

rest days are those which are promulgated by the consuls or the praetors by virtue of their discretionary powers. Market days are the concern of the villagers and country folk, who assemble on these days to attend to their private affairs and to market their wares.

[7] Besides the public rest days there are those which belong exclusively to certain families, for example, to the Claudian, Aemi-

lian, Julian, or Cornelian families, and any rest day peculiar to a family which that family observes in accordance with its own domestic practice. [8] Rest days are kept also by individuals, for example, on the occasion of a birthday, the fall of a thunderbolt, a funeral, or an act of atonement. Moreover, it was the custom of

old that anyone who had mentioned by name the deities Salus, Semonia, Seia, Segetia, or Tutilina used to observe the day as a rest

day. And, in the-same way, whenever the wife of a flamen heard thunder, she kept a rest day until such time as she had appeased the gods.

[9] The priests used to maintain that a rest day was desecrated if, after it had been duly promulgated and proclaimed, any work was done on it. Furthermore, the high priest and the flamens might not see work in progress on a rest day, and for this reason they would give public warning by a herald that nothing of the sort should be done. Neglect of this command was punished by a fine, [10] and it was said that one who had inadvertently done any work on such days had, in addition to the fine, to make atonement by the sacrifice of a pig. For work done intentionally no atonement could be made, according to the pontiff Scaevola; but Umbro says that to have done work that concerns the gods or is connected with a religious ceremony, or any work of urgent and vital importance does not defile the doer. [11] Scaevola, in fact, when asked what might be done on a rest day replied that anything might be done which it would be harmful to have left undone. And so a head of a household who, on a rest day, collected his laborers and freed an

BOOK I, CHAPTER 16 107 ox from a pit into which it had fallen was not thought to have desecrated the day; nor was a man who propped up a broken roof beam to save it from a threatening collapse. [12] And that is why Vergil, who is an authority in every branch of learning, knowing that sheep are washed either to clean the wool or to cure mange, declared that a sheep might be dipped on a rest day, if the intention was to effect some cure, as appears from the line: To dip the bleating flock into the health-giving stream! [Georgics 1.272] for the use of the adjective “health-giving” makes it clear that the action is permissible only if its aim 1s to prevent disease and if there is no ulterior motive of cleaning the wool to make a profit. [13) So much then for the festivals and the days connected with

them, which are, I should add, called nefasti. We shall now speak of the working days and those which they comprise, namely, the days known as “court days,” “assembly days,” “adjournment days,” “appointed days,” and “battle days.” [14] Court days, or “days of utterance” (fasti), are the days on which the praetor may pronounce the three prescribed formulas: “T grant, I pronounce, I adjudge”’;? and opposed to these days are the days on which these words may not be uttered (mefasti). Assembly days are the days on which a motion may be brought before the people in assembly. And, although on court days it is possible

to plead in court but not possible to bring a motion before the people, on assembly days each process is permissible. Adjournment

days are those on which it is permitted to order recognizances to

be given for reappearance in court. Appointed days are those which are fixed for the hearing of an action with a foreigner, as Plautus has it in his Curculio [1.1.5]: Even if it were? a day appointed and agreed for appearance in court against a foreigner. (In this passage the foreigner is called bostis, according to the old usage.)

[15] As for battle days, I shall not treat of them as distinct from

1 Cf. 1. 7. 8 and 3. 10-12. 2 Do bonorum possessionem; dico ius; addico id de quo ambigitur.

3 Macrobius reads intercessit: the received text has intercedit. Cf. Aulus Gellius 16. 4. 4.

108 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the “law days,’ namely, the thirty consecutive days during which,

after orders to the army to muster, a red flag is placed on the citadel, all battle days, however, being days on which it is lawful to seek restitution of property or to attack an enemy. [16] Now when the Latiar, that is, the celebration of the Latin Festival, is proclaimed, and during the days of the Saturnalia, and also when the entrance to the underworld is open,5 religion forbids the joining of battle, [17] and for the following reasons: during the Latin Festival, because it was unfitting to begin a war at the time at which a truce was publicly concluded of old between the Roman people and the Latins; during the festival of Saturn, because his reign is believed to have been free from any tumult of war; and

when the entrance to the underworld is open, this being a sacred occasion dedicated to Father Dis and Proserpine, and men deemed it better to go out to battle when the jaws of Pluto are shut. [18] And that is why Varro writes: “When the entrance to the underworld is open, it is as if the door of the grim, infernal deities were open. A religious ban therefore forbids us not only to engage in battle but to levy troops and march to war, to weigh anchor, and to marry a wife for the raising of children.” [19] As regards the levying of troops, this was also avoided of old on days marked by association with some disaster. It was avoided too on rest days, for as Varro writes in his work on Azgurs: “Men may not be levied for the army on a rest day; if such a call-up has been made, an act of expiation is necessary.” [20] Nevertheless, one must bear in mind that it was only if the Romans were themselves declaring war that they recognized the need to choose a permissible day of battle; when they were being attacked, the nature of the day did not debar them from defending themselves and the honor of Rome. For what

room is there for regarding a religious observance, if one has no choice in the matter? [21] The days after the Kalends, Nones, and Ides were regarded

by our ancestors as days to be avoided for any undertaking; and they would seem to have shown their condemnation of those days by giving them the ill-omened style of “black” days, although some people, as though to modify such expression of disapproval, have

called the days “common” days [as being unlucky for all alike]. 4 Iusti; cf. Aulus Gellius 20. 1. 43. 5 Mundus patet; see Fowler, Essays, p. 24.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 16 109 The reason for this belief is given by Gellius® in the fifteenth Book

of his Annals and by Cassius Hemina in the second Book of his Histories. [22] In 363 a.u.c. the military tribunes Virginius, Manlius, Aemi-

lius, Postumius, and their colleagues discussed in the Senate the reason for the many disasters which had befallen the state within the space of a few years; and by order of the senators the soothsayer Lucius Aquinius was summoned to the House to be questioned on matters relating to religious observances. [23] He replied that a military tribune, Quintus Sulpicius, when about to attack the Gauls at the Allia, had offered sacrifice, for success in battle, on the morrow of the Ides of Quintilis.7 At the Cremera too, he said, and on many other occasions and in many other places, defeat in battle had followed the offering of a sacrifice on the morrow of such

a day of observance. [24] Whereupon the Senate ordered the question of these religious observances to be referred to the college of pontiffs, who declared that the morrow of all Kalends, Nones, and Ides were to be regarded as “black” days; so that these days were neither days on which battle might be offered, nor days free from religious restrictions,’ nor days on which assemblies of the people might be held. [25] It is also said, by the pontiff Fabius Maximus Servilianus, in his twelfth Book, that a sacrifice in honor of a deceased relative ought not to be offered on a “black” day, because in such sacrifices _ prayer must also be made first to Janus and Jupiter, and on such a day the names of these gods should not be uttered. [26] The fourth day before the Kalends, Nones, or Ides 1s also

as a rule avoided as a day of ill omen, and the question is often asked whether there is any religious tradition to account for this practice. But the only written authority that we have found on the point is a statement by Quintus Claudius, in the fifth Book of his Annals, that the overwhelming disaster of the battle of Cannae occurred on the fourth day before the Nones of Sextilis. [27] Varro, however, remarks that in military matters it is of no consequence

at all whether a day be fastus or nefastus but that this distinction | is concerned only with the acts of private persons. [28] I have said that market days are rest days, but the statement 6 Gnaeus Gellius. See note to 1. 8. i. 7 Aulus Gellius 5. 17; cf. Livy 6. 1. § Puri.

110 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA may be disputed on the following grounds. Titus, writing of rest days, did not count market days among them, but called market days only “customary”® days. Again, Julius Modestus declares that,

when the augur Messala asked the pontiffs whether the Roman market days and Nones were to be included among the rest days, they replied that in their opinion market days were not rest days. And Trebatius too, in the first Book of his Religious Observances, says that on a market day a magistrate is empowered to manumit a

slave and to grant leave to bring an action at law. [29] On the other hand, however, Julius Caesar, in the sixteenth Book of his treatise on Auspices, says that a public meeting cannot be convened

—that is, a matter cannot be referred to the people—on a market day, and so an assembly of the Roman people cannot be held on these days. Cornelius Labeo too, in the first Book of his Calendar, declares that market days are rest days. [30] A careful reader will find the explanation of this difference of opinion in the works of Granius Licinianus, in his second Book, where he says that market days are rest days sacred to Jupiter, since it is the custom for the wife of the flamen [of Jupiter] to sacrifice a ram to that god in the Royal Palace on every market day, but that the Hortensian Law made market days court days, in

order that the country people, who used to come to Rome to market, might have an opportunity to settle their legal disputes; for

the praetor might not pronounce the prescribed words on a day which was nefastus. [31] Those then who say that market days are rest days have the ancient usage to protect them from a charge of inexactitude, but the opinion expressed by those who hold the op-

posite view is also true, if they are taking into account only the time that has elapsed since the passing of the law to which I have referred.

[32] The first establishment of the market day is attributed to Romulus, who, it is said, after sharing his royal power with Titus Tatius and after instituting certain sacrifices and associations, also prescribed the observance of those days. And this is what Tuditanus maintains; [33] but Cassius [Hemina] says that they were a device of Servius Tullius, designed to enable country folk to meet in Rome and arrange matters that concerned both town and country. Geminus says that it was after the expulsion of the kings that a market 9 Sollennes.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 16 III day was first held, because most of the common people in memory of the late Servius Tullius used to offer sacrifice in his honor on those days; and Varro too agrees with this account. [34] However, according to Rutilius, the Romans instituted market days in order that the country people, after working for eight [recte seven] days

in the fields, should leave their work there on the ninth [recte eighth] day and come to Rome to sell their wares and to get information about the laws; and also that there might be a larger con-

course of the people to hear the popular and senatorial decrees which might be brought before them, for matters published for a period of three market days'® would readily come to the knowledge of one and all. [35] That too was the origin of the custom of promulgating a law for a period of three market days, and also of the practice by which candidates for office used to come to the assembly of the people on a market day and take their stand on : raised ground, that they might be seen clearly by everyone present. But all these usages fell more and more into neglect and eventually disappeared, when with the growth in numbers of the people the

assemblies were well attended even in the period between two market days.'!

[36] There is also a Roman goddess called Nundina, and she takes her name from the ninth day after the birth of a child. This day is called “the day of purification,’ because on it an infant is purified and given a name: the day being for boys the ninth day after birth and for girls the eighth.' [37] I have now given, I think, a full account of the arrangement

of the year and the months, and in this explanation our friend Horus has the answer to his question about the names of the days and the observances connected with them. He is a man of keen intelligence, our friend from the Nile, and belongs to a people who are masters of the science of numbers. And so for my part I should 10 Trinundino die: this would be a period of seventeen days, the first, ninth, and seventeenth being nundinae. But it is arguable that trzmundino die means after a period of three weeks, 1.e., twenty-four days (see note to Epistulae ad Familiares 16. 12. 3 in How’s edition of Cicero’s letters). 11 Internundinum: a period of eight days, the eighth (reckoned from the last nundina) being the market day. The days were marked in the calendar by the letters A to H. 12 Dies lustricus. See Festus, p. 107: lustrict dies infantium appellantur, puellarum octavus puerorum nonus, quia his lustrantur atque eis nomina imponuntur.

I12 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA like to know if he finds anything in our Roman order and arrangement to provoke a smile, or if he would agree that the Etruscan Tiber too has drawn something from the learning of his native land.

[38] No one, interposed Eustathius, and certainly not Horus, who is a man of dignity and distinction—no one, in my opinion, could be so inept a judge as to fail to commend the arrangement of the Roman year, which has been corrected, as the saying is, to the fineness of a close-cut fingernail; and indeed one’s regard for that

arrangement has been enhanced by the retentive memory and eloquent words of its exponent. Nor is it a matter for surprise that our system has escaped the tooth of censure, since Egypt was the

authority for its latest reform. [39] For it was from Egyptian science that Julius Caesar drew his knowledge of the movements of the stars, a subject on which he has left some learned books, and it was from the Egyptian practice too that he borrowed the idea of

increasing the length of the year to correspond to the complete course of the sun. [go] The old inhabitants of Latium, having no communication with Egypt, could not in their time learn anything from that country, and they therefore followed the custom of the Greeks in reckoning the days of the month, counting the days backward—the numeration beginning with a higher number and decreasing, to end at last with a lower number, [41] for we speak of the tenth day, then of the ninth, after that of the eighth day, and so on, just as the Athenians used to speak of the tenth day and the ninth day of the waning month. [42] Homer too, when he says: As one month wanes and the next begins [Odyssey 14. 162; 19. 307]

means by “waning” that division of a month which, in the reckon-

ing of its days, gradually wanes and ends with the name of the month that is to follow, and by “beginning” the first numerical division of that following month which will succeed the waning portion of its predecessor. [43] And so it is that your Roman Homer, the poet of Mantua, knowing that an end to which one moves may be said to stand fixed, writes: For each man his appointed day stands fixed [Aeneid 10. 467]

meaning that a man’s last day stands fixed, as the day to which, after passing through all the rest, he is at length to come. [44] The same poet, renowned as much for his sense of reverence as for his learning, aware that the Romans of old ordered the arrangement

BOOK 1, CHAPTER 16 113 of the year by the course of the moon and their successors by the course of the sun, showed his respect for the view of each age in the lines:

You, who guide the passage of the gliding year through the

heavens, Liber and kindly Ceres [Georgics 1. 5] for by this invocation he points to both the moon and the sun as the guides of the year.

CHAPTER 17 [1] Hereupon Avienus, addressing Vettius Praetextatus, said: I have asked myself earnestly and often how it is that we worship the sun sometimes as Apollo, sometimes as Liber, and at other times under a number of other different styles. And since, by the will of Heaven, you are the leading authority on all matters that have to do with religion, I beg you to go on and explain to me why one name should cover such a variety of other names. [2] You must bear in mind, replied Vettius, that the company of poets in their stories about the gods usually borrow the elements of these stories from the secret places of philosophy; certainly it 1s not empty superstition but divine reason that makes them relate almost all the gods—at any rate the celestial gods—to the sun. [3] For if the sun, as men of old believed, “guides and directs the rest of the heavenly lights”! and alone presides over the planets in their

courses, and if the movements of the planets themselves have power, as some think, to determine or (as it is agreed that Plotinus

held) to foretell the sequence of human destinies, then we have to admit that the sun, as directing the powers that direct our affairs, is the author of all that goes on around us.

[4] And just as Vergil’s words “What divine power had been offended?” although spoken of Juno alone, show that the various activities of a single deity are to be regarded as equivalent to as many various divinities, so the diverse powers of the sun have given

names to as many gods. And this is the origin of the maxim proclaimed by the leading philosophers: that the Whole is One. [5] To that power of the sun, then, which presides over prophecy and healing men have given the name Apollo; and that power 1 Cicero, De re publica 6.17. * Aeneid 1. 8.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 17 115 from which comes speech has received the name Mercury; and, since speech is the expression of inward thoughts, this god is appropriately called Hermes, from the Greek word épynveverv, to put into words. [6] Again, there is a power of the sun which has

charge over the fruits of the orchard and an activity too with charge over the fruits of the field. Such is the origin of the names of the rest of the gods who are associated with the sun on a principle which is certain but mysterious. And since so great a mystery should be supported by something more than a bare statement, let us consult the old authorities for each of these names. [7] Many explanations have been given which associate the name of Apollo with the sun, and I shall proceed to discuss them in turn. Thus Plato? writes that the sun is called Apollo because he hurls forth (&mondAAev) his rays. Chrysippus says that the first letter of the name has a negative force‘ and that he is called Apollo as not

being one of the many (moAA@v) paltry properties of fire; or because he is one and mot many (nodAoi); for in Latin too the sun is called sol because he alone (solzs) possesses such brilliance. [8]

Speusippus finds the explanation of the name Apollo in the fact that the power of the sun is the product of many (d10 noAA@v) fires; Cleanthes in the fact that the sun rises in different (Gx’ GAX@Vv)

places in the sky at different times. [9] And Cornificius thinks that the sun gets the name Apollo because he reruns his course through the heavens (&varoAsiv), that is to say, because after passing in his rapid course through the compass of the heavens—by the Greeks called n6X0¢—he returns to the place of his rising.

Others hold that the sun is called Apollo as destructive (anoAAvvta) of life; for it kills and destroys living creatures when it sends a pestilence among them in time of immoderate heat, [10] as Euripides says, in his Phaethon:®

O Sun, of the golden light, how hast thou destroyed me; wherefore man’s meaning 1s clear when he calls thee Apollo and Archilochus likewise, in the lines: 8 But see Plato Cratylus 405-6. 4 T.e., alpha privative. 6 Fragment 781. 11 (Nauck).

116 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Lord Apollo, do thou also make known the guilty and destroy them, as thou dost with thy destroying power.® [11] And then, men consumed by a fever are said to be “smitten by Apollo” and “smitten by the sun”; and, since the moon’s effects are similar to those of the sun, both to help and to harm, women suffering from certain diseases are described as “smitten by the

moon” and “smitten by Artemis.” [12] This is why statues of Apollo are equipped with a bow and arrows, the arrows being understood to represent the force of the sun’s rays—as Homer says, of Apollo:

But then he launched his sharp arrow at the men, and smote. [Iliad 1. 51] [13] The sun also gives saving health to all, for its kindly warmth

is believed to bring health to everything that has breath. But since it is constantly a source of health and sends pestilence more rarely, statues of Apollo represent the god with the Graces in his right hand and a bow and arrows in his left, because his hand 1s slower

to harm and swifter to save. [14] Power to heal is attributed to Apollo because the heat of the sun, if it is temperate, puts to flight all diseases; for he is thought to be so named as the god who drives away (dneAabvovta) diseases, as if the name were “Apello.” [15] And this interpretation has made the Greek form of the name agree with a Latin form of it [Apello]; so that we did not need to change

the name of the god, but you may understand Apollo to be the god who drives away (apellentem) ills—the god whom at Athens men call “the Warder-off of Ills.” Moreover, at Lindus the god is worshiped as Apollo “the God of Pestilence,” a name which was given to him for putting an end to a pestilence; and our own ritual preserves the same belief in the association of the god with health

and healing, for the Vestal Virgins call upon him as “Apollo Medicus” and “Apollo Paean.”

[16] Since, then, the chief activities of this star, the sun, are two—it being, on the one hand, helpful to mortal life when its heat is

temperate, but, on the other hand, sometimes sending a deadly pestilence by its darting rays—men use two names to mark at the

6 Edmonds, Elegy and lambus, Il, 110.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 17 117 same time, each by its particular form, each of these two activities, for they call the god "Iqtoc and Tatidv. And these names fit each activity, for in the one context *Intoc is derived from iéo9at, to heal, and Tlai.av from nave, to make to cease (that is, to make distress to cease); but in the other context the style ‘Ij1oc is derived from

iévat, to launch, (as in Homer’s phrase, “launching his sharp arrow’) and Ilaiav from rate, to smite. [17] Indeed it 1s customary in a prayer for health to pronounce the words ij (with an eta) TIlavav, meaning “Heal, O God of Healing”; but to say fe (with an epsilon and with a rough breathing on the first letter) Tlaav, when invoking a curse on a person, the words then being equivalent to “Launch thine arrow and smite.” These latter words are the words which Latona is said to have used when she was exhorting Apollo to assail the attacking Python with arrows? (the physicists’ explanation of this story shall be given in its proper place); [18] and it is said that the Delphic oracle sanctioned this expression, i‘e Iasdv,

when the Athenians were seeking the aid of the god against the Amazons in the reign of Theseus; for, as they were about to enter upon the war, the god bade them call on him with these very words and exhort him to be himself their helper. [19] Apollodorus, writing in the fourteenth Book of his treatise

On the Gods, calls the sun "Ifjtog and says that Apollo gets this name from the sun’s moving (ieo9a1) and going (iévat) rapidly through its circuit; [20] but Timotheus says:® O Sun, thou who dost strike the eternal vault of heaven with

thy bright rays, send against the enemy a far-darting arrow from thy bowstring. O send forth thine arrow, thou that dost smite.

[21] The same god, as having charge over all that brings health, is called “Source of Healing” (O’A10¢); in the words of Homer:

Health (otAe) and joy be thine.® [Odyssey 24. 402 ] Leandrius too writes that the Milesians offer sacrifice for their health and safety to Apollo OwAtoc; and Pherecydes relates that Theseus, on his way to Crete to face the Minotaur, made a vow to 7 Cf. Athenaeus 15. 7o1d. 8 Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, III, 306. » OdALtoc normally means “baneful,” and Macrobius might have referred here

also to the contradictory functions of Apollo.

118 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Apollo OvAtog and to Artemis OvAa for his safe return. [22] It is not surprising that men pay honor to the god’s twofold activities under different names, for we find other gods, too, with double powers and double names, contrary in meaning but relating to the same object. Neptune, for example, is sometimes called the Earth Shaker and at other times the Stablisher [of the Earth]; and

Mercury likewise both awakens and lulls to sleep the minds or eyes of men—in the words of Homer:?° He took up his wand, wherewith he casts a spell on the eyes of

men, [of whomsoever he will; and others again he likewise

wakens out of sleep]. [Iliad 24. 343] [23] Thus it is that we worship Apollo, the sun, sometimes under names which signify health and sometimes under names which signify pestilence, although, nevertheless, the pestilence which he sends on the wicked indicates clearly that the god is the defender

of the righteous. [24] Hence the remarkable reverence paid to Apollo Libystinus at Pachynus, a cape in Sicily; for when the Libyans had brought their fleet to the cape and were about to invade the island, Apollo (who is worshiped at Pachynus) at the prayer of the inhabitants of the place sent a pestilence on the enemy which suddenly destroyed almost all of them, and so the god received the name of Libystinus. [25] Our own annals also contain a similar example of the very present power of this same god. For when, at the oracular behest of the soothsayer Marcius and the Sibylline oracle, games in honor of Apollo were being celebrated at Rome, the enemy suddenly appeared; whereupon the people rushed to arms and went to meet them, and at that moment a cloud of arrows was seen to fall upon the enemy and put them to flight; so that the Romans returned victorious to the games of the

god who had saved them. It is clear from this story that it was a battle and not, as some think, a plague that led to the institution of these games. [26] The reason for this latter opinion is the fact that at the time of these games the sun in our country shines immediately overhead, for the Crab is in the summer tropic, and, while the

sun is on its way through this part of the heaven, its bright rays illuminate our temperate zone, not from afar but falling directly downward from above. Some therefore have thought that the pur10 Cf. Vergil Aeneid 4. 242.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 17 119 pose of the Games of Apollo is to appease the god of heat at that particular time. [27] I find, however, in the written authorities that these games were instituted to commemorate a victory and not, as some annalists say, to ensure good health. For the games were first instituted in the Punic War, after consultation of the Sibylline Books and on the advice of Cornelius Rufus, the decemvir, who accordingly received the name of Sibylla, afterward corrupted to Sylla—a name which he was the first to bear.

[28] The story goes that, when two rolls of the oracles of the soothsayer Marcius were brought into the Senate, the following prophecy was found in them: “Romans, if ye would drive from your land the enemy, the plague which comes from peoples afar, I advise that games be vowed to Apollo, to be celebrated joyfully in his honor every year. Over the celebration of these games let the praetor preside who shall have the administration of supreme justice to the People and the Commons. Let ten men offer sacrifice with victims according to the Greek use. If this shall be rightly done by you, ye shall be glad for evermore and the State shall become more prosperous; for this god shall destroy your foes who are eating up your fields undisturbed.’’4! [29] One day was devoted to religious ceremonies of atonement in accordance with the oracle, and then

it was decreed by the Senate that ten men should consult the Sibylline Books with a view to obtaining more information touching

the celebration of the Games to Apollo and the right performance of the religious ceremonies. Learning that what had been found in the books confirmed the oracle, the Senators resolved that games should be vowed and celebrated to Apollo and that twelve thousand bronze asses and two full-grown victims be given to the praetor for the purpose. The ten men were ordered to offer sacrifice after the Greek use with the following victims: to Apollo, a bull and two white she-goats, all with horns gilded, and to Latona, a cow with horns gilded; and the people were bidden to wear garlands as

they watched the games in the Circus. [30] This is the most authentic account of the origin of the Apollinarian Games. Now let us consider the other names of the god, to show that he is to be identified with the sun.

[31] He is given the name Loxias, because (in the words of Oenopides) he moves obliquely (Ao0§0v) in his circular course from 11 Livy 25. 12. For the carmen see Baehrens, p. 294.

120 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA his setting to his rising; or because (as Cleanthes writes) he moves in spirals and these are oblique—that is to say, because his path is winding; or because, since he is to the south of us and we are to the north of him, his rays strike us obliquely. [32] He is given the name “Delius,” because by the light that he sheds he makes all things clear (67a) and visible. [33] He is called “Phoebus,” according to Cornificius, because of the regularity and force with which he moves (gouitév Big). But the general opinion is that this epithet is derived from the clearness and brightness of his appearance. [34] So too he is called “Phanes,” because he gives light (qaivetv). And “Phaneos,” that is, “coming new (gaivetat véoc) to our eyes,” since the sun renews itself each day; and this is why Vergil uses

the phrase “when the morning is new.” [35] The inhabitants of Camirus,!8 who inhabit an island sacred

to the sun, sacrifice to Apollo “the Ever-begotten and Ever-begetting” (Astyevétys), because the sun always comes into being at its rising and is itself the source of all life by its gifts of fertilization, warmth, growth, nourishment, and increase. [36] There are several explanations of the style “Lycian Apollo.”

Antipater the Stoic writes that Apollo has received the name “Lycius” because all things become bright (AevKaiveoSat) in the light of the sun. Cleanthes observes that he is so called because with his rays he carries off moisture as wolves (AvKot) carry off sheep. [37] The Greeks of old called the first light, which precedes sunrise, AVKN from the adjective AEvKds [“light” or “bright’]; and

today too this time is known as AvKdgac. [38] It is the time to which Homer refers in the line: When it was not yet dawn, but still the twilight (4p@iAvKn) of

night [Iliad 7. 433]

and he also says: Make thy prayer to Apollo, the Father of Light (Avuxnyevéi),

renowed for the bow [Iliad 4. 101]

meaning by the epithet: “to him who begets the light,” that is, “to him who by his rising creates light”; for from the brightness of the 12 Georgics 3. 325. 13 Reading Camurenses here as in 45 below.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 17 121 rays, from the brightness which far and wide precedes the approaching sun and gradually dissipates the darkness and shadows, light is born. [39] And here, too, as with very many other words, the Romans seem to have borrowed from the Greek and to have formed their word for light (lux) from dvKn.

Again, in very ancient times the Greeks used to call the year “the path of light” (AvkdéBac), as measured and passed over (Batvopevov) by*4 the light (AbKoc), that is to say, by the sun. [go] From the city of Lycopolis in the Thebaid comes evidence that the sun is also called AvKoc, with the meaning “wolf”; for Apollo and the wolf are worshiped there with equal reverence, the object of veneration in each case being the sun, because the wolf, like the sun, carries off and devours everything and commonly overcomes the darkness of the night by the keenness of his vision. [41] There are some too who think that wolves themselves (AvKot) get their name from Av«n, first light, because that is just the time that these beasts wait for as the best time to carry off the sheep which, after a hungry night, are driven at dawn from their folds to pasture. [42] Apollo has been called “Father of the People,” not as worshiped according to the particular religious usage of a single race or state but as the generating cause of all things, since the sun, by drying up moisture, is the universal cause of generation—in the words of Orpheus: Having the mind and wise counsel of a father and it is for this reason that we also call Janus “Father” and worship the sun under that name. [43] Apollo has been called “the God of Shepherds,” not from having served as a shepherd and (as the story goes) from having fed the flocks of King Admetus, but because the sun feeds all that the earth brings forth, [44] so that men sing of him as the feeder not

of a single kind of stock but of all kinds. And thus it is that in Homer, for example, Neptune addresses him thus: Phoebus, thou didst herd kine of shambling gait and crooked

horns [Iliad 21. 448]

and again, in the same poet, the god appears as feeding mares, in the lines: 14 Reading v70.

122 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Apollo of the silver bow reared them in Peraea, two mares,

bearing terror of battle to the foe. [Iliad 2. 766] [45] Moreover, there are temples to Apollo, as Feeder of Sheep, at Camirus, with the title, Guardian of Flocks; and at Naxos, with

the title, Patron of Shepherds; and he is worshiped also as the God with the Lamb’s Fleece. Again, at Lesbos he is worshiped as the God of the Glen; and he has many styles in divers cities, all pointing to his function as a “god who feeds”; so that he is rec-

ognized to be the overseer of all flocks and herds and in very truth to feed them. [46] Apollo “Eleleus’1> is so called from his wheeling movement (éAitteoGat) round the earth, since the sun seems, as it were, to roll round the earth in an unending orbit—as Euripides says:

O Sun, wheeling thy flaming chariot with its swift steeds [Phoenissae 3]

or else because he goes round as a vast mass (ovvadtodévtoc) of fire—in the words of Empedocles: ‘6 Since, massed (GvaA1o$eic) into a ball, he travels around the great expanse of heaven.

Plato,!” also deriving the epithet from the word which means to “mass,” or “collect,” explains it as indicating that the sun at its rising collects men and gathers them together. [47] Ihe name “Golden-haired” is given to Apollo on account of the brightness of the sun’s rays, which are commonly called

its “golden locks”; and for this reason the god is also styled “Unshorn,” because the sun’s rays can never be severed from the

source of the light. He is likewise “God of the Silver Bow,” because the sun as it rises has, at the extreme edge of its orb, the shape of a bow, in appearance white as silver, and from this bow the sun’s rays flash forth like arrows. [48] He is called “Smintheus” from the fiery heat with which the sun runs (Cémv Set); “Karneios” because the sun seems to burn

and yet to be renewed (katdpevoc: véoc), or because, although all that burns is consumed, the sun glows with his own heat and 15 This epithet is usually applied to Dionysus and refers to the cries of the Bacchanals. See Ovid Metamorphoses 4. 15. 16 Fragment B 41 (Diels).

17 Cratylus 4oga, where Socrates suggests that the derivation of fAtoc

would be clearer if the Doric form, &Al0c, were used.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 17 123 yet remains forever new. And likewise he is called Apollo “Killaios” because he moves to the left (kivijosic Adc molét), since for us his course is always from the south.!8 [49] He is Apollo “Thymbraios,” the Rain-maker, as the god who sends the rain (SuBpoug Yeic); and Apollo “Philesios,” be-

cause the light of the rising sun is lovely and we greet it with reverence and love. [so] As for the epithet “Pythian,” as applied to Apollo, in the

opinion of the physicists the derivation is not from “inquiry” (nedoic)—that is to say, not from the consulting of oracles—but from a word which means “‘to make rotten” (n0Gew = onnetv), a process which is always the result of great heat. [51] It is for

this reason, then, that they consider that the god is called “Pythian,” although Greek mythologists say that the name was given to him after the slaying of the serpent [Python]. Nevertheless the myth is not inconsistent with the true understanding of a secret of nature, as will appear if one runs through the series of events which comprise the tale of the birth of Apollo. And this is what, a short time ago, I promised to do. [52] When Latona was about to give birth to Apollo and Diana, Juno is said to have sought to hinder her confinement. However, the story goes that, when at length the divine children had been born, a serpent, called Python, attacked their cradle and the infant Apollo

killed the monster with arrows. [53] Natural science shows that this myth is to be understood as follows. At first all was chaos; but,

afterward, from a confused and amorphous mass there began to emerge into light the shapes of things and the elements. ‘The earth was still moist in substance and tottering on a soft and unstable

foundation, but it is believed that, as the heat of the heavens gradually increased in strength and fiery seeds flowed down from it into the earth, these two stars—the sun and the moon—were born, the sun being carried up by a mighty force of heat to the parts above, but the moon (weighed down by a kind of warmth peculiar to its nature, and moister, and as it were of the feminine sex) occupying the parts below—as if the sun consisted of the substance of a father and the moon of the substance of a mother. | 18 T.e., looking westward, and so following the course of the sun.

124 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [54] Now by Latona the physicists understand the earth, and this earth was for long opposed by Juno (to prevent the birth of the deities of which we have spoken)—Juno being, that is to say, the air, which at that time was still moist and heavy and was standing

in the way of the heavens to prevent the brightness of the two lights (the sun and the moon) from shining through the dense moist air as though after a process of childbirth. [55] But the perseverance of the divine providence, which is believed to have | aided the birth, prevailed; and so, in corroboration of the myth, there is in the island of Delos a temple of Providence, called the temple of Athena “Forethought,” and appropriate rites are celebrated in it. [56] Moreover, Apollo and Diana are said to have been born on an island because they seem to us to rise out of the sea; and this island is called Delos because the rising and, as it were, the birth of these two lights make all things clear and visible (S7jAG).

[57] The following is the natural explanation of the killing of the serpent, as given in the writings of Antipater the Stoic. Vapor rising from the still moist earth moved rapidly in spirals to the parts above and, after it had become heated, rolled back thence, like a deadly serpent, to the parts below, where it infected all things with the potency of the corruption which only heat and moisture can generate. The density and darkness of the vapor veiled the very sun and seemed as it were to take away its light; but at length the vapor was dissipated, dried up, and destroyed by the divine heat of the sun’s rays falling upon it like arrows, and this gave rise to the myth of the killing of a serpent by Apollo. [58] There is yet another explanation of the destruction of the serpent; for, although the sun’s course never leaves the line of the ecliptic, nevertheless by giving to the winds definite changes of

direction, now upward and now downward, it imparts to its journey a suggestion of the sinuous movement of a serpent—[59 | so that Euripides writes: 19

The fire-born serpent leads the way for the four changing seasons, yoking its car rich in fruit, in a concord of wealth. When, therefore, the sun—thus styled a serpent—had put an end to

his course through the sky, it used to be said of him that he had 19 Fragment 937 (Nauck).

BOOK 1, CHAPTER 17 125 “put an end” to the serpent, and thence arose the myth of the slaying of a serpent. [60] The reference to the arrows of the sun simply indicates the emission of its rays. These rays are seen to be longest at the time when the sun is putting an end to its yearly course at the summer solstice (it being then at its highest point in the sky and the days at their longest) ; and so the sun-god is called “Far-darter” as “shooting his rays from afar,” that is to say, continually sending down rays to the earth from the most distant and highest point. [61] No more need have been said about the epithet “Pythian,” did not the following explanation of the name also present itself to

our notice. For, when the sun in the sign of Cancer brings the summer solstice and ends his course which is marked by the longest day (thence to begin a return course toward the shortening days), he is then called ‘Pythius” as hastening to his end (nxbdpatov 0éwv), that is to say, as “running the last lap.” [62] And the same name is appropriate when the sun, again entering Capricorn, is seen to have completed the course which ends with the shortest day; so that on

the completion of his yearly span in either sign Apollo is said to have put and end to the serpent, or, in other words, to have put an end to his serpentine journey. This is the opinion expressed by Cornificius in his Derivations. [63] Moreover, of these two signs, Cancer and Capricorn, which are known as the Gates of the Sun, each is so called because, just as the crab is a creature that goes backward and sideways, so on the same principle the sun always begins its sideways, backward path when it is in that sign. And again, Just as it appears to be the habit of the goat at pasture always to make for high ground as it feeds,?° so too the sun in Capricorn

begins to make its way back from the lowest point in the sky to its height. [64] Men call Apollo “the ‘I'win God” (Atdvpatoc)?! because he

presents a twin form of his own divinity, by himself giving light and shape to the moon, for, as a twofold star giving light from a single source, he illumines the periods of day and night. And this 20 Cf. Manilius 5. 139: (capellae) ... ulterius pascentes tendere gaudent; Aeschylus Supplices 691: mpOvopa Bota and Tucker’s note. Cf. 1. 21. 26 and 1. 22. 6 below. 21 Of Didyma (Branchidae)? Cf. 5. 21. 12 for a reference to rites of Zeus at

Didyma, and 5. 22. 14 for the connection of Apollo with Zeus.

126 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA too is the reason why the Romans worship the sun under the name and form of Janus, with the style of the Didymaean Apollo. [65] Apollo is called “Delphian” as making clear things that are invisible (SnAobv dave), that is, because the brightness of his light makes clear what is dark; or, in the opinion of Numenius, because the god is, as it were, one and alone; for, according to Numenius, 5ék@oc in the language of ancient Greece meant “a single one,” and this, he says, is why the Greek word for a brother is ddeA@dc, as though to say, “one who is no longer a single one.”

[66] Furthermore, the inhabitants of Hierapolis, who are Assyrians by race, embody all the activities and powers of the sun in the form of a single, bearded statue which they call Apollo. [67] Its face is represented with a long pointed beard; the statue has a tall basket on its head and it is protected by a breastplate, the

right hand holds upright a spear on which is a little figure of Victory; the left hand offers the likeness of a flower; and a gorgon-

like cloak with a fringe of serpents hangs from the top of the shoulders and covers the back. By the side of the statue are representations of eagles in flight. Before its feet is an image of a woman, with female figures on her right and left encircled by the

sinuous coils of a serpent. [68] The downward-pointing beard represents the rays which shoot from above to the earth. The golden basket rising high above the head denotes the height of heaven, whence the essence of the sun is believed to come. By the evidence of the spear and breastplate a representation of Mars is

added, and Mars (as I shall go on to explain) is to be identified with the sun. The figure of Victory bears witness to the universal sovereignty of the sun. The likeness of a flower represents the flowering of all that the god sows and engenders and fosters, nourishes and ripens. [69] The likeness of a woman is a representation of the earth, to which the sun gives light from above; and in like manner the two female figures on each side represent matter and

nature, which together serve the earth. The representation of a serpent points to the serpentine course of the sun. The eagles, by the great speed and height of their flight, indicate the great height of the sun. [70] The statute has also a gorgonlike vesture, because Minerva, to whom we know this vesture belongs, is a power of the sun; for we have it on the testimony of Porphyrius that Minerva is

V

BOOK I, CHAPTER 17 127 the power of the sun which gives a right judgment to the minds of men, and that is why this goddess is said to have been born from

the head of Jupiter, or, in other words, to have issued from the highest part of the heavens, whence the sun derives its origin.

CHAPTER 18 [1] What we have said of Apollo may be taken to apply to Liber also. Certainly Aristotle, writing in his Imqzuiries into the Nature of the Divine, states that Apollo and Liber Pater are one and the same god, and among the many proofs of this statement he says also that

the Ligyreans in Thrace have a shrine dedicated to Liber from which oracles are given. In this shrine the soothsayers drink large draughts of wine before delivering their prophecies, just as in the temple of Apollo at Claros water is drunk before the oracles are pronounced. [2] Moreover, among the Spartans, at the celebration of the rites in honor of Apollo called the Hyacinthia, garlands of ivy are worn, as in the worship of Bacchus. [3] Likewise the Boeotians, although they speak of Mount Parnassus as sacred to Apollo, nevertheless

pay honor there both to the Delphic oracle and to the caves of Bacchus as dedicated to a single god, so that both Apollo and Liber Pater are worshiped on the same mountain. [4] This is confirmed by Varro and Granius Flaccus,; and this too is what Euripides tells us 1n the lines:

Dionysus equipped with thyrsus and clad in skins of fawns leaps dancing down Parnassus among the pines.1 [5] It is on Mount Parnassus that a festival of Bacchus is held every other year, at which, it is said, many bands of Satyrs are seen and

their characteristic voices are frequently heard, and likewise the clashing of cymbals often strikes men’s ears. [6] And—that no one may suppose Parnassus to be sacred to two different gods—the following line from the Licymmnius of Euripides also indicates that Apollo and Liber are one and the same god:? 1 Fragment 752 (Nauck); Aristophanes Ranae 1211. 2 Fragment 480 (Nauck).

BOOK I, CHAPTER 18 129 Lord Bacchus, Lover of the Laurel, Apollo the Healer, making sweet music on the lyre and Aeschylus writes to the same effect:3 Apollo, the ivy-crowned, the Bacchic god, the Seer.

[7] I first maintained that Apollo is to be indentified with the sun, and I afterward explained that Liber Pater is himself Apollo, and so there can be no doubt but that the sun and Liber Pater are to be regarded as manifestations of the same deity. Nevertheless the

point shall be established distinctly by yet clearer proofs. [8] In the performance of sacred rites a mysterious rule of religion ordains

that the sun shall be called Apollo when it is in the upper hemisphere, that is to say, by day, and be held to be Dionysus, or Liber Pater, when it is in the lower hemisphere, that is to say, at night. [9] Likewise, statues of Liber Pater represent him sometimes as a child and sometimes as a young man; again, as a man with a beard and also as an old man, as for example the statue of the god which the Greeks call Bassareus‘ and Briseus,® and that which in Campania

the Neapolitans worship under the name Hebon. [10] These differences in age have reference to the sun, for at the winter solstice the sun would seem to be a little child, like that which the Egyptians bring forth from a shrine on an appointed day, since the day is then at its shortest and the god is accordingly shown as a tiny infant.6 Afterward, however, as the days go on and lengthen, the sun at the spring equinox acquires strength in a way comparable to growth to adolescence, and so the god is given the appearance of a young man. Subsequently, he is represented in full maturity, with a beard, at the summer solstice, when the sun’s growth is completed.

After that, the days shorten, as though with the approach of his

old age—hence the fourth of the figures by which the god is portrayed.

[11] Again, we learn that in Thrace the sun is identified with Liber, who, as appears from the writings of Alexander, is worshiped there, under the name of Sebadius, with a splendid ritual. And on the hill of Zilmissus a temple has been dedicated to him, round in 3 Fragment 341 (Nauck). 4 “Clothed in a fox-skin”; see Horace Carmina 1. 18. 11. 5 See Persius 1. 76, where the epithet Brisaeus (“Bacchanalian”) is applied to Accius, for the extravagance of his tragic diction.

6 See S. Weinstock, “A New Greek Calendar and Festivals of the Sun,” Journal of Roman Studies, XXXVIII (1948), 42.

130 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA shape and with an opening in the middle of the roof. The round shape of the temple represents the appearance of this star, and the admission of light at the top of the roof symbolizes the fact that the

sun, by sending in its light from the highest part of the heavens, illumines the whole world and that at its rising all things become visible.

[12] Orpheus too intended the following passage to be understood to refer to the sun: Melting the divine ether which aforetime was without motion, he [the Creator] brought up and displayed a most beautiful sight to the Gods; him, whom men now call by the names of Phanes and Dionysus and the lord Eubouleus and Antauges seen afar (for on earth some men give him one name and some another). He was the first to come forth into light, and he was called Dionysus, because he wheels (é6iveita1) throughout the boundless length of Olympus; but with change he took another name, having titles manifold to fit each change according to the seasons of changing time. [13] Orpheus here has called the sun “Phanes” (@avepdc), from its light and enlightening, for the sun sees all and is seen by all. The name Dionysus is derived, as the soothsayer himself says, from the fact that the sun wheels round in an orbit. [14] Cleanthes writes that the name Dionysus is derived from the Greek verb meaning “to complete” (dtavicat), because the sun in its daily course from its rising to its setting, making the day and the night, completes the

circuit of the heavens. [15] For the physicists Dionysus is “the mind of Zeus” (yid¢ vobtc), since they hold that the sun is the mind of the universe, and by the universe they mean the heavens—

which they call Jupiter—and that is why Aratus, when about to speak of the heavens, says:

From Zeus be our beginnings. [Phaenomena 1 | [16] Ihe Romans call the sun Liber, because he is free (liber) to wander—as Naevius’ puts it: Here where the wandering sun flings loose his fiery reins and drives nearer to the earth.

[17] Ihe Orphic verses, too, by calling the sun “Eubouleus,” indicate that he is the patron of “good counsel”; for, if counsel is the 7 Laevius? See Ellis’ note on Catullus 64. 271; and cf. 6. 5. 10 below.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 18 [31 offspring of the mind and if, in the opinion of our authorities, the sun is the mind of the universe from which the first beginning of

intelligence is diffused among mankind, then the sun is rightly believed to preside over good counsel. [18] In the line: The sun, which men also call by name Dionysus Orpheus manifestly declares that Liber is the sun, and the meaning here is certainly quite clear; but the following line from the same

poet is more difficult: One Zeus, one Hades, one Sun, one Dionysus.

[19] The warrant for this last line rests on an oracle of Apollo of Claros, wherein yet another name is given to the sun; which is called, within the space of the same sacred verses by several names, including that of Iao.8 For when Apollo of Claros was asked who among the gods was to be regarded as the god called Iao, he replied:

[20] Those who have learned the mysteries should hide the unsearchable secrets, but, if the understanding is small and the mind weak, then ponder this: that Iao is the supreme god of all gods; in winter, Hades; at spring’s beginning, Zeus; the Sun in summer; and in autumn, the splendid Iao. [21] For the meaning of this oracle and for the explanation, of the

deity and his name, which identifies Iao with Liber Pater and the sun, our authority is Cornelius Labeo in his book entitled On the Oracle of Apollo of Claros.

| [22] Again, Orpheus, pointing out that Liber and the sun are one and the same god, writes as follows of the ornaments and vestments worn by Liber at the ceremonies performed in his honor: All these things duly perform right early, having arrayed the body of the god with his apparel, in imitation of the renowed

sun. First, then, to represent the fiery rays cast about him a crimson robe, like to fire. Moreover, above it fasten on the right shoulder a broad, dappled skin of a fawn, the manyspotted hide of the beast, to represent the sparkling stars and the sacred sky. Then, over the fawn-skin cast a golden belt, all-gleaming, that he wear it around his breast, a mighty sign of the sun, when straightway he leaps up, shining, from the boundaries of earth and smites with his golden rays the stream of Ocean; and unspeakably great is his light, and mingled with 8 Perhaps a form of Jah; cf. Diodorus Siculus 1. 94.

132 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA dew the light gleams at it wheels in eddies in a circle before the god. and as a belt below his measureless breast is seen the encircling Ocean, a great wonder to behold. [23] Hence Vergil, too, knowing that Liber Pater is the sun and Ceres the moon, (the one by its gentle warmth at night,® the other by its heat by day) together control the richness of the soil and the ripening of the crops, says: [You, bright splendors of the World, most glorious, who guide the passage of the gliding year through the heavens, Liber and kindly Ceres] as surely as by your bounty the earth exchanged

the Chaonian acorn for the rich ear of corn. [Georgics 1. 5] [24] And later, the same poet has shown by an example taken from

everyday life that the earth derives fertility from the sun, in the passage which begins:

Often, too, it is good to burn the barren fields" [Georgics 1. 84-93]

for if, by man’s invention, the application of fire is helpful in so many ways, how great then 1s the help to be ascribed to the heaven-

ly heat of the sun ® But see 7. 16. 17-32 below. 10 See 5. 1. 14, below.

CHAPTER 19 [1] What we have said of Liber Pater goes to identify Mars with the sun, for we commonly associate Liber with Mars, suggesting

thereby that they are one god. That is why Bacchus is called “Warlike,” one of the names which properly belong to Mars. [2] Moreover, in a statue of Liber Pater worshiped by the Lacedaemonians the distinguishing emblem is not a thyrsus but a spear; and indeed the thyrsus which Liber carries is in fact a veiled weapon, its point being hidden by the encircling ivy, thus showing that any impulse to war should be restrained by the bonds, as it were, of patience, since it is the nature of ivy to bind and to restrain. Again, wine is the gift of Liber Pater and the heat engendered by wine

often drives men on to madness and to battle. [3] The affinity, then, between the heat of wine and the heat of battle has led us to regard Mars and Liber as one and the same god. ‘he Romans cer-

tainly pay reverence to each deity under the style of “Father,” calling the one Liber Pater and the other Marspiter or Mars Pater.

[4] And the fact that they have declared Liber Pater to be the founder of the triumph is a further proof that he is the Lord of Battles. Since, then, Liber Pater is to be identified with the sun, and

Mars with Liber Pater, without doubt Mars is the sun. [5] And there is the further consideration that the Accitani, a people of Spain, worship with the greatest respect a statue of Mars which is adorned with rays, calling it Neton. [6] Now a natural explanation unquestionably requires that the gods from whom springs the heat of heaven should differ in their names rather than in their real essence. And to the glowing heat by which the spirit is kindled and roused, sometimes to anger, sometimes to deeds of valor, and sometimes (in excess) to a temporary madness —and these are the causes which give birth to wars—to this property

134 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA men have given the name of Mars; the poet Homer too has expressed the violent might of the god, under the likeness of fire, in the line:

In his fury he was as Ares brandishing his spear, or as a

destroying fire [Iliad 15. 605]

so that, in short, one must maintain that the activity of the sun which fires the spirits and inflames the blood is called Mars.

[7] To prove that Mercury is the sun we have the support of our previous exposition, for the identification of Apollo with Mer-

cury is clear from the fact that among many peoples the star Mercury is called Apollo and that, as Apollo presides over the Muses,! so speech, a function of the Muses, is bestowed by Mercu-

ry. [8] There are many further proofs, too, that Mercury is held to represent the sun. In the first place there is the fact that statues of Mercury are adorned with wings, a symbol of the swift movement of the sun; [9] for since we believe Mercury to rule over the mind and understand his name [Hermes] to be derived from the Greek word which means “to interpret” (€punvevetv),? and since the sun is the mind of the universe—and nothing is swifter than the

thoughts of the mind (just as Homer says, “swift as a bird or a thought”) ’—that is why Mercury is equipped with wings, as though possessing the very nature of the sun.

[10] Then a yet clearer statement of this proof comes from the Egyptians, for they give wings to their statues of the sun itself. These statues differ in color, one kind being dark and the other bright in appearance. The bright they call the sun “above” and the dark the sun “below,” describing the sun as “below” when it is on its course in the lower hemisphere, that is to say, in the winter signs, and as “above” when it is moving round the summer sector of the zodiac. [11] A story of the same kind is told of Mercury, but in different words, for Mercury is thought to be the servant and messenger who passes between the gods above and the gods below. [12] Mercury is also known as Argiphontes, not because he slew Argus—who is said to have had a number of eyes all round his head

and to have been ordered by Juno to keep watch over her rival, the 1 Macrobius Commentary 2. 3. 3. 2 Cf. Plato Cratylus 407e and 1. 17. 5 above. 3 Odyssey 7. 36.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 19 135 daughter of Inachus, after she had been changed into the likeness of a cow—but because in this myth Argus is the sky, stippled with shining stars which have the appearance of being, as it were, the eyes of heaven. [13] And indeed men came to call the sky Argus4 from its brightness and the speed of its movement, and it seems to keep watch from above over the earth, which in the hieroglyphic letters of the Egyptians is represented by a cow. The expanse of the sky, therefore, with its ornament of bright stars, is thought to have been killed by Mercury when, with the coming of the day, the sun dims the stars and takes them from the sight of men and thus seems to kill them by the power of its light.

[14] Statues of Mercury, too, commonly have the form of a square block, the only features being the head and the male member erect, this figure indicating that the sun is the head of the universe

and the father of the world and that the whole power of the sun lies not in the services, so to speak, of the several limbs but in the mind alone, which has its seat in the head. [15] The block is made with four sides for the same reason that the four-stringed lyre also is believed to be an attribute of Mercury, the number four symbol-

izing either the four quarters of the world or the four seasons of the year or the arrangement of the zodiac into two equinoxes and two solstices—just as in the seven strings of Apollo’s lyre we may see a reference to the movements of the seven celestial spheres, which nature has placed under the control of the sun. [16] Another clear proof that it is the sun that we worship under the name of Mercury is the caduceus, which the Egyptians have designed as the sacred staff of Mercury. It shows a pair of serpents, male and female, intertwined; the middle parts of the serpents’ coils are joined together as in a knot, called the knot of Hercules; their upper parts are bent into a circle and complete the circle as they

meet in a kiss; below the knot their tails rejoin the staff at the point at which it is held, and at that point appear the wings with which they are provided. [17] The Egyptians also maintain that the attributes of the caduceus illustrate the generation, or “genesis” as it is called, of mankind; for they say that four deities are present to preside over a man’s birth: his Genius, Fortune, Love, and Neces-

sity. By the first two they understand the sun and the moon; for 4 Te, dpydc, “bright,” and, in the phrase nddac dpyoi, “swift.”

136 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the sun, as the source of the breath of life and of heat and of light, is the creator and the guardian of a man’s life and is therefore believed to be the Genius, or god, of a newborn child; the moon is Fortune, since she has charge of the body, and the body is at the mercy of the fickleness of change; the kiss of the serpents is the

symbol of Love; and the knot is the symbol of Necessity. [18] Why wings are added has already been explained, and of the above-

mentioned attributes the coiled bodies of the serpents have been specially chosen, as illustrating the serpentine course of each of the two stars.

CHAPTER 20 [1] The association of a serpent with the statues of Aesculapius and Salus points to the relation of these deities with the nature of the sun and the moon, for Aesculapius is the healthful power which comes from the essence of the sun to give help to mortal minds and bodies, and Salus is the activity proper to the nature of the moon, which aids the bodies of living creatures and strengthens them by — its health-giving disposition.

[2] Statues of Aesculapius and Salus, then, have figures of serpents in attendance because these two deities enable human bodies, as it were, to slough off the skin of weakness and to recover the bloom of their former strength, just as serpents each year shed the skin of old age and renew their youth. And it is for this reason that the sun itself too is represented in the form of a serpent, because in its passage from the lowest point of its course to its height it always seems, as it were, to pass from the depth of old age and return to the vigor of youth. [3] Moreover, since a serpent is called draco from the Greek word meaning “to see” (Sépxetv), the form of the name also explains

why a serpent is one of the chief attributes which symbolize the sun, for with its keen and watchful eyesight the serpent is said to resemble the nature of the sun and for that reason to be entrusted

with the charge of protecting temples, shrines, oracles, and treasuries.

[4] The identity of Aesculapius with Apollo is proved not only by the fact that he 1s believed to be Apollo’s son, but also by reason

of the power of prophecy which too 1s attributed to him. Thus Apollodorus in his work On the Gods writes that Aesculapius pre-

sides over divination and augury. [5] And there is nothing surprising here, since the skills of medicine and divination are closely

138 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA allied, for a doctor knows in advance what will be helpful or unhelpful in the body; just as Hippocrates says that a doctor should be able to describe his patient’s present, past, and future state—or [in Vergil’s words]: To have knowledge of all things that are, or that have been, or that thereafter at their coming shall follow [Georgics 4. 393]

and this agrees with the prophet’s art which [as Homer has it] knows:

time.! [Iliad 1. 70]

The things that are and that shall be and that have been afore-

[6] As for Hercules, he does not differ in essence from the sun, for he is that power of the sun which gives to the human race a valor after the likeness of that of the gods. And one must not suppose that Alcmena’s son, born at Thebes in Boeotia, was the only one, or even the first one, to be called Hercules.? On the contrary, he had many predecessors and was the last to be deemed worthy of the honor of the name, having earned by his outstanding endur-

ance the right to bear the style of the patron god of valor. [7] Besides, there is a religious cult of Hercules at Tyre too, although it is the Egyptians who worship him with the greatest reverence and respect and also from time out of mind (and yet recorded time

with them is very long) pay homage to him as one who has no beginning in time. [8] Hercules is also believed to have slain the Giants in defense

of heaven, and he is thus the symbol of divine valor. As for the Giants, we must understand them to have been an impious breed of men who refused to recognize the existence of the gods and so were thought to have wished to drive them from their seat in heaven. [9] The serpents’ coils at the end of the Giants’ feet? are a sien of their lack of upright and noble thought and of the downward tendency of the whole way and tenor of their life; and it was the sun that exacted the due penalty from them by the destructive power of its heat. [10] ‘That Hercules is indeed the sun is clear from his very name,

for the derivation of his Greek name “Heracles” is obviously "Hpac KAéoc, the “Pride of the Air’—and what, pray, is the pride 1 Cf. Hesiod Theogony 38. 2 Cicero De natura deorum 3. 16. 42. Cf. 3. 12. 6 below. 3 Cf. Ovid Fasti 5. 37: mille manus illis dedit et pro cruribus angues.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 20 139 of the air but the light of the sun, since, when the sun sets, the air is hidden in deep darkness? [11] Furthermore, the manifold forms

of religious observances practiced by the Egyptians argue the manifold powers of the god and point to Hercules as the sun “which is in all and through all.” [12] Another proof of this identification, and that no light proof, is provided by an event which occurred in another land. For when Theron, king of Hither Spain, was driven by a mad desire to capture the temple of Hercules [at Gades] and fitted out a fleet, the men of Gades sailed out

to meet him with their ships of war. Battle was joined, and the issue of the fight was still undecided when the king’s ships suddenly took to flight and at the same time burst into flames without warning and were consumed. The very few enemy survivors, who were taken prisoners, said that they had seen lions standing on the prows of the ships of Gades and that of a sudden their own ships had been

set on fire by a discharge of rays like those which are represented surrounding the head of the sun. [13] In the city on the borders of Egypt which boasts Alexander of Macedon as its founder, Sarapis and Isis are worshiped with a reverence that is almost fanatical. Evidence that the sun, under the

name of Sarapis, is the object of all this reverence is either the basket set on the head of the god or the figure of a three-headed creature placed by his statue. The middle head of this figure, which is also the largest, represents a lion’s, [14] on the right a dog raises

its head with a gentle and fawning air; and on the left the neck ends in the head of a ravening wolf. All three beasts are joined together by the coils of a serpent whose head returns to the god’s right hand which keeps the monster in check. [15] The lion’s head, then, is a symbol of time present, which, midway between the past and the future, has the strength and ardor of immediate action; time past is represented by the head of the wolf, because the memory of things that are over and done is swiftly borne away; so too the likeness of a fawning dog indicates the issue of time to come, the object of our hopes, which are uncertain but flatter us. And indeed times and seasons are surely the servants of the power that creates them. As for the emblem of a basket on the head of the statue, this is a symbol of the height and a sign of the capacious power of the sun, for all earthly things return to the sun, carried thither by the heat which it sends forth.

140 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [16] Now let me remind you of the words of an oracle touching the sun, or Sarapis. When Sarapis, whom the Egyptians have de-

clared to be the greatest of the Gods, was asked by Nicocreon, king of the Cypriots, which of the gods he was held to be, he satisfied the king’s religious scruples with the following lines:

[17] Learn that the nature of my godhead is such as I may tell thee: the firmament of heaven is my head; my belly the sea; the earth my feet; my ears are in the air; and the bright light of the sun is my far-flashing eye.‘ [18] From these lines it is clear that the nature of Sarapis and of the sun is one and indivisible.

Isis is worshiped together with Sarapis; for Isis is the earth, or the world of nature, that lies beneath the sun; and so the whole body of the goddess is thickly covered with a series of breasts, because everything that exists draws its sustenance and nourishment from the earth or world of nature. 4 The Oxford Book of Greek Verse, ed. by G. Murray and others (Oxford, 1930), No. 482.

CHAPTER 21 [1] That Adonis too is the sun will be clear beyond all doubt if we examine the religious practices of the Assyrians, among whom Venus Architis and Adonis were worshiped of old with the greatest reverence, as they are by the Phoenicians today. Physicists have given to the earth’s upper hemisphere (part of which we inhabit) the revered name of Venus, and they have called the earth’s lower hemisphere Proserpine. [2] Now six of the twelve signs of the zodiac are regarded as the upper signs and six as the lower, and so the Assyrians, or Phoenicians, represent the goddess Venus as going into mourning when the sun, in the course of its yearly progress through the series of the twelve signs, proceeds to enter the sector of the lower hemisphere. [3] For when the sun is among the lower signs, and therefore makes the days shorter, it 1s as if it had been carried off for a time by death and had been lost and had passed into the power of Proserpine, who, as we have said, is the deity that presides over the lower circle of the earth and the antipodes; so that Venus is believed to be in mourning then, just as Adonis is believed to have been restored to her when the sun, after passing completely through the six signs of the lower series, begins again to traverse the circle of our hemisphere, with brighter light and longer days. [4] In the story which they tell of Adonis killed by a boar the animal is intended to represent winter, for the boar is an unkempt and rude creature delighting in damp, muddy, and frost-covered places and feeding on the acorn, which is especially a winter fruit. And so winter, as it were, inflicts a wound on the sun, for in winter we find the sun’s light and heat ebbing, and it is an ebbing of light and heat that befalls all living creatures at death. [5] On Mount Lebanon there is a statue of Venus. Her head is

142 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA veiled, her expression sad, her cheek beneath her veil is resting on her left hand; and it is believed that as one looks upon the statue it sheds tears. This statue not only represents the mourning goddess of whom we have been speaking but is also a symbol of the earth in winter; for at that time the earth is veiled in clouds, deprived of the companionship of the sun, and benumbed, its springs of water (which are, as it were, its eyes) flowing more freely and the fields meanwhile stripped of their finery—a sorry sight. [6] But when

the sun has come up from the lower parts of the earth and has crossed the boundary of the spring equinox, giving length to the day, then Venus is glad and fair to see, the fields are green with growing crops, the meadows with grass and the trees with leaves. That is why our ancestors dedicated the month of April to Venus. [7] In the same way the myths and religious ceremonies of the Phrygians, in spite of certain differences, give for our understanding

a similar account of the Mother of the Gods and of Attis; [8] for the Mother of the Gods is beyond question to be regarded as the earth, and the impetuous strength and ardor of the lions which draw her car are properties of the sky which encloses and surrounds the air that carries the earth as 1n a car. [9] And to the sun, under the

name of Attis, are given the emblems of a shepherd’s pipe and a wand, the pipe indicating a series of uneven blasts (because the winds derive their properties and essential nature from the sun and do not blow with uniformity) and the wand declaring the power of the sun, which controls all things. [10] But that these ceremonies are to be regarded of referring chiefly to the sun can be inferred also from the fact that, by the usage of that people, on the eighth day before the Kalends of April, the “Descent” being ended and the symbolic mourning over, a period of rejoicing begins; and the day, as marking the time when the sun first makes the day

: longer than the night, is called the “Festival of Joy” (Hilaria). [11] In Egypt too, although the names of the deities are different, there is a similar religious ceremony, in which Isis mourns for Osiris; for it is no secret that Osiris is none other than the sun and Isis, as we have said, none other than the earth or world of nature, and the explanation which applies to the rites of Adonis and

Attis is applicable also to the Egyptian rites, to account for the alternations of sorrow and joy which accompany in turn the phases

of the year. [12] Moreover, to show that by Osiris is meant the

BOOK 1, CHAPTER 21 143 sun, whenever the Egyptians wish to represent the god in their hieroglyphic letters they engrave a scepter and in it portray the representation of an eye. This is their sign for Osiris, and by it they

indicate that this god is the sun, which with royal power looks down upon the world from on high. And indeed in ancient usage the sun is called the eye of Jupiter. [13] Among the Egyptians Apollo (and he is the sun) is called Horus—whence the name “hours” (horae) has been given to the

twenty-four divisions which make up a day and a night and to the four seasons [@pa1] which together complete the cycle of the year. [14] It has also been a practice of the Egyptians, when they

wish to dedicate a statue of the sun under its own name, to represent it with the head shaved except on the right side, where the hair is allowed to remain. The hair that is kept shows that the sun is never hidden from the world of nature, and the retention of the roots after the locks have been shorn indicates that it is an essential property of the sun, even when it is invisible to us, to reappear like those locks. [15] This same attribute of a half-shorn head is also a symbol of the time when the light is reduced and when the sun, as though shorn of its growth and with a mere stubble, so to speak, remaining, comes to the shortest day (which the men of old called

the winter solstice, using the word bruma for winter, from the shortness of the day, as though to say “short day.”! But when the sun rises again from its narrow retreat, it reaches out to the summer hemisphere, growing in strength as though by a process of birth, and it is believed to have come then into its own realm. [16] That

is why, among the signs of the zodiac, the Egyptians have dedicated an animal, the lion, in that part of the heavens where in its yearly course the sun’s powerful heat is hottest. And the Sign of the Lion there they call “The House of the Sun,”? because a lion seems to derive its essential qualities from the natural properties of the sun. [17] For, in the first place, the lion by its energy and ardor surpasses other animals as the sun surpasses the rest of the

stars. And then, just as a lion’s strength is in its breast and in the front part of its body, but its hinder limbs are weaker, so the might 1 Varro De lingua Latina 6. 8: bruma quod brevissimus tunc dies est, Festus, p. 28: bruma a brevitate dierum dicta; Isidore of Seville 5. 35. 6: bruma... quasi Bpaxvc, id est brevis. 2 Aelian De natura animalium 12. 7.

144 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA of the sun grows more powerful from the first part of the day up to noon or from the first part of the year, that is from the spring, to summer; but afterward the sun grows weaker, as it declines to its setting (which would seem to be the hinder part of the day) or to the winter (the hinder part of the year). And the lion, too, always gazes with open fiery eyes, just as the sun regards the earth with the continuous and unwearied gaze of its open fiery eye. [18] Again, not only the Lion, but every one of the signs of the zodiac as well, may properly be related to natural attributes of the sun. To begin with the Ram: the affinity here is well marked, for throughout the six winter months a ram lies on its left side and after the spring equinox on its right,’ just as the sun too from that same time traverses the right [or summer] hemisphere and then, for the rest of the year, the left [or winter] hemisphere. [19] And that too is why Ammon, the god whom the Libyans identify with the setting sun, is represented by them as wearing a ram’s horns, for a ram’s strength lies chiefly in its horns, as the sun’s strength lies in its rays; for among the Greeks also the animal is called kpioc, from the word

Kapa [1e., head]. [20] As for the Bull, the religious practices of the Egyptians show in many ways its connection with the sun—that is to say, either because at Heliopolis high honors are paid to a bull dedicated,

under the name of Mnevis, to the sun; or because in the city of Memphis the ox Apis is received as the sun; or because in the town of

Hermunthis, in the splendid temple of Apollo there, they worship a bull called Bacis, which is dedicated to the sun and is remarkable for certain strange properties consistent with the nature of the sun, [21] for men affirm that this bull changes color hourly, and the thick bristles of its coat are said to grow in the direction opposite

to the natural growth in all other beasts, so that the animal is thought to be, as it were, an image of the sun, whose movement is opposite to that of the heavens.

[22] The Twins, who are believed to die and to come to life again in turn, surely represent the sun which, ever one and the same, now descends to the lowest parts of the world and now rises again to the highest. 3 Aelian De natura animalium io. 18. 4 Recte xépac, “horn’’? 5 See Macrobius Commentary 1. 18. 1.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 21 145 [23] Ihe sidelong movement of the Crab unquestionably illustrates the march of the sun, whose lot it is never to follow a straight path but always [in the words of Vergil]:

That by which the system of the Signs might slant and turn. [Georgics 1. 239]

And we should note in particular that it is in the sign of the Crab that the sun begins to move sideways from the upper part of its course and now to make for the parts below. Of the Lion we have spoken already. [24] The Virgin, with an ear of corn in her hand, certainly represents that power of the sun which has the fruits of the earth in its care. And she is on that account regarded as a symbol of Justice, by which alone these fruits as they come to birth are preserved for

the use of men. :

[25] The Scorpion—in its entirety, for this sign includes the Balance—presents a picture of the sun’s nature. It is sluggish in winter but, when winter is past, by its own strength again erects its sting, its nature none the worse for the winter sluggishness. [26] The Archer is the lowest and last of all the houses of the zodiac. His upper parts therefore are those of a man, but he sinks to the form of a beast in his lower limbs, as though thrust down from the

heights to the depths by his hinder parts. Nevertheless the arrow which he shoots shows that the sun’s rays, even when the sun is on its way from the lowest part of its course, are the universal source of life.

Capricorn, bringing the sun back from the lower to the upper parts of its course, seems to imitate the nature of the goat, the creature which, moving as it feeds from the lowest parts, always grazes on the high peaks of the rocks.® [27] The Water-Bearer indicates the essential force of the sun, for assuredly rain would not fall upon the earth unless the heat of

the sun first drew the moisture up on high, to pour it down again in abundant showers. Placed at the end of the series of the signs of the zodiac are the

Fishes. They are dedicated to the sun not, as with the rest of the signs, because their nature in any way represents the nature of the

6 Cf. 1. 17. 63 above and 1. 22. 6 below.

146 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA sun, but as illustrating its power, since the sun gives life not only to creatures of the air and of the land but also to those which, as though exiled from the sun and removed from its sight, have their being in the depths of the waters. For such is the sun’s might that its penetrating rays quicken even what is hidden from its view.

CHAPTER 22 [1] To return to our discussion of the manifold power of the sun, Nemesis, which we worship to keep us from pride, is none other than that power of the sun whose nature it is to make dark the things that are bright and withdraw them from our sight and to give light to things that are in darkness and bring them before our eyes.

[2] The attributes with which Pan (or Inuus, as he is called) is represented enable those who are the better endowed with understanding to perceive that he himself is the sun. [3] The Arcadians in their worship of him call him “the Lord of the 6\n”! meaning to indicate, not that he is the lord of the forest but the ruler of all material substance; and the power of this matter is the essential component of all bodies that exist, whether celestial bodies or bodies terrestrial. [4] he horns, then, and the long, hanging beard of Inuus are symbols of the nature of the light by which the sun illumines the expanse of sky above and brings brightness to the parts that lie below, so that Homer says of the sun: Dawn rose, to bring light to immortals and to mortal men. [Iliad 11. 2; 19. 2; Odyssey 5. 2] And as for Pan’s pipe and wand, we have explained their meaning

already, in our discussion of the attributes of Attis. [5] The explanation of the attribute of goat’s feet is to be found in the fact that matter, under the regulation of the sun, goes to the making of all substance and that after the divine bodies have been formed from it, it finally becomes the first principle of the earth. [6] A goat’s feet were chosen to symbolize this ending because the goat 1 “Yn meaning (a) “forest” and (b) “matter”.

148 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA is a creature of the earth but yet always moves upward as it feeds,”

just as the sun, whether it is sending its rays down to earth from above is preparing to rise again, is seen to shine on the mountains. [7] Echo is believed to be the darling of Inuus and the object of

his love—Echo beheld by no man’s eyes but the symbol of the harmony of the heavens—and this harmony is dear to the sun as the ruler of all the spheres whence the harmony is born—a harmony, however, which can never be perceived by our senses.

[8] And Saturn himself, the author of times and seasons (and therefore, by the change of a letter, called Kpdvog by the Greeks as though for ypévoc, time*), must assuredly be understood to be the sun; since there is handed down a regular succession of first principles, a succession separated by the multitude of times and seasons, made visible by light, bound together in an everlasting bond, and distinguished by our sense of sight, wherein we see everywhere the action of the sun. 2 Cf. 1. 17. 63 and 1. 21. 26 above. 3 Cf. 1. 8. 6 above.

CHAPTER 23 [1] Even Jupiter himself, the king of the gods, does not, it seems,

rank higher than the sun, but there are clear signs that he and the sun are, in their nature, one and the same, for in the following lines of Homer, Yesterday Zeus went to Ocean, to the noble Ethiopians, for a banquet, and all the gods followed him, but on the twelfth he

will return to Olympus [Iliad 1. 423]

[2] the name of Jupiter, according to Cornificius, is understood to

stand for the sun, to which the water of Ocean serves, so to speak, a banquet. For, as Posidonius and Cleanthes affirm, the sun

in its course does not leave the so-called “torrid” zone, because Ocean, which encircles and divides the earth, flows beneath that zone; and, moreover, it is well known, on the authority of all the physicists, that heat draws its sustenance from moisture.

[3] Homer’s words: “All the gods followed him,” refer to the constellations which by the daily motion of the heavens are borne, together with the sun, to their settings and risings and are nourished by the same moisture as the sun. For the constellations and the stars are called “gods” because the word @g6c is derived from @éetv,! that

is “to run,” since they are always in motion, or else from OewpstoGa1, since they are the objects of “contemplation.”

[4] When the poet goes on to say: “On the twelfth he will return,” by “twelfth” he is indicating not a number of days but the

number of hours after which the heavenly bodies return to their rising in the upper hemisphere. [5] We are also to understand the following passage from Plato? 1 Plato Cratylus 397d. 2 Phaedrus 246e.

150 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA to have the same meaning: “The great leader in heaven, Zeus, driving a winged chariot, goes first, setting all things in order and providing for them. He is followed by a host of gods and spirits, marshaled in eleven squadrons; and Hestia alone remains in the house of the gods.” By these words Plato wishes it to be understood

that the sun, under the name of Jupiter, is the great leader in heaven, and the reference to the winged chariot indicates the speed

of the sun’s motion. [6] And since the sun, in whatever sign it happens to be, is supreme over all the signs and constellations and the gods that preside over the signs, it seems therefore to precede and lead all the gods, ordering and providing for all things; so that

the rest of the gods, forming at it were its army, are held to be disposed among eleven of the signs, because the sun itself, in whatever sign it be, occupies the place of the twelfth. [7] Plato refers to spirits (daemones: Saipoves) and gods, jointly by name, either because gods are Satpovec, ° that is to say “gifted with knowledge of the future,” or, as Posidonius writes in his work

On Heroes and Spirits, because their nature springs from and shares in the heavenly substance—this word for spirits being then derived from da1duEevoc, which may mean either “burning” or “sharing.” [8] The additional words: ‘“‘Hestia alone remains in the house of

the gods,” mean that she (whom we understand to be the earth) alone remains motionless within the house of the gods, that is to say, in the midst of the universe, as Euripides says:4 And thee, O Mother Earth—and the Wise among men call thee Hestia—as thou sittest in the ether.

[9] The following lines from other sources serve to show how we are to regard the relationship of the sun and Jupiter: The all-seeing and all-comprehending eye of Zeus [Hesiod Opera et dies 267] and

O Sun, who dost watch over all things and hear all things. [Iliad 3. 277]

From these lines it is clear that both Jupiter and the sun are to be regarded as the manifestation of a single power. 3 Cratylus 398b. Cf. Isidore of Seville 8. 11. 15: daemones a Graecis dictos aiunt, quast danpovasc, id est peritos ac rerum scios. 4 Fragment 938 (Nauck).

BOOK I, CHAPTER 23 15] [10] The Assyrians too, in a city called Heliopolis,® worship the sun with an elaborate ritual under the name of Jupiter, calling him “Zeus of Heliopolis.” The statue of the god was brought from the

Egyptian town also called Heliopolis, when Senemur (who was perhaps the same as Senepos) was king of Egypt. It was taken to Assyria first (by Opias the ambassador of Delebor, king of the Assyrians, and by Egyptian priests the chief of whom was Partemetis), and, after it had been for some time in Assyria, it was later moved to Heliopolis. [11] Why this was done and how it came about that, after leaving Egypt, the statue has reached the place where it now is and is worshiped with Assyrian rather than with Egyptian rites I have omitted to mention, because the matter has no bearing on our present topic. [12] However, the identification of this god with Jupiter and with the sun is clear from the form of the ceremonial and from the appearance of the statue. The statue, a figure of gold in the likeness of a beardless man,

presses forward with the right hand raised and holding a whip, after the manner of a charioteer; in the left hand are a thunderbolt and ears of corn; and all these attributes symbolize the conjoined power of Jupiter and the sun. [13] Ihe temple is held in remarkable awe too as the seat of an oracle, such divination pointing to a faculty of Apollo, who is identified with the sun. For the statue of the god of Heliopolis is borne in a litter, as the images of the gods are carried in the procession at the Circensian Games, and the bearers are generally the leading men of the province. These men, with their heads shaved, and purified

by a long period of abstinence, go as the spirit of the god moves them and carry the statue not of their own will but whithersoever the god directs them, just as at Antium we see the images of the two goddesses of Fortune move forward to give their oracles.® [14] The god is also consulted from a distance, by the sending of sealed letters, and he replies, in order, to the matters contained in the question put to him. So it was that the emperor ‘Trajan, too, when he was about to march with his army from the province of Syria into Parthia, was urged by friends of the most steadfast piety, 5 Baalbec (Pliny Historia naturalis 5. 18. 80). See review of Ronzevalle’s Jupiter Héliopolitain in Journal of Roman Studies, XXVIII, Pt. 1 (1938), 87. 6 Cf. Lucian De dea Syria 36. Martial (5. 1. 3) refers to the two goddesses of Fortune worshipped at Antium as the “soothsaying sisters.”

152 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA who had had reliable experience of the power of the god, to consult him about the issue of the undertaking. With typically Roman prudence the emperor, by a preliminary test of the trustworthiness of the oracle, took steps to thwart the possibility of hidden human trickery,’ and began by sending sealed tablets with a request for a

written reply. [15] To the surprise of the priests, who were, of course, unaware of the nature of the emperor’s tablets, the god bade a sheet of papyrus be brought and ordered it to be sealed, without any writing on it, and dispatched. When Trajan received the docu-

ment he was filled with astonishment, since the tablets which he had sent to the god also had had no writing on them, [16] and he then wrote and sealed other tablets, to ask whether he would return

to Rome after the war was over. The god thereupon bade a centurion’s vine branch be brought from among the dedicated offer-

ings in the temple, broken in pieces, and the pieces wrapped in a napkin and sent thus to the emperor. When Trajan’s bones were brought back to Rome after his death the meaning of the oracle’s response was Clear, for the emperor’s remains resembled the pieces of the vine branch, and the vine branch itself [as a centurion’s staff |

indicated the time of the event which would befall [namely, in time of war]. [17] That the discourse may not wander too far afield, by mentioning all the gods by name, let me tell you what the Assyrians believe about the sovereignty of the sun. To the god whom they

revere as highest and greatest of the gods they have given the name of Adad, a name which, being interpreted, means “One One.”

[18] Him, then, they worship as the most powerful god, but they associate with him a goddess called Adargatis,§ and to these two

deities, by whom they understand the sun and the earth, they ascribe full power over all things. And, instead of using a number

of names to express the power shared by these deities in all its forms, they indicate the manifold pre-eminence of this twofold godhead by the attributes which each deity bears. [19] These attributes of themselves tell of the nature of the sun; for the statue of Adad is distinguished by rays which point downward, to show that the might of heaven is in the rays which pour down from the 7 For an example of such trickery, see Lucian Alexander 19-21. 8 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 5. 19. 81; and for Adad 37. 71. 186.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 23 153 sun to the earth, but the statue of Adargatis is distinguished by rays which point upward, to show that everything that the earth brings forth owes its birth to the power of the rays sent from above. [20] Under the statue of Adargatis are figures of lions, to indicate that the goddess represents the earth, on the same principle as that by which the Phrygians have represented the Mother of the Gods, that is to say, the earth, in a car drawn by lions.

[21] Finally, the theologians point out that the sovereignty of the sun answers to the sum of all the powers that be, and this is shown by the short prayer which they use in their ritual, saying: O Sun, Ruler of all, Spirit of the world, Might of the world, Light of the world. [22] And in the following verses Orpheus too bears witness to the all-embracing nature of the sun: Hear, O Thou who dost, wheeling afar, ever make the turning circle of thy rays to revolve in its heavenly orbits, bright Zeus Dionysus, Father of sea, Father of land, Sun, source of all life, all-gleaming with thy golden light.

CHAPTER 24 [1] As Praetextatus ended his discourse, the company for a while

regarded him in wide-eyed wonder and amazement. Then one of the guests began to praise his memory, another his learning, and all

his knowledge of the observances of religion; for he alone, they declared, knew the secrets of the nature of godhead, he alone had the intelligence to apprehend the divine and the ability to expound

it. [2] But Evangelus interrupted, saying: I am certainly full of admiration for a capacity to understand the powers of all those mighty deities, but to call on our poet of Mantua to corroborate every statement in a theological exposition would seem to suggest

partiality rather than a reasoned judgment. [3] For my part, should I not take it that Vergil was imitating some other poet when he referred to the sun and moon as “Liber and kindly Ceres,” hearing the names so used but not knowing why? [4] Unless, perhaps, just as the Greeks are immoderate in their praise of all that 1s

Greek, we too would turn even our poets into philosophers, although Cicero himself, who maintained that he was as devoted to philosophy as to oratory, cannot discuss the nature of the gods or fate, or divination, without impairing his reputation as an orator, by his unmethodical treatment of these subjects. [5] Cicero, replied Symmachus, is proof against your criticism, FEvangelus, but we shall consider him later.1 At present we are con-

cerned with Vergil, and I should be glad if you would tell us whether, in your judgment, his works are fit only for the instruction of schoolboys, or whether you would admit that their contents can serve higher ends; for it seems to me that for you Vergil’s verse 1 Perhaps an indication that the Saturnalia was written before the Commentary.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 24 155 is, still, what it was for the rest of us in boyhood, when our masters would read it to us and we would recite it to them. [6] I should rather put it this way, Symmachus, said Evangelus. When we were boys we had an uncritical admiration for Vergil, because our masters, as well as the inexperience of our youth, did not allow us to see his faults. That he had faults no one can honestly deny. In fact he admitted as much himself, for on his deathbed he bequeathed his Aeneid to the flames; and why should he have done this unless he was anxious to keep from posterity something which he knew would damage his reputation? [7] And how right

he was! For he was ashamed to think what the verdict on him would be, if any should come to read of a goddess begging from her only husband—and that a husband by whom, as well she knew, she had not had a child—a gift of arms for her son, or if countless other

passages should come to light in which the poet had offended against good taste—whether by his use of Greek and outlandish expressions or by the faulty arrangement of his work. [8] All shuddered as they heard these words, and Symmachus retorted: Vergil’s renown, Evangelus, is such that no one can add

to it by praise or detract from it by disparagement. And, as for your carping criticisms, anyone from the lowest ranks of the grammarians can answer them, so that there is no need to put our friend Servius, who, to my mind, surpasses the teachers of former times in learning, to the trouble of rebutting such charges. But since, outstanding poet though he is, his poetic skill displeases you, tell me whether his rhetorical powers meet with your approval, for they are very great. [9] Evangelus at first smiled but then replied: True indeed! All

that remains for you people to do now is to proclaim Vergil an orator as well. And I am not surprised, for not so long ago you were canvassing his promotion to a place among the philosophers. [ro]If, in your opinion, said Symmachus, Vergil should be re-

garded as having no thought for anything but poetry (although you go so far as to grudge him the name of poet), listen to what he has himself to say about the many kinds of learning which his work entailed. For there is a letter? of his, addressed to Augustus, which begins with these words: [11] “I am getting many letters 2 Perhaps a reply to the letters from Augustus to which Suetonius refers in his life of Vergil (31).

156 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA from you” (and goes on) “as for my Aeneas, if I now had anything

worthy of your attention, I should gladly send it, but the subject on which I have embarked is so vast that I think I must have been almost mad to have entered upon it; all the more so since, as you know, there are other and much more important studies which claim from me a share in the work.” [12] What Vergil says here is consistent with that wealth of material which almost all the literary critics carelessly pass by with (as the proverb says) “dusty feet’’*—as

though a grammarian were permitted to understand nothing beyond the meanings of words. Thus those fine fellows have set hard and fast bounds to their science, like the tracts fixed and defined by the augurs; and, if anyone were to dare to overstep these prescribed limits, he would have to be deemed guilty of as heinous an offense as if he had peered into the temple from which all males

are banned.t [13] But we, who claim to have a finer taste, shall

not suffer the secret places of this sacred poem to remain concealed, but we shall examine the approaches to its hidden meanings and throw open its inmost shrine for the worship of the learned. [14] I should be sorry to seem to be anxious to undertake the whole work single-handed, and I propose therefore only to point out the most forcible of the rhetorical devices and conceits that are to be found in Vergil’s work,® leaving Eusebius, that most eloquent of orators, to deal with Vergil’s skill in oratory, a theme which—thanks to his learning, and experience as a teacher—he will handle better than I. As for the rest of you here, I would earnestly beg that each of you contribute, as it were to a common feast, anything that he may have noted as particularly striking about the poet’s genius. [15] These words aroused great, and general, enthusiasm, each of the company wishing to hear the others and overlooking the fact that he too would himself be called on to make a like contribution. Mutual encouragement led to ready and willing assent, and, turning to Praetextatus, all begged him to give his opinion first, to be fol-

lowed by the rest in the order in which they happened to be sitting.® 3 Cf. Aulus Gellius 1. 9. 8 and 17. 5. 14. 4 The temple of the Bona Dea. 5 In the last part (now lost) of Book 4. See 5. 1. 1. 6 For the customary arrangement of the conversation at a convivium see Cicero De senectute 14. 46. Cf. 7. 11. 1, below.

BOOK I, CHAPTER 24 157 [16] Of all the high qualities for which Vergil is praised, said Vet-

tius, my constant reading of his poems leads me, for my part, to admire the great learning with which he has observed the rules of the pontifical law in many different parts of his work. One might well suppose that he had made a special study of this law, and if my

| discourse does not prove unequal to so lofty a topic, I undertake to show that our Vergil may fairly be regarded as a Pontifex Maximus.’

[17] Flavianus was the next to speak. I find in our poet, he said, such knowledge of augural law® that, even if he were unskilled in

all other branches of learning, the exhibition of this knowledge alone would win him high esteem. [18] I, added Eustathius, should give the highest praise to his use of Greek models*—a cautious use and one which may even have the appearance of being accidental, since he sometimes skillfully conceals the debt, although at other times he imitates openly—did I not

admire even more his knowledge of astronomy and of the whole field of philosophy,® and the sparing and restrained way in which he makes occasional, and everywhere praiseworthy, use of this knowledge in his poems. [19] Furius Albinus was placed on the other side of Praetextatus,

and next to him Caecina. Both spoke highly of the way in which

Vergil strove to profit by the work of earlier writers, Furius referring to lines and passages,!® Caecina to single words.11 [20] Avienus said: I shall not take it upon myself to dare to praise any single virtue in Vergil’s work, but I shall listen to what the rest

of you have to say, and, if any remark of yours or anything in my long reading of the poet suggests an observation, I shall make it, as

the occasion for it may arise. But bear in mind that it is to our friend Servius that we must go for an explanation of any obscurity, since of all literary critics he is far the greatest.! [21] These proposals were unanimously accepted, and Praetextatus, seeing that all were looking toward him, said: Philosophy, the 7 Book 3. 1-12; cf. Sainte-Beuve, Ezude sur Virgile, Chap. 4.

8 The discourse of Flavianus on Vergil’s knowledge of augural law and that of Eustathius on Vergil’s knowledge of astronomy and philosophy have not survived. Quintilian (1. 4. 4) insists that a knowledge of astronomy and philosophy is necessary for the understanding of poetry. ® Book 5. 2-22. 1° Book 6. 1-3. 14 Book 6. 4-5. 12 Book 6. 6-9.

158 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA discipline of disciplines, is the gods’ unequaled gift to man. It must therefore have the honor of being our first topic.!® Let Eustathius remember, then, that all other discourses give place to his and that he is to open the discussion. You, Flavianus, will follow him. I shall find it refreshing to listen to the two of you, and some respite from talking will enable me to recover strength to speak. [22] Meanwhile the head slave (whose duty it was to burn incense before the household gods, to arrange for the provision of food, and to direct the tasks of the domestic servants) had come to inform his master that the household staff had finished the customary yearly feast; [23] for in houses where religious usages are observed it is the practice at the Saturnalia to compliment the slaves

by first providing for them a dinner prepared as though for the master, and it is not until this meal is over that the table is spread again for the head of the household. And so it was that the chief servant entered to announce the hour of dinner and to summon the masters to it. [24] Then, said Praetextatus, our friend Vergil must be kept for a more suitable time of day, and let us devote a fresh morning to a systematic examination of his poetry. Now the hour reminds us that my table is to have the honor of your company. But Eustathius, and after him Nicomachus, must not forget that at tomorrow’s discussion the duty of speaking first is reserved for them.

[25] My meeting with you all, added Flavianus, is in accordance with the ruling which we have already approved, that my household

gods are to have the privilege and pleasure of entertaining this distinguished gathering tomorrow. All agreed, and they went in to dinner in high spirits, recalling to one another with approval the topics which they had debated together. 13 John of Salisbury 8. 9 (741d).

the saturnalia - Book 2 [After-dinner conversation of the first day, at the house of Praetextatus |

CHAPTER 1 [1] When dinner was now over and the diners, having eaten sparingly of a modest number of dishes, were growing merry, though the cups were small, Avienus said: In similar lines and with

the change of but a few words Vergil has well and shrewdly hit off the difference between a riotous and a sober meal. For of the din which attends the splendor and magnificence of a royal banquet he writes:

When first there came a lull in the feast [Aeneid 1. 723] but, when his heroes sit down to a simple repast, he makes no reference to a lull, because there had been no previous clamor, and says instead: When hunger had been banished by the feast [Aeneid 1. 216] [2] This dinner of ours has combined the moderation of the heroic

age with the good taste of our own; it is sober yet elegant, carefully planned without being lavish. And for all Plato’s eloquence I have no hesitation in comparing it with—nay, in preferring it to— Agathon’s banquet, [3] for our host is no whit inferior to Socrates in character and is at the same time more influential in public life than the philosopher; and, as for the rest of you, my friends, your practice of all the virtues is too well known for anyone to regard you as comparable with any comic poet or with Alcibiades (a man whose courage was directed to criminal ends) or with any other in that large company. [4] Hush! said Praetextatus. Respect, I beg you, the honored name of Socrates, although you can say what you like about the rest of the guests at that banquet, for these distinguished friends of

160 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA ours would by general consent be regarded as superior to them. But tell me, Avienus, what have you in mind in making this comparison?

[5] Just this, said he, that, in spite of their high brows, one of those people was prepared to call for the admission of a lute player,

that a girl artificially made up to enhance her charms might beguile their philosophic conversation with pleasant tunes and suggestive dances. [6] The purpose on that occasion was to celebrate Agathon’s success in the theater; but we, for our part, are failing to

introduce any pleasurable relaxation in doing honor to the god whose festival this is. And yet I am well aware that none of you sees any particular merit in wearing a sad and gloomy countenance,

nor do you greatly admire the man Crassus, who (as Cicero tells us, on the authority of Lucilius), laughed but once in all his life. [7] Praetextatus replied that his household gods were not accustomed to take any pleasure in a cabaret show and that such a show would ill become so serious a gathering. But Symmachus rejoined: [8] “At the Saturnalia, best of days,”? as the poet of Verona says, I take it that we should neither imitate the Stoics and repel pleasure as a foe nor follow the Epicureans and make pleasure the highest good. Let us then make humor without impropriety our aim; and,

unless I am mistaken, I think I have found out how to do this. I suggest that we relate to one another a selection of the jests of famous men of old—there are a number of books of these bons mots?

—[g9] and let such literary delights and learned badinage take the place of the improper and indecent jokes which the mummer and

buffoon hide under a veil of seemliness and decency. [10] Our ancestors regarded a jest as something worth taking care and thought over; and I should like to begin by reminding you that two of the lords of language in those old days, the comic poet Plautus and the orator Cicero, were both outstanding for their witty jests. [11] Plautus indeed was so famous on this account that after his death comedies of uncertain authorship were attributed to him simply by reason of the wealth of jokes which they contained.4 [12] What Cicero could do as a wit® is well known to anyone who has at least taken the trouble to read the collection which his freed1 De fimibus 5. 30. 92. See also Warmington, III, 422. 2 Catullus 14. 15. People greeted each other then with the words: Bona Saturnalia. See R. Ellis, Commentary on Catullus (2d ed., Oxford, 1889), p. 53. 3 For reference to such books see Plautus Stichus, goo, and Persa, 394.

4 Cf. Aulus Gellius 3. 3. 5 See Quintilian 6. 3. 5.

BOOK 2, CHAPTER I 161 man made of his jests—books, by the way, which some ascribe to C1cero himself. We all know, too, that his enemies used to refer to Cicero as “that consular buffoon,” an expression actually used by Vatinius

in his own speech. [13] And indeed, were it not tedious to do so, I should remind you myself of the causes in which a jest enabled him to defend the guiltiest of clients with success—how, for example, when he was defending Lucius Flaccus, accused of extortion, a well-timed witticism procured an acquittal on charges which had

been clearly proved. The particular joke does not appear in the text of the speech, but I came across it in a book by Furius Bibaculus, and it is one of his celebrated sayings. [14] My use of the term “sayings” (dicta) is not accidental but deliberate, since it is the expression used by our predecessors to describe such jokes. And Cicero, too, bears me out; for in the second Book of his letters to Cornelius Nepos he says: “And so, although

every spoken word would have been properly described as a ‘saying,’ it was the custom with us to confine the use of the word to a witty, brief, and pointed remark.” There you have what Cicero says: Novius and Pomponius, however, not infrequently call jokes “mots” (dicteria). [15] The famous Marcus Cato, the Censor, also used to make clever jokes. And so, even if the jests we make were our own, we

could rely on the precedent set by these men to shield us from criticism; but, since we are proposing to repeat sayings of bygone times, we certainly have a sound defense in the high position of the men who made them. If, then, the suggestion meets with your approval, let us jog our memories for such sayings and repeat, each in turn, what comes to mind.® [16] All approved of the innocent merriment proposed, and they

urged Praetextatus to begin and thus give them a lead by his example. 6 Macrobius may also have drawn on the Ineptiae or Joci of Melissus (Suetonius De grammiaticis 21).

CHAPTER 2 [1] I propose, said Praetextatus, to tell you of a saying of one of

our country’s enemies and, since we defeated him, to recall the story is to celebrate anew the triumph of our arms. [2] Hannibal of Carthage made this most witty jest, when he was living in exile at the court of king Antiochus. Here it 1s. Antiochus was holding a review, on some open ground, to display the huge forces which he had mustered for war against the Roman people, and the troops were marching past, gleaming with accoutre-

ments of silver and gold. Chariots, too, fitted with scythes were brought on to the field, elephants with towers on their backs, and cavalry with glittering reins, housings, neck chains, and trappings. Glorying in the sight of his large and well-equipped army, the king then turned to Hannibal and said: “Do you think that all these will

do for the Romans?” [3] The Carthaginian, in mockery of the king’s troops, who for all their costly equipment were cowardly and unwarlike, replied: “Yes, I think they will certainly do for the Romans—although the Romans can do with quite a lot.” There could not have been a neater or more pungent remark. The king’s question had referred, of course, to the size of his army, and he had asked if it could be regarded as a match for the Romans, but Hannibal’s reply referred to the booty it would provide.! [4] Flavianus followed. In the days of old, he said, there used to be a sacrifice known as “For the road,” and it was the custom at it

for everything left over from the sacrificial feast to be burned. Hence the point of a jest of Cato’s. For, when a certain Albidius,

after devouring all his property, finally lost by fire the house which was all that remained to him of his possessions, Cato observed 1 Aulus Gellius 5. 5.

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 2 163 that it was a “Sacrifice for the road,” since the man had burned what he could not have devoured. [5] It was then the turn of Symmachus. When Caesar, he said, was selling by auction the property of certain citizens, Servilia (the mother of Marcus Brutus) bought a valuable estate quite cheaply and so became the victim of a jest of Cicero’s, who said: “Of course you will the better understand Servilia’s bargain if you realize that a third was knocked off the purchase price of the estate” (tertia deducta).* For Servilia had a daughter, Junia Tertia (the wife of Gaius Cassius), whose favors—as well as her mother’s—the dictator

| was then enjoying. In fact rumors and jokes about the profligacy of the elderly adulterer were rife at that time in Rome and gave people some amusement in their troubles. [6] After Symmachus had spoken, Caecina Albinus said: Plancus

happened to be in court as counsel for a friend and, wishing to discredit a hostile witness, whom he knew to be a cobbler, asked him how he made his living. The man neatly replied: “Grinding gall” (gallamz subigo), for cobblers make such use of gallnuts for their work, and by the double entendre® cleverly turned the question so as to charge Plancus with adultery, for stories were going round of his association with one Maevia Galla, a married woman. [7] Furius Albinus followed. After the rout at Mutina, he said, people were asking what Antonius was doing, and the story went

that an acquaintance of his replied: “What dogs do in Egypt— drinking and running away”; since it is well known that in those

parts dogs drink as they run, for fear of being caught by a crocodile.4

[8] Eustathius spoke next. Mucius, he said, was the most illnatured of men; and so, finding him looking even gloomier than usual, Publius remarked: “Either Mucius has been unlucky, or someone else has been lucky.” [9] Sulla’s son Faustus, said Avienus, hearing that his sister was having an affair with two lovers at the same time—with Fulvius (a fuller’s son) and Pompeius surnamed Macula [a stain]—declared: 2 Cf. Suetonius Divus lulius 50. The play upon the two meanings of deducere—“to deduct” and “to conduct a bride to her husband’”—can hardly be kept in English. 8 The pun depends on an indecent use of the verb subigere. For the use of galls in dressing leather, see Pliny Historia naturalis 16. 9. 26. 4 Cf. Pliny Historia Naturalis 8. 61. 148. Antony was a notorious drunkard.

164 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA “I am surprised to find my sister with a stain, seeing that she has the services of a fuller.”

[10] Then Evangelus said: Servilius Geminus happened to be dining at the house of Lucius Mallius, who was held to be the best portrait painter in Rome and, noticing how misshapen his host’s sons were, observed: “Your modeling, Mallius, does not come up to your painting.” “Naturally,” replied Mallius, “for the modeling is done in the dark but the painting by daylight.” [11] Demosthenes, said Eusebius, who was the next to speak,

attracted by the fame of Lais, whose beauty at that time was the wonder of Greece, went to enjoy her vaunted favors himself. But, when he heard that her company for a single night would cost him half a talent, he went away, saying: “I find that too high a price to pay for what I should regret.” [12] It was now the turn of Servius to take part in these exchanges, but his modersty kept him silent. If, said Evangelus, your refusal to repeat such jests is intended to protect a reputation for propriety, you are in effect charging all the rest of us with impropriety. How like a schoolmaster! But unless you, and Disarius and Horus too, are content to follow the example of Praetextatus and the rest of us, your assumption of superiority will certainly incur the reproach of

arrogance. [13] Thereupon Servius, seeing that it would be less embarrassing to speak than to remain silent, plucked up courage to tell a similar tale. Marcus Otacilius Pitholaus, he said, on the occasion of the consulship of Caninius Revilus which lasted only one

day remarked: “We used to have Priests of the Day but now we have consuls of a day (diales) ®

[14] Disarius did not wait to be upbraided for remaining silent but said ....® [15] And he was followed by Horus. My contribution, he said, 1s a couplet which the famous Plato amused himself

by composing in his youth, at the time when he used also to practice writing tragedies. It runs as follows: My soul was on my lips as I was kissing Agathon. Poor soul! She came hoping to cross over to him.7 > The point of the jest is the punning reference to the Priest of Jupiter (or Diespiter, 1e., “Father of the Day”; (see Aulus Gellius 5. 12), who was known as the Flamen Dialis, and to the connection of the word Dialis with dies, “day.” Cf. 7. 3. 10, below. 6 ‘The story is lost. 7 Anthologia Graeca 5. 78.

. BOOK 2, CHAPTER 2 165 [16] ‘These anecdotes gave rise to merriment, and there was polite laughter as all the company discussed the tales, with their flavor of a bygone gaiety, which each had told. Then Symmachus said: As for those verses of Plato’s it is hard to say which is the more remarkable, the charm or the conciseness of expression. | remember having read a Latin version—it is of course longer than the original, since the resources of our language are usually held to be smaller and more restricted than those of the Greek tongue—and this, I think, is how it goes:

[17] While with parted lips I was kissing my love and drawing his sweet fragant breath from his open mouth, my poor, my love-

sick, wounded soul rushed to my lips as it strove to find a way

to pass® between my open mouth and my love’s soft lips. Then, had the kiss been, even for a little while, prolonged, my soul, smitten with love’s fire, would have passed through and left me; and (a marvel this!) I should be dead—but alive within my love.® 8 Reading (with Baehrens) ut transiliret. ® Aulus Gellius 19. 11; Morel, p. 139; Baehrens, p. 375.

CHAPTER 3 [1] But I am surprised, continued Symmachus, that none of you have said anything of Cicero’s jests, for here, as in everything else, he had the readiest of tongues. If it is your pleasure, then, I shall play the part of the mouthpiece of an oracle and repeat as many of his sayings as I can remember. All were eager to hear him and he began as follows. [2] When he was dining at the house of Damasippus, his host produced a very ordinary wine, saying, “Try this Falernian, it 1s forty years old.” “Young for its age,” replied Cicero.t [3] Seeing his son-in-law Lentulus (who was a very short man) wearing a long sword, he said: ““Who has buckled my son-in-law to that sword?”

[4] He did not spare even his brother Quintus but was just as sarcastic about him, for on seeing, in the province which Quintus had governed, a half-length portrait of him, painted as usual on a shield and very much larger than life, he remarked (since Quintus was a small man): “With my brother it would seem that the half is greater than the whole.” [5] The consulship of Vatinius which lasted for only a few days gave Cicero an opportunity for some humorous sayings which had wide currency. “Vatinius’s term of office,” he said, “has presented a remarkable portent, for in his consulship there has been neither winter, spring, summer, nor autumn.” And again, when Vatinius complained that Cicero had found it too much trouble to come to see him in his sickness, he replied: “It was my intention to come while you were consul, but night overtook me.”’? Cicero, however,

was thought to be getting his own back here and to have had in 1 Cf. Athenaeus 13. 584¢. 2 See 7. 3. 10, below.

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 3 167 mind the retort made by Vatinius to his boast that he had returned from exile borne in triumph on the shoulders of the people: “How, then, did you get those varicose veins in your legs?’ [6] Caninius Revilus, as Servius has already reminded us, was consul for only a single day and mounted the rostrum to assume office and at the same time to relinquish it. Cicero therefore, who welcomed every chance to make a humorous remark, referred to him slightingly as “a notional consul” and said later of him: “He has at any rate done this: he has obliged us to ask in whose consulship he was consul,” adding, “We have a wide-awake consul in Caninius, for while in office he never slept a wink.”’4

[7] Pompey found Cicero’s witticisms tiresome, and the following sayings of Cicero were current: “I know whom to avoid, but I do not know whom to follow.” Again, when he had come to join Pompey, to those who were saying that he was late in coming he retorted: “Late? Not at all, for I see nothing ready here yet.” [8] Afterward, when Pompey asked him where his son-in-law,

Dolabella, was, he replied: “With your [former] father-in-law.” And when Pompey had given Roman citizenship to a deserter [from Caesar], Cicero’s comment was: ““That was handsome of the

man; he promises the Gauls a citizenship to which they have no right, and yet he can’t restore our own city to us.” And so it was thought that Pompey was justified in saying of Cicero: “I wish to goodness he would go over to the enemy. He would then learn to fear us.”

[9] Cicero showed his teeth at Caesar too. In the first place, when (after Caesar’s victory) he was asked how he had come to choose the wrong side, he replied: ““The way he wore his toga took me in”; the point of the jest being that Caesar used to wear his toga in such a way that an edge hung loose in an effeminate manner as

he walked, so that Sulla would seem to have foreseen the future when he said to Pompey: “I bid you beware of that ill-girt lad.”® [10] Then, when Laberius toward the end of the Games received

from Caesar the honor of the gold ring of knighthood and went 8 Cf. Quintilian 11. 3. 143 and Sidonius Eypistulae 5. 5. 4 See 7. 3. 10, below.

5 Pompey had married Caesar’s daughter Julia, and her untimely death in 54 B.c. went far to break the bond between the two men. 6 Cf. Suetonius Divus lulius 45.

168 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA straightaway to the fourteen rows? to watch the scene from there— only to find that the knights had felt themselves affronted by the degradation of one of their order and his offhand restoration—as he was passing Cicero, in his search for a seat, the latter said to him: “I should have been glad to have you beside me were I not already pressed for room”; meaning by these words to snub the man and at the same time to make fun of the new Senate, whose numbers had

been unduly increased by Caesar. Here, however, Cicero got as good as he gave, for Laberius replied: “I am surprised that you of all people should be pressed for room, seeing that you make a habit

of sitting on two seats at once,” thus reproaching Cicero with the fickleness of which that excellent and loyal citizen was unfairly accused.

[11] There was another occasion on which Cicero openly jeered at the readiness with which Caesar admitted new members to the Senate; for, asked by his host Publius Mallius to procure the office of decurion® for his stepson, he said in the presence of a large company: “Senatorial rank? Well, at Rome he shall certainly have it, if you so wish; but at Pompeii it isn’t easy.” [12] And indeed his biting wit went even further; for, greeted by a certain Andron from Laodicea, he asked what had brought him to Rome and, hearing that the man had come as an envoy to Caesar to beg freedom for his city, he made open reference to the servile state of Rome by saying, in Greek, “If you are successful, put in a word for us too.” [13] The vigor of his sarcasm could go beyond mere jesting and

express his deep feelings, as, for example, in his letter to Caius Cassius,® one of the men who murdered the dictator, in which he said: “I could wish you had asked me to your dinner on the Ides of

7 Cf. Suetonius Divus lulius 39. By the Lex Roscia theatralis of 67 B.c. the first fourteen rows of seats in the theater, immediately behind the orchestra (where the senators sat), were reserved for the equites. See also 7. 3. 8, below. Cf. Seneca Controversiae 7. 3. 9. 8 A member of the legislative council (corresponding to the Roman Senate)

of a provincial township, the inhabitants of which enjoyed a large measure of local self-government. For a discussion of the status of a municipium, see Aulus Gellius 16. 13 and John of Salisbury 3. 14 (5092). ® Epistulae ad Familiares 12. 4; John of Salisbury 3. 14 (509b).

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 3 169 March. Nothing, I assure you, would have been left over. But, as things are, your leaving make me feel anxious.” 1°

And he also made some witty jokes about his son-in-law Piso and about Marcus Lepidus.

[14] While Symmachus was still speaking and had, it seemed, something more to say, Avienus (as often happens in conversation at the dinner table) interrupted and said: Augustus Caesar was any man’s equal in such readiness of wit, and perhaps even Cicero’s. Some of his sayings have occured to me, and with your permission, my friends, I will repeat them. [15] Let Symmachus tell us, said Horus, what Cicero had to say

about the two men he has just mentioned, and what you wish to tell us about Augustus will follow more appropriately then. [16] Avienus relapsed into silence, and Symmachus, resuming, said: Cice-

ro, seeing his son-in-law Piso walking in a somewhat effeminate manner and his daughter striding more briskly along, said to her: “Walk like your husband.” And again, after a speech by Marcus

Lepidus in the Senate, he observed: “For my part, I should not have rated la pareille consonance™ (épo016ntwtov) so highly.” But carry on, Avienus. I know you are dying to speak, and I should be

sorry to detain you further. 10 ‘The meaning 1s that, if Cicero had been in on the plot to murder Caesar, Antony too would have been killed. 11 "The text is corrupt and the point obscure, but it would seem that Cicero is punning on the proper name Lepidus and the adjective lepidus, “neat and agreeable.”

CHAPTER 4 [1] Augustus Caesar, said Avienus, was fond of a joke, but he did not forget the respect due to his high rank, and he showed a proper regard for decency—he never stooped to buffoonery. [2] He had written a tragedy entitled Ajax but, dissatisfied with it, had rubbed it out. And, when the tragedian Lucius Varius asked him afterward how his Ajax was getting on, he replied: “He has fallen on his sponge.’ [3] To a man who was nervously presenting a petition to him, now holding out his hand and now withdrawing it, he said: “Do you think you are handing a penny to an elephant?’’? [4] When Pacuvius Taurus was asking him for a gift of money and added that it was common gossip that he had already received

a considerable sum from him, Augustus replied: “Don’t you believe it.”

[5] To another, a prefect of cavalry who had been relieved of his command but nevertheless claimed a pension, saying that he made the request not for the sake of the money but that it might be thought that he had resigned his commission and had been adjudged worthy of the gift by the emperor, Augustus retorted: “Tell everybody that you have had it. I shall not deny that I gave it.” [6| His reply to Herennius, a young man of bad character whom he had ordered to be cashiered, was a well-known example of his humor; for, when the man begged for pardon, saying: “How am I

to return home? What shall | say to my father?” Augustus answered: “Tell your father that you didn’t find me to your liking.’ 1 Suetonius Augustus 85. 2 Quintilian 6. 3. 59; cf. Suetonius Augustus 53 and John of Salisbury 3. 14 C).

Gee Quintilian 6. 3. 64.

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 4 171 [7] A man who had been struck by a stone when on active service and had a noticeable and unsightly scar on his forehead, was bragging loudly of his exploits and received this gentle rebuke from Augustus: “Never look round when you are running away.” [8] ‘To an ugly hunchback named Galba, who was pleading in

court before him and kept on saying: “If you have any fault to find, correct me,” he said: “I can offer you advice, but I certainly can’t correct’ you.” [9] Since many of those who were prosecuted by Severus Cassius got off, but the architect of the Forum of Augustus kept putting off the completion of the work, the emperor jestingly remarked: “I could wish that Cassius would prosecute my Forum too—and get it off my hands.” [10] A certain Vettius had ploughed up a memorial to his father, whereupon Augustus remarked: “This is indeed cultivating your father’s memory.” [11] When he heard that Herod king of the Jews had ordered boys in Syria under the age of two years to be put to death and that the king’s son was among those killed, he said: “I’d rather be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.” [12] Again, knowing that his friend Maecenas wrote in a loose, effeminate, and languishing style, he would often affect a similar style in the letters which he wrote to him; and, in contrast to the

restrained language of his other writings, an intimate letter to Maecenas contained, by way of a joke, a flood of such expressions

as these: “Good-by, my ebony of Medullia, ivory from Etruria, siphium of Aretium, diamond of the Adriatic, pearl from the Tiber, Cilnian emerald, jasper of the Iguvians, Porsenna’s beryl, Italy’s carbuncle—in short, you charmer of unfaithful wives.”’4

[13] He hardly ever refused to accept hospitality; and, having been entertained to a very frugal and, so to speak, everyday dinner, he just whispered in his host’s ear, as he was saying good-by after

the poor and ill-appointed meal: “I didn’t think I was so close a friend of yours.” 4 The reference to pearl, emerald, jasper, and beryl suggests that Augustus is here making fun of some lines, addressed by Maecenas to Horace, in which these jewels are named. The lines are preserved in Isidore of Seville 19. 32. 6. See also Morel, p. 101.

172 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [14] He once had reason to complain that some cloth of Tyrian purple which he had ordered was too dark. “Hold it up higher,”

said the tailor, “and look at it from below.” This provoked the witty retort: “Have I to walk on my roof garden before people at Rome can say that I am well dressed?” [15] He once had occasion too to complain of the forgetfulness

of the servant whose duty it was to tell him the names of the persons he met; and so, when the servant asked him whether he had any orders for the Forum, he replied: “Yes, take these letters of introduction; for you know no one there.” [16] As a young man he neatly made fun of one Vatinius who had become crippled by gout but nevertheless wished it to be thought that he had got rid of the complaint. ‘he man was boasting that he could walk a mile; “I can well believe it,” said Augustus, “the days are getting somewhat longer.”

[17] Hearing of the enormous debts, amounting to more than twenty million sesterces, which a certain Roman knight had successfully concealed while he lived, he gave orders that the man’s pillow

should be bought for him at the sale by auction of the estate, explaining to those who expressed surprise at his order: “The pillow must certainly be conducive to sleep, if that man in spite of all his debts could have slept on it.” [18] I must not omit to mention his commendation of Cato. He

happened to visit a house in which Cato had lived, and, when Strabo to flatter Augustus spoke slightingly of Cato’s obstinacy, he replied: “To seek to keep the established constitution unchanged argues a good citizen and a good man.” And he meant what he said,

for in thus praising Cato he also in his own interest discouraged any attempt to change the form of government. [19] I always think more of his acceptance of jests made against him than of the jests which he made himself—for the ability to take a joke against oneself is more creditable than a ready wit—especially since he bore with composure some sharp remarks that went even beyond a joke. [20] An unkind quip made by a man from one of the provinces

is well known. In appearance he closely resembled the emperor, and on his coming to Rome the likeness attracted general attention. Augustus sent for the man and on seeing him said: “Tell me, young man, was your mother ever in Rome?” “No,” replied the other and,

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 4 173 not content to leave it at that, added: “But my father was—often.”® [21] During the triumvirate Augustus wrote some lampoons on Pollio, but Pollio only observed: “For my part I am saying nothing in reply; for it is asking for trouble to write against a man who can

write you off.” [22] A certain Curtius, a Roman knight given to good living, was dining with Augustus and, when a skinny thrush was placed before him, asked whether he might let it go (mittere). “Of course you may,” said his host. Whereupon Curtius at once “let it go”— through a window.5

[23] After Augustus, unasked, had paid the debts of a certain

senator who was a friend of his (they came to four million sesterces) the only thanks he got was a letter saying: “But you have given me nothing for myself.”

[24] Whenever he undertook some public works his freedman Licinius used to advance large sums of money, and on one occasion

this Licinius, following his usual practice, gave the emperor a promissory draft for a hundred thousand sesterces. Now in this draft a part of the line drawn over the written sign which represented the amount of the advance extended beyond the writing, thus leaving an empty space below the line,* and Augustus took the opportunity to add to the former entry a second C, with his own hand, carefully filling up the empty space and copying his freedman’s handwriting.” In this way he doubled the sum contributed.

Licinius pretended not to have noticed the addition made to the draft, but afterward, when some other work had been begun, he gently reproached the emperor for what he had done, by presenting him with a draft similarly written and saying as he did so: “Toward

the cost of the new work, Sire, I advance—whatever sum you think fit.” [25] As censor, too, Augustus showed a remarkable tolerance

which won him high praise. A Roman knight was being reprimanded by him on the ground that he had squandered his property but was able to show publicly that he had in fact increased it. The

next charge brought against him was failure to comply with the 5 John of Salisbury 3. 14 (5104). 6 Te, HSC .7 Le., HSCC.

174 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA marriage laws.® To this he replied that he had a wife and three children and then added: “I suggest, Sire, that in future, when you have occasion to inquire into the affairs of respectable persons, the inquiry be entrusted to respectable persons.” [26] There is, moreover, the story of the soldier from whom he tolerated language which was not only blunt but recklessly rude. While he was staying at a certain country house he spent restless nights, his sleep being broken by the frequent hooting of an owl.

He therefore gave orders for the bird to be caught, and a soldier who happened to be an expert fowler brought it to him. The man expected to receive a handsome reward, but the emperor only

complimented him and ordered him to be given a thousand sesterces. Whereupon the fellow had the audacity to say: “I’d sooner let it live,” and let the bird go. It is surely remarkable that Augustus took no offense at this insolence but allowed the soldier to go away unpunished.®

[27] An old soldier who found himself in danger of losing an action at law in which he was the defendant accosted the Emperor in a public place with a request that he would appear for him in court. Augustus at once chose one of his suite to act as counsel and introduced the litigant to him. But the soldier, stripping his sleeve and showing his scars, shouted at the top of his voice: “When you were in danger at Actium, | didn’t look for a substitute but I fought

for you in person.” The emperor blushed, and, fearing to be thought both haughty and ungrateful, appeared in court on the man’s behalf.1°

[28] He presented the musicians of the slave dealer Toronius Flaccus with a quantity of corn as a reward for the pleasure which they had given him at dinner, although he had shown his appreciation of other such entertainments by generous gifts of money. And

when, some time later, he asked Toronius to allow them to play again at dinner, the latter excused himself by saying: “They are busy at the mill.”

[29] Among those who welcomed him on his return in state from his victory at Actium was a man with a raven which he had taught to say: “Greetings to Caesar, our victorious commander.” 8 Laws to check the prevalence of celibacy. ® Cf. John of Salisbury 3. 14 (509d). 10 Cf. John of Salisbury 3. 14 (5102).

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 4 175 Augustus was charmed by this compliment and gave the man twenty thousand sesterces for the bird. But the bird’s trainer had a partner, and, when none of this large sum of money had come his way, he told the Emperor that the man had another raven and suggested that he should be made to produce it as well. The bird was produced and repeated the words which it had been taught to say: they were: “Greetings to Antony, our victorious commander.” Augustus, however, instead of being at all angry, simply told the first man to share the money with his mate. [30] He was greeted in a similar way by a parrot, and he ordered that bird to be bought, and a magpie too, which he fancied for the

same trick. ‘These examples encouraged a poor cobbler to try to train a raven to repeat a like form of greeting, but the bird remained dumb, and the man, ruined by the cost incurred, used often to say

to it: “Nothing to show for the trouble and expense.” One day, however, the raven began to repeat its lesson, and Augustus as he was passing heard the greeting. “I get enough of such greetings at

home,” he replied. But the bird also recalled the words of his master’s customary lament and added: “Nothing to show for the trouble and expense.” ‘This made the Emperor laugh, and he ordered the bird to be bought, giving more for it than he had given for any of the others.1!

[31] As he went down from his residence on the Palatine, a seedy-looking Greek used to offer him a complimentary epigram. This the man did on many occasions without success, and Augustus,

seeing him about to do it again, wrote a short epigram in Greek with his own hand and sent it to the fellow as he drew near. The Greek read it and praised it, expressing admiration both in words and by his looks. ‘Then, coming up to the imperial chair, he put his hand in a shabby purse and drew out a few pence, to give them to

the emperor, saying as he did so: “I swear by thy Good Fortune, Augustus, if I had more, I should give you more.” There was laughter

all round, and Augustus, summoning his steward, ordered him to pay out a hundred thousand sesterces to the Greek. 11 For references to talking birds and to ways of training them to talk, see Pliny Historia naturalis 10. 58-59. 117-120.

CHAPTER 5 [1] Shall I, continued Avienus, go on to tell you of some of the sayings of his daughter Julia? If you won’t think me too talkative, I should like to begin with a few remarks which throw light on her character, unless, of course, some one of you has something less trivial and more instructive to tell us. All encouraged him to go on, and this is how he began. [2] Julia was thirty-eight and had reached a time of life which, had she been sensible enough, she would have regarded as bordering on old age, but she habitually misused the kindness of her own good fortune and her father’s indulgence. Nevertheless, she had a love of

letters and a considerable store of learning—not hard to come by in her home—and to these qualities were added a gentle humanity and a kindly disposition, all of which won for her a high regard; although those who were aware of her faults were astonished at the contradiction which her qualities implied. [3] Again and again her father had referred to the extravagance of her dress and the notoriety of her companions and had urged her in language at once tender and grave to show more restraint. But at the same time the sight of his many grandchildren and their likeness to their father, Agrippa, forbade him for very shame’s sake to entertain any doubts about his daughter’s virtue. [4] And so he flattered himself that her high spirits, even if they gave the impression of a wanton, were in fact blameless, and he ventured to regard her as a latter-day Claudia.1 Thus it was that he once observed, when talking among some friends, that he had two spoiled daughters to put up with—Rome and Julia. 1 See Ovid Fasti 4. 305-44. Under cover of this story of Claudia Ovid defends the character of Julia, about whom scandal was current when he wrote it (so Hallam in his edition of the Fasti).

| BOOK 2, CHAPTER 5 177 [5] She came one day into her father’s presence wearing a somewhat immodest dress. Augustus was shocked but said nothing. On the next day, to his delight, she wore a different kind of dress and greeted him with studied demureness. Although the day before he had repressed his feelings, he was now unable to contain his pleasure

and said: “This dress is much more becoming in the daughter of Augustus.” But Julia had an excuse ready and replied: “Yes, for today I am dressed to meet my father’s eyes; yesterday it was for my husband’s.”

[6] Here is another well-known saying of hers. At a display of gladiators the contrast between Livia’s suite and Julia’s had caught the eye, for the former was attended by a number of grown-up men of distinction but the latter was seated surrounded by young

people of the fast set. Her father sent Julia a letter of advice, bidding her mark the difference between the behavior of the two chief ladies of Rome, to which she wrote this neat reply: “These friends of mine will be old men too, when I am old.”

[7] Her hair began to go gray at an early age, and she used secretly to pull the gray hairs out. One day her maids were surprised by the unexpected arrival of her father, who pretended not to see the gray hairs on her women’s dresses and talked for some time on other matters. Then, turning the conversation to the subject

of age, he asked her whether she would prefer eventually to be gray or bald. She replied that for her part she would rather be gray. “Why, then,” said her father, thus rebuking her deceit, “are these women of yours in such a hurry to make you bald?”

[8] Moreover, to a seriousminded friend who was seeking to persuade her that she would be better advised to order her life to conform to her father’s simple tastes she replied: “He forgets that he is Caesar, but I remember that I am Caesar’s daughter.”

[9] To certain persons who knew of her infidelities and were

, expressing surprise at her children’s likeness to her husband Agrippa, since she was so free with her favors, she said: “Passengers are . never allowed on board until the hold is full”—[10] a saying not unlike one ascribed to Populia (daughter of Marcus), who, to someone asking in surprise why it was that among the lower animals the

female sought to mate with the male only when she wished to conceive, replied: “Because they are the lower animals.”

CHAPTER 6 [1] Let me turn back now from stories of women to stories of men and from risqué jests to seemly humor. The lawyer Cascellius had a reputation for a remarkably outspoken wit, and here is one of his best known quips. Vatinius had been stoned by the populace at a gladiatorial show which he was giving, and so he prevailed on the aediles to make a proclamation forbidding the throwing of anything but fruit into the arena. Now it so happened that Cascelhus at that time was asked by a client to advise whether a fircone was a fruit or not, and his reply was: “If you propose to throw one at Vatinius, it is.” [2] Then there is the story that, when a merchant asked him how to split a ship with a partner, he replied: “If you split the ship, it will be neither yours nor your partner’s.” [3] A jest that went the rounds was one directed by Marcus Lollius at the distinguished speaker Galba, who (as I have already remarked) was hampered by a bodily deformity: “Galba’s intellectual ability is ill housed.” [4] Ihe same Galba was the victim of a crueler sneer from Orbilius the schoolmaster, when the latter had come into court to give evidence against a defendant. Galba, seeking to disconcert the wit-

ness, pretended to be unaware of his profession and asked him: “What’s your job?” The reply was: “Currying hunchbacks in the sun.” }

[5] To others who used to play at ball with him Gaius Caesar had made a gift of a hundred thousand sesterces, but Lucius Caecilius got only fifty thousand. “What is the meaning of this?” said Caecilius,

“Do I play with only one hand?” 1 Cf. Suetonius De grammiaticis 9.

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 6 179 [6] When Publius Clodius told Decimus Laberius that he was angry with him for refusing to produce a mime for him at his request, Laberius said: “What of it? All that you can do is to give me a return passage to Dyrrachium”—a mocking allusion to Cicero’s exile.

CHAPTER 7 [1] Reference has been made to Laberius by Aurelius Symmachus a short time ago, and now by me (said Avienus). If, then, I relate some of his sayings and some of those of Publilius, I shall succeed, I think, in suggesting the holiday spirit which the presentation of a mime promises to arouse, without actually introducing the wanton performance at our dinner party. [2] Laberius was a Roman knight, a blunt and outspoken man, whom Caesar for a fee of five hundred thousand sesterces invited to appear on the stage and act in person in the mimes which it was his practice to write. But an invitation, or indeed a request, if it comes from one whose power is supreme, is in effect compulsion,

and so it is that Laberius in a prologue bears witness to the constraint put upon him by Caesar, in these lines:1 [3] The Goddess of Necessity—from the shock of whose unexpected course many have sought to escape, and few successfully—to what depths has she thrust me down, now all but at

the ending of my life? I, whom no soliciting, no bribe, no threat, no violence, no influence, could ever have moved from my rank when I was young, see how easily I am made to fall from my place now, in my old age, by a man of high position; for all that his thought was kind, and gentle, calm, and flattering his speech. For how could I, mere mortal, have been suffered to say no to him to whom the gods themselves could nought

deny? For twice thirty years [ have lived without reproach and left my household gods today a Roman knight; I shall return home—a mime. In very truth, today I have lived a day too

long. Fortune, who dost ever lack restraint, in good and ill 1 Ribbeck, I, 359. See also Aulus Gellius 8. 15.

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 7 181 alike, if it was thy pleasure to make renown in letters the means to destroy the full-blown flower of my good name, why didst

thou not bend me, to my ruin, when I might yet be bent, when my limbs were lusty and strong, and I might have pleased the people, and even such a man as he is? Dost thou cast me down now? And to what end? What am I to bring to the stage? A handsome face? A dignified presence? A brave spirit? A pleasant-sounding voice? No! As the twining ivy strangles the strength of the tree, old age and the embrace of the years destroy me. Like a tomb, I have a name and nothing more.

[4] In the course of his acting too, he continually would take his revenge, however he could. Dressed as Syrus, whom he represented as flogged by whips and beating a hasty retreat, he would cry: On, Citizens of Rome, we lose our liberty? and shortly afterward came the line:

Many he needs must fear whom many fear. [5] And at those last words the audience as one man turned and looked at Caesar, thus indicating that this scathing gibe was an attack on his despotism. It was for this reason that Caesar transferred his patronage to Publilius. [6] This Publilius was by birth a Syrian, and as a boy he had been brought to his master’s patron, whose favor he won as much by his wit and intelligence as by his good looks. For the patron one day happened to see a slave of his who suffered from dropsy lying on the ground and angrily asked what the fellow was doing in the sun: “Warming the water,” replied Publilius. On another occasion, when various answers were being given to a question asked in jest at dinner— what was meant by the expression “trouble-

some idleness,”* Publilius said: “Gout in the feet.” [7] And for these and other witty remarks he was given his freedom and a careful education. When he came to compose mimes, he began his career as an actor in the towns of Italy, where he won remarkable popularity, and, coming from there to Rome during games given 2 Ribbeck, II, 361. 3 Ibid. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 14 (772D). 4 Molestum otium: perhaps Catullus 51. 13 (ottum, Catulle, tibi molestumst) was being discussed.

182 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA by Caesar, he challenged all the playwrights of the time to a competition on themes proposed by each in turn to suit the occasion. All accepted the challenge, and all were defeated by him, among them Laberius. [8] Whereupon Caesar pleasantly remarked: In spite of my support, Laberius, Syrus has beaten you and straightaway gave Publilius the palm, presenting Laberius with the gold ring of knighthood and five hundred thousand sesterces. Then, as Laberius withdrew, Publilius said to him: I pray you support from your seat in the stalls the man you opposed when you wrote for the stage. [9] In the first public contest that followed, Laberius introduced the following lines into a new mime: All cannot always be first; when you have reached the highest rank of fame, you will find it hard to keep your place and you will fall more quickly than you could climb. I have had my day and fallen, and my successor too will fall; for there are

no rights of property in popularity. [10] A number of neat maxims of Publilius are current, all of them very well suited to the general circumstances of life. Here are just a few which occur to me; they are in the form of single lines: 6

[11] A gift worthily bestowed is a gift to the giver. What can’t be changed must be borne, not blamed. One who is allowed more than is fair wants more than he is allowed.

On a journey the merry talk of a companion is as good as a lift.

Thrift is unpleasant, but it is well spoken of. The tears of an heir are a mask to hide a grin. Patience too often abused turns to anger. You cannot fairly blame Neptune if you suffer shipwreck twice. Too much wrangling and the truth is lost sight of.

A quick refusal of a request is half a kindness done. 5 Ribbeck, H, 361. 6 Aulus Gellius 17. 14. See also Duff, Minor Latin Poets. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 14 (772d).

| BOOK 2, CHAPTER 7 183 Treat a man as friend, but remember that he may one day be a foe.

To put up with an old wrong may be to invite a new one. You never defeat danger by refusing to face danger.

[12] Having once begun to talk about the stage, I must not omit to mention Pylades, a famous actor in the time of Augustus,

and his pupil Hylas, who proceeded under his instruction to become his equal and his rival. [13] On the question of the respective merits of these two actors popular opinion was divided.

Hylas one day was performing a dramatic dance the closing theme of which was The Great Agamemnon, and by his gestures he represented his subject as a man of mighty stature. This was more than Pylades could stand, and from his seat in the pit he shouted: “You are making him merely tall, not great.” [14] The populace then made Pylades perform the same dance himself, and, when he came to the point at which he had found fault with the other’s performance, he gave the representation of a man deep in thought, on the ground that nothing became a great commander better than to take thought for all. [15] On another occasion, when Hylas was dancing Oedzpus, Pylades criticized him for moving with more assurance than a blind man could have shown, by calling out: “You are using your eyes.”

[16] Once, when Pylades had come on to dance Hercules the Madman, some of the spectators thought that he was not keeping to action suited to the stage. Whereupon he took off his mask and

turned on his critics with the words: “Fools, my dancing is intended to represent a madman.”? [17] It was in this play too, the Hercules Furens, that he shot arrows at the spectators. And when, in the course of playing the same part in a command performance at a banquet given by Augustus, he bent his bow and discharged arrows, the Emperor showed no annoyance at receiving the same treatment from the actor as had the populace of Rome. [18] He was said to have introduced a new and elegant style of dancing in place of the clumsy fashion popular in the time of 7 Cf. Lucian Of Pantonume, 83.

184 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA our ancestors, and, when asked by Augustus what contribution he had made to the art of dancing, he replied, in the words of Homer:

The sound of flutes and pipes, and the voices of men. [Iliad 10. 13]

[19] Moreover, when the popular disturbances caused by the rivalry between him and Hylas brought on him the displeasure of

Augustus, he retorted: “And you, Sire, are ungrateful, for you would do well to let the populace busy themselves with our affairs.”

CHAPTER 8 [1] While all were praising Avienus for his fertile memory and pleasant wit—since his discourse had delighted the company—a servant brought in the dessert. [2] Varro, said Flavianus, in that

agreeable Menippean satire of his called You Never Can Tell What the Evening Has in Store for You, banned sweet cakes from the second course, but I take it that many disagree with him

in this. However, please give us his actual words, Caecina, if, thanks to that remarkably retentive memory of yours, they have stuck there.

[3] The passage of Varro which you bid me quote, replied Albinus, runs something like this:t ““Those sweetmeats (bellaria) are sweetest which are not made sweet with honey, since sweet cakes make an untrustworthy alliance with one’s digestion.” But, as a matter of fact, the term bellaria covers every kind of dessert, for this was the name given by our ancestors to what the Greeks

called “sweet cakes” (néppata) or “sweetmeats”’ (tpaynpata); indeed in the older comedies you will find the word applied to the sweeter kinds of wine as well, and they are referred to as ‘“Liber’s sweetmeats” (Liber: bellaria).

[4] Come, cried Evangelus, before it is time for us to leave the table, let us fill every glass. Thus we shall be following the authority of Plato’s ruling, for he held that the firing of a man’s mind

and body with wine served as a kind of tinder to kindle his intelligence and powers. [5] What! replied Eustathius, do you suppose that Plato advo-

cated the indiscriminate drinking of wine? Is it not truer to say that he did not disapprove of the pleasanter and more generous 1 Aulus Gellius 13. 11. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 7 (734d). 2 Aulus Gellius 15. 2. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 10 (747b-c).

186 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA incitement which, under the control of some temperate arbiter, so to speak, or ruler of the feast, accompanies small draughts? This is what—in the first and second books of his work On the Laws?—he decides is not without its use for men. [6] For, in his opinion, periods of relaxation spent, with moderation and decency,

in drinking refreshed and restored the spirits for a return to the duties of a sober life; and, after being gently made merrier men became the better able to renew their efforts. And at the same time he held that any deep-seated faults of inclination or desire— faults such as otherwise, through shame or shyness, a man would

conceal—were all disclosed without grave risk by the candor which wine induces and became more amenable to correction and cure. [7] In the same passage Plato also says that one should not seek to avoid such opportunities to practice resistance to the power of wine and that no man has ever been thought, with even reasonable certainty, to be wholly self-restrained and sober, unless his

life has been tested by exposure to the actual dangers of going astray amidst the allurements of sensual pleasures. [8] For when all the pleasurable attractions of a banquet are unknown to a man and when he is wholly without experience of them, then, if per-

haps inclination has led him, or chance has brought him, or necessity has compelled him, to participate in such pleasures, he presently falls a victim to their charms and his mind and resolution

give way. [9] We must therefore meet the adversary and, as though in battle, come to grips with such pleasures and with that license which wine may provoke—to win protection against them, not by fleeing or absenting ourselves from them but by strength

of mind and a firm self-control, preserving our sobriety and restraint by moderation in use, and at the same time (by warming and refreshing our spirits) washing away, as it were, any chilly gloominess or tongue-tied bashfulness that we may feel. [10] We have been speaking of pleasures, and Aristotle teaches

us what pleasures we should be on our guard against. For man has five senses, called in Greek aio@ce1c, namely, touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing, and they are, it seems, the channels 3 Plato Leges 637, 641, 652, 666, and 671. See also A. E. Taylor’s translation, Introduction, pp. xxiii and xxiv.

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 8 187 through which he seeks pleasure of mind or body. [11] Immoderate pleasure derived from any of these senses is base and blameworthy, but excessive pleasure derived from taste and touch (two pleasures which are as alike as twins) is, in the opinion of philosophers, of all things the most disgraceful. Those who yielded

to these two pleasures were, above all other men, called by the Greeks dkpateig or &kOAaotoL, terms which import the gravest of faults, and such men are described by us as “incontinent” or “intemperate.” [12] Now these two pleasures, the pleasure

of taste and the pleasure of touch, that is to say, indulgence in food and drink and indulgence in sexual intercourse, are the only pleasures which we find common to man and the lower animals, so that whoever is the slave of these animal pleasures is regarded as ranking with the brutes and beasts. The other pleasures, that is, those which proceed from the other three senses, are peculiar to man alone. [13] To let you know what the celebrated and renowned philosopher Aristotle thinks of these disreputable pleasures, I shall quote his words on the subject. [14] Why are men called incontinent if they indulge to excess in the pleasure of touch or of taste? For those who are intemperate in sexual intercourse are such, and so too are those who are intemperate in the enjoyment of eating and drinking. In the enjoyment of eating and drinking the pleasure is partly in the tongue and partly in the throat (and that is why Philoxenos used to pray to have a throat as long as a crane’s). Or is it because we share the pleasures derived from these two senses with all other living creatures—and being so shared submission to them is disgraceful—that we straightway

censure and call incontinent and intemperate the man who is a slave to them, because he is a slave to the worst pleasures?

And, although there are five senses, living creatures other than man feel pleasure in only the two we have mentioned, and in the other senses they either feel no pleasure at all or the pleasure they feel is incidental.

[15] Who, then, having any human decency, would take de4 Aulus Gellius 19. 2. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 8 (738d). 5 Problemata 28. 7. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 8 (738d).

188 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA light in these two pleasures—the pleasure of sexual intercourse and the pleasure of eating and drinking—which man shares with the pig and the ass? [16] Socrates, indeed, used to say that many men wish to live in order to eat and drink, but that he drank and ate in order to live. And Hippocrates, a man of almost more than

human knowledge, used to hold of sexual intercourse that it partook of the nature of that hideous disease which we call the “assembly disease”;® for his actual words are handed down: “Coition” (he said) “is a mild attack of epilepsy.”?

[The rest of the proceedings of the first day are missing. ] § Morbus comitialis (epilepsy), so called because its occurrence on the day of the comitia put an end to proceedings. 7 Cf. Democritus B 32 (Diels).

the saturnalia »- BOOK 3 [The third Book contains all that remains of the conversation at the house of Nicomachus Flavianus (1. 24. 25) on the second day of the Saturnalia. The beginning of the book has been lost and there is a gap between Chapters 12 and 13. Chapters 1 to 12 are part of the discourse by Praetextatus on Vergil’s knowledge of pontifical law, to which reference is made in 1. 24. 16, Eustathius having previously spoken of Vergil’s knowledge of astronomy and philosophy (1. 24. 18 and 21; and 5. 2. 1) and Flavianus of Vergil’s knowledge of augural law (1. 24. 17; and 1. 24. 21). The after-dinner conversation of the second day follows Chapter 12, but it is clear from the reference in section 16 of Chapter 13 to some earlier remarks made by Horus that the beginning of this conversation has also been lost. |

CHAPTER 1 [1] [Aeneas,] knowing that he had been defiled by all that bloodshed, says:

Father, take in thy hand the sacred vessels and our country’s household gods, since for me, coming fresh from such fierce fighting and so much bloodshed, it would be a sin to handle

them until I have purified myself by washing in a running

stream. [Aeneid 2. 717]

[2] After the burial of his nurse Caieta, too, the landfall which Aeneas wishes to make, in preference to any other, is the place where

The lovely stream of the Tiber rushes forth into the sea [Aeneid 7. 30]

to the end that, forthwith, on the very threshold of Italy he may wash in running water and so in perfect purity pray

190 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA To Jupiter and the Phrygian Mother in order due. [Aeneid 7. 139]

[3] Again, note that he goes by ship, by way of the Tiber, to visit Evander; for, since he was to find him sacrificing to Hercules, he would thus have been purified and able to take part in the rites which his host was celebrating. [4] And this is why Juno too, for

her part, complained not so much that Aeneas had succeeded in reaching Italy against her will but rather that he had won.

The longed-for channel of the Tiber [Aeneid 7. 303] for she knew that, purified by this river, he could duly offer sacrifice even to her—and even prayers would have been unwelcome to her from him. [5] We have indicated Vergil’s exact observance of the method of purification proper to the worship of the gods above. Let us see now whether the poet has also shown a like observance of the customary practice proper to the worship of the gods below. [6] It is well known that, when sacrifice is to be made to the gods above, purification is effected by ablution of the body, but aspersion alone is deemed to be enough when an acceptable offering is

to be made to the gods of the lower world. And so it is that in connection with worship of the gods above Aeneas uses the words:

Until I have purified myself by washing in a running stream. [Aeneid 2. 719] [7] But, on the other hand, when Dido is preparing to sacrifice to the gods belows, she says: Dear nurse, fetch me Anna my sister hither; bid her hasten

to sprinkle her body with water from a stream. [Aeneid 4. 634]

And elsewhere, of Dido, the poet writes: Waters too she had sprinkled, feigned to be from the fount

of Avernus. [Aeneid 4. 512]

[8] Moreover, when Vergil tells of the funeral rites of Misenus, he says:

[Corynaeus] too, carrying pure water, thrice encircled his comrades, sprinkling them with a light dew. [Aeneid 6. 229]

BOOK 3, CHAPTER I Ig! And so also, when he represents Aeneas as about to dedicate the

golden bough to Proserpine in the nether world, the poet tells how:

water. [Aeneid 6. 635] Aeneas gains the entrance and sprinkles his body with fresh

CHAPTER 2 [1] Our poet so habitually uses the proper word that such exactitude of observance ceases to be a ground for praising him, but it is worth noting that this propriety of usage is nowhere more in evidence than in his use of words that relate to religious rites or to sacrifices.

[2] I shall refer first to a word which misleads very many. In the line I will place (porriciam) the entrails as an offering on the salt

waves [Aeneid 5. 237]

note that the word is not proiciam, as some would read, who suppose that Vergil said that the entrails were to be “cast forth” because the words “on the waves” follow. Certainly not; [3] for we learn from the teaching of the soothsayers and the precepts of the pontiffs that this word, porricere, is regularly used of those who offer a sacrifice. Veranius, for example, has commented thus on

the word, with reference to a passage from the first book of Fabius Pictor: “Let the entrails be placed as an offering (porriciunto), \et them be given to the gods, on altar or place of offering

or hearth or wherever the entrails should be so given.” [4] In connection with a sacrifice, then, the appropriate word is porricere, “to place as an offering,” not proicere, “to cast forth”; and, since Veranius has said: “On place of offering or hearth or wherever the entrails should be given,” the sea is to be taken to be “the place of offering and hearth” when a sacrifice is offered to the gods of the sea. [5] For, as you will remember, the whole passage runs as follows: Ye gods who rule the sea, over whose waters I pass, gladly will I set before your altars on this shore a snow-white bull,

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 2 193 if ye will bind me to my vow; and I will place the entrails as an offering on the salt waves and pour forth flowing wine. [Aeneid 5. 235] From this passage, then, it is clear that the entrails could properly be said to have been “placed as an offering” (porrici)—not “cast forth” (proici)—on the sea. [6] When, in the passage which I have just quoted, Vergil says: “T will set before your altars a snow-white bull, if ye bind me to my vow,” the phrase “bind me to my vow” (voti reus) is a phrase proper to religious ceremonies; for one who binds himself to the supernatural powers by the making of a vow is said to be thus answerable for his vow, and one who at length, having obtained his request, pays his promised vow is said to have been “condemned” (dammatus) to fulfill it. But there is no need for me to enlarge on this point, since our learned friend Eustathius has dealt with it fully a short time ago.! [7] The depth of our poet’s knowledge is often revealed by a single word, which the unlearned would suppose to be a chance expression. ‘hus we read in many places that it is impossible to make an acceptable offering to the gods by prayer alone but that he who makes prayer to the gods must also lay hold of the altar with his hands. [8] That is why Varro, in the fifth Book of his

Religious Antiquities, says that the word for altars (arae) was originally asae, since those who were offering a sacrifice had to lay hold of them, and it is obvious that it is by the handles (ansae) that vessels are usually held. It was by the change of a letter then— a change like that by which the Valesii and Fusii of former times

have become the Valerii and Furi of today—that we began to speak of arae.2 [9] Vergil has brought all this out in the lines:

As with such words he prayed, clasping the altars, the Al-

mighty heard him [Aeneid 4. 219] for the point of the additional phrase lies in the fact that the suppliant was heard not simply because he was praying but because he was also clasping the altars. So, too, in the line:

1 In the earlier part of the book, now lost. 2 TIntervocalic “s” in Latin became “r” by the process called “rhotacism.”

194 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA With such words he was praying and clasping the altars [Aeneid 6. 124] and again in the line:

I touch the altars, the fires that burn between us, and the

mediating powers, | adjure [Aeneid 6. 124] the poet indicates, by his reference to the laying hold of the altars, that herein lies the significance of the word (arae). [10] And indeed the depth of Vergil’s knowledge was matched by the charm of his genius, for he expressed the meaning of some

ancient words which he knew to have particular reference to religious ritual in such a way that, although the sound of the expression was different, the connotation was preserved. [11] For example, in Fabius Pictor (in the first Book of his Pontifical Law) we come across the word vitulari.2 Commenting on the meaning of this word, Titius said: “Vztzlari 1s to use the voice to express joy”; and Varro in the fifteenth Book of his Religious Antiquities says: “Inasmuch as the pontiff in certain sacred rites is wont to

utter a joyful chant (vitwlari), and this is what the Greeks call ‘chanting a paean’ (naiaviCetv).” [12] Vergil’s learning and taste, however, expressed this complicated explanation in a few words, thus:

Chanting in chorus a joyful paean (Jaetumaque choro paeana

canentes) [Aeneid 6. 657] for if vitulari means “to use the voice to express joy” and if to do this is “to chant a paean,” then the expression “to chant a joyful paean” has preserved the full meaning of the word vitzlari.4 [13] Let us pause a little longer over this word. Hyllus, in his book On the Gods, says that the goddess of joy is called Vitula; [14] and Piso says that Vitula is the name given to Victory, the alleged proof being the fact that on the day after the Nones of July the people of Rome, who had been routed by the Etruscans on the day before—which is the reason why that day is called Populifugia, or “Rout of the People’”—were successful, and to commemorate the victory there are certain prescribed sacrifices 3 The word is found in Naevius (Warmington, II, 126), Ennius (Warmington, I, 238), Plautus (Persa 254) and Varro (De lingua Latina VII. 107). 4 The word vitulari could not be used in hexameter verse.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 2 195 and a vitulatio.® [15] Some suppose that the name of the goddess

(Vitula) is understood to indicate that she has power to sustain life (vita); and so sacrifices are said to be offered to her for the fruits of the earth, since it is by these fruits that human life is sustained. And how do we come to understand this? Because in saying:

When I offer sacrifice with a heifer (vitwla) for the fruits of

the earth, come yourself [Eclogues 3. 77]

Vergil is using the word vitula to suggest vitwlatio, the term which denotes (as I have already explained) a sacrifice made as an indication of joy. [16] But we must remember to read vitula (the ablative case)*—““when I offer sacrifice with a heifer for the

fruits of the earth, that is to say, when I perform the rite, not with a sheep or with a she-goat, but with a heifer; for what Vergil is saying is “when I shall have sacrificed a heifer (vitzlaz) for the fruits of the earth,” and this is equivalent to saying “when [ shall have performed the rite with a heifer.”? [17] That Vergil invested Aeneas with the dignity of a pontiff

is shown by the very word used for the recital of his hero’s woes. For to the pontiffs was given the authority to record events on tablets, and these records, as compiled by the chief pontiffs (a pontificibus maximis), are known as the “chief records” (Annales Maximi). That is why the poet puts into the mouth of Aeneas the words: And if there is leisure for thee to hear the records (anzales)

of such great woes. [Aeneid 1. 373]

5 See Fowler, Festivals, p. 179. See also Nettleship, Essays im Latin Literature,

P There was also a reading vitulam. 7 ‘The word vitula would convey the accessory suggestion, “and with a cry of joy” (vitulatione).

CHAPTER 3 [1] Among the decrees of the pontiffs we meet the terms sacer, profanus, sanctus, and religiosus, and we often have occasion to ask what each means. We must inquire therefore whether Vergil has used these terms in accordance with their definitions and has, as usual, observed the proper signification of each.}

[2] According to Trebatius, in the first Book of his work On Matters of Religion, the term sacer [sacred or holy] 1s applied to everything that is associated with the gods; and, with this definition in mind, Vergil, when he used the word, almost always added a reference to the gods concerned, thus: I was performing the sacred rites of my mother, the daugh-

ter of Dione, and of the other gods [Aeneid 3. 19] SO too:

The sacred rites of Stygian Jove which, duly begun, I was

preparing [Aeneid 4. 638] To thee, even to thee, most mighty Juno, he sacrifices with sacred rites. [Aeneid 8. 84] [3] As for the term profanzs, there is almost universal agreement

and:

that it is applied to something which is outside the service of a hallowed place, being, moreover, as it were, unassociated with the hallowed place (porro a fano) and its cult. The poet gave an example of this meaning of the word when, speaking of a grove and of the entrance to the world below (each being a “holy” place), he said: 1 For legal definitions of the terms sacer, sanctus and religiosus see Gaius 2. 3-8 (Justinian J7stitutiones 1. 7-10). See also Fowler, Essays, 7-24.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 3 197 “Away, away, unhallowed ones,” cries the prophetess, “and |

withdraw from all the grove.” [Aeneid 6.258]

[4] And there is a further point, for Trebatius says that the term

is properly applied to something which is converted from a religious or sacred use to serve the needs, and become the property, of men, a meaning very clearly preserved by the poet when he says:

“Pity me, Faunus, I pray,” he said, “and thou most kindly | Earth, keep fast the steel, if I have always held your service

hallowed, even as the followers of Aeneas, in other wise,

have profaned it by war” [Aeneid 12. 777] for Vergil had just described how The Trojans had destroyed the holy tree trunk, careless of

its sanctity [ Aeneid 12. 770]

and in this way he showed that a thing which—although original-

ly holy—had been made to serve the common use of man is properly described as “profaned.” [5] As regards the word sanctus, Trebatius in the tenth Book of his work On Matters of Religion says that it is sometimes synnonymous with sacer or with religiosus, but that at other times its meaning differs from the meaning of either of these two words. [6] It is in this second sense that Vergil uses the word in the line: A stainless (sancta) spirit will I go down to you, and guilt-

less of that reproach [Aeneid 12. 648]

for the spirit of Turnus was not connected with anything sacer or religiosus, but the poet sought to represent it as stainless, that is to say, unsullied, the meaning which he also gives the word in the line:

And thou, my stainless spouse, happy in thy death [Aeneid 11. 158] lines in which Evander paid homage to the unsullied chastity of

his wife.2 And that, too, is why laws are said to be sanctae, because they should not need to be, as it were, sullied by the imposition of a penal sanction. 2 See A. R. Burn, The Romans in Britain (Oxford, 1932), p. 165, for a tomb-

stone at Carvoran (Northumberland) inscribed: coniugi sanctissimae quae vixit annis xxxiii sine ulla macula (CIL VI, 1113).

198 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [7] As an example of the former of the two definitions of the term sanctus, which makes it equivalent to sacer or religiosus, consider the passage which begins:

For lo! a flickering cone of flame seemed to shed a gleam from the crown of the head of Iulus and, shortly after, goes on: But we in startled fear make trembling haste to shake out the

flame from the hair and to quench with water the sacred

fire (sanctos ignes). [Aeneid 2. 682] For in this passage the divine origin of the fire will require us to take the epithet sazctus applied to it as having the same meaning as sacer. And so, too, when Vergil says:

And thou, most holy (sanctisstma) prophetess, with thy

foreknowledge of things to come [Aeneid 6. 65] he is in fact addressing the sibyl as sacra, because she is a prophetess and inspired by a god, and a priestess.

[8] It remains for us to consult Vergil about his use of the word religiosus Servius Sulpicius has told us that the word religio implies the removal and withdrawal of something from us by reason of some inherent sanctity, as if the word religio were derived from relimquere, in the sense of “to leave alone,” as

caertmoma [a holy dread] is from carere [to be cut off from]. [9] In conformity with this definition Vergil says: Near the cool stream of Caere is a vast grove, held sacred far and wide by the reverence (religione) of our fathers

and then, to bring out the proper sense of the word religio, he has added:

Hollow hills on all sides shut it in, and a forest of black pines surrounds it

so that the grove was certainly withdrawn from communion with men; and to show that it was not only by reason of the difficulty of access that the place was “left alone,” the poet has gone on to refer to its sanctity as well: Tradition tells that the old Pelasgians consecrated the grove to Silvanus, the god of fields and flocks. [Aeneid 8. 597] [10] According to Pompeius Festus the term religiosi is applied to those whose duty it is to decide what things should be done and what left undone. That is why Vergil says: 3 Cf. Aulus Gellius 4. 9.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 3 199 To clear out a watercourse no religious ban forbids [Georgics 1. 269]

and by “clear out” (deducere) he means “scour” (detergere), for

on holy days it is permissible to scour old and choked-up channels but not to dig new ones. [11] Here, in passing, we should also note the following point

which the poet himself has made, as though casually, by the force of a single word. For there are as a rule two reasons for dipping sheep—either to cure mange or to clean the wool—and so

the pontifical law provides that on holy days sheep may not be

dipped for the latter reason, although it is permissible to dip them on such days, if the aim is to effect a cure—[12] that being

the reason why Vergil has included sheep dipping in a list of tasks permitted on holy days, in the line:

To dip the bleating flock in the health-giving stream [Georgics 1.272]

for had he said simply “to dip the bleating flock in the stream,” he would be making no distinction between what is permitted and what is forbidden, but by adding the epithet “health-giving” he has indicated the grounds on which the dipping is allowed.‘ 4 Cf. 1.7. 8 and 1. 16. 12, above.

CHAPTER 4 [1] It is also a duty of the pontiffs to make known the names which properly belong to sacred places. Let us ask, then, what

particular meaning they give to delubrum [shrine], and how Vergil has used the word. [2] In the eighth Book of his Religious Antiquities Varro says that some regard as a delubrum an open space outside a temple and devoted to the service of a god (as, for example, the place consecrated to Jupiter Stator in the Flaminian Circus) but that others apply the term to the place in which a statue of a god has

been dedicated, adding that, just as the object which held a candle (candela) would be called a candelabrum, so the place which housed a god (deus) would be called a delubrum. [3] From these statements of Varro’s we may understand that, according to his usual custom, his preference was for the definition which he mentioned last and that a delubrium has come to be so called from the dedication of a statue of a god. [4] Vergil, nevertheless, has been careful to use the word in both senses, for —to take the latter explanation first—whenever he has occasion

to use the word delubrum, he has taken care to bring in the actual names of deities or to refer to things associated with deities. ‘hus he says: But the pair of serpents glide away in flight to the topmost shrines

adding, so as then to mention the statue of the deity by name: And make for the citadel of cruel Tritonis, and hide beneath

the feet of the goddess and under the circle of her shield. [Aeneid 2. 225]

And so too he says:

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 4 201 We, poor fools, for that was our last day, adorn the shrines

of the gods. [Aeneid 2. 248]

[5] But the poet has not overlooked Varro’s first suggestion, namely, that the word refers to an open space outside a temple, for example in the line: First they approach the shrines and seek to obtain grace at

every altar [Aeneid 4. 56] and after that comes the line: or in the presence of the gods she moves (spatiatur) beside

the rich altars [Aeneid 4. 62] where, clearly, the word spatiatur suggests movement in a wide open space (spatium), and the further reference to altars shows that this open space was a place devoted to the service of the gods. ‘Thus Vergil, as is his custom and as though accidentally, brings out in full the hidden meanings of the word.

[6] Again, there are found in Vergil’s work careful and exact references to the pemates, who are peculiarly the gods of the Roman people. Nigidius in the nineteenth Book of his treatise On the Gods raises the question whether the penates are not the

Apollo and Neptune of the Trojans, the gods who are said to have built the walls of Troy and whether they were not brought to Italy by Aeneas. The same view about the penates is held by Cornelius Labeo too, and Vergil is following it, when he says: So saying he slew at the altars the offerings due; to Neptune a bull, and a bull, fair Apollo, to thee. [Aeneid 3. 118]

[7] Varro, in the second Book of his Antiquities of Man, relates that the penates were brought by Dardanus from Samothrace to Phrygia and by Aeneas from Phrygia to Italy, but he does not tell us in that book who the penates are. [8] However,

some who delve more diligently for truth have said that the penates are the gods to whom we owe the breath within us (penitus) and by whom we possess our bodies and our power of

thought: namely, Jupiter (the middle ether), Juno (the lowest air and the earth) and Minerva (the highest part of the ether); and by way of proof they state that ‘Tarquinius the son of Dema-

ratus of Corinth, after initiation into the religious mysteries of

202 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Samothrace, brought all these above-named deities together into one temple, under one roof. [9] Cassius Hemina says that the gods of Samothrace and the Roman penates who are identified with them are properly styled

(in Greek) Great (yeyddo1) Gods, Good (ypnotot) Gods, and Mighty (8vvatoi) Gods. Our poet, knowing this, says: With my comrades and my son and with the penates, even

the Great Gods [Aeneid 3. 12]

thus expressing the Greek style peyaAot.

[10] Furthermore, in a reference to one of the above-named deities Vergil preserves all three of these Greek names, thus making clear beyond all doubt what he wishes to teach us about the whole of this belief; for when he says:

Great is Juno: make first your prayer to her divinity [Aeneid 3. 437] he has given her the style peyaAn; when he says:

Let Bacchus who gives joy be present, and the Good God-

dess, Juno [Aeneid 1. 734]

she is ypnotn; and when he says:

And [Juno], the mighty queen [Aeneid 3. 438] she is 6vvat. [11] Vergil has applied this last epithet, “mighty,” to Vesta, too, who is manifestly one of the penates, or certainly associated with them (so much so, that consuls and praetors, or dictators, when they enter on office, sacrifice at Lavinitum to the penates

and to Vesta together). [12] And the poet, after saying by the mouth of Hector, Troy entrusts to thee the objects of her worship and her penates

has then added:

With these words he brings forth in his hands from the in-

most sanctuary the image of mighty Vesta, wearing her fillets, and the undying fire. [Aeneid 2. 293]

[13] Moreover, Hyginus in his book Concerning the penates has given this further information: that the penates are called in Greek “Gods of the Fatherland” (matp@o1). This style also Vergil has not left unrecognized, for he makes Anchises say:

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 4 203 Gods of my country (patrii), preserve my house, preserve

my grandchild [Aeneid 2. 702] and elsewhere the poet speaks of

Our country’s penates. [Aeneid 2. 717]

CHAPTER 5 [1] Vergil shows that he is as careful and accurate in his accounts of sacrificial practice as he is in theological knowledge, for his poetry contains references to each of the two kinds of sacrificial victims which Trebatius mentions in his exposition of the subject in the first Book of his work On Matters of Religion: namely, victims which serve to discover the will of a god by the state of their entrails,t and victims of which only the life (anima)

is consecrated to a god, the latter kind being in consequence called by the soothsayers “anzmales.”

[2] In the first place, then, the following lines refer to the kind of victim which reveals the will of heaven by means of its entrails:

She slays ewes duly chosen [Aeneid 4. 57]

and then:

Gazing eagerly into the opened breasts of the beasts, she consults the entrails yet quivering with life.

[Aeneid 4. 63]

[3] As an example of the second kind of victims, which is called animalis because only its anima is consecrated to a god, Vergil makes the victorious Entellus slay a bull as a sacrifice to Eryx; and to explain fully the nature of the offering of a life he has used the actual word amziza, in the line:

This is a better life that I duly pay to thee, Eryx, in place of

the death of Dares. [Aeneid 5. 483] Furthermore, to mark that a vow had been publicly made, Ver-

gil uses the word persolvo (that is to say, the word properly used in connection with the fulfillment of a vow); and, to show 1 Hostiae consultatoriae.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 5 205 that it is to a god that the vow has been paid, he has marked the offering up of the anima by saying: Down sinks the bull, and, lifeless (exanimis), it lies quivering

on the ground. [Aeneid 5. 481]

[4] We should consider too whether there is not a reference

to the hostia animalis in the following passage as well:

With the blood of a maiden slain ye appeased the winds when first ye came, O Greeks, to the shores of Troy; with blood must your return be sought; and to be favorable the sacrifice demands an Argive live (anima litandum) [Aeneid 2. 116]

for the poet has used the words anima, thus indicating the kind of victim, and litare, which means to appease a deity by an acceptable sacrifice.

[5] Among sacrificial victims, whether only the life is offered to a god or whether the purpose of the sacrifice is to ascertain a god’s will, there are some which are known as iniuges, that is to say, beasts which have never been tamed or accustomed to bear the yoke (ugu7m); and these too our poet has in mind when he says:

Now it were better to slay in sacrifice seven bullocks from an untamed herd, and as many ewes duly chosen [Aeneid 6. 38] and to bring out more clearly that the victims are zmiuges he has written [in another passage]:

And as many bullocks with necks untamed. [Georgics 4. 540 and 551 |

[6] Again, the word eximius, used in connection with sacrifices, is not a mere poetical epithet but a technical term employed by the priests; for Veranius in his Questions Touching the Procedure of the Pontiffs tells us that those victims are said to be eximiae which are such as to be chosen (eximantur) from a herd and marked out for sacrifice, or such as to be selected, by reason of their choice (eximma) beauty, as fit for offering to the divine powers. Hence the line which runs: Pick four choice bulls of peerless beauty of body [Georgics 4. 538]

in which the poet by calling the bulls “choice” has shown that

206 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA they are being “chosen” from the herd and, by his reference to this “peerless beauty of body” has pointed to the reason for this selection as an offering. [7] According to Pompeius Festus the victim which a religious

rite requires to be led round the fields (arva) by those who are offering a sacrifice for the fruits of the earth is called ambarvalis. There is a reference to this sacrifice in the Bucolics, when Vergil, speaking of the deification of Daphnis, says: These honors shall ever be thine, both when we pay our accustomed vows to the Nymphs and when we go in procession

round the fields [Eclogues 5. 74]

for lustrare here means to go round in a ceremonial procession, and the origin of the name given to the victim is clearly derived from this procession round the fields (amzbiendis arvis). So, too, in the first Book of the Georgics we find the line:

And for good luck let the victim thrice encircle the young

crops. [Georgics 1. 345]

[8] It has always been the practice at a sacrifice to remove any victim that struggled violently on being led to the altar and showed reluctance to approach it, on the ground that such an offering was deemed to be unwelcome to the god. If, however, the victim stood quietly at the altar, the offering was held to be acceptable to the deity; and that is why Vergil says: And led by the horn the he-goat consecrated to the God shall

stand at the altar [Georgics 2. 395]

and, elsewhere:

altar. [Aeneid 9. 627] I will make a bullock with gilded forehead to stand before the

[9] So convinced was Vergil that the whole duty of man toward the gods consists in the offering of sacrifices to them that he has called Mezentius a “despiser of the gods”? on account of his refusal

to offer sacrifices. For the man was not so described (as Asper thinks) because he showed a lack of respect for the gods by his disregard of his duty to his fellow men, otherwise the poet would

have been much more likely to have spoken thus of Busiris, to whom (though crueler far than Mezentius) he thought it enough 2 Aeneid 7. 648.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 5 207 to apply the term “unpraised.”? [10] But the true reason for this epithet, which so strongly suggests arrogance, will be found by a careful reader in the first Book of Cato’s Origins, where the writer says that Mezentius ordered the Rutulians to offer to him the first

fruits which it was their custom to offer to the gods and that all

the Latins, from fear of receiving a like command, prayed to Jupiter, saying: “If it is more to thy mind that we make these offerings to thee rather than to Mezentius, grant us the victory.” [rz] It is, then, because he had claimed for himself honors that belonged to the gods that Mezentius has deservedly been called by Vergil a “despiser of the gods.” Hence, too, the scornful language of Aeneas, speaking in duty bound and as if a priest: These are the spoils and first fruits taken from a haughty king [Aeneid 11. 15] for he used with reference to the spoils taken from Mezentius the words—first fruits—that recalled the arrogance for which the man had paid the penalty. 8 Georgics 3. 5 (see 6. 7. 16, below).

CHAPTER 6 [1] We cannot but wonder at the learning which Vergil shows in connection both with our own religious rites and with those of

other countries. It is, for example, not without reason that no victim was slain by Aeneas on his arrival at Delos and that it was only when he was leaving the island that he sacrificed to Apollo

and to Neptune; [2] for it is well known, as Cloatius Verus explains in the second Book of his Word Lists, that there is at Delos an altar at which the god is worshiped only with a ritual prayer, and no victim is slain. The words of Cloatius run as follows: “At

Delos there is an altar to Apollo the Father (Tevétmp); at it no living creature is sacrificed and they say that Pythagoras reverenced it as undefiled.” [3] It is at this altar of Apollo the Father, then, that Aeneas worships, for the poet represents him entering the temple as a pontiff and straightway beginning his prayer, without

any preliminary sacrifice. And to bring out more clearly that the god is “The Father,” Vergil makes Aeneas say:

Grant, Father, an omen. [Aeneid 3. 89]

[4] But when Aeneas afterward! sacrifices a bull to Apollo and to Neptune, we understand that the rite is performed at quite another altar, for in the former passage the god is called, simply, “Father” (and rightly, since that is his proper style there) but below he is addressed by his common name, “Apollo.” [5] Varro, too, makes mention of this altar, for in his work Catus: On the Bringing-up of Children? he says: “The nurse would perform all these rites with an offering of sacred boughs and to the sound of trumpets, but—as 1 Aeneid 3. 119. 2 Cf. Aulus Gellius 4. 19.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 6 209 at the altar of Apollo the Father (Genetivus), at Delos—without the sacrifice of a victim.” [6] In the same passage Vergil has spoken of the temple as built

“of ancient stone,”? and I think we should certainly ask why he has done so. Velius Longus says: “This is an example of the transferred epithet, for what the poet means to say is that the temple is

ancient,’ and many other commentators have followed him, but such reference to the age of the temple is somewhat pointless. [7] Epaphus, however, a man of wide reading, says, in his seventeenth

Book, that once upon a time the temple at Delphi, which had hitherto been regarded with religious reverence, and unviolated, was plundered and burned; and he goes on to relate that, although many towns in the neighborhood of Corinth, and some nearby islands, were engulfed by an earthquake, Delos never suffered any such disaster, before or since, but the stones of its buildings remained intact. [8] Thucydides, too, in the Third [recte Second] book of his History has the same thing to tell of Delos.‘ It is not surprising, then, that Vergil, when indicating the abiding security which the island enjoyed under the protection of its sanctity, says that the lasting durability of the stone (that is to say, of the island) has for him added to the awe which the place inspired. [9] Just as Vergil observed the proper style of Apollo the Father, by addressing him as “Pater,” so he has shown the same care with regard to Hercules, by calling him “Victor,” in the line:

“This,” said he, “is the threshold which the victor Hercules

stooped to pass.” [Aeneid 8. 362] [10] Varro in the fourth Book of his Religious Antiquities holds

that Hercules is called “Victor” because he was victorious over

every kind of living creature. Now there are two temples of Hercules the Victor at Rome (one by the Three Arch Gate and the other in the Cattle Market), [11] and Masurius Sabinus in the second Book of his Memorabilia gives a different explanation of the origin of the name. “Marcus Octavius Herrenus,” he says, “in his early youth was a flute player but afterward, mistrusting his skill, became a successful merchant and dedicated a tenth of his profits to Hercules. Later, in the course of a voyage at sea, which 8 Aeneid 3. 84. 4 2. 8.

210 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA he was making on a like understanding with the god, he was attacked by pirates but defended himself most gallantly and came off victorious. He was warned, however, by Hercules in a dream that he owed his preservation to the god, and he therefore acquired a site from the magistrates and consecrated a temple to Hercules,

with a statue bearing an inscription “The Victor,’ thus applying to the god a title intended both to recall the ancient victories of Hercules and to commemorate the recent event which led to the erection of the new shrine at Rome.” [12] Earlier in the same passage of Vergil is the line: And the Pinarian house, the guardian of the rites of Hercules. [Aeneid 8. 270] The line is not without point; for some say that the Ara Maxima

was saved by the Pinarii when it was in danger of being burned by a fire that broke out in the neighborhood, and that this is why Vergil has described the Pinarian house as the guardian of these rites. [13] Asper, however, says that Vergil is marking the distinc-

tion between this family and the Potitii, who for a bribe from Appius Claudius handed over the rites to public slaves. [14] But Veranius in his Questions Touching the Procedure of the Pontiffs, in the book which deals with religious solemnities, says that because

the Pinarli came very late to a sacrificial banquet—when the meal

had been eaten and the banqueters were already washing their hands—Hercules gave orders that in future neither they nor their descendants should taste of the tithe to be assigned to him but should come to the ceremony only to serve and not to share in the feast; and that it is for this reason that the Pinarii are called the guardians of the rites, in the sense that they are servants (72in1st71) at them.> [15] ‘This, too, is the sense in which Vergil has used the word custos in the line: But all the while T'rivia’s sentinel (custos), Opis, sits on the hills [Aeneid 11. 836]

where the word implies that Opis is Trivia’s attendant (7inistra) ; unless, perhaps, Vergil has called her custos because she has kept herself aloof and apart from the rites of the goddess, a meaning which he gives to the word elsewhere, when he says: 5 Cf. Livy 1, 7. See also Conington’s note on Aeneid 8. 270.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 6 211 And let Priapus of the Hellespont, the guardian (custos) against

thieves and birds, with his willow pruning hook, keep and

protect them [Georgics 4. 110]

for here, clearly, the poet means by custos the one who keeps away birds and thieves. [16] In the following passage: With these words he orders the repast, and the cups that had been removed, to be replaced, and himself arranges the warriors

on the grassy seat [Aeneid 8. 175]

the use of the word “seat” is not without its special significance, for the practice proper to the rites of Hercules is to eat the sacrificial meal sitting, not reclining, and Cornelius Balbus in the eighteenth Book of his Interpretations says that it was the practice not to hold a lectisternium [at which the image of a god would be represented reclining on a couch] at the Ara Maxima. [17] It is also the regular observance at that place for all to offer sacrifice with the head bare, to the end that in the temple of Hercules no one should imitate the garb of the god, who is represented there with his head veiled. Varro says that this observance is a Greek custom, because either Hercules himself or those who were left behind by him and built the Ara Maxima sacrificed with the head bare after the Greek usage. And Gavius Bassus adds that this observance is accounted for by the fact that the Ara Maxima was set up before

the arrival in Italy of Aeneas, who introduced the practice of veiling the head.® 6 See Aeneid 3. 405. Cf. H. J. Rose, The Roman Questions of Plutarch (Oxford, 1924), Pp. 31, 173-74.

CHAPTER 7 [1] There are passages too in Vergil which the ordinary reader

passes over carelessly, although they have a depth of hidden meaning. Thus, when he was speaking of Pollio’s child, the poet introduced a reference to Augustus in the lines: But of himself the ram in the meadows shall change the color of his fleece, now for sweetly-blushing purple, now for yellow

saffron [Eclogues 4. 43]

[2] For it is handed down in the books of the Etruscans that, if a ram present an unusual color, it is an omen of general prosperity for the ruler. And in this connection you must know that there is a volume of Tarquitius, copied from an Etruscan Book of Portents, which contains these words: “A sheep or a ram with purple or golden markings presages for the leader of a class and of a race the greatest prosperity and an access of wealth; the race prolongs its generations in splendor and brings them greater happiness.” Such then was the happy lot which the poet, in passing, foretells for the emperor in those lines.

[3] And here too we may mark what deep significance Vergil can give to single words borrowed from a religious rite: The Fates laid their hands [on Halaesus] and doomed him to

fall by the weapons of Evander [Aeneid 10. 419] for whatever has been devoted to the gods is said to be sacer [doomed]; but, since a life cannot pass to the gods unless it has been set free from the burden of the body and since this can be effected only by death, Vergil fittingly represents Halaesus as sacratus, because he is about to meet his death. [4] And in this line

the poet has used language proper to both the human and the divine law; for by his reference to the laying on of hands (manus iniectio) he indicated, so to speak, a claim to property under the

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 7 213 civil law (mancipium), and by his use of a word suggesting devotion to a god he complied fully with the practice of the divine law. [5] It seems appropriate at this point to refer to the position of human beings declared by the laws to be devoted (sacri) to certain gods; for I am well aware that some persons find it surprising that, although it is an offense against the laws of religion to lay violent hands on all other devoted objects, a man so devoted may lawfully be killed. The reason is this. [6] The men of old allowed no animal,

thus devoted, to remain within their borders, but they used to drive it away to the precincts of the gods to whom it was devoted; but, on the other hand, they held that the lives of human beings, thus devoted, (called by the Greeks Za&vec!) were a debt due to the gods. [7] Consequently, just as they did not hesitate to drive away a devoted animal which could not be actually dispatched by them to the gods, so—holding that a human life thus devoted could be dispatched to heaven—they resolved that such lives should go there

as soon as possible by being separated from their bodies. [8] Trebatius, too, discusses this custom in the ninth Book of his work

On Matters of Religion, but, not to be tedious, I have refrained from citing his actual words; for, if any one wishes to read them, the reference which I have given to the author and the number of the roll will give him the particulars he needs. 1 Macrobius may perhaps have had in mind the statues at Olympia known as Zavec. According to Pausanias (5. 21. 2) these were images of Zeus made from fines imposed on athletes who had broken the rules of the Games.

CHAPTER 8 [1] We sometimes impair the worth of a passage which illustrates the wide range of Vergil’s knowledge by a wrong reading. ‘Thus there are some who (where Aeneas is telling of his escape from Troy under the guidance of his mother, Venus) read: I depart and under the guidance of the goddess [Venus] make

my way through fire and foe [Aeneid 2. 632]

although the poet said ducente deo [under the god’s guidance] not ducente dea and showed thereby how great was his learning; [2]

for according to Aterianus! we should read, too, in a poem of Calvus: “Venus the powerful god” (not “goddess”). Moreover, there is in Cyprus a bearded statue of the goddess with female clothing but with male attributes, so that it would seem that the deity is both male and female. [3] Aristophanes also calls her ‘“Aphroditus”; and in Laevinus the descriptive adjective is in the masculine gender, when he says: “Therefore worshiping Venus the giver of life (alwzuim), whether the deity is female or male—even as is the life-giving deity that shines by night.” Philochorus, too, in his Atthis says that Venus is the moon and that men offer sacrifice to the moon dressed as women, and women dressed as men, because the moon is thought to be both male and female.

[4] Here, too, is a line which indicates Vergil’s knowledge of matters that relate to religion: The bird fell dead, and left its life among the stars of the sky [Aeneid 5. 517] for Hyginus in his book On the Nature and Attributes of the Gods,

speaking of the constellations and stars, said that it was fitting to sacrifice birds to them. Our poet’s learning is evident, then, from 1 See Nettleship, “Ihe Ancient Commentators on Virgil” (Conington’s Virgil, I); and Baehrens, p. 321.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 8 215 his statement that the life of the bird remained with the deities to whom it had been given as an acceptable offering. [5] Even a name which could have been introduced casually is not allowed to lose its peculiar significance; as, for example, when Vergil writes:

He called her by the name of her mother Casmilla, partly

changing it to Camilla [Aeneid 11. 542]

[6] for Statius Tullianus in the first Book of his work On the Names of Things says that, according to Callimachus, the Etruscans call Mercury “Camillus” and mean by that name “the Attendant of

the Gods.” That is why (he adds) Vergil made Metabus call his daughter Camilla, because she was an attendant of Diana; [7] for Pacuvius too, speaking of Medea, said: Attendant (camilla) of the Gods of Heaven, long-awaited thou

dost come. Welcome, friend. [ Warmington, II, 256] Moreover, at Rome the boys and girls, of noble birth and under the age of puberty, who serve as attendants of the flamens and their

wives are called camulli and camillae. ,

[8] We should also note the following passage as an example of the poet’s regard for the exact meaning of a word: There was a custom in Hesperian Latium and the Alban cities in succession kept up the observance of it, as sacred; and Rome,

mistress of the world, observes it today. [Aeneid 7. 601] [9] Varro in his treatise On Customs says that the essence of a custom (70S) is a decision of the mind which is such as duly to become a regular practice, and Julius [recte Pompeius] Festus? in the thirteenth Book of his work On the Meaning of Words says: ‘““A custom is an institution of our fathers which has to do with the religious beliefs and rites of our ancestors.” [10] Vergil, then, has

followed both authorities. First, Varro (who had said that the custom comes first and the practice follows it), for after the words

“There was a custom” he has gone on to say, “and the Alban Cities in succession kept up the observance of it” and “Rome, mistress of the world, observes it today,” [11] thus indicating the continuity of the practice. And then, since Festus says that custom has to do with religious rites, Vergil has brought out this point as well by the addition of the word sacer, when he says: “And the Alban cities in succession kept up the observance of the custom, 2 Festus, pp. 146-47.

216 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA as sacred.” [12] He has made the custom, therefore, come first and the observance of the custom, that is to say, the practice, follow, and so he fulfilled Varro’s definition. Next, by the addition of the word sacer, he showed further that, as Festus maintained, a custom is concerned with religious rites. [13] The same exactness is also to be found in the twelfth Book of the Aeneid, when Vergil says: I will add besides a custom and the forms of sacred rites [Aeneid 12. 836] words which show clearly that “custom” is identified with “forms of sacred rites.” [14] But, what is more, the poet has also been historically correct in those lines which tell of “a custom in Hesperian Latium,” for he has observed the sequence of the ruling powers, since the Latins were the first to rule there, then the Albans, and then the Romans. ‘That is why he began by saying, “There was a custom in Hesperian Latium,” then went on to say, “and the Alban cities in succession kept up the observance of it as sacred,” and after that added, “and Rome, mistress of the world, observes it today.”

CHAPTER 9 [1] Take the lines which run: Gone forth are all the gods by whose aid this realm once stood, and they have forsaken their shrines and altars. [| Aeneid 2. 351]

The reference here is to a Roman custom of the greatest antiquity and to rites of the greatest secrecy. [2] For it is well known that every city is under the protection of some deity, and it is an established fact that it was the custom of the Romans (a secret custom

and one that is unknown to many) by means of a prescribed formula to call forth the tutelary deities of an enemy city which they were besieging and now felt confident of being able to take; either because they believed that unless they did so the city could not be taken after all or rather because, were the capture possible,

they held it to be an offense against the divine law to make prisoners of gods. [3] That is why the Romans, for their part, were careful to see to it that the tutelary god of the city of Rome and the Latin name of the city should not be known. [4] However, the name of the tutelary god of Rome is given in a number of books by old writers (although these writers do not agree among themselves what the name is), and so students of antiquity are acquainted with all the theories about it. For some have believed the tutelary deity to be Jupiter, others the moon, some have said that it is Angerona (who is represented with a finger to her lips as though enjoining silence); others again—and it seems to me that there are stronger grounds for believing them— that it is Ops Consivia. [5] But even the most learned of men do not know the name of the city, for the Romans took care that an enemy should not do to them what, as they well knew, they had

218 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA often done to enemy cities and call forth the divine protector of Rome, if the name were revealed.! [6] We must be careful to make a distinction which some have

failed to make, who have erroneously supposed that a single formula is used both to call forth the gods from a city and to devote the city itself to destruction. I have found each of the two formulas in the fifth Book of the Secret World (Res Reconditae) of Sammonicus Serenus, who claimed to have come across them in a verv old book by one Furius.? [7] The formula to call forth the gods of a besieged city runs as follows: “To any god, to any goddess, under whose protection are

the people and state of Carthage, and chiefly to thee who art charged with the protection of this city and people, I make prayer

and do reverence and ask grace of you all, that ye abandon the people and state of Carthage, forsake their places, temples, shrines, and city, and depart therefrom, [8] and that upon that people and state ye bring fear and terror and oblivion; that once put forth ye come to Rome, to me and to mine; and that our places, temples, shrines, and city may be more acceptable and pleasing to you; and

, that ye take me and the Roman people and my soldiers under your charge; that we may know and understand the same. If ye shall so

have done, I vow to you temples and solemn games.” [9] With those words victims are to be sacrificed, and the import of the entrails examined to see if they indicate a fulfillment of the above. Cities and armies, on the other hand, are thus devoted to destruc-

tion after the protecting deities have been called forth, but only dictators and supreme commanders have the power to use the formula. It runs as follows: [10] “Father Dis, Veiovis, and ye spirits of the world below, or by what other name ye should be called, do all of you fill with panic and fear and terror that city of Carthage and the army whereof it is my purpose now to speak, and those who shall bear arms and weapons against our legions and

army, take away and deprive of the light of day that army, those enemies, those people, their cities and lands, and those who dwell in these places and parts, fields and cities; and the army of the enemy, the cities and fields of those of whom it is my purpose now to speak; hold devoted and doomed those cities 1 See Plutarch Quaestiones Romanae 61. 2 See Fraenkel, Horace, p. 237.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 9 219 and fields, the lives, of whatever age, of those people, in accordance

with the terms whereby at any time enemies are most surely devoted; [11] and I for myself, by my honor and in virtue of my office, on behalf of the Roman people, our armies and legions, give and devote them in our place; so that ye allow me, and my honor

and authority, our legions and army, who are herein engaged, to be well and safe. This if ye shall so have done that I may know, perceive, and understand the same, then, whoever shall have made this vow, wherever he shall have made it, let it have been rightly made with three black sheep. O Mother Earth, and thee, Jupiter, I call to witness.” [12] When the speaker says “Earth,” he touches the ground with his hands; when he says “Jupiter,” he raises his hands to heaven; when he speaks of the taking of the vow, he touches his breast with his hands. [13] I have found in old historical works that the following towns were thus “devoted”: Stonii, Fregellae, Gabii, Veu, and Fidenae, all in Italy; and also Carthage and Corinth, as well as many enemy armies and towns of Gauls, Spaniards, Africans, Moors, and other peoples of whom the ancient annals speak.

[14] It was, then, just such a calling forth and departure of deities that Vergil had in mind, in the line: Gone forth are all the gods and they have forsaken their shrines

and altars [Aeneid 2. 351]

and it was to show that they were the tutelary gods of Troy that he added:

The gods, by whose aid this realm once stood. [Aeneid 2. 352] [15] In addition to thus referring to the practice of calling forth the gods the poet—to show the effect of the rite of “devotion” (in which, as we have said, the invocation is addressed specially to Jupiter )—he also says:

Jupiter is cruel and has removed all to Argos. [Aeneid 2. 326]

[16] May I hope, then, said Praetextatus, that I have made it clear to you all that to understand the depths of meaning in Vergil calls for a knowledge of both the divine and the civil law?

CHAPTER 10 [1] Hereupon all the others were unanimous in asserting that

Vergil and his interpreter, as men of learning, were equally matched. But Evangelus exclaimed that he had long since come to the end of his patience and could no longer hide his feelings nor

refrain from disclosing the scars of ignorance on the body of Vergil’s work. [2] I too, he said, have at times “slipped my hand from under the cane”;! I too have attended lectures on pontifical law and from what I know of this law I shall establish Vergil’s ignorance of its teaching. [3] Is it likely that he would say: On the shore I was slaying a bull in sacrifice to the king of the

gods of heaven [Aeneid 3. 21]

if he knew that it was forbidden to sacrifice a bull to this god, or if he had learned what Ateius Capito has to say on the subject in the first Book of his work On the Law of Sacrifices, where you find the words: “And so it is not lawful to offer sacrifice to Jupiter with a bull, a boar, or a ram,” [4] and, indeed, when Labeo (in his sixty-eighth Book) comes to the conclusion that a bull is sacrificed only to Neptune, Apollo and Mars? So you see that your pontiff-poet doesn’t know what sacrifices should be made at what altars—something perfectly well known even to sacristans and clear-

ly stated in the carefully compiled works of our ancestors. [5] You have only to consult Vergil, replied Praetextatus with a a smile, and he will tell you himself to which of the gods a bull is sacrificed:

A bull to Neptune, a bull to thee, fair Apollo. [Aeneid 3. 119] [6] There, you see, you have Labeo’s own words in the poet’s own work. In short, just as this last passage displays Vergil’s learning, so the former indicates his subtlety; for he shows that the sacrifice 1 Cf. Juvenal 1. 15.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER I0 221 to which you have referred was not acceptable to Jupiter, and there follows in consequence:

A portent horrible to tell of and astonishing to see. [Aeneid 3. 26]

[7] Vergil, then, was looking forward to what was to come when he represented Aeneas as sacrificing a victim unsuited to the occasion. But he knew too that the mistake was not without remedy,

for Ateius Capito (with whom you have confronted Vergil, as though in battle), after the words which you have quoted, has gone on to say: “If any, by chance, shall have sacrificed to Jupiter with a bull, let him offer a sacrifice of appeasement.” What Aeneas did, then, was an act contrary to prescribed custom but not beyond the possibility of atonement, and in making him do it Vergil acted,

not from ignorance, but to prepare the way for the portent that was to follow.

CHAPTER 11 [1] If, retorted Evangelus, the breach of a rule is justified by the

event, perhaps you will be good enough to tell me also what portent Vergil intended should follow when, contrary to all the usages of religion, he bade a libation of wine be made to Ceres, saying:

For Ceres mix thou the honeycombs with milk and soft wine. [Georgics 1. 344]

[2] Plautus should have taught him that such libations are not made to Ceres, for in his AzlzJaria he says: “Are these people going to celebrate the marriage of Ceres, Strobilus?”’

“Why do you ask?” “Because I see no wine has been brought in.” [3] But this poet of yours—flamen, pontiff, and anything else you like— knows no more about libations than he does about sacrifices;

and not to deviate everywhere into a comparable error on the subject of libations, he says in the eighth Book of the Aeneid: Joyfully they pour a libation on the table and pray to the gods [Aeneid 8. 279] although, by custom, the libation should have been poured not on

the table but on the altar. [4] I will deal with your second point first, said Praetextatus. I

admit that you have grounds for questioning the pouring of a libation on a table; and you would have added to the apparent difficulty, had you chosen to refer to Vergil’s reference to a similar act by Dido in the line: 1 Plautus Aulularia 354. In line 354 Macrobius reads hi; but the received text reads has (i.e. “Is this a marriage of Ceres that they are going to celebrate?”’). In the next line Macrobius reads video, the received text intellego.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER II 223 She spoke and on the table poured an offering of flowing wine [Aeneid 1. 736] [5] for even Tertius, in his long discourse on sacred rites, says that this passage seems to him to raise a difficult question and that he has found no explanation to satisfy the doubts which he feels about

it. However, with my reading to instruct me, and I will tell you what I have discovered, for it is clearly declared in the Papirian legal code that a table which has been dedicated can serve the purposes of an altar. [6] The words are as follows: “As, for example, in the temple of Juno Populonia there is a sacred table.” For in shrines some things are classed as implements and sacred furnishings, other things as ornaments. Things classed as implements are regarded as by way of being instruments—that is to say, they are the things which are always used in the offering of sacrifices, and of these a table on which are placed the meat, drink, and gifts for the gods is reckoned to be the most important. But shields, crowns, and similar votive offerings are classed as ornaments, for these are not dedicated at the same time as the temple is consecrated. ‘The table, on the other hand, and the small altars are usually dedicated

on the same day as the temple itself; so that a table dedicated at

this rite may be used in a temple as an altar and has the same sanctity as, for example, a sacred couch. [7] And so, then, the libation made at Evander’s feast was made as prescribed by law; for 1t was made at the table which had been

dedicated, together with the Ara Maxima, in accordance with customary religious usage; it was made, too, in a consecrated grove

and in the course of the ceremonies at a sacred banquet. On the other hand, at Dido’s banquet, which assuredly was no more than a royal feast, and not a religious occasion as well, the libation was made at a table designed for human use, in a banqueting hall and not in a temple; and, since Dido’s libation was not a religious but a discretionary act, Vergil represented it as made by the queen alone, as one whose person was bound to the observance of no obligatory rites but was free and able to adopt what procedure she pleased. [8] Of Evander’s libation, however, Vergil said: “All joyfully pour a libation on the table and pray to the gods,” because he was telling of an act which, as he knew, was being performed in a prescribed manner by a whole company feasting together in a holy place and sitting at one consecrated table.

224 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [9] As for that other line to which you have referred—“For Ceres mix thou the honeycombs with milk and soft wine’—here your charge is unfounded and a few words will suffice for me to refute it. The poet is in fact seeking to combine learned subject matter with neatness of expression; and so, knowing that libations of honey wine are offered to Ceres, in adding the words “mix thou the honeycombs with soft wine,” he is in effect saying that wine grows soft when it begins to be made into honey wine. [10] For he has called the wine “soft” in this passage, just as elsewhere he speaks of wine as “mellowed”; that is to say, in the line: Able to mellow the harsh flavor of the wine. [Georgics 4. 102 ] Moreover, it is well known, as you will agree, that on the twelfth

day before the Kalends of January sacrifice is made to Hercules and Ceres with a gravid sow and with loaves of bread and with honey wine.

CHAPTER 12 [1] Upon my word, Praetextatus, said Evangelus, your reference

to Hercules is to the point, since this poet of yours is doubly in error in the account he gives of the rites in honor of that god; for he says:

Then the Salii, poplar sprays on their brows, stand round the

kindled altars to sing [Aeneid 8. 285] since here he has assigned the Salii to Hercules, although ancient tradition has dedicated them only to the service of Mars; and he also speaks of poplar leaves, although at the Ara Maxima heads are crowned with laurel alone and with no other leaves. [2] We see, too, the City praetor wearing a laurel wreath on his head when he

sacrifices to Hercules; and Terentius Varro, in his satire The Thunderbolt, witnesses to the fact that our ancestors used to vow a tenth to Hercules and not let ten days pass “without holding a sacrificial banquet and sending the people home to bed after a free dinner, crowned with laurel.” [3] Really? said Vettius, Doubly in error? For my part I maintain that Vergil is at fault on neither point. To take first the question of the kind of leaves: it is, of course, agreed that today those who offer sacrifices at the Ara Maxima wear wreaths of laurel, but this practice had its origin long after the foundation of Rome and

dates from the time when the laurel first began to grow on the Aventine, as Varro informs us in the second Book of his Antiquities

of Man. [4] The laurel happened by chance to be close at hand and was picked from the adjoining hill for the use of those taking part in the sacred ceremonies. That is why Vergil was right, in looking back to those days before the founding of the city, to make

226 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Evander, when celebrating the rites at the Ara Maxima, use the poplar, which is certainly the tree “most dear to Alcides.”! [5] As for the Salii, Vettius continued, in assigning them to Her-

cules Vergil shows the wealth and depth of his learning, for the pontiffs too identify Hercules with Mars. [6] And indeed this identification is supported by Varro’s Menippean satire This Other

Hercules, in which the author, speaking of Hercules One of Many? has shown that this god and Mars are one and the same. The star, too, which is known to all other peoples as the star of Mars is called by the Chaldeans the star of Hercules. [7] Furthermore, Octavius Hersennius, in his book entitled On the kites of the Sali of Tibur, explains that the Salii were instituted for the service of Hercules and, after the taking of auspices, perform rites in his honor on certain fixed days. [8] Antonius Gnipho§ also, a learned man whose lectures Cicero used to attend when his work in court was over, proves that the Salii were assigned to Hercules, the reference will be found in the roll in which the writer discusses

the meaning of the word festra (a small opening in a shrine), a word which has been used by Ennius too.‘ [9] Both of the alleged errors have, I believe, now been refuted by competent authorities and by sound arguments. If there are any other passages in Vergil which trouble us, let us declare them, so

that, by bringing them together for our joint consideration, we may dispose of mistakes which will prove to be ours, not Vergil’s. [10] But has it never occurred to you, Praetextatus, replied Evangelus, that Vergil is, as they say, “miles out of his course” in his account of Dido’s marriage sacrifice? For first he says: She slays ewes duly chosen for sacrifice to Ceres the lawgiver, to Phoebus and to father Lyaeus and then, as though after waking up, he has added: Before all to Juno, for hers is the care of the marriage tie. [Aeneid 4. 57] 1 Eclogues 7. 61.

2 Reading (with the MSS.) de Multo Hercule, edd.: de Invicto Hercule.

See 1. 20. 6 above.

3 Suetonius De grammaticis 7. 4 Warmington, I, 563. 5 See Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature, p. 127. The reply of Praetextatus

has been lost, and the beginning of the after-dinner conversation as well, as appears from the reference in 13. 16, below, to an earlier remark made by Horus.

CHAPTER 13 [1] Let me tell you, too, [said Caecina Albinus1] what Marcus Varro has to say in the third Book of his treatise On Agriculture,

where he is speaking of the rearing of peacocks on a country estate: “Quintus Hortensius is said to have been the first to serve peacocks at an augural banquet, an act which was described at the time by respectable citizens as suggesting extravagance rather than a proper austerity; but many have been quick to follow the precedent and have so raised the price of these birds that their eggs are sold for five denarii apiece and the birds themselves easily fetch fifty.”? [2] It is surely remarkable, and even shameful, for peacocks’ eggs to be sold for five denarii each, since (so far from being

cheaper today) there is now no market for them at all. [3] his was the Hortensius who used to irrigate his plane trees with wine,’ and so diligently too that, in the course of a case in which he was engaged in court with Cicero, he earnestly begged the latter to agree to exchange the order of speaking, on the ground that he wished to leave for his country house at Tusculum on a matter of urgent importance—namely, personally to treat with wine a plane tree which he had planted there. [4] But, perhaps, to take Hortensius as a typical representative of his generation is not enough to establish my point, since the man

was in other respects, on his own showing, a fop who regarded the orderly arrangement of his clothing as the one test of elegance. For‘ he was neat and careful in his dress and before going out he 1 Caecina is replying to some remark, now lost, by Horus on the luxury of the time. See section 16, below, and (for Horus’ asceticism) 7. 13. 17. 2 Varro De re rustica 3. 6. 3 Cf. Ovid Remedia Amoris 141: platanus vino gaudet. See also Pliny Historia naturalis 12. 4. 8: docuimusque etiam arbores (sc. platanos) vina potare. 4 Cf. Aulus Gellius 1. 5. See also John of Salisbury 8. 12 (760c-d).

228 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA used to study his appearance in a looking glass to ensure that his toga sat well.® He would put it on before the glass in such a way that the folds, instead of falling casually into place, were deliberate-

ly and artistically gathered into a knot, and the upper part of the garment was so arranged as to mold itself, as it fell, to the shape of his body. [5] One day, when he was making his stately progress, carefully dressed for all to see, a colleague accidentally brushed

against him in a narrow place and damaged the set of his toga. Whereupon he brought an action for insulting behavior, since the disarrangement of a single fold on his shoulder was to his mind a mortal affront. [6] So much then for Hortensius. I come now to the conquering heroes who overcame nations only to be overcome themselves by luxury. Of Gurges, who devoured his patrimony and so got his name, I shall say nothing, because the worthy and distinguished deeds of his later years atoned for his earlier faults. But I would refer to the depths of extravagance and pride to which Metellus Pius was brought by a series of successes; and, to be brief, here is

what Sallust actually has to say about him: [7] “A year later Metellus returned in triumph to Further Spain, men and women flocking from all sides and thronging all the streets and roofs to see him. The quaestor, Gaius Urbinus, and others, knowing his tastes, used to invite him to a banquet and lavish attentions on him which went beyond anything customary at Rome or indeed anywhere else in the world. ‘The house would be adorned with tapestries and with decorations of honor; a stage would be prepared for a display by actors; [8] and the floor too would be sprinkled with saffron and in other ways suggest a temple of great renown. Moreover, on his arrival he used to be greeted with incense, as if a god, and, as he took his place at table, an image of Victory, let down on a rope, would place a garland on his head to the accompaniment of noise contrived to resemble thunder. [9] Reclining at table he would usually wear the embroidered robe [of a general celebrating

a triumph]; and the food would be of the most exquisite kinds, brought from all parts of the province and from beyond the seas as well, including many kinds of birds and beasts from Mauretania 5 For the becoming arrangement of the toga, see Quintilian 11. 3. 137-44. For a reference to the preparation of the garment for use, see Tertullian De pallio 5. 1.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 13 229 hitherto unknown. In this way he lost no small part of the high reputation which he had won, especially among the older men and men of upright character, who regarded such behavior as arrogant, intolerable, and unworthy of the imperial dignity of Rome.” Such

was the rebuke pronounced by Sallust, that austere critic and censor of another’s extravagance. [10] You must understand that extravagant profusion was found among the highest dignitaries, for I would remind you of a pontif-

ical banquet of early times, of which the following account is given in the fourth Register of the famous Metellus, chief pontiff: [11] “On the ninth day before the Kalends of September, the day on which Lentulus was installed as flamen of Mars, the house was decorated and couches of ivory were arranged in the banqueting room. On two of the couches the pontiffs took their places; namely, Quintus Catulus, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Decimus Silanus, Gaius Caesar ... the Chief Priest (rex sacrorum), Publius Scaevola, Sextus ... Quintus Cornelius, Publius Volumnius, Publius Albinovanus, and Lucius Julius Caesar (the augur who performed the

ceremony of installation). On the third couch were the Vestal Virgins Popilia, Perpennia, Licinia, and Arruntia, Publicia (the wife of Lentulus the flamen), and Sempronia, his mother-in-law. [12 |

There were served,® for the preliminary service, sea urchins, unlimited raw oysters, scallops, cockles, thrushes on asparagus, fattened fowls, a dish of oysters and scallops, acorn fish (both black

and white), then another service of cockles, mussels, sea nettles, figpeckers, haunches of venison and boar, fattened fowls cooked in pastry, more figpeckers, murex, and purple fish. For the main dishes were served sow’s udders, boar’s head, stewed fish, stewed sow’s udders, ducks, boiled teal, hares, fattened fowls roasted, creamed wheat, and rolls of Picenum.” [13] With a pontiff’s table loaded with all those delicacies one would suppose that no charge of extravagance would thereafter any longer lie. But is it not enough to make one blush even to speak of

the kinds of food indulged in? For [Gaius] Tittus speaking in sup-

port of the Fannian Law reproached his contemporaries with serving at table a dish which they used to call the “Trojan pig,” because the pig was full of other creatures shut up inside it, just 6 John of Salisbury 8. 7 (735¢).

230 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA as the famous Trojan Horse was full of armed men.7 [14] Such unrestrained gluttony gave rise also to a demand for cramming hares and evidence of this practice is to be found in the third Book of Varro On Agriculture, where, speaking of hares, he says: “It has become the practice of late to cram them, the creatures being taken from the preserves, placed in hutches, and fattened by being kept in a confined space.”® [15] And if anyone feels surprise at what Varro has to say about the cramming of hares in those days, here is something which he would find more surprising still—the cram-

ming of snails. It is referred to by Varro in the same book, and, should one wish to read the actual words, I have shown him where to look for them.?®

[16] You must not suppose, my friends, that in all this I am saying

that we are better than the men of old, or even worthy to be compared with them. I have simply been replying to the criticism which Horus made, for I maintain, what is indeed a fact, that those

earlier generations took more thought for such pleasures than we do. 7 Cf. Athenaeus 4. 129). See also Petronius Satyricon 40 and 49. § Varro De re rustica 3.12; John of Salisbury 8. 7 (736a-b). ® Varro De re rustica 3. 14. Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 82. 173.

CHAPTER 14 [1] I am surprised, interposed Furius Albinus (whose knowledge of antiquity was not inferior to Caecina’s), I am surprised that you have not referred to the extent to which those earlier generations used to draw on the resources of the sea for their plentiful supplies of food, since by so doing you would show how very modest our banquets are.

I suggest, replied Caecina, that you proceed to give us the benefit of the results of your reading on this subject, since for things that relate to bygone days your memory is more than a match for anybody’s. [2] We ought indeed (began Furius), if we are wise, always to feel respect for those bygone days, because it is to them that the

generations belong of the men who won this empire for us by their blood and sweat—clear evidence this of a wealth of virtues. But it must be confessed that with all their abundant virtues those times had their faults as well, some of which have been corrected by the sober habits of our age. [3] I had intended to speak of the

extravagance of that time in connection with the bounty of the sea, but, since a number of points suggest themselves for considera-

tion in turn, to support my claim that our manners show an improvement on the manners of our predecessors, I propose to defer a discussion of fish—although I shall return to it—while [ remind you of another form of self-indulgence from which we are free today.

[4] You compare us unfavorably with the men of old, Horus, but, tell me, at whose dinner party do you remember having seen of late a Woman or a man dancing? And yet among our predecessors

even persons of distinction vied with one another in their enthu-

232 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA siasm for the dance.t For in the period between the [Second and Third] Punic wars (to go back to a time when moral standards were of the highest) you will find that youths of good family, and indeed sons of senators, used to attend the dancing school and there learn to dance with castanets. [5] There is the further fact, though

I do not press it, that even Roman matrons saw nothing unbecoming in dancing, but the most respectable of them went in for it, provided only that it was not taken so seriously as to make professional excellence the aim. You will remember, of course, what Sallust says of Sempronia, that “she played the lute and danced more gracefully than a respectable woman need”?—words in which he censures the lady not because she knew how to dance

but because she was such a very good dancer. [6] However, we certainly know that the sons and—though I am shocked to say so— the unmarried daughters, too, of noble families regarded the prac-

tice of dancing as one of their necessary accomplishments, our evidence being the speech of Scipio Africanus Aemilianus against the judiciary law of ‘Tiberius Gracchus. And this is what he says: [7] “They are taught disreputable tricks. In the company of effeminate fellows, and carrying zither and lute, they go to a school for

actors, and there they learn to sing songs which our ancestors regarded as disgraceful in young people of good family. Girls and boys of good family go, I say, to a dancing school and mix with such effeminate persons. When someone told me this I could not

bring myself to believe that men of noble birth taught their children such lessons. But when I was taken to the dancing school, I saw, upon my word, more than fifty boys and girls in that school and among them—and this more than anything else made me grieve for the State—a boy still wearing the amulet of a freeborn child,

the son of a candidate for public office, a boy less? than twelve years old, dancing with castanets a dance which it would have been improper for a shameless little slave to dance.’’4

[8] You see how Africanus lamented the fact that he had seen the son of a candidate for office dancing with castanets—the son of a man whom hopes and plans to win office could not deter, 1 But cf. Cicero Pro Murena 6. 13: “Hardly anyone dances unless he is drunk,

or perhaps not quite right in the head.” 2 Catilinae coniuratio 25. 2. Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 12 (758). ’ Omitting zon, as suggested by Nettleship (Lectures and Essays, p. 99 note). 4 John of Salisbury 8. 12 (758c¢-759a).

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 14 233 even at the time when it was his duty to protect himself and his family from any breath of scandal, from doing a thing which, clearly, was not regarded as disgraceful. And, besides, there are earlier complaints that most of the nobility indulged in this shameful conduct. [9] Thus it is certainly true that Marcus Cato calls a

not undistinguished senator, Caelius® by name, a loafer and a lampoonist, and goes on to charge him, in these words, with performing a step dance: “Getting off his gelding, the fellow performs a step dance and pours out a flood of cheap patter.” And elsewhere he says of the same man: “What is more, he sings when so disposed, sometimes recites Greek verses, cracks jokes, varying the tone of his voice and performing a step dance’’* [10] There you have Cato’s own words, and, as you see, he regards even singing as something

incompatible with dignity in a man. And yet others were so far

from reckoning it an act to be ashamed of that the renowned Lucius Sulla is said to have been a very accomplished singer.’ [11] As for actors, we have the evidence of Cicero to show that they were not looked upon as being among the disreputable classes

of society, since it is common knowledge that he was on such friendly terms with the actors Roscius and Aesopus that his professional skill was available to defend their interest and affairs, as is clear both from his letters and from many other sources. [12 | For everyone will have read the speech in which Cicero rebukes the Roman populace for making a disturbance when Roscius was on the stage. And indeed it is generally well known that he used

to match himself against Roscius to see which of the two could express the same idea in the greater number of ways, the one using a variety of gestures,® the other the variety of phrases which his ready flow of words would supply—a practice which gave Roscius such a high opinion of his skill that he wrote a book to compare the art of the public speaker with the art of the actor. [13] This is the Roscius who was also a great friend of Lucius Sulla and was presented by the dictator with the gold ring of knighthood. More-

over, such was his popularity and fame that he received a daily 5 MSS: Caecilius. 6 John of Salisbury 8. 12. (758c). 7 John of Salisbury 8. 12 (7580). 8 Cf. Manilius 5. 480 (of a pantomime): solusque per omnes |ibit personas et turbam reddet in uno.

234 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA salary of a thousand denarii® from the public funds, for himself alone apart from payments made to his company of players. [14] And as for Aesopus, we know that he bequeathed twenty million sesterces to his son from the proceeds of an equal professional skall.1

But why speak of actors, when Appius Claudius, who received the honor of a triumph and was until his old age one of the Salli,

regarded as a ground for boasting the fact that he used to be a better dancer than any of his colleagues in the priesthood? [15] However, before leaving the subject of dancing I would add that three noble citizens of Rome, all contemporaries, not only went in for dancing, but—if you please!—acquired such skill as to

brag of it. I refer to Gabinius, a man of consular rank and an enemy of Cicero, who openly reproached him with it; Marcus Caelius, whom Cicero defended, a man well known for his relations with the city mob; and Licinius Crassus, a son of the Crassus who was killed in Parthia. ® Mommsen, History of Rome, Book V, Chap. 12. See also Pliny Historia naturalis 7. 39. 128. 10 John of Salisbury 8. 12 (759b-c).

CHAPTER 15} [1] The reference to the Licinii prompts me to pass from a discussion of dancing in the days of old to consideration of the extravagant use then made of the spoils of the sea, since it is generally held

that the family received the surname “Murena” from their inordinate love of lampreys—[2] a belief which Marcus Varro shares,

who says that the Licinu were given the name Murena just as Sergius was surnamed Orata on account of his passion for the fish called aurata.?

[3] This is the Sergius Orata who was the first to go in for the shower bath,’ the first to make oyster beds in the neighborhood of Baiae, and the first to adjudge the Lucrine oyster to have the best flavor. He was a contemporary of that eloquent speaker Lucius Crassus, of whose reputation as a man of authority and no trifler Cicero himself tells us. [4] And yet that same Crassus, although of

censorial rank (for he held the office of censor together with Gnaeus Domitius) and although he was regarded as preeminently eloquent and a leading figure among the most distinguished citizens,

nevertheless put on mourning when a lamprey died in a fishpond at his house,* and grieved for it as though for a daughter. [5] The matter was no secret, for when his colleague Domitius reproached him with it in the Senate, as a disgraceful blot on his character, Crassus was not ashamed to admit what he had done and actually— 1 See Isidore of Seville 12. 6 (de piscibus). 2 There was a popular tendency to pronounce “au” as “6”: e.g., Claudius and Clodius; plaustrum and plostrum. Suetonius relates that Vespasian was told by

an ex-consul named Florus to say plaustra instead of plostra and that he retorted by saluting the latter as “Flaurus” (Vespasian 22). 3 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 79. 168. 4 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis g. 81. 172.

236 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA if you please!—censor though he was, gloried in it and avowed it to be an act of dutiful affection. [6] Marcus Varro, in his treatise on Agriculture,® relates that Marcus Cato (the man who later perished at Utica) sold for forty thousand sesterces the fish from a pond which he had inherited under the will of Lucullus—an incident which shows how full of valuable fish were the fishponds kept by those leading nobles of Rome, Lucullus, Philippus, and Hortensius, the men whom Cicero calls “‘the fish fanciers.” 6

[7] Lampreys used to be brought to the fishponds at Rome from the Sicilian narrows, between Rhegium and Messana, for according

to our spendthrift gluttons that is where the best are found, and indeed the best eels too. Both the lampreys and the eels that come from those parts are called “floaters” (nAwtai in Greek and flutae in Latin) because they swim upon the surface of the sea, where they are scorched by the sun and being thus unable any longer to turn to dive are easily caught. [8] You would find it boring where I to try to give a list of the many weighty authorities who have made famous the lampreys of the Sicilian narrows, and so I shall content myself with a reference to what Varro has said in the book

entitled Gallus, or, The Wonders of Nature: “In Sicily, too, floating lampreys are taken by hand, for they are so fat that they float upon the surface of the water.” [9] But it is impossible to deny that the gluttony of those men of old was unrestrained or, as Caecilius puts is, “firmly entrenched,”’?

since they went to such distant seas for the means to satisfy their extravagant tastes. [10] However, the lamprey, though brought from foreign parts, was not a rare fish at Rome, and my authority

for this statement is Pliny, who says that Gaius Caesar, the dictator, when he feasted the people to mark his triumphs, had six thousand pounds weight of lampreys from Gavius Hirrius. This is

the Hirrius whose country estate, although it was neither commodious nor extensive, was sold (as is well known) for four million sesterces, thanks to its fishponds.® 5 Varro De re rustica 3. 2. 17. Cato, however, was not the heir; he was the guardian of the testator’s son. See also Columella 8. 16. 5. 6 Cicero Epistulae ad Atticunt 1. 19. 6; 1. 20. 3. 7 Ribbeck, II, 92. 8 Pliny Hystoria naturalis 9. 81. 171; cf. Varro De re rustica 3. 17. 3.

CHAPTER 16 [1] The sturgeon too, a fish bred by the sea for gluttons, did not escape the demands of the luxury of that age; and to make it clear that its name was famous at the time of the Second Punic War, let me remind you of what Plautus has said about it, by the mouth of the parasite in the play Baccaria:

[2] Was ever mortal so amazingly lucky as I am now, for whose belly this dish is borne in with ceremony? Yes! here comes the sturgeon which, up to now, has been hiding in the sea—for me. And with the help of my hands and teeth I’ll hide its side in my inside.

[3] But we may perhaps underestimate the value of a poet’s evidence, and so let Cicero be our authority and let him tell us in what high honor this fish was held in the days of Publius Scipio, the hero of Africa and Numantia. For in [a fragment of] his dialogue On Fate Cicero writes as follows: [4] “When Scipio, accompanied by Pontius, was at his house at Lavernium, it so happened that a sturgeon was brought to him, a fish which is held (they say)

in the highest regard but is not often caught. Scipio thereupon invited one or two of his callers to dine and seemed to be about to invite more; but Pontius whispered in his ear: ‘Be careful what you are about, Scipio; this sturgeon of yours is a fish for only a few.’” [5] I am well aware that the sturgeon was not highly prized in Trajan’s time, and my authority is the elder Pliny, who says of this fish, in his Natural History: “It is now held in no esteem, and for

my part I find this surprising, for it is a fish that is very rarely found.”! [6] But this sparing use did not last long, for in the time of the Emperor Severus, who used to make a show of austerity, 1 Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 27. 60; John of Salisbury 8. 7 (733c-d).

238 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Sammonicus Serenus, a learned man of those days, writing to his emperor and referring to the fish began by quoting the words of Pliny which I have just mentioned and then went.on to say himself: [7] “Pliny, as you know, lived to the time of Trajan,? and no

doubt he is speaking the truth when he says that in his day the sturgeon was held in no esteem. But I have evidence to show that

it was valued highly among the men of old, and I mention this particularly because I now see it coming into favor at banquets and,

as it were, recovering its former rights. For when I am deemed worthy by you to be present at your sacred board, I observe that the fish is brought to table by servants crowned with garlands and to the accompaniment of the flute. What Pliny has to say about

the sturgeon’s scales is confirmed by Nigidius Figulus, a man famous for his research into natural history, who in the fourth Book of his treatise On Animals posed the question: “Why is it that in all other fish the scales face the tail, but in the sturgeon they face the other way’ ” [8] So says Sammonicus and, in praising

his emperor’s banquet, calls attention to a shameful feature of it, by revealing the respect in which the fish used to be held—being brought in by servants crowned with garlands and to the music of the flute, a ceremonial entry which suggested the worship of a god rather than the appearance of a tasty dish at table. [9] But we shall feel less surprise at the high price customarily placed on a sturgeon if we remember (what Sammonicus also

relates) that Asinius Celer,? a man of consular rank, bought a single mullet for seven thousand sesterces. And in this connection we shall form a better estimate of the extravagance of that age, if we call to mind the elder Pliny’s statement that it was difficult in his day to find a mullet that weighed more than two pounds,‘ al-

though today we see the mullet commonly weighing more than that, and yet we do not come across those ridiculous prices.

[ro] The gluttony of those days was not even content with supplies drawn from its own seas, for Optatus,> commander of the Fleet, knowing that the wrasse is such a stranger® to Italian waters 2 Sammonicus confuses Pliny the elder (died a.p. 79) with his nephew, the younger Pliny. 3 Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 31. 67. 4 Ibid. 9. 30. 64. 5 [bid. 9. 29. 62.

6 Cf. Quintilian 5. 10. 21.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 16 239 that we have not even a name for it in Latin, brought over an enormous number of them in ships fitted with tanks and deposited

them here and there in the sea between Ostia and the coast of Campania—an astonishing and unprecedented example of fish being,

as It were, sown in the sea as grain is sown in the earth. And then, as though the highest public interests were involved, this same man

was careful to see to it that for five years anybody who had happened to catch a wrasse along with other fish should at once put it back into the sea safe and sound. [11] But why feel surprise that the gluttony of that age should be, so to speak, the prisoner and slave of the sea, when even a pike

from the Tiber, or for that matter any fish from the Tiber, has been held in great—and indeed the greatest—esteem by gluttons? [12] Why these persons should have thought so, I do not know,

but even Marcus Varro shows that they did; for in a list of the best foodstuffs produced in Italy, and of the districts from which they come, he awards a prize to fish from the Tiber. And here are his actuals words, taken from the eleventh Book of his Antiquities of Man:7 “As regards foodstuffs, Campania produces the best corn, the Falernian district the best wine, the districts of Casinum the best oil, of Tusculum the best figs, of Tarentum the best honey, and the river Tiber the best fish.” [13] In this passage Varro 1s certainly speaking of all fish caught in the Tiber, but of these fish, as I have already said, the pike held the first place, and in particular

pike caught between the two bridges? [14] Among our many authorities for this is Gaius Titius, a contemporary of Lucilius, in his speech in support of the Fannian Law. I quote his words not only as evidence to support what I have said about pike caught between the two bridges but also because they will serve to throw

light on the general standard of behavior at that time; for, describing how men of prodigal habits would go to the Forum full of drink, to act as judges, and the customary tone of their conversation on the way, he says: [15] “They are devoted to gambling and spend their time at it drenched in scent and surrounded by a crowd

of harlots. At the tenth hour they summon a slave to go to the 7 John of Salisbury 8. 7 (7334).

8 Probably the two bridges between which the cloaca maxima discharged into the Tiber; see section 17, below. For a different estimate of the merits of this fish see Juvenal 5. 104-6.

240 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Place of Assembly and inquire what business has been transacted in

the Forum: who have spoken for and who against a bill, and how many tribes have supported and how many have opposed it. After

that they make their way to the Place of Assembly, in time to escape a charge of absence from duty, and being gorged with wine they fill all the urinals in the alleys as they go. [16] On arrival at the Place of Assembly they gloomily bid proceedings begin. ‘The parties state their case, the judge calls the witnesses and retires himself to make water. When he comes back, he says that he has heard

everything, calls for the documentary evidence, and glances at what is written, although he can hardly keep his eyes open for the

wine he has drunk. They retire to consider a verdict, and then they say to one another: ‘Why should I be bothered with these silly people? Why are we not better employed in drinking mead mixed with Greek wine and eating a fat thrush and a fine fish—a genuine pike caught between the two bridges?’” ‘There you have the actual words of TJitius.®

[17] Lucilius too, a pungent and forceful poet, shows that he

knows this fish to have a remarkably good flavor, if caught between the two bridges, and he calls it the “scavenger” fish (catillo), as a licker-up of leavings, because it would haunt the river banks in search of excrement. Properly, however, this name “scavenger” used to be given to the persons who, since they found themselves the last to come to a feast in honor of Hercules, would lick the plates (catili). [18] The lines of Lucilius run as follows:

Moreover to give orders that what each man fancied be brought to table. One would be attracted by sow’s udders and a dish of fattened fowls; another by a scavenger fish from the Tiber, caught between the two bridges. ® John of Salisbury 8. 7 (733c). See Mommsen, History of Rome, Book IV, Chap. 11. 10 ‘Warmington, III, 188.

CHAPTER 17 [1] To seek to make a list of the many means ingeniously devised

or studiously prepared to satisfy the gluttony of the men of those earlier days would be tedious, but such practices certainly account

for the numerous laws brought before the people to regulate dinners and their cost.1 And by way of a beginning it was ordered

that luncheons and dinners be eaten with open doors, to the end that observation by one’s fellow citizens might, as evidence, set bounds to extravagance.?

[2] The very first of these sumptuary laws to come before the © people was the Orchian Law, proposed by Gaius Orchius,’ a tribune

of the plebs, pursuant to a motion in the Senate, in the third year after the appointment of Cato as censor. And, since the text of the law is long, I am not citing it in full; but its main provisions prescribed the permissible number of guests at a meal. [3] This is the law which was later the subject of speeches by Cato, in which he complained loudly that more guests were being invited to dinners than it allowed. A growing need for reform called for the authority of a new law, and twenty-two years after the Orchian Law the Fannian Law was enacted—a.v.c. 592, according to Gellius.*

[4] Of this law Sammonicus Serenus (I quote his words) says: “All classes, your Sacred Majesties, showed a remarkable unanimity

when the Fannian Law was brought before the people. It was introduced not, as most other laws, by a praetor or tribune but by the consuls themselves on the recommendation and advice of all 1 Aulus Gellius 2. 24. 2 John of Salisbury 8. 7 (731d). 3 In 181 B.c. See also John of Salisbury 8. 7 (7314). 4 Gnaeus Gellius. See note to 1. 8. 1, above.

242 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA good citizens, since extravagant dining was doing unbelievable harm

to the State, and things had come to such a pass that the pleasures of the table were enough to induce many youths of good family to barter for them their virtue and their freedom, and many of the

common people of Rome used to go to the Place of Assembly overcome with wine and deliberate on matters which concerned the public safety in a state of drunkenness.” [5] The Fannian Law was more severe than the Orchian in that the earlier law limited only the numbers dining and so allowed an individual to squander his own property in the company of a few friends, whereas the Fannian Law went further and limited the permissible expenditure to one hundred asses, so that the poet Lucilius, with his usual wit, speaks of “Fannius and his miserable little hundred.’ [6] Eighteen years later the Fannian Law was followed by the

Didian Law, which had a twofold object. Its first and most important aim was to enact a sumptuary law which would be binding on the whole of Italy and not on Rome alone, for the Italians were

holding that the Fannian Law did not apply to them but only to citizens resident in Rome. The second aim was to make liable to the penalties of the law not only those who had exceeded the expenditure allowed for a luncheon or a dinner but those persons too who had been invited to the repast and had taken part in it. [7] After the Didian Law Publius Licinius Crassus Dives introduced the Licinian Law.® The aristocratic party supported its proposal and approval with such enthusiasm that the Senate decreed that, after promulgation only and without awaiting confirmation after three market days, it should be universally observed as if it had already received the assent of the people. [8] This law for the most part, with but few changes, contained the same provisions as

the Fannian Law, its purpose being to obtain the authority of a fresh law, since respect for the older law was beginning to lapse—

which in fact is what happened even to the Twelve Tables, for, when their antiquity began to lead men to disregard them, their provisions were transferred to other laws which bore the proposers’ names.

[9] Io summarize the Licinian Law, it enacted that Romans 5 Fanni centussis misellus. Warmington, III, 404. (Pliny Historia naturalis 10. 71. 139; Athenaeus 6. 274¢.) 6 In 103 B.c.2 See Warmington, III, 188.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 17 243 might consume only thirty asses’ worth of food a head on the Kalends, Nones, and market days and that on other days, not thus

excepted, no more should be provided and served than three pounds’ weight of dried meat and one pound of salt fish, together with any produce of the earth, vine, or orchard.” [10] I see the possible objection: Are we to suppose, then, that to restrict expenditure on meals by such legal enactments argues the sobriety of the age? It certainly does not, for the sumptuary laws were proposed by individuals with a view to correcting the faults of the State as a whole, and assuredly there would have been no need to propose the laws had not the citizens been leading bad and extravagant lives. To quote an old adage: “Bad habits breed good laws.” [11] The above-named laws were followed by the Cornelian Law, itself too a sumptuary law, which was proposed by Cornelius Sulla, as dictator.® It placed no check on rich banquets and set no limit to extravagant eating and drinking, but it lowered the prices of the foodstuffs. And good heavens! what foods they were, the choice and all but unheard of dainties, the fish and the titbits named in that law! And yet all that the law did was to make them cheaper.

I should go so far as to say that its effect was simply this: by cheapening the price of these foods it encouraged the preparation of a lavish abundance of dishes and enabled even the less well-off to become the slaves of their appetite. [12] For, to be frank, that man is, to my mind, extravagant and prodigal beyond all others, at whose table such dishes are served, even if they cost him nothing.

And it is clear that this age of ours is all the more disposed to practice complete self-restraint in this matter, since most of the delicacies included in the Sullan law as being generally well-known,

are known to none of us even by name. [13] After Sulla’s death Lepidus too, as consul, himself proposed

a law to ration food,? and indeed Cato refers to sumptuary laws as “rationing” laws. Then, a few years later, another law came before the people on the motion of Antius Restio, which—excellent 7 For an amusing reference by Cicero to the unhappy consequences of eating, at an augural banquet, certain vegetarian dishes which had been prepared to avoid contravening a sumptuary law then (57 B.c.) in force, see Epistulae ad Famiuliares 7. 26. 8 In 81 B.c. See Aulus Gellius 2. 24. 11.

® Probably the Aemilian Law of 78 B.c.

244 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA as its provisions were and although it was never repealed—was nul-

lified by a stubborn extravagance and the strength of the general addiction to such vices. Nevertheless it is worth while to remember that Restio, who introduced the law, is said never again to have dined out as long as he lived, for fear of witnessing contempt for a law which he had himself proposed for the public good. [14] I should include among these laws the sumptuary edict proposed by Antony, later one of the T'riumvirs, did I not consider it unfitting to count him among those who sought to check such expenditure, since what Antony habitually spent on dining was surpassed only by the value of the pearl which his wife Cleopatra swallowed. [15] To his mind all the produce of sea, land, and even air existed but to appease his gluttony—all was subservient to his gullet and teeth—and it was as the slave of this gluttony that he wished to make an Egyptian kingdom of the empire of Rome.

However, his wife Cleopatra disdained to be worsted even in extravagance by the Romans, and she wagered him that she could dispose of ten million sesterces at a single meal. [16] It seemed incredible to Antony that she could do this, and he had no hesitation in accepting the wager; he was worthy too of the stakeholder, Munatius Plancus, who was chosen to act as umpire in this honorable contest. On the morrow Cleopatra, to whet Antony’s curiosity, provided a repast that was certainly magnificent but not such as to surprise him, for he would see that all the dishes came from the

supplies served every day. [17] Then the queen with a smile called for a drinking glass, poured in some vinegar, and hurriedly dropped into it a large pearl which she had taken from one of her ears. [he pearl, as that jewel naturally will, quickly dissolved; she swallowed the draught, and so won the wager; for the pearl itself was beyond question worth ten million sesterces. Nevertheless she put up her hand and would have dealt in the same way with the pearl in her other ear, had not Munatius Plancus, as a truly strict arbiter, declared in time that Antony was the loser. [18] We can judge how large that pearl was from the fact that the single one which was left was later brought to Rome, after the defeat of the queen and the capture of Egypt, and was cut to make from it two pearls which for their exceptional size were placed on the statue of Venus in the temple called the Pantheon. 10 Pliny Historia naturalis 9. 58. 119, John of Salisbury 8 7 (732¢-d).

CHAPTER 18} [1] While Furius was still speaking the dessert for the second course was brought in, and this introduced a new topic of conversa-

tion; for Symmachus, handling some nuts, said: I should like to hear from you, Servius, the reasons for, or the origin of, the many different names given to nuts; or—to take apples (7ala)—why it is that although so many fruits are called by this single term “apple,” they nevertheless differ widely in their several names and flavors. But begin, please, with the nuts and tell us what it occurs to you to say about them, from a recollection of your wide reading.

[2] That walnut in your hand, replied Servius, is thought by some to take its name, jwglans, from juvare [to please], and glans

[an acorn]. But Gavius Bassus in his book Oz the Meaning of Words says: [3] “The walnut tree is called juglans because the words stands for Jovis glans; for, since that kind of tree bears a nut sweeter in taste than the acorn, the men of old (regarding its fruit

as excellent and in appearance like an acorn, and the tree itself worthy of the god) called the nut ‘Jove’s acorn,’ and this name (Jovis glans) has now, by contraction, become juglans.” {| 4] Cloatius

Verus, however, in his book On Borrowings from the Greeks says that the letter “D” has been lost, and that juglans is equivalent to Diuglans, that is to say, Aids BéAavoc, acorn of Zeus, just as Theophrastus says: “Peculiar to mountainous country, and not growing on the plains, are the terebinth, the ilex, the phillyrea, the privet, and the walnut, which is also known as the ‘acorn of Zeus.’” The Greeks also call this nut “the royal nut.” [5] Here, continued Servius, we have the nut called “the nut of 1 In connection with chapters 18 to 20 reference may be made to Columella, to Pliny Historia naturalis 12-16, to Athenaeus 2 and 3, and to Isidore of Seville 17 and 20.

246 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Abella” or “the nut of Praeneste’”—the name makes no difference—

and it comes from the tree known as corylus [the hazel], the tree

to which Vergil refers when he says: “[Nor] plant the hazel.’ Near the district of Praeneste is a tribe called the Carsitani, a name

derived from the Greek word meaning nuts (this fact is mentioned by Varro in his inquiry into words [Logistoricus] entitled Marius: On Fortune, and clearly we have here the reason why these nuts are known as “nuts of Praeneste.” [6] There is also the following reference to this nut in the play by Naevius, called The Soothsayer:' ‘Who was at your house yesterday?” “Some friends from Praeneste and Lanuvium.”’ “Both parties would have been properly entertained with their own particular fare; it would have been easy to give the latter

a farrowed sow’s paunch to eat and the former a helping of nuts.”

The Greeks, however, call this nut the Pontic nut, the fact being that in each country the nut takes its name from the locality in which it grows most abundantly. [7] The chestnut, to which Vergil refers when he says: “[I will gather] chestnuts too.”’4 is known as the nut of Heraclea. And the learned Oppius in his book On Woodland Trees says: “Vhis nut of Heraclea (called by some the chestnut) and the Pontic nut, and also

the so-called royal walnuts, bud and blossom alike at the same times as the Greek nuts.”

[8] We must now say what we mean by the Greek nut (and with these words Servius took an almond from a dish and held it up for all to see). This is the Greek nut, and it is also called the almond; it is known as the nut of Thasos as well. My authority is Cloatius, for in the fourth Book of his Word Lists he says: “The Greek nut is the almond”; and Atta writes, in his Supplicatio: “Add the Greek nut and honeycomb, to taste.” [9] The winter season grudges us the soft-shelled nut, but, since we are talking of nuts, we must not omit to mention it. Plautus, in [the fragment of] his Calceolus, refers to it as follows: 2 Georgics 2. 299. 3 Warmington, II, 80. 4 Eclogues 2. 52.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 18 247 He said that a soft-shelled nut tree overhangs the man’s roof tiles.

[10] He uses, you see, the name “soft-shelled” for the nut, but he does not describe it. It is, however, what is commonly called Persicum,> and it is said to be the “soft-shelled” nut, of course, because it is softer than all other nuts. [11] On this point Sueius, a man of outstanding learning, is a fit authority, for in his idyl, The Compote (Moretum), writing of a gardener who is preparing such a dish, he represents him as including this fruit (pommum) among the ingredients: ¢®

[12] He mixes in berries of the nut,? now here some royal fruits and some Persian—these in fact so named (it is said) because the men who once, with the mighty king Alexander the Great, brought fierce battles in war against the Persians, on

their returning thence afterward planted this kind of tree in

the dear land of Greece, giving new fruits to mortal men. And , that no one chance to err through ignorance, be it known that this is the soft-shelled nut. [13] There is a nut called the “terentine” nut, and it is so soft that it can hardly be handled without breaking. You will find a reference to it in a book by Favorinus, who writes: “So too some speak of Tarentine sheep or nuts, but the correct form is ‘terentine,’ from the word terenus, which in the Sabine tongue means ‘soft’ (the word from which, according to Varro in the first Book

of his To Libo, the family of the Terentn derive their name).” Horace too may be thought to fall into the same fault in speaking

of “soft Tarentum.”&

[14] As for the pine nut, it has given us these kernels, placed before us; and, as Plautus says in the Cistellaria [recte Curculio|: “Ffe that would eat the kernel must first break the shell.’’® 5 Sc. pomum? Macrobius perhaps confuses the mux mollusca, which appears to have been a kind of almond (Pliny Historia naturalis 15. 24. 91), with the Persicum malum, the peach. But cf. 19. 1, below. (In Athenaeus too there is some confusion between the accounts given of the “Persian nut” and the “Persian apple.”) 6 Fragment 1 (Morel).

7 Reading admiscet bacas nucis: haec nunc regia partim, / partim Perstca (Merry). 8 Horace Satires 2. 4. 34. 9 Curculio 55. Macrobius reads nucleos: the received text has nuculeum.

CHAPTER 19 [1] Since (Servius added) we see apples (7zala) among the dessert,

we must discuss their various kinds as a sequel to what we have said about nuts. Some writers on agriculture distinguish between nuts and apples as follows: they call a “nut” any fruit (pomzu77) in which an edible core has a hard covering outside, and an “apple” any fruit in which a hard core is surrounded by an edible outside. If we accept this definition, then the “Persian” fruit which the poet Sueius, whom we recently referred to, reckons among the nuts will have instead to be reckoned among the apples. [2] With this much by way of preface we must now proceed to enumerate the kinds of apple so carefully listed by Cloatius in the fourth Book of his Word Lists, where he says: “The kinds of apple are: the apple of Ameria, the quince apple, the citron, the cuckoo apple, the preserving apple, the medlar, the must apple, the Matian apple, the globe apple, the Ogratian apple, the early-ripening apple,

the ragged apple, the Punic apple, the Persian apple, the Quirian apple, the prosivum, the red apple, the Scaudian apple, the wild apple, the sparrow apple, the Scantian apple, the tuber apple,? and the Verian apple.” [3] You see that Cloatius includes the “Persian apple” in his list of apples, and this fruit has kept the name of its country of origin

although it has for long grown on our soil. The citron fruit of which Cloatius also speaks is a “Persian apple” too, according to Vergil who refers to it in the passage containing the lines: 1 The coccymelum is in fact a damson plum, cf. Athenaeus 2. 49d; Isidore of Seville 17. 7. 10.

2 Reading tuber (cf. Columella rz. 2. 11 and Pliny Historia naturalis 15. 14.

ct Pliny Historia naturalis 23. 56. 105.

BOOK, 3, CHAPTER 19 249 | Media yields the tart juices and lingering taste] of that blessed apple than which no more sovereign remedy exists ... [to come for aid and to drive black poisons from the limbs] [Georgics 2. 126]

[4] and that you may all be quite sure that it is of the fruit of the citron tree that Vergil spoke, mark what Oppius says in his book On Woodland Trees: “Likewise the citron apple tree and the Persian apple tree, the one grows in Italy and the other in Media.” And shortly after, speaking of the citron fruit, he says: “It has, moreover, a very strong scent, so that placed among clothing it destroys moths. It is also said to be an antidote to poisons, and crushed in wine it saves the lives of those who drink the draught by its powerful action as a purge. Citron apples grow in Persia at every season of the year, for some are picked early and others are ripening in the mean time.” [5] Here you have the citron mentioned by name, and a reference to all the qualities which Vergil, although without specific mention of the name, has ascribed to it. And indeed Homer too, who calls the citron tree @dov, makes it clear that it is a fruit tree (pomum) with a strong scent when he says:

And afar was wafted the sweet fragrance of citron wood. [Odyssey 5. 60]

Homer also indicates the practice referred too by Oppius, of placing citron among clothing, in the line: Having clothed him with fragrant, shining garments [Odyssey 5. 264]

and that is how Naevius comes to speak of “citron-scented clothing” in his poem on the Punic War.4 [6] Now for the pears which we see before us. A large number of different kinds are distinguished by name, for Cloatius, whom I have already mentioned, describes their names thus: “the Anician

pear, the gourd-shaped pear, the stringy pear, the cervisca, the pebbly pear, the Crustuminian pear, the Decimian pear, the little Greek pear, the Lollian pear, the pear of Lanuvium, the laurel pear, the Laterian pear, the myrrh pear, the Milesian pear, the myrtle pear, the Naevian pear, the globe pear, the Praecian pear, the red pear, the Signine pear, the Tullian pear, the Titian pear, 4 Warmington, II, 50.

250 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the thyme pear,® the Turranian pear, the early-ripening pear, the warden pear, the late medlar pear, the late seedtime pear, the late Sextilian pear, the late Tarentine pear, and the late Valerian pear.” 5 Reading thymosum.

CHAPTER 20 [1] The dried figs too (continued Servius) suggest that we should make a list of the varieties of fig; and here, as for the other fruits,

we again go to Cloatius for the information. He enumerates the different kinds, with his customary care, as follows: “the African fig, the white fig, the reed fig, the donkey fig, the black fig, the marsh fig, the Augustan fig, the fig that yields two crops, the Carian fig, the white and black Chalcidic fig, the white and black Chian fig, the white and black Calpurnian fig, the gourd-shaped fig, the hard-skinned fig, the fig of Herculaneum, the Livian fig, the Lydian fig, the small Lydian fig, the Marsic fig, the dark Numidian fig, the Pompeian fig, the early-ripening fig, and the black ‘Tellanian fig.”

[2] You are to understand that the white fig tree is one of the trees of good omen, but that, on the other hand, the black fig tree is a tree of ill omen; and the authority for each of these statements is the teaching of the pontiffs. For Veranius in his treatise On the Formulas of the Pontiffs says: “Vhe oak, the winter oak, the holm oak, the cork oak, the beech, the hazel, the service tree, the white fig, the pear, the apple, the vine, the plum, the cherry and the lotus tree are held to be trees of good omen.” [3] And ‘Tarquitius Priscus in his Onzens from Trees says: “Trees which are under the protection of the gods below and of the Averting Deities are called trees

of ill omen: they are the buckthorn, the red cornel, the fern, the black fig, and all that bear a black berry and black fruit, the whitebeam too, the wild pear, the holly, and the thorn and briar; and it

is proper that order be given to burn with these anything monstrous and of ill omen.”’! 1 For a reference to trees of ill omen, see Pliny Historia naturalis 16. 45. 108. Cf. also Catullus 36. 8.

252 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [4] Further, we have found the fig regarded by good authorities as not a fruit (pommum) but as something distinct from a fruit. ‘Thus Afranius in The Chair has the line:

Fruit (pomum), vegetable, fig, grape. [Ribbeck, IH, 241] Cicero too in the third Book of his work On Domestic Economy writes: “He neither plants a vine nor takes the trouble to tend a vine that has been planted; he has no olives, figs, or fruits (po7a).” [5] You must know too that of all trees the fig is the only one that does not blossom. Again, “milk” is the term properly used for the juice of figs. Figs which do not ripen are called grossi (the Greeks call them 6Avv@ot) and there is a line by [Gnaeus] Mattius which runs: In all those thousands of figs you will not find an unripe one

(grossum) [Baehrens, p. 282]

and shortly afterward he says:

You must go to another for unripe figs oozing juice (lacte

diffluos grossos). [Baehrens, p. 282]

Postumius Albinus also in the first Book of his Annals says of Brutus: “For that reason he used to make himself out to be a brutish fool and would eat little unripe figs (grossulos) with honey.”

[6] Here is a list of the different kinds of olives: ‘the African olive, the wax-white? olive, the Aquilian olive, the olive of Alexandria, the Egyptian olive, the Culminian olive, the preserving olive, the Licinian olive, the oval olive, the wild olive, the pausian olive, the paulian olive, the shuttle-shaped olive, the Sallentine olive, the Sergian olive, and the Termutian olive.”

[7] And so too there are these different kinds of grapes: the “Aminean grape” (which takes its name, of course, from the region

in which it grows, for the Aminei once lived in what is now the district of Falernum), “the donkey grape, the atrusca, the waxwhite,? the abena, the bee grape, the Apician grape, the cow’s udder grape (which the Greeks call Botpac8oc), the hard-skinned grape, the wild grape, the black psythian grape, the Maronian grape, the Mareotic grape, the Numentan grape, the precian grape, the Pramnian grape, the psythian grape, the pilleolata, the Rhodian 2 Reading albicera; cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 15. 6. 20. § Reading albicera.

BOOK 3, CHAPTER 20 253 grape, the garland grape, the venucula, the variola, and the Lagean grape.”

[8] It was at this point that Praetextatus intervened and said: “I would gladly listen longer to our friend Servius, but it is time to retire to rest; and the hour reminds us that ‘with tomorrow’s light’4 we are to have the pleasure of hearing what Symmachus has to say and to meet at his house.” So the party broke up, and all went their several ways. 4 Vergil Aeneid 4. 130.

the saturnalia - BOOK 4 [The beginning and end of the fourth Book are missing. It would seem that Symmachus! is speaking here of Vergil’s use of rhetorical devices, in fulfillment of his promise to point out the most forcible of these devices that are to be found in the poet’s work (1. 24. 14). In the first of the surviving chapters the speaker illustrates the use

of habitus, a description of outward appearance, as a means to express or evoke emotion. |

CHAPTER 1 [1] She is no more moved by his words than if she were a solid

rock of flint or a crag of Marpessus. At length she sprang away, and (with hatred in her heart) fled back. [Aeneid 6. 470]

So too emotion (pathos)? is expressed in this line: I stood aghast: my hair rose and my voice stuck in my throat. [Aeneid 2. 774]

[2] There is also a complete picture of the sorry plight of Dares in the description here given of his appearance:

But his trusty companions lead him away, with his tottering limbs trailing, with his head swaying from side to side, and with clots of blood pouring from his mouth [Aeneid 5. 468] and in a few words the poet indicates the dismay of those comrades as well:

They are called back and receive the helmet and sword [Aeneid 5. 471]

for they are represented as “called back,” to show that they were reluctant to receive a gift so damaging to their sense of shame. 1 One MS (in a note) makes Eusebius the speaker. 2 Cf. Quintilian 6. 2. 20: “The Greek term ma@90¢ which we correctly render ‘emotion’ (adfectus).” Both words may mean (a) an appeal to the emotions and (b) the actual emotion felt.

BOOK 4, CHAPTER I 255 The following lines illustrate the same device: As he speaks all his face seems to shoot sparks and fire flashes

from his eager eyes. [Aeneid 12. 101]

[3] Such descriptions of outward appearance (habitus) are also used to express physical weakness and lassitude, as, for example, in

the whole of Thucydides’ description of the plague at Athens, and in Vergil’s description of the plague-stricken horse: Fruitless were all his efforts; and, heedless of the herbage, the

victor steed pines away [Georgics 3. 498]

and:

The ears droop and on them breaks out a fitful sweating, and that too, as death draws near, grows cold. [Georgics 3. 500] [4] A sense of shame, too, is among the emotions expressed by the

description of outward appearance, for example, in the poet’s description of Deiphobus: Cowering and seeking to hide the marks of his hideous punish-

ment. [Aeneid 6. 498]

[5] Grief, as well, is shown thus; as in the description of the mother of Euryalus: From her hands fell the shuttles, and unwound was her task;

forth flies the unhappy woman [Aeneid 9. 476] and amazement, as in this description of Latinus: He keeps his face set downward in a steady gaze [Aeneid 7. 249] entreaty, as in this description of Venus:

Sadder than her wont, her bright eyes brimming with tears [Aeneid 1. 228] and madness, as in the following description of the Sibyl:

hair. [Aeneid 6. 47]

Suddenly her looks, her color, changed; disheveled, too, her

CHAPTER 2 [1] Let us consider now how the pattern of a speech expresses

and evokes emotion; and first let us ask what are the rules of rhetoric for such a speech. Being concerned with emotion the speech should certainly seek to express and arouse either indignation or pity (the Greek terms are dgivwoic! and oiktog respectively); and of these two emotions the prosecution is necessarily concerned with the one, the defense with the other. To express and arouse indignation the opening of the speech must be abrupt, since a quiet opening would be ill fitted to its purpose. [2] And that is

why Vergil makes Juno, in her indignation, begin a speech as follows:

Why dost thou compel me to break my deep silence? [Aeneid 10. 63] and in another passage to say:

Am I to accept defeat and abandon my purpose? [Aeneid 1. 37] and elsewhere:

O hated race and Phrygian fates at odds with mine [Aeneid 7. 293]

and Dido too is made to exclaim: Shall I die unavenged? Yes, but still let me die [Aeneid 4. 659] and again:

O God! (she cries.) Shall this man go? [Aeneid 4. 590] And Priam, addressing Pyrrhus, begins thus: Nay, for a crime such as this, he cries, and for deeds such as

these, may the gods send thee due reward. [Aeneid 2. 535] ' Cf. Quintilian 6. 2. 24, where deivmog is defined as language which gives additional force to something unjust, harsh, or hateful.

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 2 257 [3] Nor is it only the opening words that should follow the examples I have suggested, but, if possible, the speech as a whole should be calculated to express and arouse emotion, both by the brevity of the sentences and by the frequent changes of the figures employed, thus giving the impression that the speaker is, as it were,

being borne to and fro amid surging waves of anger. [4] Let us take, then, a single speech in Vergil as an example.? It begins with an exclamation: O hated race! Then follow a number of short questions: Did they fall on the Sigean plains? Could they, once captured, be held captive? Did the flames of Troy consume the Trojans? Then comes the figure “hyperbole”: Through the midst of armies in battle array, and through the midst of flames, they have found a way. Then “irony”: But, methinks, my divine powers lie spent at last, and flag; or I have sated my hatred and now desist.

[5] After that Juno goes on to complain of the failure of her efforts:

I deigned to follow them through the waves and to confront the exiles over all the sea. A second hyperbole follows: I have spent against the Trojans all the powers of sky and sea. And then a medley of complaints: What did the Syrtes avail me, or Scylla, or the vast depths of Charybdis?

[6] Io heighten emotion Juno continues: Mars had power to destroy the monstrous race of the Lapithae using here the “argument from a lesser circumstance” (argumentum a minore), since Mars clearly is a lesser personage than Juno, who therefore says, of herself: But I am Jove’s mighty consort. Then, having marshaled her points, the goddess impetuously cries: Wretched I, who have turned myself to every shift and, instead of saying “I cannot destroy Aeneas,” exclaims: 2 The speech which contains Juno’s indignant complaint that all her attempts to destroy the Trojans have been made in vain (Aeneid 7. 293-322).

258 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA I am worsted by Aeneas. [7] After that, the goddess affirms her determination to harm and (as befits a display of anger), though despairing of her power to accomplish her purpose in full, is content to impede her enemy: If heaven I cannot bend, then I will rouse hell to help me. I may not keep him from his kingdom in Latium—so be it—yet I may put off and delay that high fortune; yet I may utterly destroy the people of both those kings. [8] Finally, she ends—as the angry delight to do—with a curse: Trojan and Rutulian blood shall be your dowry, maiden and, using an argumentum a simili, wherein she introduces from the past a parallel to the present situation, she adds: Nor did Cisseus’ daughter alone conceive a brand and bring forth flames in wedlock. [9] And so you see the many changes which Vergil has made in

the pattern of this speech and what a variety of figures he has used, for anger, being “momentary madness,”? cannot speak in a single uniform strain. [10] Vergil also uses language calculated to excite pity. Turnus, for example, says to Juturna: Was it to see the crue] death of thy unhappy brother? [Aeneid 12. 636] and again, when his indignation swells as he remembers the friends who have fallen, fighting on his behalf, he cries: I have seen myself, before my very eyes, Murranus fall, my name upon his lips. [Aeneid 12. 638]

[11] And when he was seeking to arouse pity for his own lot, in

the hope that his life might be spared in defeat, he addressed Aeneas thus:

Thou art the victor, and the Ausonians have seen me stretch forth my hands in defeat [Aeneid 12.936]

thus saying, in effect, “My defeat has been seen by those whom least of all I should have wished to see it.” And Vergil has re8 Horace Epistles 1. 2. 62.

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 2 259 presented others begging for life: for example, [Liger, who prays thus to Aeneas]: By thyself, and by thy parents who bred such a son in thee,

[leave me my life] [Aeneid 10. 597]

And there are similar passages.

CHAPTER 3 [1] Now let us speak of the way in which Vergil deals with emotion aroused by the depicting of age or bodily infirmity and by an allusion to the other circumstances which I shall proceed to mention. Our poet has neatly kept in mind this use of “pathos” and has evoked the emotion of pity from a reference to every age of man. For example, [2] to infancy: On the threshold’s brink are the souls of infants, weeping [Aeneid 6. 427]

[3] to boyhood: Unhappy boy, and unequally matched with Achilles [Aeneid 1. 475] and:

She held up the child [ulus to his father [Aeneid 2. 674] (a passage in which pity 1s felt because the danger threatens Tulus both as a little child and as a son); and:

Wilt thou not see whether thy wife Creusa and the boy

Ascanius still live? [Aeneid 2. 597]

and again, in another passage:

The plight of the little Tulus [Aeneid 2. 563]

[4] to youth: Youths laid on the pyre before their parents’ eyes [Aeneid 6. 308; Georgics 4. 477]

The young cheeks and the youthful form so wan [| Aeneid 12.221]

[5] to old age:

Pity Daunus in his old age [Aeneid 12. 934]

and:

Hapless Aletes is led along, outworn with age [Aeneid 11. 85] and:

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 3 261 He mars his gray hair with handfuls of dust. [Aeneid 10. 844]

[6] Ihe thought of a person’s condition and circumstances (fortuna) moves sometimes to pity and sometimes to indignation. To pity, for example, in this reference to Priam: Once by so many peoples and lands raised to the proud lordship of Asia [Aeneid 2. 556]

and to Sinon: We also in some sort bore name and honor too [ Aeneid 2. 89]

and to Galaesus: Once the wealthiest man in the Ausonian fields. [Aeneid 7. 537]

[7] On the other hand, the conditions and circumstances may move to indignation, as, for example, when Dido cries: And shall a foreigner have made mock of our realm? [Aeneid 4. 591] for—and it is a neat touch by the poet—Dido’s contempt for Aeneas adds to her sense of the wrong he has done her); and when Amata says:

them? [Aeneid 7. 359] These Trojan exiles—is Lavinia to be given in marriage to

and when Numanus refers to:

Twice-captured Phrygians. [Aeneid 9. 599] [8] Vergil has aroused the emotion of pity too, by depicting bodily infirmity, as, for example, in the lines (spoken by Anchises) : Long have I lived useless, since the Father of gods and King of

men breathed on me with the wind of his thunderbolt, and

touched me with his fire [Aeneid 2. 648] and, in another passage, of Deiphobus:

His nostrils slit with a disfiguring wound [Aeneid 6. 497] and of Mezentius:

He raises himself on his wounded thigh [Aeneid to. 856] and of Pandarus: This way and that his head hung from either shoulder [Aeneid 9. 755] and of Larides: Your severed hand seeks blindly for you, its lord [Aeneid to. 395]

262 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA and of Hector: Blackened with blood-stained dust, and his swollen feet pierced

by thongs [Aeneid 2.272] [9]Often, too, it is a reference to the place that has moved a

feeling of pity, as for example in the lines:

All which time I drag out my life in the woods, among the

lonely haunts and lairs of wild beasts [Aeneid 3. 646] and:

I traverse the wastes of Libya [Aeneid 1. 384] and:

But some of us shall go hence to parched Africa, some shall reach Scythia, and the chalk-rolling Oaxes = [Eclogues 1.64] [10] And in this fine and concise description: Thrice had he dragged Hector around the walls of Troy [Aeneid 1. 483] for the words “of Troy” serve to remind us that these are the walls

of Hector’s native city, which he had defended in his own person and for which he had fought with success for the space of ten years. [11] The following lines also illustrate the use made of a reference to a place:

We are exiles from our native land [Eclogues 1. 4] and:

land [Aeneid 3. 10]

When I leave, in tears, the shores and havens of my native and:

In death he remembers the Argos he loved so well [Aeneid io. 782] and:

Mimas has a stranger’s grave on the Laurentian shore [Aeneid 10. 706] and:

At Lyrnesus thy stately home; in Laurentian earth thy grave. [Aeneid 12. 547]

[12] Moreover, it was to bring out the shamefulness of Agamemnon’s murder that Vergil introduced a reference to the place: He fell by the hand of his accursed wife on his threshold’s

very edge [Aeneid 11. 267]

and this line produces a like effect:

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 3 263 It is within their native walls, with their sheltering homes around them, that they breathe out their lives Ldeneid 11. 882]

[13] But more than anything else it is the sanctity of the place that stirs emotion. Thus Vergil, in his description of the murder of Orpheus, makes his death all the more pitiable because it occurred Amid the sacred rites of the gods and Bacchic revels by night [Georgics 4. 521] and im hus picture of the overthrow of Troy the poet says that the

dead le Among the houses and the hallowed thresholds of the gods | deeid 2. 365] [14] Note, too, how much the pity that we feel for the seizing and enslavement of Cassandra is due to the sacred nature of the place: See where she was being haled from the temple and shrine of

Minerva [.teneid 2. 403]

and, elsewhere, Vergil says of Coroebus: He fell beside the altar of the Goddess Mighty in Battle [.feneid 2. 425] [15] Again, Andromache, speaking of the death of Pyrrhus—to express the indignation which his murderer aroused—is made to say:

He takes him off his guard and [alls him by the altars in his

father’s house [ Aeneid 3. 332] and it Is to arouse indignation that Venus, complaming to Neptune that Aeneas is being harassed at sea by the wrath of Juno, savs: It is im thy realm that she has dared to do this thing. [.feneid §. 792]

[16] Vergil has made use of “time,” toa, as a means to evoke emotion; for example, he says, of the horses of Rhesus, that they Were captured

Before they had tasted fodder at Troy or had drunk of the

waters of Nanthus [.fencid 1. 472] and Orpheus becomes an object of pity by reason of the length of his griet: Men say that, month after month, for seven whole months he

wept. [Georgics 4. 507]

Palinurus, too, is represented as saving:

Dinly on the fourth dawn I saw the land of Italy afar. [-feneid 6. 356]

264 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Achemenides says:

Thrice now have the horns of the moon been filled with light [Aeneid 3. 645 |

and a similar effect is produced by the following line: Already the seventh summer now wheels its way since Troy

fell. [Aeneid 5. 626]

CHAPTER 4 [1] We often find in Vergil that emotion is aroused by the “cause” or circumstances of a particular incident; and indeed it is frequently the circumstances bringing a thing to pass which make the thing itself seem horrible or pitiable, as, for, example, in Cicero’s attack on Verres, who used to require parents to beg leave of him,

at a price, to bury the bodies of their sons killed in prison,! for here more emotion is aroused by the antecedent cause than by the begging of leave or the demand for money. [2] And when Demosthenes complains that Midias has ruined a certain man,? his refer-

ence to the circumstances heightens the feeling of resentment. ‘“Midias,” he says, “brought about the ruin of an arbitrator who had decided fairly between him and me.” [3] And so Vergil, too, often made excellent use of this source of argument as a “place” from which to evoke emotion. Thus, Galaesus (he tells us) is killed in battle. As an event occurring in time of war this of itself 1s not

worth mentioning, but the poet went on to refer to the “cause” and to tell of the circumstances which led to the man’s death:

Killed, as he throws himself between the ranks to plead for

peace. [Aeneid 7. 536]

[4] In another passage he says: Antores falls, ill-fated man

1 Actio in Verrem secunda 5. 45. 119. 2 In Midiam 83-96.

3 For locus as the “place” from which arguments may be drawn, cf. Cicero De oratore 1. 13. 56 (Wilkins’s note); De partitione oratoria 2. 5; Topica 7; and Quintilian 5. 10. 20.

266 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA and then adds the circumstances of the man’s death, which stir our pity: Laid low by a wound meant for another [Aeneid 10. 781]

for the spear that killed him had been launched at another man.

[5] When he sought to show how unjust was the murder of Palamedes he spoke of him as one Whom on a false information—for he was innocent—and on a monstrous charge, but because in fact he was opposing the war, the Pelasgi sent down to death. [Aeneid 2. 83] [6] Again, Aeneas was well described as declaring the cause of his

fear, to show how great that fear was: Fearing alike for my child by my side and my father on my

shoulders. [Aeneid 2. 729]

[7] Vergil, too, gives us the reason why lapix chose to renounce the skills offered him, and live (as the poet says) “inglorious,” the cause being:

That he might put off the doom of his father, who was sick

unto death. [Aeneid 12. 395] [8] The following line illustrates Vergil’s use of the same device: Thy love for thy father betrays thee into recklessness [Aeneid to. 812] for the “cause” of his action has made Lausus an object of pity even to his enemies. [9] And, when Aeneas bids his men bury the bodies of the slain, he declares that these are they Who with their blood have won this land to be our country. [Aeneid 11. 24]

[10] Indignant anger, no less than pity, is indicated by a reference to an antecedent “cause,” as in these lines [which refer to a bull defeated by a rival]:

Making many a moan over his dishonor and the haughty victor’s blows; then bemoaning, too, loves lost and unavenged. [Georgics 3. 226] [11] And in the following examples the emotion flows from the

cause and appears in the feeling of indignation which the words express:

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 4 267 Does that pain which I know so well touch only the sons of

| [Aeneid 9. 138]

Atreus; and may Mycenae alone have recourse to arms? and:

But thou, O man of Alba, shouldest have kept thy word [Aeneid 8. 643]

and in each of these lines:

This man sold his native land for gold [ Aeneid 6. 621] And they who were slain for loves adulterous [ Aeneid 6.612]

And they who set aside no share of their riches for their kin. [Aeneid 6. 611]

[12] ‘To evoke emotion Vergil has not neglected to use the two sources of argument (Joci) which rhetoricians call the “argument

from manner” (argumentum a modo) and the “argument from material means” (argumentum a materia). Thus, if I say, “he killed

him openly” or “he killed him secretly,” these are examples of “manner”; [13] but if I say “he killed him with a weapon” or “he killed him by poison,” these are examples of “material means.” Demosthenes stirs up indignation against Midias by reference to the manner of an insult, when he says that he was struck by a boot; and Cicero against Verres, when he charges him with having fastened a man naked to a statue.!

[14] Vergil no less clearly used the argumentum a modo to arouse emotion in the lines: He dragged him to the very altar, trembling, and slipping in the pool of blood shed by his son [Aeneid 2. 550]

and:

He plunged the sword up to the hilt in his side [Aeneid 2. 553]

[15] and in all the passage which begins: A monstrous vulture with hooked beak, feeding on the imperishable liver [Aeneid 6. 597]

and ends: 4 Actio in Verrem secunda 4. 40. 86.

268 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Over whose heads there hangs a black crag, ever like to slip, and even as a rock in act to fall. [Aeneid 6. 602 |

[16] Moreover, Vergil often uses the argumentum a modo to arouse pity; as, for example, when he says of Orpheus:

The youth, torn limb from limb, they strewed far and wide

through the fields [Georgics 4. 522]

and in this line: The south wind overwhelmed them, engulfing in the sea both

ship and crew [Aeneid 6. 336]

and, again:

Some roll a huge rock [| Aeneid 6. 616]

and:

Nay more, he would even bind dead bodies to living men [Aeneid 8. 485] and in the description of the plague, in the Georgics, beginning: Nor was there one straight road to death [Georgics 3. 482] and throughout the rest of this descriptive passage.

[17] An illustration of the use made by rhetoricians and orators

of the argumentum a materia as a device to evoke emotion 1s Cicero’s complaint that a man had been killed by being confined in a place filled with smoke from the burning of green wood.5 This is an instance of reference to the “material means,” because Verres used the smoke as a means to kill (just as another might have used a sword and another, poison); and it is by reason of the means so used that the emotion aroused by this incident is very keen. Cicero employs the same device when he complains of the scourging of a Roman citizen,® [18] and you will find Vergil using it too, in the passage which begins: But the Almighty Father amid thick clouds hurled his bolt; no mere torches he, nor smoking pinewood flare [Aeneid 6. 592]

where the poet has neatly derided the means used by Salmoneus and has indicated the wrath of Jupiter by a reference to the reality 5 [bid. 1. 17. 45. 6 Ibid. 5. 54. 142.

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 4. 269 and violence of the means used by the god to express it.

[19] We have now recounted, one by one, devices which the rhetoricians prescribe to stir the emotions, and we have illustrated the use which Vergil has made of them. But sometimes, to heighten emotion, the poet uses two or more of those “sources of argument”

together in the same passage. [20] Thus there is a reference both to “age” and to “place” when he makes Latinus say to Turnus: Pity thy aged father, whom now his native Ardea holds far from thee, in sorrow [Aeneid 12. 43]

[21] and to “means,” to “outward appearance,” and to “place” when he says of Cassandra: See how Priam’s maiden daughter was being haled, with locks disheveled, from the temple and shrine of Minerva. [Aeneid 2. 403] [22] and in the passage which refers to the murder of Agamemnon mention is made of the king’s country, his high position, the family tie, the place of the crime, and its cause: The Mycenaean chief, leader of the mighty Achaeans, fell, by the hand of his wife, on the threshold’s very edge; and a paramour was master of conquered Asia. [| Aeneid 11. 266]

[23] It is Vergil’s practice, too, to evoke emotion by implication and, so to speak, by limiting his language, that is to say, instead of stating quite clearly what it is that moves to pity, he allows it to be inferred. For example, when Mezentius says: Now is the wound driven deep [Aeneid 10. 850]

we are meant to understand that the real wound is the loss of his son. [24] And when he says again, later: This was the one way by which you could destroy me [Aeneid 10. 879]

we must, clearly, take the meaning to be that to lose his son is to perish himself. [25] Again, when Juturna, complaining that she is prevented from helping her brother, cries: Am I then immortal? [Aeneid 12. 882]

270 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the sequence of thought is that to live on in sorrow is not immortal-

ity. In these examples the poet makes his point neatly, by the effective use of what I have called a limitation of language, which leaves the full meaning of his words to be inferred.

CHAPTER 53 [1] To excite emotion the art of rhetoric includes also the use of the “sources of argument” known as “arguments to illustrate the case” (argumenta circa rem), and they are very well suited to stir

the feelings. Of these the first is “argument from resemblance” (argumentum a simili), and it is of three kinds: example (exemplum), comparison (parabola), and descriptive likeness (imago)—

the Greek terms being, respectively, tapdderypa; tapaporn; and EiKOV.

[2] The following lines illustrate Vergil’s use of the argumentum ab exemplo: If Orpheus could summon from the dead the spirit of his bride, trusting in his ‘Thracian lyre and its tuneful strings, if Pollux redeemed his brother by dying in his turn and so often treads and retreads the road of death—why should I speak of mighty

Theseus, why of Alcides? ? [Aeneid 6. 119]

Everything in this passage moves to pity, for it seems unfair that Aeneas should be refused a boon which has been granted to others.

[3] And note how Vergil heightens a feeling of indignation by saying: “If Opheus could summon from the dead the spirit of his bride,” since here the circumstances—the “causes’”—are not comparable. It was his wife’s spirit that Orpheus sought, and he sought,

too, to recall her from the dead; it was his father’s spirit that Aeneas sought, but he sought only to see him among the dead. And

with reference to Orpheus the “means” he used were spoken of slightingly, in the phrase “trusting in his ‘Thracian lyre.” [4] Then,

in the lines “if Pollux redeemed his brother by dying in his turn 1 Cf. Quintilian 5. 11.

2 The MSS add the line Antenor potuit mediis elapsus Achivis (Aeneid 1. 242), but this is probably a gloss.

272 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA and so often treads and retreads the road of death,” Vergil was using the argumentum a modo, for to go often is something more than to go only once. And when Aeneas was made to break off and ask: “Why should I speak of mighty Theseus, why of Alcides?”

these personages are so notable that there was no question of belittling them and exalting himself, but Aeneas’ claim is in truth that he shares in the distinction of those two heroes, since he was, as he goes on to say:

Also descended from Jove most high. [Aeneid 6. 123] [5 ]Comparable, and expressive of indignation, is the passage in which Juno says: Had Pallas power to burn the Argive fleet? [Aeneid 1. 39]

for in it the point is that to destroy a victorious fleet is something

more than to destroy the remnants of the fleeing Trojans. And Juno went on to depreciate the “cause” of Pallas’ action by adding For the fault and madness of one man, Ajax son of Oileus [Aeneid 1. 41]

since it amounted to depreciation to speak of a “fault”—a term applied to something only slightly blamable—and that the fault of one man (and as such readily pardonable) and that man a madman (and as such not even blamable). [6] Consider another passage: Mars prevailed to destroy the monstrous race of the Lapithae [Aeneid 7. 304] where, you see, Juno makes the same point, in her reference to the destruction of a “race” and a “monstrous race” at that; and there follows another argumentum ab exemplo: The Father of the Gods himself gave up ancient Calydon to

Diana’s vengeance [Aeneid 7. 305]

in which the word “ancient” suggests that greater honor was given

to Diana by reason of the antiquity of the city, Juno then going on to depreciate the “cause” in each instance, by saying: Yet for what heinous crime did the Lapithae or Calydon merit

such grievous punishment? [Aeneid 7. 307]

[7] Vergil very often uses the argumentum a parabola, as better suited to a poet, when he seeks to arouse emotion by representing an object of pity or a display of anger. As illustrations of its use to represent an object of pity, take the lines:

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 5 273 Even as the nightingale mourning under a poplar’s shade [Georgics 4. 511] and:

Like a Thyad, stirred by the shaking of the sacred emblems [Aeneid 4. 301] and:

Like to a flower plucked by a maiden’s hand [Aeneid 11. 68 |

and there are many other instances of such use of the argumentum a parabola in which our poet has expressed the feeling of pity. [8] The following are illustrations of Vergil’s use of this form of comparison to represent anger. And as when a wolf, prowling by some full sheepfold, howls

at the pens [Aeneid 9. 59]

and:

altar [Aeneid 2. 223]

As is the bellowing when a wounded bull has fled from the

and any who cares to look for them will find many other similar examples.

[9] As for zzzago, the third of the three varieties of the argzzentum a sinuli, this too is a device well suited to stir the feelings. It is

a vivid description either of a bodily form that is absent or of a purely imaginary object, [10] and Vergil has made neat use of each of the two kinds. To take the former first, the following lines, which refer to Ascanius, will serve as an illustration: O thou who art the only likeness left to me of my Asty&Anax; such eyes, such hands, such looks were his! [Aeneid 3. 489]

But, on the other hand, the poet is drawing on his imagination when he says (of Scylla):

Of whom the story still is told that her white waist is girt

about with barking monsters. [Eclogues 6. 74] [11] Of these two examples of imago, the former excites pity, the latter horror, as, for instance, when elsewhere the poet says: And in rent robe Discord stalks, rejoicing, Bellona at her heels

with blood-stained scourge in hand$ [Aeneid 8. 702] and in the whole of his description of Rumor [Aeneid 4. 173-97]. [12] Again, the emotional appeal of the following lines, too, is very powerful:

274 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Within, the unholy Spirit of Strife, high-seated on a pile of cruel arms, his hands bound behind his back with a hundred knots of bronze, roars horribly with blood-stained mouth. [Aeneid 1. 294] 8 Cf. Baehrens, p. 359: Sanguineum quatiens dextra Bellona flagellum [aut] scissa gaudens vadit Discordia palla. See also Seneca De ira 2. 35. 6.

CHAPTER 6 [1] Having spoken of the argumentum a simili, let us now say something of the poet’s use of the argwmentum a minore [the argument from a lesser circumstance] as a means to evoke emotion.

It is certainly true that when a misfortune, great in itself, is afterward shown to be less than the misfortune which we wish to stress, the sense of pity aroused has, beyond doubt, no bounds. [2] As, for example, here: O maiden daughter of Priam, happy alone above others, though doomed to die at an enemy’s tomb [for she did not endure any

casting of lots]. [Aeneid 3. 321]

In these lines Andromache, in calling Polyxena happy, has first made a comparison with herself, then she has used an argumentum a loco, referring to the place of Polyxena’s death—“at an enemy’s tomb,” and an argumentum a modo, referring to the manner of her fate—“doomed to die’—no less sad a circumstance. We have to take it, therefore, that Polyxena, although doomed to die and at an enemy’s tomb, was for all that less unhappy in her fate than Andromache, because she was spared the indignity of “any casting of lots.” [3] There is a like example of this device in the lines, in which Aeneas compares his fate with the fate of those who fell at Troy, beginning

O thrice and four times happy they [Aeneid 1. 94] and again, in the reference to Pasiphae, where Vergil says:

The daughters of Proetus filled the fields with their feigned lowing

and then adds, to show that their fate was less pitiable than hers: Yet no one of them pursued so shameful a union. [Eclogues 6. 48]

276 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [4] And here too use of the argumentum a minore evokes strong feeling:

Nor did the seer Helenus, with all his bodings of ills, nor Calaeno, dread prophetess, foretell this grief to me [Aeneid 3.712]

for we understand from this passage that Aeneas held all he had suffered as of less account than his father’s death.

[5] Some have maintained that the argumentum a maiore [the argument from a greater circumstance] cannot heighten emotion, but Vergil has neatly introduced it into his description of the death of Dido, as follows: The heavens resound with loud wailings, even as if all Carthage or ancient Tyre were falling before the inrush of the foe [Aeneid 4. 669] for what he has said here is that the death of one woman caused no less grief than would have attended the destruction of a whole city —an unquestionably greater disaster. And Homer used the same device [in a reference to the grief felt for Hector’s death]: As though all the beetling citadel of Ilium were burning utterly

in fire. [Iliad 22. 410]

[6] Yet another rhetorical source of argument to stir emotion is the argumentum praeter spem [the argument from an unforeseen circumstance], and of this, too, Vergil has made frequent use. For

example, Venus, in her complaint to Jupiter of promises unexpectedly unfulfilled, is made to say:

And yet I and my son are thy offspring, to whom with thy nod thou dost assign the heights of heaven [Aeneid 1. 250] and Dido, asking her sister to beg Aeneas to delay his going:

If strength was mine to foresee this cruel blow, I shall have

strength, too, sister, to bear it to the end [Aeneid 4. 419] [7] and Aeneas of Evander [who is unaware of the death of his son |:

And now, perchance, utterly beguiled by an empty hope, he is

even making prayers [Aeneid 11. 49]

and Moeris, evicted from his farm: It has come to this, a thing that I never feared would happen, that a stranger, as owner of my little farm—yes, mine!—should say: “All this mine; be off, you former holders.” [Eclogues 9. 2]

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 6 277 [8] Nevertheless, I find that emotion may be aroused also by a reference to something that has been foreseen, as when Evander, over the body of his dead son, says: Well I knew how strong was the newborn pride in arms, how

passing sweet the glory. [Aeneid 11. 154]

[9] When emotion arises from an appeal to a like feeling, the figure of speech is known in rhetoric as “homoeopathy.” Thus in Vergil, ‘Turnus, appealing to Aeneas, says: Thou too dids’t once have such a father in Anchises [Aeneid 12. 933]

and of Ascanius, when Euryalus asked him to comfort his mother, if he falls, the poet says: The thought of his love for his own father touched him [Aeneid 9. 294] and again, after the death of Priam, Aeneas says: A picture of my own dear father rose in my mind [Aeneid 2. 560] and Dido, to show her sympathy with the misfortunes of Aeneas, says:

I too have been driven by fortune through many like toils. [Aeneid 1. 628]

[10] Another source of argument to stir emotion is an address to an inanimate object or to a dumb animal, and orators often use it. Vergil has handled each kind well to produce an emotional appeal, as, for example, when Dido, recalling her association with Aeneas, says:

O relics dear, while Fate and Heaven allowed [Aeneid 4. 651] or when ‘Turnus says: And thou, most kindly Earth, keep fast the steel [Aeneid 12. 777]

and elsewhere he says:

Now, my spear, that never failed my call [Aeneid 12. 95] and in the address of Mezentius to his charger: Rhoebus, long—if to mortal creatures aught at all is long—long have we lived, you and I, and now that life is ended. [Aeneid 10. 861]

[11] Yet, another rhetorical figure designed to evoke emotion is “hesitation” (addubitatio: the Greek term is &xdépnotc), for, when one is grieved or angry, one is frequently uncertain what to do.

278 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Thus Dido is represented as saying:

But there! what shall I do? Am I now, scorned by Aeneas, once more to make trial of my former suitors? [Aeneid 4. 534] [12] and again, of Orpheus, the poet asks: What was he to do? Whither betake himself, twice robbed of

his bride? | Georgics 4. 504|

and, of Nisus:

What is he to do? By what force of arms dare the rescue of

his young comrade? [Aeneid 9. 399]

and Anna, deeply moved, cries:

What shall I first lament, left desolate? Didst thou scorn in

death a sister’s company? [Aeneid 4. 677] [13] A vivid description of a thing seen (adtestatio) is another rhetorical device to arouse emotion, and Vergil uses it thus: When Aeneas saw the pillowed head of Pallas and his face white as snow and the gaping wound in the smooth breast [Aeneid 11. 39]

[14] and again:

And blood filled his breast [Aeneid to. 819]

and:

And, dying, writhes in his own blood [Aeneid 11. 669] and:

He sees Eriphyle pointing to the wounds her cruel son had

dealt her [Aeneid 6. 446]

and:

There were hanging the heads of men, death-pale and ghastly

with decay [Aeneid 8. 197]

and:

Euryalus rolls to the ground in death, and the blood gushes

over his fair limbs [Aeneid 9. 433]

and:

With my own eyes I saw it, when Polyphemus seized the

bodies of two of our number. [Aeneid 3. 623] [15] Emotion is stirred by “hyperbole” or exaggeration (nimietas), and this figure is used to express either anger or pity. It expresses anger, for example, when we say: “He should have died a thousand deaths,” or, to take an illustration from Vergil:

By death in any form I ought freely to have yielded up this

guilty life. [Aeneid 10. 854]

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 6 279 and the figure expresses pity in, for example, the line: Even lions of Africa mourned at thy death, Daphnis. [Eclogues 5. 27] [16] Moreover, such “exaggeration” is used to express the emotion of love, or a feeling of some other kind—love, for example, as when Thyrsis says to Galatea: May I seem more worthless to thee than seaweed on the shore, if today is not already longer to me than a whole year [Eclogues 7. 43]

| and emotion of another sort, as when, on Turnus’ threatening to burn the Trojan ships, a voice cries:

Sooner shall Turnus have leave to fire the seas than these |

hallowed timbers [Aeneid 9. 115]

and, again, when Latinus vows that no force shall make him break his word:

Not though it should plunge the land into the sea. [Aeneid 12. 204]

[17] Another figure which evokes emotion is “exclamation” (exclamatio: ékp@vyoic in Greek). Here the poet sometimes speaks in his own person, and sometimes he puts the words into the mouth of one of the characters. [18] Examples of the poet speaking in his own person are: Alas, Mantua, too near neighbor to unhappy Cremona! [Eclogues 9. 28] and:

Luckless man! Howe’er posterity shall regard the deed [Aeneid 6. 822] and:

Love was your shame [Aeneid 10. 188] [19] and there are other similar instances. But, on the other hand, in the following lines the poet is speaking by the mouth of another: May the gods keep in store the like to fall on his own head and

on his race [Aeneid 8. 484] and: Ye gods, with like requital visit the Greeks, as surely as with

duteous lips I claim the vengeance due [Aeneid 6. 529] and:

Ye gods, rid earth of such a plague! [Aeneid 3. 620] [20] Opposed to “exclamation” is the figure aposiopesis (in Latin,

280 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA taciturnitas),1 and in it the conclusion of a thought is suppressed, for just as in the preceding figure we express what we have to say by means of an exclamation, so here the speaker breaks off into silence, suppressing something which is, nevertheless, perfectly clear

to his audience. [21] This figure is particularly suitable to betoken

, anger. Thus Neptune says: Whom I—but it is better far to calm the troubled waves [Aeneid 1. 135]

and Mnestheus: ,

Nor do I strive to win; and yet—but let them win to whom

thou, Neptune, hast appointed success [Aeneid 5. 194] and Turnus: And yet!—if aught of our wonted valor were with us still [Aeneid 11. 415] and again, in the Bucolics:

We know who was with you while the he-goats looked askance, and in what shrine you were—but the easy nymphs

laughed. [Eclogues 3. 8]

[22] Furthermore, Sinon used this figure to appeal for pity: Until by the agency of Calchas—but why do I vainly recount

this unhappy tale? [Aeneid 2. 100]

[23] The figure “repetition” (repetitio), too, (the Greek term is émavapopa) gives rise to emotion. In it a number of phrases begin with the same words, and here are examples from Vergil:

“Eurydice,” cried the voice of itself and the death-cold tongue, “O hapless Eurydice,” as life ebbed away. “Eurydice,”

the banks re-echoed all down the stream [Georgics 4. 525] and:

Of thee, dear wife, of thee he sang alone on the lonely shore, of thee at day’s dawning, of thee as day declined [Georgics 4. 465] and again:

For thee the grove of Angitia wept, for thee the glass-clear water of Fucinus, for thee the limpid lakes. [Aeneid 7. 759] [24] Another figure with an emotional appeal is a form of rebuke (énitipnoig or obiurgatio), in which a plea is countered with its own words, as Juno counters the appeal made by Venus to Jupiter: 1 In 6. 6. 15, below, the figure is called intermiissio.

BOOK 4, CHAPTER 6 281 Aeneas, thou sayest, is unaware and far away; unaware and far

away, then, let him be. [Aeneid 10. 85; cf. 10. 25] [The end of the Book is lost, but the opening words of the next

Book suggest that the lost chapters contained the discourse of Eusebius on Vergil’s skill in oratory, to which reference is made in I. 24. 14.]

the saturnalla - BOOK 5 CHAPTER 1 [1] After this Eusebius paused for a little while; but in the mean time there was a murmur of talk among the rest of those present, and a general agreement to hold Vergil no less eminent as an orator than as a poet, so great was the knowledge he showed of oratory and so careful his regard for the rules of rhetoric. [2] Then, turning to Eusebius, Avienus said: Tell me, please, my learned friend—if we admit, as indeed we must, that Vergil was an orator—from which of the two would one who nowadays wished to become proficient in the art of oratory derive the greater profit: from Vergil or from Cicero? [3] I see what you are getting at, said Eusebius: I see your object —your attempt, I mean, to make me follow a line I certainly don’t wish to take and draw a comparison between Vergil and Cicero.

For your question, though modestly phrased, amounts really to asking which of the two is the more outstanding, since the one who

is himself preeminent would necessarily afford the greater profit , to a student. [4] But, there, I would have you relieve me of the need to enter upon so deep and difficult an undertaking, for it 1s “not for me to settle such a contest”! between those great men, nor should I presume to appear to have authority to make such a pronouncement about either of them. I shall venture to say only this: that Vergil’s eloquence comprises many elements, takes many

forms, and embraces every kind of style; in your fellow countryman, Cicero, you will observe that the tenor of his language is uniform, although his words flow forth like a copious torrent. [5] Now orators, naturally, do not conform to a single and uniform pattern of speaking; but this man has a freely flowing style, 1 Vergil Eclogues 3. 108.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER I 283 that man on the other hand uses language which is concise and terse; one man’s speech is simple, dry, and restrained, and he likes to be, as it were, economical in his use of words; but another lets himself go in language which is rich, brilliaat, and ornate. There are all these widely differing styles, and in Vergil alone do you find all of them united. [6] I should be glad, replied Avienus, if you would explain these differences of style to me more clearly and give names of persons, by way of illustration.

[7] There are four? kinds of style, said Eusebius, the copious (copiosum), of which Cicero is master; the concise (breve), in which Sallust is supreme; the dry (siccum), a term applied to the style of Fronto; and the rich and ornate (pingue et floridum), formerly indulged in exuberantly by the younger Pliny and today by our friend Symmachus, who is second to none of the men of old in its use. But Vergil is the one writer in whom you will find all

of these four kinds represented. For example, [8] for speech so concise that it would be impossible to pack more meaning into a few words, take the line: Et campos ubi Troia fuit [And the fields where Troy once was

—and is no more]. [Aeneid 3. 11]

See how, in these very few words, Vergil has expressed the complete disappearance of a great city; he has not left so much as a ruin.

, [9] The following passages show him dealing with the same subject in his most copious style: The last day has come, and Troy’s inevitable hour; we Trojans

are no more; Ilium is no more and the mighty power of the Teucrians. Jupiter is cruel and has removed all to Argos; our city is in flames and the Greeks are masters of it [Aeneid 2. 324] and:

[10] O my country, Ilium, home of the gods; and Dardanian

walls renowned in war [Aeneid 2. 241] and again:

Who could describe in words the carnage of that night, and tell of the many deaths; or who could find tears to match our 2 A more usual classification is under three heads: e.g., Auctor ad Herennium 4. 8. 11; Quintilian 12. 10. 58; Aulus Gellius 4. 14. See also Nettleship, Lectures and Essays, p. 49.

284 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA grief? An ancient city falls after many years of rule. [Aeneid 2. 361] Vergil’s words gush out like a torrent from a spring; they are like the inflooding waves of the sea. [11] Now for an example of the style of speech known as “dry”: Turnus, riding swiftly forward with twenty picked horsemen, had outstripped the slow-moving column and comes, unlooked for, to the city. A Thracian charger with white markings carries him; and his helmet is of gold, with a crimson crest. [Aeneid 9. 47] [12] Consider, too, how polished and ornate a comparable description can be, when such is the poet’s pleasure: By chance Choreus, dedicated to Cybele and once her priest, was conspicuous afar in his shining Phrygian armor. He was spurring on a foaming charger whose covering was a skin with scales of bronze laid featherwise and buckled with gold; and

the rider, bright with purple of foreign dye, shot Cretan arrows from a Lycian bow ... embroidered with needlework his tunic and the barbaric coverings of his legs. [Aeneid 11. 768]

[13] But these are isolated illustrations, taken from separate passages. You may wish, then, to see how Vergil actually blends these four styles and from completely diverse elements produces a beautifully balanced combination. Thus: [14] Often, too, it is good to burn barren fields and to consume the light stubble with crackling flames, whether thence the lands conceive some hidden strength and rich nourishment, or whether by the fire all that is faulty is baked out of them and useless moisture sweated away, or else the heat of the fire unlocks more of the ways and blind pores, whereby juice may

reach the tender crops, or hardens the more and binds the gaping veins, and so prevents the fine rains or the fierce power of the burning sun or the piercing cold of the north wind from

harming the land. [Georgics 1. 84]

[15] There you have language of a kind which you will find nowhere else, for it is neither hurriedly concise nor tastelessly copious nor meagrely dry nor luxuriantly rich. [16] There are, moreover, two kinds of language each of which

reflects a different kind of character in the speaker. The one re-

BOOK 5, CHAPTER I 285 presents a nature which is mature and dignified; such was the style ascribed to Crassus,? and Vergil uses it, for example, when Latinus is giving advice to Turnus, in the passage which begins:

O gallant-hearted youth, the more you surpass me in your proud valor, so much the more carefully is it right that I

deliberate. [Aeneid 12. 19]

[17] The other style represents, on the contrary, a fiery, spirited, and aggressive character. Such was the style that Antonius‘ used, and you will not look for it in vain in Vergil. Take, for example, the lines:

Not such were your words but a little while since. Now die;

and let not brother forsake brother. [Aeneid 10. 599] [18] You see—do you not?—that the use of all these varied styles

is a distinctive characteristic of Vergil’s language. Indeed, I think that it was not without a kind of foreknowledge that he was pre-

paring himself to serve as a model for all, that he intentionally blended his styles, acting with a prescience born of a disposition divine rather than mortal. And thus it was that with the universal mother, Nature, for his only guide he wove the pattern of hiswork— just as in music different sounds are combined to form a single harmony. [19] For in fact, if you look closely into the nature of the universe, you will find a striking resemblance between the handiwork of the divine craftsman and that of our poet. Thus, just as Vergil’s language is perfectly adapted to every kind of character, being now concise, now copious, now dry, now ornate, and now a combination of all these qualities, sometimes flowing smoothly or at

other times raging like a torrent; so it is with the earth itself, for here it is rich with crops and meadows, there rough with forests and

crags, here you have dry sand, here, again, flowing streams, and parts lie open to the boundless sea. [20] I beg you to pardon me and

not charge me with exaggeration in thus comparing Vergil with nature, for I think that I might fairly say that he has combined in his single self the diverse styles of the ten Attic orators, and yet not say enough.

8 Cf. Cicero De oratore 2. 45. 188 (see Wilkins’s edition, p. 13). 4 Cf. Cicero De oratore 3. 9. 32 (see Wilkins’s edition, p. 17).

CHAPTER 2 [1] An excellent comparison, said Evangelus with a mocking smile, the divine craftsman and the rustic poet from Mantua, who—

I would maintain—never read a word of the Greek orators you have mentioned. For how could a Venetian, born of peasant parents and reared amidst forests and scrub, have acquired even a smattering of Greek letters? [2] My good Evangelus, retorted Eustathius, don’t suppose for a moment that any Greek author, however eminent, drew as much

from the resources of Greek learning as Vergil’s skill and intelligence enabled him to acquire therefrom and embody in his work. For in addition to that ample store of philosophy and astronomy

which has been the subject of our earlier discussions,’ there are other and by no means inconsiderable borrowings from the Greek which he has introduced into his poems as though they naturally formed part of them.? [3] Pray tell us too, Eustathius, of these borrowings, said Praetextatus; so far as you can bring them to mind at such short notice. All seconded this request and called on Eustathius to expound the matter. [4] You are, perhaps, thinking (he began) that I shall speak of

things that are common knowledge: for example, that in his pastoral poetry Vergil has taken Theocritus for his model, and in his work on husbandry, Hesiod; and that in the Georgics he has drawn too on the Phaenomina of Aratus for the signs of bad and 1 In the first part of Book 3, now lost. 2 Quid fecisset Vergilius, Latinorum poeta praecipuus, si Theocritum, Lucretium et Homerum minime spoliasset?... Quid Sallustius, Tullius, Boetius, Ma-

crobius, Lactantius, Martianus, immo tota cohors generaliter [fecissent], si Athenarum studia vel Graecorum volumina non vidissent? (Richard of Bury, Philobiblon, Chap. 162).

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 2 287 good weather: or that he has copied his account of the overthrow of Troy, with the tales of Sinon and the wooden horse and all the rest that goes to make up the second Book of his Aeneid, almost word for word from Pisander,’ [5] a writer eminent among the poets of Greece for a work which, beginning with the marriage

of Jupiter and Juno, has brought within the compass of a single sequence of events all the history of the world through the intervening ages down to its author’s own day, bridging the divers gaps of time to form a single whole, and, among the other stories in it, telling in this way of the destruction of Troy—an example which Vergil has faithfully followed in fashioning his own narrative of the fall of Ilium. But this, and the like, as being no more than the commonplace themes of schoolboys, I propose to omit.

[6] However, as for the Aeneid, it has, has it not? been borrowed from Homer: first the story of the wanderings, from the Odyssey, and then the account of the fighting, from the Iliad; for the order of events made it necessary for Vergil, in his work, to

change the original sequence, since in Homer the Trojan War comes first and then we have the wanderings of Ulysses on his return from Troy, whereas in Vergil the voyaging of Aeneas has preceded the subsequent war in Italy.‘ [7] Again, when Homer, in the first Book of the IJiad, wished to represent Apollo as hostile to the Greeks, he ascribed this hostility to a wrong done to a priest of the god; but Vergil has brought together a number of reasons to account for Juno’s enmity toward

the Trojans.5 [8] There is also another point—which I do not propose to stress, although it has not, I think, always been noticed

—and that is the fact that in the first line of the Aeneid Vergil promises to bring from the land of Troy Aeneas, The man whose fate it was to come first, an exile, from the shores of Troy to Italy and the Lavinian coasts [Aeneid 1. 1] and yet, when he comes the opening of the story, the poet represents

the fleet of Aeneas as sailing not from Troy but from Sicily: ’ For Vergil and Pisander see Nettleship’s excursus, at the end of Aeneid 2, in Conington’s Virgil, II (qth ed.).

4 For a criticism of the view “that the Aeneid falls apart into two halves, the first, like the Odyssey, a romance of adventure, the second, like the I/iad, an epic of war” see J. W. Mackail, Virgil and His Meaning to the World of Today (Boston, 1922), p. 98. 5 Aeneid 1. 12-28.

288 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Hardly out of sight of the land of Sicily they were cheerfully

spreading their sails, seaward. [Aeneid 1. 34] Such an arrangement is wholly in accord with the Homeric pattern, [9] for Homer, in his poem, avoids imitation of the historian’s rule which requires a narrative to begin at the beginning and go straight on to the end, but, following the technique of poetry, he begins in the middle of the story and comes back to its beginning later. [10] Homer, therefore, does not begin the narrative of the wanderings

of Ulysses with a description of that hero’s departure from the shores of Troy, but first shows him sailing from the island of Calypso, and (speaking in person) brings him to Phaeacia, where,

at the banquet of King Alcinous, Ulysses himself tells how he came from Troy to Calypso; then, after the Phaeacian episode, the poet again takes up the tale and himself describes the voyage of Ulysses to Ithaca. [11] Vergil has followed Homer’s example,

for he represents Aeneas sailing from Sicily and describes the voyage which brings him to Libya, where, at Dido’s banquet, the hero himself tells of his voyage from Troy to Sicily and sums up in a single line what the poet had already described at length: Departed hence, heaven drove me to your shores. [Aeneid 3. 715]

[12] And again, after the African episode, the poet once more becomes the narrator and in his own person has described the passage of the fleet all the way to Italy: Meanwhile Aeneas with his fleet was now in mid-course over

the sea, firm in his purpose. [deneid 5. 1] [13] In fact, all Vergil’s poem is modeled on what you might call a mirrored reflection of Homer’s. For example, Vergil’s description of the storm is a marvellous imitation of Homer’s (you have only to compare the two passages). We have Venus taking the place of Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous; and Dido for her part recalls the picture of Alcinous giving a banquet. [14] Scylla too and Charybdis and Circe are fittingly mentioned; and for the cattle of the sun Vergil gives us the fable of the Strophades Islands. For the consultation of the dead, in Homer, we have the descent of Aeneas to the world below in the company of the priestess. In the sixth Book of the Aeneid, Palinurus answers to Elpenor, the hostile

Dido to the hostile Ajax, and the predictions of Anchises to the counsels of Tiresias. [15] Then, in the Aeneid, we have the battles

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 2 289 of the IJiad and the wounds described with consummate skill; the double enumeration of the allies, and the making of the arms; there are the various contests at the funeral games; the making and breaking

of a treaty between kings; and the reconnaissance by night. There is the embassy returning with a refusal from Diomedes, after the example of Achilles, and there is the lament for Pallas as there was for Patroclus. The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon has its counterpart in the quarrel between Drances and Turnus, for in both quarrels one party was thinking of his own and the other of the common good.* The single combat between Aeneas and Turnus corresponds to that between Achilles and Hector; and captives are chosen for sacrifice in honor of the dead—in Homer for Patroclus,

in Vergil for Pallas: | Then he takes alive four youths, sons of Sulmo, and as many reared by Ufens, to offer as victims to the shades of the dead.

[Aeneid 10. 517]

[16] And for Homer’s Lycaon (who, overtaken in the rout, had recourse—and no wonder—to prayers for mercy, although Achilles

in his grief for Patroclus refused to spare him) Vergil has shown us Magus in like case in the midst of the fighting: At Magus next, from afar, Aeneas had hurled a hostile spear [Aeneid to. 521] and when he clasped the knees of Aeneas and prayed as a suppliant for his life, the other replied: Such barter in war, as thou wouldest have, Turnus hath already

closed ere this, in the hour when he slew Pallas. [Aeneid 10. 532]

[17] And the words with which Achilles reviles the corpse of Lycaon, beginning:

Now lie there... [Iliad 21. 122]

are taken by Vergil and addressed to ‘Tarquitius, in the passage which begins:

Now lie there, dread warrior.... [Aeneid 10. 557] 6 See W. Warde Fowler, The Death of Turnus (Oxford, 1919), p. 42.

CHAPTER 3 [1] You would perhaps like me to quote actual lines of Homer which Vergil has translated almost word for word. My memory isn’t competent to recount them all, but I will bring to your notice as many as shall occur to me.

[2] ‘hus Homer says: He brought the string to his breast and the iron head to the

bow. [Iliad 4. 123]

You see here how the richer Greek language has expressed the whole action in a few words; whereas your poet has used a number | of clauses to say the same thing,! in the passage which runs:

She drew her bow far, until the curved ends met; and, her hands in line, she touched the iron point with her left and her

breast with the bowstring in her right. [Aeneid 11. 860] [3] Again, Homer says: And no other land was in sight, but only sky and sea [Odyssey 12. 403] and Vergil has: And now no more is any land in sight, but sky on all sides and,

on all sides, sea. [Aeneid 3. 192]

[4] Homer: Then the dark wave stood around them, arched like an over-

hanging mountain [Odyssey 11. 243]

Vergil:

Around him stood the wave, arched like an overhanging mass. } [Georgics 4. 361]

[5] And of Tartarus Homer says:

As far beneath Hades as heaven is from earth [Iliad 8. 16] 1 Cf. 2. 2. 16, above.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 3 291 and Vergil says:

Tartarus yawns sheer downward and stretches through the darkness twice as far as is the skyward view to heavenly

Olympus. [Aeneid 6. 578]

[6] Homer: But when they had put off the desire for drink and for meat [Iliad 1. 469; 7. 323]

Vergil: When hunger had been banished and desire for food allayed. [Aeneid 8. 184] [7] Homer:

To him the god granted part of his prayer and part he denied [Iliad 16. 250] Vergil: Phoebus heard and in his heart granted that part of the prayers

should prosper, but part he scattered to the flying breezes. [Aeneid 11. 794]

[8] Homer: Now indeed doth the mighty Aeneas rule among the Trojans, and his children’s children who shall be born hereafter [Iliad 20. 307]

Vergil:

Here shall the house of Aeneas rule over all lands, and his children’s children and those who shall be born of them. [Aeneid 3. 97] [9] Homer says: And then were the knees of Odysseus loosened and his heart

melted. [Odyssey 5. 297]

and in another passage: And Ajax felt cold fear at his brother’s fall [Iliad 8. 330; 15. 436] but Vergil has combined Homer’s two lines to make one: Forthwith the limbs of Aeneas were loosened by cold fear. [Aeneid 1. 92] [10] Homer: Lady Athene, Savior of the City, fair among goddesses, break

now the spear of Diomedes and grant even that he fall prone

before the Skaean Gates [Iliad 6. 305]

292 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Vergil:

Lady mighty in arms, present help in battle, Tritonian Maid, break with thy hand the Phrygian robber’s spear; hurl him prone to the ground and lay him low before the very gates. [Aeneid 11. 483]

[11] Homer: She holds up her head in the heavens while she walks upon the

earth [Iliad 4. 443]

Veregil:

She plants her feet upon the earth and hides her head in the

clouds. [Aeneid 4. 177; 10. 767] [12] Homer says of sleep: A sound sleep, very sweet, and near akin to death [Odyssey 13. 80] and Vergil has the line: Repose sweet and deep and very like to the stillness of death. [Aeneid 6. 522] [13] Homer:

Verily by this staff, which shall never put forth leaves or shoots, since it has once and for all left its stem among the hills, nor shall it bloom again, for the bronze hath stripped it of leaves and bark; but now the sons of the Achaeans that minister

judgment bear it in their hands, they who by the commandment of Zeus have the laws in their keeping [Iliad 1. 234] [14] Vergil: As this staff (for in his hand he chanced to be bearing a staff) shall never with light foliage put forth shoots for shade, now that once and for all hewn away from the bottom of its stem in the woods it has lost its parent and beneath the steel has shed its leaves and branches, aforetime a tree; but now a craftsman’s hand has cased it in seemly bronze and given it to the fathers

of Latium to bear. [Aeneid 12. 206]

~ [15] But here (continued Eustathius) I propose, if you agree, to leave off quoting parallel passages to illustrate Vergil’s translations

from Homer, for too much of a monotonous recital may breed dislike of the subject, and I would have our talk turn to other topics no less well suited to the matters before us. [16] Do go on, I beg you, said Avienus, to examine all the pas-

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 3 293 sages in which Vergil has drawn from Homer, for what could be more delightful than to hear how the two greatest of poets say the same thing? There are three things that are judged to be equally impossible: to rob Jupiter of his thunderbolt, Hercules of his club, and Homer of a line.2 And, even if it were possible to do these feats, who but Jupiter would fittingly launch the thunderbolt, who but Hercules wield the oaken club, and who but Homer sing the songs that Homer sang? And yet Vergil has so happily appropriated

the words of the older poet as to make them seem to be his own. You will, then, meet the wishes of us all, if you will be so good as to let the present company share with you the knowledge of all that our poet has borrowed from yours. [17] Very well, said Eustathius, then give me a copy of Vergil,® for by looking at the several passages in it I shall the more easily

call to mind the corresponding lines in Homer. And when, at a word from Symmachus, the required book had been brought from the library by a servant, he opened it at random and, glancing at the passage on which he had chanced, said: See, here you have a harbor migrating from Ithaca to Dido’s city: [18] Vergil: In a deep inlet there is a place where an island forms a harbor

with the barrier of its sides on which every wave from the deep breaks and divides itself into retreating ripples. On either side are huge cliffs, and twin crags tower menacingly to the sky, beneath whose peaks the sheltered waters, far and wide,

are still. Then, too, there is a background of waving woods above, and a grove overhangs, gloomy with tangled shade. In front and below is a cave with beetling crags; within are fresh waters and seats of natural stone, a home of the Nymphs. Here no cables hold the weary ships, no anchor fastens them with

hooked fang [Aeneid 1. 159]

[19] Homer: There is in the island of Ithaca a harbor of Phorcys, the old man of the sea, and therein are two steep, jutting headlands,

sloping toward the harbor, which keep off the great wave raised by stormy winds outside; but, within, the well-benched 2 Cf. Suetonius Vita Vergili 46. See also the reference to Isidore of Seville 10. 44 in the note on 6. 2. 33, below. 3 Vergilianum volumen. (See p. 29571 1.)

294 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA ships ride without cable, when once they have come to the place of mooring. Now at the head of the harbor is a long-

leaved olive tree, and hard by it is a lovely cave, full of shadows, a sacred place of the Nymphs that are called Naiads. [Odyssey 13. 96]

CHAPTER 4 [1] Avienus then asked Eustathius, instead of remarking on passages taken here and there, to go through the Aeneid from the be-

ginning, book by book. Whereupon the other turned back the leaves, with his hand to the end,! and began as follows: [2] Vergil: Aeolus, on thee I call; for the Father of the gods and King of

men hath granted thee power both to calm and to rouse the

waves with the wind [Aeneid 1. 65]

Homer: For the Son of Cronos made him keeper of the winds, both to

lull and to rouse whatever wind he will. [Odyssey to. 21] [3] Vergil: I have twice seven nymphs of surpassing beauty, of whom Deiopea is fairest of form; her will I unite with thee in abiding

wedlock and will make her thine for ever [Aeneid 1. 71] Homer:

But come, and I will give thee one of the younger of the Graces, to be wed and to be called thy wife. [Iliad 14. 267] [4] The description of the storm raised by Aeolus against Aeneas and the Trojan leader’s lament for his lot are taken from Homer’s description of the storm which Ulysses met and from his lament,

Neptune taking the place of Aeolus. In each poem the passage is long and so I do not propose to quote the two passages in full,? for anyone who wishes to do so can read them for himself. They begin, in Vergil, with the line: 1 Manu retractis in calcem foltis. The book appears here to be a codex; in 3. 17, above, a roll. 2 The text reads non inserui: “I have not inserted them.” Macrobius seems

to have forgotten, for the moment, his imaginary dinner party and to be addressing his son.

296 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Thus he spoke and with the butt of his spear smote the hollow

mountain [Aeneid 1. 81]

and in Homer, with the line: Thus he spake and gathered the clouds and troubled the sea. [Odyssey 5. 291] [5] [Eustathius then continued | Vergil: At the gift of the first kindly light of day, Aeneas resolved to go forth and explore the strange land, to find out to what shores

the wind has brought him, who possess the land—men or beasts—for he sees all untilled, and then to bring back tidings

to his companions [Aeneid 1. 306]

Homer:

But when now Dawn of the fair tresses had brought the full light of the third day, even then did I take my spear and sharp sword and from the ship went quickly up to a place of wide prospect, if haply I might see signs of the work of men and

hear the sound of their speech. [Odyssey to. 144] [6] Vergil: None of thy sisters have I heard or seen. O how am I to address thee, maiden? For thy countenance is not mortal, nor has thy voice the sound of human speech. O, surely, thou art a goddess, the sister of Phoebus, perhaps, or one of the race of Nymphs [Aeneid 1. 326] Homer: I implore thee, O queen. Art thou, then, goddess or mortal?

If indeed thou art a goddess, one of them that hold wide heaven, to Artemis, daughter of mighty Zeus, I liken thee most, in beauty and in stature and inform. [Odyssey 6. 149] [7] Vergil: O goddess, if, going back to their first beginning, I were to tell, and thou hadst leisure to hear, the record of our woes, sooner will Heaven’s gates close and evening lay the day to rest [Aeneid 1. 372] Homer:

Who of mortal men could tell all that tale? Not even if thou wert to abide here for five years, ay for six, and ask me of all the ills that the noble Achaeans suffered there. [Odyssey 3. 113]

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 4 297 [8] Vergil: But, as they go, Venus covered them with a dark mist, and the goddess threw around them a thick mantle of cloud, that none might see or touch them or raise a barrier of delay or ask the

cause of their coming [Aeneid 1. 411]

Homer: And then Odysseus arose to go to the city; and Athene threw

a thick mist around Odysseus, for the love she bare him, lest any of the lordly Phaeacians should meet him and ask him who

he was, with taunting words. [Odyssey 7. 14] [9] Vergil: As on the banks of the Eurotas or along the ridges of Cynthus Diana plies the dance, in whose train a thousand mountain

nymphs troop on either side; she wears her quiver on her shoulder and she stands forth above all the goddesses as she goes, and joy, beyond words, thrills Latona’s heart; such was

Dido, thus did she move rejoicing$ [Aeneid 1. 498] [10] Homer:

And even as Artemis, the archer goddess, goes down the mountain, either along the ridges of lofty Taygetus or Erymanthus, taking her delight in the chase of boars and swift stags,

and with her sport the nymphs of the countryside, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus (and Leto is glad at heart); and higher than all she holds her head and forehead, and right easily may she be known, but all are fair; even so she, that pure maiden,

outshone her handmaids. [Odyssey 6. 102]

[11] Vergil: Aeneas stood forth resplendent in the clear light, his face and shoulders like to a god’s. For his mother herself had breathed upon her son the grace of flowing locks and the radiant light

of youth and a joyful glory in his eyes, such grace as the craftsman’s hands lend to ivory or when silver or Parian marble

is set in yellow gold [Aeneid 1. 588] [12] Homer: But the dame Eurynome bathed the lordly Odysseus within his own house and anointed him with olive oil and cast about him a goodly mantle and a doublet. And Athene shed great beauty 3 For a criticism by Probus of Vergil’s adaptation, see Aulus Gellius 9. 9.

298 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA from his head and made him greater and more mighty to behold and down from his head made curling locks to flow, like to the hyacinth flower. And as when some skillful man lays a plating of gold upon silver, a man whom Hephaestus and

Pallas Athene have taught all manner of craftsmanship, and full of grace is his handiwork, even so did Athene shed grace about his head and shoulders. [Odyssey 23. 153; cf. 6. 230] [13] Vergil: I whom you seek am here, even Trojan Aeneas, saved from the

Libyan waves [Aeneid 1. 595] Homer: Home indeed am I here, myself; after many grievous sorrows have I come, in the twentieth year, to my native land. [Odyssey 21. 207]

CHAPTER 5 [1] Vergil All fell silent and kept their gaze fixed upon him [Aeneid 2. 1] Homer: So he spake, and they all were silent and held their peace. [Iliad 7. 92]

[2] Vergil: Unspeakable, O queen, is the grief that you bid me renew, how the Greeks utterly destroyed the power of Troy and, to our

sorrow, her realm [Aeneid 2. 3]

Homer: It is hard, O queen to tell the whole story of my woes, for the gods of heaven have given me woes in plenty. [Odyssey 7. 241]. [3] Vergil:

Some gaze in wonder at the fatal offering to the maiden Minerva and marvel at the huge size of the horse; and Thymoetes is the first to urge that it be brought within the walls and lodged in the citadel—whether through treachery or whether at last the doom of Troy was this way tending. But Capys and those whose minds had better counsel bid us either hurl into the sea this thing of Greek devising, a gift suspected,

and put fire under it and burn it, or pierce and explore the hollow recesses of its womb. The wavering crowd is torn into

Opposing parties [Aeneid 2. 31] [4] Homer: So the horse stood there, and seated around it the people spoke many things, undecided; and three plans seemed good to them:

either to cleave the hollow timber with pitiless bronze, or to drag it to the hilltop and hurl it from the rocks, or to leave it

300 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA as a splendid gift, to be a peace offering to the gods. And verily on this wise was their counsel to be at the last, for it was

fated that the city should perish when it should have closed upon the great horse of wood wherein sat all the bravest of the

Argives, bringing death and doom to the Trojans. [Odyssey 8. 505]

[5] Vergil: Meanwhile the heaven turns round; and night rushes up from the ocean, enfolding in its mighty shade both earth and sky [Aeneid 2. 250] Homer: And the sun’s bright light fell into the ocean, drawing black

night across the grain-giving earth. [Iliad 8. 485] [6] Vergil:

Alas! How sad he looked, how changed from that great Hector, returning clad in the spoils of Achilles, or fresh from hurling on the Danaan ships the fires of Phrygia [Aeneid 2. 274] Homer: Ha! Of a truth far easier to handle is Hector now than when

he burnt the ships with blazing fire. [Iliad 22. 373] [7] Vergil:

And young Coroebus, son of Mygdon, who (it chanced) in those last days had come to Troy, fired with a mad passion for

Cassandra; and he brought aid to Priam, hoping to be his

son-in law, and to the Phrygians [Aeneid 2. 341] [8] Homer: For he slew Othryoneus of Kabesos, a guest within the walls of Troy, who but lately had come to seek renown in war; and he sought in marriage the fairest of the daughters of Priam, Cas-

sandra, without gifts of wooing, but he promised a mighty deed, even to drive the sons of the Achaeans perforce from Troy. To him the old man Priam promised and assented that he would give her; and he fought, trusting in those promises. [Iliad 13. 363] [9] Vergil: Thus to the courage of the men was added frenzy. Thereupon, like ravening wolves in a dark mist, wolves which the reckless rage of hunger has driven blindly forth, and the cubs which

, BOOK 5, CHAPTER 5 301 they have left await them with thirsty jaws; so through weapons and through foes we go to no uncertain death and hold on our way to the middle of the city; black night hovers

around us with encircling gloom [Aeneid 2. 355] [10] Homer: He went on his way like a lion, mountain-bred, that for long has lacked meat, and its bold spirit bids it make trial for sheep and to come to the stout homestead. For even if it find herdsmen there with hounds and spears, guarding the sheep, it is in no wise minded to be chased from the steading without making trial, but it either leaps on a sheep and carries it off or is itself smitten, among the foremost of the men, by a dart from a quick

hand. [Iliad 12.299]

[11]: Vergil: As one who unawares, in rough briars, has trodden on a snake, as he plants his foot on the ground, and shrinks back from it in sudden fear as it rises up in wrath and puffs out its dark neck

—even so Androgeos, struck with terror at the sight, was

drawing away [Aeneid 2. 379]

Homer: And as when a man who has seen a snake in a mountain glen starts back, and trembling seizes his limbs beneath him, and he retreats back again, and pallor takes hold of his cheeks—even

so did the godlike Alexandros in fear of the son of Atreus withdraw into the throng of the brave Trojans. [Iliad 3. 33] [12] Vergil: As when, into the light, a snake fed on baneful herbage, whose swollen form the cold of winter kept under ground, now, its

old skin doffed, fresh and glistening with youth, rolls its smooth length along with body erect, raising its head to the sun and darting from its mouth its three-forked tongue [Aeneid 2. 471]

Homer: As a snake of the mountains that has fed on evil poisons on its

nest awaits a man, and dread wrath has entered into it, and terribly it glares as it coils itself around its nest—so Hector,

with might unquenchable, retreated not. [Iliad 22. 93] [13] Vergil:

Not so madly does a river that has burst its banks and gone

302 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA forth foaming and overwhelmed with its flood the mounds that

stand in its way rush in a raging mass over the fields and, through all the plains, carry away herds and stalls together [Aeneid 2. 496]

Homer:

And as when a river in flood comes down to the plain, in winter spate, from the mountains, pressed on by the rain of Zeus; and many dry oaks and many pines it carries with it, and

much silt it casts into the sea. [Iliad 11. 492] [14] Vergil: Thrice then I tried to throw my arms around her neck; thrice the phantom, vainly grasped, fled from my hands, like to the light winds and most like to drifting smoke [Aeneid 2. 792; 6. 700] Homer: Thrice I sprang toward her, and my heart bade me embrace her; but thrice from my hands, like a shadow or even as a dream,

she flitted away; and my keen grief grew yet keener in my

breast. [Odyssey 11. 206]

CHAPTER 6 [1] Another storm [continued Eustathius] befalls Aeneas in Vergil’s poem and Ulysses in Homer’s, and both storms are described at some length. In the Aeneid the description begins at the line: When our ships had stood out to sea and now no more is any

land in sight [Aeneid 3. 192]

and Homer begins by saying: But now, when we were leaving that island and no other land

was in sight. [Odyssey 12. 403]

[2] [Eustathius then went on with his recital of parallel passages. | Vergil: Receive these gifts my child, and may they be to thee a memo-

rial of my handiwork [Aeneid 3. 486]

Homer: There, let this now be to thee a treasure, my child, [cf. Iliad 23. 618]

a memorial of Helen’s handiwork. [Odyssey 15. 126] [3] Vergil: The south winds stretch the sails, we speed over the foaming waves, where breeze and helmsman called our course [Aeneid 3. 268] Homer: Having set in order all the tackle throughout the ship, we sat down, and breeze and helmsman guided her. [Odyssey 11.9] [4] Here is Vergil’s description of Scylla and Charybdis: Scylla besets the right side, implacable Charybdis the left, and in the lowest whirlpool of her chasm thrice sucks sheer down

the huge waves and lifts them forth again in turn to heaven and whips the stars with spray. But Scylla a cavern confines in its dark recesses, as she thrusts forth her mouths and draws

304 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA ships to the rocks. Above, her form in human, a fair-bosomed maiden to the waist; below, she is a sea-dragon of monstrous body, with dolphins’ tails joined to wolves’ belly. It is better to

round the farthest point of Trinacrian Pachynus, for all the delay, and to take a long and winding course than once to have seen misshapen Scylla under her vasty cave and the rocks that

re-echo to the sea-dark hounds [Aeneid 3. 420] [5] And this is how Homer describes Charybdis: Charybdis in terrible wise sucked down the salt sea water, and indeed, whenever she vomited it forth, she would boil up like a cauldron on a great fire, in utter tumult, and, overhead, spray would fall on the top of the cliffs on both sides; but when she gulped down the salt sea water, she was all plain to see within, in tumult, and the rock around roared terribly and, below, the ground was plain to see with its black sand. And pale fear took

hold of the men. [Odyssey 12. 236]

[6] Here too is Homer’s description of Scylla: But therein dwells Scylla, yelping horribly. Her voice indeed

is no more than is that of a newborn whelp, but a dreadful monster is she, nor would any rejoice to have seen her, not even if it were a god that met her. Her feet, verily, are twelve, all outstretched, and she has six necks, exceeding long, and on

each a hideous head, and therein are triple rows of teeth set thick and close, full of black death. As far as the waist she is sunk deep in a hollow cave, but she holds forth her heads from the dreadful gulf; and there she fishes, groping around the rock for dolphins and dogfish and any greater sea beast that she may anywhere take, of all the countless creatures that roaring

Amphitrite feeds. [Odyssey 12. 85] [7] Vergil: O thou who art the only likeness left to me of my Astyanax; such eyes, such hands, such looks were his! [Aeneid 3. 489] Homer: Verily such were his feet, such his hands, the glances of his

eyes, his head, and the hair thereon. [Odyssey 4. 149] [8] Vergil: Thrice the cliffs rang amid the rocky caves, thrice we saw the foam dashed up and the stars dripping with spray [Aeneid 3. 566]

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 6 305 Homer: And beneath it dread Charybdis sucks down black water, for thrice a day she hurls it forth, and thrice she sucks it down. [Odyssey 12. 104] [9] Vergil: Like a hind, struck by an arrow which, as she goes heedless in Cretan woods, a shepherd pursuing her with his weapons has pierced from afar and has left in her the winged steel, although he knows it not; but she in flight scours the groves and glades of Dicte, the deadly shaft sticks fast in her side [Aeneid 4. 69] [10] Homer: [As tawny jackals in the mountains gather] around a wounded antlered stag, which a man has smitten with an arrow from a bowstring; and the stag escapes him by the speed of its flight, so long as the blood flows warm and its knees have strength. But when the swift arrow has overcome it, then do the savage

jackals devour it in the mountains. [Iliad 11. 475] [11] Vergil: So said he. And the other made ready to obey the command of

his mighty father. And first he binds on his feet the golden

sandals which bear him soaring on wings high over! sea and land, swift as the rushing wind. Then he takes his wand, with this he summons forth pale spirits from Orcus, others he conducts below to gloomy Tartarus, and with it he brings and

banishes sleep and unseals the eyes at death. On his wand relying he drives the winds and cleaves the massed clouds. [Aeneid 4. 238] [12] Homer: So he said he; nor did the Messenger, the Slayer of Argus, disobey. Forthwith then he bound under his feet the fair sandals, immortal and of gold, which would bear him over the waters and over the boundless earth, swift as the breath of the wind. And he took his wand, wherewith he soothes the eyes of men,

of whom he will, and others again he wakens out of sleep. This wand did the mighty Slayer of Argus take in his hands

and fly. [Iliad 24. 339] 1 Reading supra (the received text) ; Macrobius reads iuxta.

306 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [13] Vergil:

And as when the north winds from the Alps strive among themselves, with blasts from this side and from that, to over-

throw an oak full of years and strength, the roaring gale sweeps on and the leaves from the shaken trunk are strewn deep on the ground. But the tree clings to its foundation in the

rock; and as far as it soars with its head to the breezes of heaven, so far it reaches with its roots to the world below

| [Aeneid 4. 441] [14] Homer: As when a man rears a lusty shoot of an olive tree in an open place where water wells up in plenty, a shoot that is fair and flourishing, and blasts of all the winds shake it, and even so it swells with white blossoms; but suddenly comes a wind with a mighty gust and wrests it from its trench and stretches it forth

upon the ground. [Iliad 17. 53]

[15] Vergil: And now early Dawn, leaving the saffron couch of Tithonus, was strewing the earth with her first fresh light [Aeneid 4. 584; 9. 459] Homer: JJawn arose from her couch by the noble Tithonus, to bring

light to gods and men [Iliad 11. 1; Odyssey 5. 1] Dawn of the saffron robe was spreading over all the earth. [Iliad 8. 1]

CHAPTER 7 [1] Vergil: When the ships had gained the open sea and now no more did any land meet the eye but sea on all sides and on all sides sky,

over his head there stood a black rain cloud, bringing night and stormy weather, and the waves grew rough and dark [Aeneid 5. 8}

Homer: But now, when we were leaving that island and no other land was in sight, but only sky and sea, even then, above the hollow ship, the son of Cronos made a black cloud to stand, and the

sea grew dark beneath it. [Odyssey 12. 403]

[2] Vergil:

And oft he poured wine from bowls and called on the soul of great Anchises and the spirit released from Acheron [Aeneid 5. 98] Homer:

And oft he drew wine and poured it on the ground and drenched the earth, calling on the soul of the hapless Patroclus. [Iliad 23. 220] [3] Vergil:

To him he gave a corselet, sewn together with smooth links and trebly woven with gold, which he had stripped with his own victorious hands from Demoleus by the swift Simois

beneath lofty Ilium [Aeneid 5.259]

Homer:

I will give him a corselet which I took from Asteropaios, a corselet of bronze, and around it, at either edge, are set circles of shining tin, and of great worth will it be to him. [Iliad 23. 560]

308 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [4] Vergil and Homer [Eustathius continued] describe the running contest in much the same way, and since each poet tells of the contest at considerable length, I shall leave it to you to find and read the corresponding passages. ‘They begin thus: Vergil:

This said, they take their stand, and suddenly, the signal

heard... [Aeneid 5. 315]

Homer:

They stood in a row and Achilles pointed out the turning

places. [Iliad 23. 757] [5] The boxing begins in Vergil with the line: Straightway each took his stand, rising on tiptoe

[Aeneid 5. 426]

and in Homer with the lines: The pair, being girt, stepped into the middle of the ring, and both together raised their strong hands to fight. [Iliad 23. 685]

[6] If you would compare the trials of archery, here are the opening lines: Vergil:

| arrows [Aeneid 5. 485] Forthwith Aeneas [invites all who will] to contend with swift

Homer:

Then for the archers he sets a prize of dark iron. [Iliad 23. 850]

[7] In a long narrative it will be enough if I give the most significant parts of the passages, and so enable a reader to find out what follows. Thus: [8] Vergil: He ceased and passed like smoke into the empty air “Whither

then,” cried Aeneas, “art thou hastening, whither hurrying? From whom dost thou flee or who keeps thee from my em-

places. [Aeneid 5. 740]

Thrice he had tried to throw his arms around his neck, thrice the phantom, vainly grasped, fled from his hands [Aeneid 6. 700; 2. 792] Homer:

Thus she spake, but I pondered in my mind and was fain to to embrace the spirit of my mother, dead. Thrice I sprang toward her and my heart bade me embrace her, but thrice

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 7 309 from my hands, like a shadow or even as a dream, she flitted away, and my keen grief grew yet keener in my breast. [Odyssey 11. 204]

[9] Vergil’s account of the funeral rites of Palinurus! follows the pattern of the account of the funeral rites of Patroclus! in Homer. Thus Vergil begins : First they raise [for Misenus] a huge pyre rich with pinewood

and billets of oak [Aeneid 6. 214]

Homer’s description of the funeral of Patroclus begins thus: They went forth with axes in their hands to cleave the wood [Iliad 23. 114]

and elsewhere in this passage the poet says:

And they made a pyre, a hundred feet this way and that. [Iliad 23. 164]

[10] Indeed in each poet the resemblances extend to the description of the actual adornment of each funeral mound. Thus Vergil says:

But the good Aeneas places over him a tomb of mighty mass with the hero’s own gear, his oar, and his trumpet, beneath a lofty hill, which from him is now called Misenus and keeps his

name immortal through the ages [Aeneid 6. 232] and, of the funeral of Elpenor, Homer says: But when the dead man was burned, and the arms of the dead,

we heaped a mound and hauled up thereon a pillar, and we planted his well-shapen oar on the top of the mound. [Odyssey 12. 13]

[11] Vergil:

Then Death’s own brother, Sleep [Aeneid 6. 278] Homer:

There she met Sleep, the brother of Death. [Iliad 14. 231] [12] Vergil [by the mouth of Palinurus]: Wherefore by the gladdening light and the breezes of heaven,

: by the father, I beseech thee, and by thy hopes for [ulus as he grows to man’s estate, deliver me from these ills, for thou art unconquered; either do thou cast earth upon me (for this thou canst do) and seek again the port of Velia... [Aeneid 6. 363] 1 Of Misenus as well as of Palinurus, in Vergil,; and of Elpenor as well as of Patroclus, in Homer.

310 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [13] Homer [by the mouth of Elpenor]: And now I beseech thee by those we have left behind, who are not with us, by thy wife, and by thy father who cherished thee when thou wast yet small, and by Telemachus whom thou didst leave in thy halls alone; for I know that, passing hence from the house of Hades, thou wilt steer thy well-built ship to the island of Aeaea. There, O king, I bid thee then remember me, nor, going thence, leave me behind unwept, unburied, nor turn away from me, lest I become a curse from heaven to thee.

But burn me with my arms, whatsoever is mine, and heap a barrow for me on the shore of the gray sea, in memory of an unhappy man, even for them that shall be hereafter to hear of. This do for me, and plant upon the mound my oar, wherewith I rowed among my companions, when I was yet alive. [Odyssey 11. 66] [14] Vergil: Tityos too might be seen, the foster child of Earth, the mother of all, he whose body lies stretched over nine whole acres; and

a monstrous vulture with hooked beak, feeding on the imperishable liver and bowels fruitful of pains, gropes as it feasts and has its dwelling deep within his breast, nor have the ever-

renewed entrails any respite [Aeneid 6. 595]

[15] Homer:

And ‘Tityos I saw, son of renowned Earth, lying on the ground, and he covered nine roods as he lay; and two vultures, sitting one on either side, kept feeding greedily on his liver, piercing to the bowels within; nor could his hands ward them off; for he had done violence to Leto, the famed bedfellow of

Zeus, as she went on her way to Pytho through the pleasant

places of Panopeus. [Odyssey 11. 576] [16] Vergil:

Not though a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths were mine, and a voice of iron, could I tell of all the shapes of wickedness and rehearse the names of all the punishments [Aeneid 6. 625] Homer: But the common people I could not number, nor yet name, not

even if ten tongues and ten mouths were mine, and a voice invincible, and a heart within me of bronze. [Iliad 2. 488]

CHAPTER 8 [1] Vergil:

Hence could be heard the angry growls of lions as they struggled with their chains and roared at depth of night, and bristly boars, and bears, were raging in their pens, and huge wolflike forms were howling. All these the cruel goddess Circe

by potent herbs had changed from human shape and had clothed in the likeness and hides of beasts [Aeneid 7. 15] Homer:

And they found in the glades the house of Circe, built of polished stones in a place of wide prospect. And around it were wolves of the mountain and lions; them had she charmed,

having given them baneful drugs. [Odyssey to. 210] [2] Vergil:

What do you seek? What cause or what need has brought your ships so far through the blue seas to the Ausonian shore? Was it a mistaken course, or did storms drive you—such things

as many a time befall sailors on the deep? [Aeneid 7. 197] Homer: Is it for trade; or recklessly do you rove, as pirates, over the sea, who wander at hazard of their lives, bringing mischief to

strangers? [Odyssey 3. 72] [3] Vergil: As at times snow-white swans sing among the gliding clouds,

when they return from feeding and utter tuneful cries from their long necks, the river resounds and the Asian marsh afar

rings smitten [Aeneid 7. 699]

Homer:

And as the many tribes of winged fowl, geese or cranes or long-necked swans, in the Asian meadow around the streams of

312 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Caystrius fly hither and thither, glorying in their plumage, and with loud cries settling ever onward; and the meadow resounds. [Iliad 2. 459] [4] Vergil: She would pass in flight over the topmost blades of the corn

and touch them not nor have harmed the tender ears in her course; or make her way through the midst of the sea, poised above the swelling wave, and touch not with the surface of the

water the soles of her swift feet! [Aeneid 7. 808] Homer: These mares, when they bounded over the grain-giving earth,

would run upon the tops of the ripe ears of corn nor tread them down; and when they bounded over the broad ridges of the sea, they would run upon the top of the surf of the gray

brine. [Iliad 20. 226]

[5] Vergil: Aeneas and his Trojan warriors together feast upon the chine

of a whole ox and the sacrificial entrails. When hunger had been banished and desire for food allayed, king Evander says... [Aeneid 8. 182] Homer:

And the hero, son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon, honored Ajax with long chines. But when they had put off the desire for drink and for meat, the old man, first of all, began to weave for them a web of counsel. [Iliad 7. 321] [6] Vergil: The kindly light of day and the morning song of birds beneath

the eaves rouse Evander from his lowly dwelling. The old man rises and clothes his limbs in a tunic and covers the soles

of his feet with the binding of Tyrrhenian sandals. Then he buckles his T’egean sword to his side and shoulders, flinging back a panther’s hide to hang down on the left. Also, at the very threshold, a pair of guards go before him, his hounds, and

accompany their master as he goes [Aeneid 8. 455] [7] Homer: The dear son of Odysseus rose from his bed and donned his raiment; he cast his sharp sword about his shoulders and bound

fair sandals under his shining feet [Odyssey 2. 2] 1 Cf. Apollonius Rhodius 1. 183.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 8 313 He went on his way to the place of assembly; in his hand he held a bronze spear; not alone was he, but with him followed

swift-footed hounds. [Odyssey 2. 10] [8] Vergil: O that Jupiter would give back to me the years that are past, making me the man that I was when, under the very walls of Praeneste, I laid low the foremost ranks of the enemy, as victor burned their piled-up shields, and with this right hand sent

king Erimus to Tartarus. To him at his birth his mother Feronia (terrible to tell!) had given three lives, three sets of arms to wield, and thrice had he to be laid low in death. Yet on that day this hand robbed him of all his lives and as many

times stripped him of his arms [Aeneid 8. 560] [9] Homer:

Ah, would to father Zeus and Athene and Apollo I were young, as in the day when by the swift-flowing Keladon the Pylians gathered to battle and the Arcadians, those mighty spearmen, by the walls of Pheia around the streams of Iardanus [Iliad 7. 132] But me my stout heart in its hardihood roused to fight, though I was the youngest of all in age; and I fought with him, even

I, and Athene gave me glory. He was indeed the tallest and strongest of men that I have slain, for a mighty man he lay, stretched this way and that. Would that I were thus young and my strength unabated; then would Hector of the gleaming

helm soon find his combat. [Iliad 7. 152] [10] Vergil: Even as when the Morning Star, bathed in the waters of Ocean, the star which Venus loves above all other starry fires, lifts up in heaven his sacred head and dispels the darkness [Aeneid 8. 589]

Homer: As a star goes forth among the stars in the gloom of night, the Evening Star, which is the fairest of all that are set in heaven. [Iliad 22. 317]

[11] Vergil: “See, here are the gifts made by my husband’s promised skull,

that thou mayest not hereafter doubt, my son, to challenge either the proud Laurentians or the fierce Turnus to battle.”

314 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA So spake the goddess of Cythera and sought her son’s embrace; the gleaming armor she placed beneath an oak that stood before

them. He, rejoicing in the gift of the goddess and the signal honor, cannot satisfy his eyes with the sight but bends his gaze to each piece and marvels thereat and keeps turning the armor

in his hands and arms [Aeneid 8. 612] [12] Homer:

“But do thou take from Hephaestus the famous arms, right goodly arms, such as never yet man wore upon his shoulders.” So spake the goddess and laid the arms down before Achilles,

and, all-cunningly worked, they rang loudly [Iltad 19. 10]

god. [Iltad 19. 18]

And he rejoiced as he took in his hands the splendid gifts of a

CHAPTER 9 [1] Vergil: Iris, glory of the sky, who sped thee hastening from the clouds

down to the earth for me? [Aeneid 9. 18]

Homer: Iris, goddess, who, pray, of the gods sent thee a messenger to

me? [Iliad 18. 182]

[2] Vergil: Nor does that pain which I know so well touch only the sons

of Atreus : [Aeneid 9. 138]

Homer: Do the sons of Atreus alone of mortal men love their wives? [Iliad 9. 340] [3] Vergil: But of you, my chosen men, who makes ready, sword in hand, to tear down the rampart and with me storm the camp now in

confusion? [Aeneid 9. 146]

Homer: Up, horse-taming ‘Trojans, break the Argive’s wall and hurl

blazing fire among the ships. [Iliad 12. 440]

[4] Vergil: For the rest of the day, rejoice in your exploits, my men, refresh yourselves; be ready and await the fight [Aeneid 9. 157] Homer: But go now to your meal, that we may join battle anon; let a man sharpen well his spear and put in order his shield.

[5] Vergil:

[Iliad 2. 381]

So he speaks, with tears. [herewith he takes from his shoulder

his sword inlaid with gold, which Cretan Lycaon had made

316 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA with wondrous skill and furnished with an ivory scabbard for carrying. Io Nisus Mnestheus gives a skin, spoils of a shaggy lion; and trusty Aletes makes exchange of helmets with him.

[6] Forthwith they advance in arms, and, as they go, the whole company of chieftains, young and old, escort them to

the gates with prayers, and fair Iulus too [Aeneid 9. 303] [7] Homer: To the son of Tydeus Thrasymedes, steadfast in war, gave a two-edged sword (for his own had been left by the ships) and

a shield; and about his head he placed a cap of bull’s hide, without horn or plume, which is called a skullcap, and it protects the heads of stalwart men. And Meriones, meanwhile, gave Odysseus a bow and a quiver and a sword; and about his

head he placed a cap made of leather, and, within, it was stretched stiffly with many thongs and, without, white teeth of a boar of flashing tusks, set close, went round it on this side and that, well and skillfully; and the inside was fitted with felt. [Iliad 10. 255] [8] Vergil: Sallying forth they cross the ditches and through the shade of

night make for the enemy camp—to them a fatal camp, yet were they destined first to bring death to many. Everywhere they see bodies prostrate on the grass in drunken sleep, chariots

with poles set up on end on the shore, the men lying among the reins and wheels, and arms and wine cups all around. First spoke the son of Hyrtacus thus: “Euryalus, our hands must be bold; the deed itself now summons us. Here lies our way. That no troops spring up against us from behind, do you keep watch

and take good heed afar. I will deal havoc here and make a

straight road for you to follow” [Aeneid 9. 314] [9] Homer: The two went forward through the arms and the black blood

and, going, came quickly to the company of the Thracian men. They were sleeping, worn out by fatigue, but their goodly arms lay on the ground beside the men, well ordered in three rows, and by each man his pair of horses: but Rhesus was sleeping in the middle, and by him his swift horses had been tied by the reins to the bottom of the chariot rail. Him Odysseus was the first to see and showed him to Diomedes:

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 9 317 “This, Diomedes, is indeed the man, and these indeed the horses

which Dolon whom we slew made known to us. But come, now, put forth your strong might; no call for you to stand idle with your weapons; come, loose the horses; or do you slay the men and the horses shall be my care.” [Iliad 10. 469] [10] Vergil:

doom [Aeneid 9. 328]

But not by his seer’s craft could he ward off the plague of Homer: But not by his seer’s craft did he ward off black doom.

[Iliad 2. 859]

[11] Vergil: And now early Dawn, leaving the saffron couch of Tithonus, was strewing the earth with her first fresh light | deneid 9. 459; 4. 584]

Homer: Dawn arose from her couch by the noble Tithonus, to bring

light to gods and men. [Iliad 11. 1; Odyssey 5. 1] [12] The passage in which the mother of Euryalus, when she heard the dread tidings of her son’s death, let fall from her hands her shuttles and threads and ran shrieking through the city and the

ranks of the men, tearing her hair and pouring out her grief in lamentation and wailing, has all been taken by Vergil from Homer’s

description of Andromache’s lament for her husband’s death [Aeneid 9. 473; Iliad 22. 460]. [13] Vergil: O Phrygian women you are indeed; not Phrygian men [Aeneid 9. 617] Homer: O weaklings, base creatures of shame, women—no longer men—

of Achaea. [Iliad 2. 235]

[14] Vergil: What other walls, what battlements beyond have you now? Shall one man, and he hemmed in on all sides by your ramparts —shall he, O my countrymen, have made such havoc through the city, unscathed? Shall he have sent so many of the flower of our youth to death? Cowards! Have you no pity, no shame, for your unhappy country, and for your ancient gods, and for

the great Aeneas? [Aeneid 9. 782]

318 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [15] Homer: Friends, Danaan heroes, servants of Ares, be men, my friends, and remember your prowess and might. Do we deem that we have comrades behind us or some stronger wall to ward off

destruction from men? There is no city near, arrayed with towers, whereby we might defend ourselves, having a people

to retrieve the day. Nay, but we are set in the plain of the well-armed Trojans, with our backs to the sea, far from our native land. Wherefore the light of safety is in the strength of

our hands, not in slackening! from battle. [Iliad 15. 733] 1 Reading pepuyty.

CHAPTER 10 [1] Vergil:

Valiantly they hurl their spears, even as under black clouds Strymonian cranes give signs as they noisily cleave the air and flee before the south winds with clamor in their train [Aeneid 10. 264] Homer: Even as the clamor of cranes goes up before the face of heaven, cranes which flee from the coming of winter and rains unblest. [Iliad 3. 3] [2] Vergil:

The top of his head is ablaze, and from the summit of his helmet crest too streams fire; his golden shield belches forth devouring flames. Even as when in a clear night comets shine banefully, blood-red; or even as is the heat of Sirius, the star that rises bringing drought and pestilence to wretched mortals, and saddens the sky with its ill-omened light [Aeneid io. 270] [3] Homer: Him the old man Priam was the first to see with his eyes, as he sped across the plain, shining like the star which goes forth in autumn, and, clear to see, its rays shine among the many stars

in the gloom of night, the star which men call by name “Qrion’s Dog.” Very bright is this star, but an evil sign it has become; and it brings much fever to wretched mortals. Even so the bronze shone upon his breast as he ran. [Iliad 22. 25] [4] Vergil: For each man his appointed day stands fixed; for all the term

of life is short and none may renew it [Aeneid to. 467] [As for Turnus] his fates are calling him, and he has reached

the goal of his allotted span of life [Aeneid 10. 472]

320 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Homer:

Most dread son of Cronos, what word is this that thou hast spoken? Wilt thou deliver again from ill-boding death a man—

a mortal man—long doomed to his fate? [Iliad 16. 440] But from destiny, I say, no one of men escapes—neither the coward nor yet the brave—when once he has been born.

[Iliad 6. 488] ,

[5] Vergil:

“By the spirit of thy dead father, by thy hopes for ulus as he grows to man’s estate, I pray thee spare this life for a son and for a father. I have a stately house; buried within it

lie talents of embossed silver; weight of gold I have, both wrought and unwrought. Not here, on me, turns the victory of the Trojans, nor will one poor life work so great a difference.” Such were his words, but Aeneas answers him thus: “The great store of talents of silver and of gold whereof thou

tellest, spare them for thy sons. Such barter in war as thou wouldest have, Turnus hath already closed ere this, in the hour when he slew Pallas; so deems the spirit of my father Anchises, so deems [ulus.” With these words he grasps the suppliant’s helmet with his left hand, then bent his neck back and buried

his sword in up to the hilt [Aeneid to. 524] [6] Homer:

“Take us alive, son of Atreus, and receive thou a worthy ransom, for in the house of Antimachus lie stored many treasures, bronze and gold and well-wrought iron; therefrom would our father gladly give thee ransom past telling, if he

should learn that we two were alive by the ships of the Achaeans.” Thus the two addressed the king, weeping and with gentle words, but ungentle was the voice they heard: “If indeed ye are the sons of wise Antimachus, even he who once in the assembly of the Trojans bade slay Menelaus there, when he came on an embassy with the godlike Odysseus, nor let him return again to the Achaeans, now verily ye shall pay

for that father’s shameful outrage.” He spake and thrust Peisander from the chariot to the ground, smiting him with a spear in the breast, and he fell on his back on the earth; but Hippolochus leapt down, and him he slew on the ground, lopping off his hands with the sword and cutting off his neck,

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 10 321 and sent him rolling through the press like a rounded stone. [Iliad 11. 131]

[7] Vergil: As often an unfed lion, roaming around the tall coverts— for the madness of hunger tempts it—if haply it has seen a wild goat in flight or a stag with towering antlers, opens its huge

jaws for joy, erects its mane, and planting its claws in the flesh crouches thereon, and foul gore bathes its relentless mouth; so Mezentius rushed eagerly into the thick of the foe. [Aeneid 10. 723]

[8] Homer: Even as a lion rejoices when it has lighted upon a great carcass that it has found, of an antlered stag or a wild goat, for it is hungry, and greedily it devours its prey, even though swift hounds and stalwart men set upon it; so did Menelaus rejoice when his eyes beheld the godlike Alexander, for he thought to

take vengeance on the guilty men. [Iliad 3. 23] [9] Homer: He went on his way like a lion, mountain-bred, that for long has lacked meat, and its bold spirit bids it make trial for sheep and to come to the stout homestead. For even if it find herdsmen thereby with hounds and spears, guarding the sheep, it is

in no wise minded to be chased from the steading without making trial, but it either leaps on a sheep and carries it off or

is itself smitten, among the foremost of the men, by a dart from a quick hand. So then did his heart urge the godlike Sarpedon to attack the wall and to cleave his way through the

battlements. [Iliad 12. 299] [10] Vergil: The earth is bedewed with their tears, bedewed too their arms

[Aeneid 11. 191] | Homer:

men. [Iliad 23. 15] Bedewed was the sand with tears, bedewed the arms of the

[11] Vergil:

With eager haste Turnus furiously girds himself for battle. And now indeed, his shining breastplate donned, he stood bristling with scales of bronze; his legs he had inclosed in greaves of gold—his head still bare—and he had buckled his

322 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA sword to his side. Gleaming in gold he rushed down from the

citadel’s height [Aeneid 11. 486]

[12] Homer:

So he spake; and Patroclus was arming himself in shining bronze. First he placed about his shins goodly greaves fitted with silver anklets, next, about his breast he donned the corselet

of the swift-footed son of Aeacus, skillfully wrought and bright as the stars. Around his shoulders he cast the bronze sword with studs of silver, and then he took the great and strong shield. On his mighty head he placed the well-made helmet with horsehair crest, and terribly the plume nodded above it; and he took stout spears that fitted well his hand. [Iliad 16. 130]

[13] Vergil: As when a bright flower, cut down by a plough, droops and dies, or poppies are wont to bow the head with weary neck, when perchance they are weighed down by rain [Aeneid 9. 435]! Homer: Even as a poppy lets fall its head aside, which in a garden is

weighed down by its seed and by the showers of spring; so he drooped aside his head beneath the weight of his helmet. [Iliad 8. 306]! 1 Perhaps inserted here (at the end of the list of Homeric parallels in the Aeneid) after having been accidentally omitted from Chap. 9, to which the passages would more fittingly belong.

CHAPTER 11 [1] As for these excerpts (continued Eustathius), they must be left to the judgment of the reader; for it is for him to make up his own mind about the comparisons which I have suggested. But, if you ask for my opinion, I shall not deny that Vergil’s imitations sometimes have more substance than the originals and have improved on them. Take, for example, these two passages: [2] Vergil: As bees in early summer throughout the flowery countryside are busy in the sunshine with their tasks, when they lead forth the full-grown young ones of their race, or when they pack the liquid honey and swell out the sweet cells with nectar, or when they receive the incoming burdens, or in martial array drive the idle herd of drones from the hives. The work goes busily on, and the sweet-scented honey is fragrant with thyme [Aeneid 1. 430]

[3] and Homer: Even as when the tribes of thronging bees come from a hollow rock, coming ever in fresh swarms, and they fly clustering on

the flowers of spring, and some are massed in flight on this side and some on that; so from the ships and from the huts before the low beach marched the many tribes, in companies, to the place of assembly, and Rumor was ablaze among them. [Iliad 2. 87]

[4] Vergil, you see, has described bees at work, Homer, bees flying hither and thither. Homer gives only a picture of their movements to and fro and the changing direction of their flight, but Vergil portrays the duties which their nature has taught them

to perform. 1 Vergil’s father is said to have kept bees (Suetonius Vita Vergili 1).

324 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [5] These lines of Vergil’s too are richer than their original: Veregil:

My comrades, truly we are already not without knowledge of ills, O you who have borne heavier woes than these, to these

too shall Heaven grant an end. You are the men who drew near to ravening Scylla and to the cliffs resounding to their depths; you made trial too of the rocks of the Cyclops. Recall, then, your courage and away with sadness and fear. Perchance the memory of even this shall one day bring pleasure [Aeneid 1. 198] [6] Homer: My friends, to this day we are in no wise without knowledge of ills, and verily there is no greater ill that is laid upon us now than when the Cyclops penned us by the strength of his might

in a hollow cave; but even from there we escaped, by my courage and by my counsel and wit; and some day, I think, this too perhaps we shall remember. [Odyssey 12. 208] [7] Ulysses here reminded his comrades of a single calamity, Aeneas, on the other hand, bids his men hope for deliverance from their present ill fortune by a reference to the happy issue on two former occasions. Again, Homer is somewhat less than clear when he says: “Some day, I think, this too perhaps we shall remember”, but Vergil makes the point more openly when he says: “Perchance the memory of even this shall one day bring pleasure.” [8] More-

over, in the lines that follow, your poet has gone on to give stronger grounds for comfort; for Aeneas encouraged his men not only by a reference to dangers escaped but by holding out hopes

of happy days to come, promising them that their present toils would lead not only to a home and rest but to the restoration of their kingdom as well. [9] I should like to consider the following passages also: Vergil: Even as when on the mountain tops woodmen in eager rivalry strive hard to throw an ancient ash, hacked with steel and beset with many a blow from axes, the tree ever threatens to fall, its Jeaves quiver and it nods with its shaken crest, until, little by little, yielding at length to the blows, it gives a last groan and

torn from the ridge falls crashing down [Aeneid 2. 626] 2 Aeneid 1. 206.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER II 325 Homer: And he fell as when falls an oak or a white poplar or tall pine which craftsmen have felled on the hills with newly whetted

axes to be timber for a ship. [Iliad 13. 389; 16. 482] Here your poet has expressed in elegant detail the difficulty of cutting down a massive tree; but in Homer the tree is cut down without any trouble at all. [10] Again, compare these passages: Vergil:

No sluggard he, Palinurus rises from his bed, searches all the winds and listens for the breezes. He marks all the constellations gliding across the silent sky, Arcturus and the Pleiades, the Hyades and the ‘T’win Bears, and he looks round for Orion

with his belt of gold [Aeneid 3. 513]

Homer: And, as he sat, he skillfully steered with the rudder. Nor did sleep fall on his eyelids as he watched the Pleiades and latesetting Bootes, and the Bear, which men also call by name the

Wain, the star which wheels round in one place and keeps

watch over Orion. [Odyssey 5. 270] [11] Now a helmsman searching the sky must keep turning his head often as he scans the different parts of the heavens for fine weather and safety; and Vergil has given a wonderful and colorful picture of such action, for Arcturus lies to the north, but the Bull (where the Hyades are) and Orion too are in the south; and so the poet has represented Palinurus turning his head again and again as he studies the constellations for guidance. [12] “Arcturus,” says Vergil (and you see Palinurus looking to the north), then “the Pleiades and the Hyades” (and you see him turn to the south), “the Twin Bears”

(again he turns his gaze to the north), “and he looks round for Orion with his belt of gold” (that is to say, he turns yet again to the south). In fact the use of the word circumspicit indicates the frequent and successive changes in the direction of the helmsman’s

gaze. [13] Homer, on the other hand, is content to represent his helmsman as looking once to the Pleiades, in the south, and once to Bootes and the Bear, in the northern sky. [14] Then consider these two passages: Vergil:

No goddess was thy parent, nor Dardanus the author of thy

326 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA line, traitor, but Caucasus bristling with hard crags begat thee

and Hyrcanian tigresses gave thee suck. [Aeneid 4. 365] Homer:

Pitiless man! The knight Peleus then was not thy father, nor

Thetis thy mother, but the gray sea gave thee birth. [Iliad 16. 33]

[15] Vergil’s treatment here is complete, for the burden of the charge, with him, is not merely the parentage, as in Homer whom

he was following, but the rearing and suckling, which are represented as being, so to speak, bestial and rough, and that is why he has added, of his own, “and Hyrcanian tigresses gave thee suck,” since, Clearly, the temper of the nurse and the nature of the milk play a quite important part in the formation of character; for the milk which passes into the tender infant is mingled with the still fresh parental seed, and from this twofold mixture fashions a single disposition.* [16] That is why nature in her wisdom, to the intent that the very act of suckling should make children resemble their parents, has provided for a supply of nourishment to accompany the bearing of the child. For when the creative blood in its inward parts has fashioned and nourished the complete body of a child, it

rises, as the hour of birth approaches, to the upper parts of the mother’s body, turns to milk and grows white, to give food to the newly born creature which it has made. [17] And so, not without reason, it is believed that just as the power and nature of the seed

can fashion likenesses of body and mind, so the qualities and properties of the milk have the same effect. [18] This is noticeable not only in human beings but also in beasts, for it is an established fact that, if kids should happen to be fed on ewe’s milk or lambs on goat’s milk, the lambs’ fleece as a rule is harder and the hair of the goats is finer. [19] With trees too and the fruits of the fields, the

water and soil which give the nourishment generally have more power and influence to impair or improve their nature than the actual seed sown, and you may often see a fine and flourishing tree, if it be transplanted to another place, wither away because the moisture is drawn from an inferior soil. In this criticism of character, then, Vergil has made a point which Homer has missed. [20] Again, Vergil writes: 3 Cf. Ovid Metamorphoses 9. 613-15. 4 Aulus Gellius 12. 1.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER II 327 Not with such headlong speed in a pair-horse race do the chariots pouring from the starting bars dash on to the course and rush along; nor with such zeal do charioteers shake the waving reins over the swifty driven pairs and lean forward to

ply the lash [Aeneid 5. 144]

Homer: And as on the plain a team of four stallions all start forth under

the blows of the lash, and, stepping high, swiftly finish the

course. [Odyssey 13. 81] [21] Here the Greek poet speaks only of the horses running under the urge of the lash—although we must admit that nothing could be neater than the further touch “stepping high,” by which he has shown how much a reference to this natural habit of the horses could add to the sense of the swift movement of the race. [22] But in Vergil’s description of the chariots rushing from the starting bars and dashing headlong on to the course there is a wonderful suggestion of speed; and, although the reference to the lash has been taken from Homer, Vergil has taken only the bare germ, so to speak, of the idea and has gone on to portray the charioteers shaking the waving reins and leaning forward to ply the whip. He has omitted nothing from the picture of the teams and has given a complete portrayal of the race. [23] Consider also these two passages: Vergil:

Even as when with loud crackling a fire of twigs is piled beneath the sides of a seething cauldron, the waters dance with

the heat and rage violently within, and the steaming flood bubbles high with foam, and now the swelling wave boils over, and black smoke flies up into the air [Aeneid 7. 462] Homer: And as a cauldron, beset with much fire, filled with the melting

fat of a well-fed hog, boils within, bubbling up on all sides (navto0ev GuBoAGSyv), and dry wood lies under it; so did the fair streams of the river burn in the fire, and its waters boiled. [Iliad 21. 362] [24] In the Greek mention is made of a cauldron boiling on a great fire; and the phrase for “bubbling up on all sides” gives beauty to the whole passage, for it has tastefully portrayed the bubbles rising

everywhere to the surface. [25] But the Latin has described the

328 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA whole train of events—the crackling sound of the fire; the water dancing with the heat (Homer’s ravto0e v GuBoAddnv); the steam,

the bubbling foam, and the fury of the water in the cauldron. Vergil certainly has found no worthy match for that single phrase of Homer’s, but he has made up for this deficiency in his vocabulary by the variety of his description and by means of that additional touch at the end—“and now the swelling wave boils over”—he has brought out the invariable result of the application of too much

heat. The decorative effect then of Vergil’s grand poetic style comes off well, including, as it does, all the details of the situation described.

[26] Here are two more passages for comparison: Vergil:

They unbar the gate which by their leader’s command had been given into their charge, trusting in their arms, and, further, they challenge the foe to enter the walls. ‘Themselves

they stand within, like towers, on the right hand and on the left, armed with steel and with tall, shining, plumes upon their heads; even as when by flowing streams, whether on the

banks of the Padus or by the lovely Athesis, high in the air twin oaks arise, raising to heaven their unpollarded heads and

nodding with towering crest [Aeneid 9. 675]

[27] Homer: These two then took their stand before the tall gates, as when on the mountains stand oaks with high heads, which abide the

wind and the rain all their days, fixed firm with great, farreaching roots; even so these two, trusting in the might of their hands, awaited the onset of great Asius, and they fled not. [Iliad 12. 131] [28] In Homer the Greek warriors Polypoetes and Leonteus stand

before the gates and await the coming of their enemy Asius, immovable as deep-rooted trees; and that is as far as the Greek poet

takes his description of the scene. [29] In Vergil, on the other hand, Bitias and Pandarus are made actually to open the gate, to offer Turnus the fulfillment of his prayers—the capture of the camp—and thus to put themselves at their enemy’s mercy; and the two heroes are now likened to towers and now portrayed with brightly shining plumes. As in Homer there is a comparison with trees, but in Vergil the comparison is fuller and more beautiful.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER II 329 [30] And in the following lines, too, I should agree that Vergil has expressed himself with the greater elegance: Vergil: No soft repose but an iron sleep weighs down his eyes, and

their light is closed in everlasting night [Aeneid to. 745] Homer: Thus he fell there and slept a sleep of bronze = [Iliad 11. 241]

CHAPTER 12 [1] Sometimes the two poets show almost equal brilliance, as (for example) in the following lines and passages: Vergil: The flying! hoof splashed drops of bloody dew and trampled

on gore mingled with sand [Aeneid 12. 339]

Homer: And with blood all the axle beneath was splashed, and the rails

which were about the chariot. [Iliad 11. 534]

[2] Vergil: And he was shining with the gleam of bronze [Aeneid 2. 470] Homer: The gleam of bronze from shining helmets. [Iliad 13. 341] [3] Vergil:

Some search for seeds of fire? [Aeneid 6. 6|

Homer:

Saving the seed of fire. [Odyssey 5. 490] [4] Vergil: As when one has stained Indian ivory with blood-red purple [Aeneid 12. 67] Homer:

As when a woman stains ivory with purple. [Iltad 4. 141] [5] Vergil: If that accursed one must needs reach harbor and come with his ships to land, if such the fates decree by Jove’s command and this the appointed goal stands fixed—still, harassed in war by the arms of a bold people, driven from his lands, torn from 1 Reading rapida (the received text); Macrobius reads rara. 2 Semina flammae: Vergil may well have had in mind the ignis semina of Lucretius (6. 160).

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 12 331 the embrace of his Tulus, let him beg for aid and see the cruel

deaths of his companions; nor, when he has yielded to hard terms of peace, let him enjoy a kingdom or the longed-for light, but let him die before his time and lie unburied on the

lonely sand [Aeneid 4. 612] 16] Homer: Hear me, Poseidon, Encircler of the Earth, God of the Dark Locks, if in truth I am thine and thou dost avow thyself to be my father, grant that Odysseus, the sacker of cities, come not home. Yet, if it is even his fate to see his friends and to come to his high-roofed house and to his native land, late and evil be his coming, after losing all his comrades and on an alien ship; and may he find sorrows in his house. [Odyssey 9. 528] [7] Vergil: Closely they skirt the shores of Circe’s land, where the rich daughter of the Sun with ceaseless song makes the groves, that none may approach, to ring; and in her proud halls she burns

scented cedarwood to give light by night, as with shrillsounding shuttle she runs through the finespun web [Aeneid 7. 10] [8] Homer: He went until he came to a great cave wherein dwelt a fairtressed nymph, a dread goddess, speaking with human voice.

And on the hearth a great fire was burning, and afar the fragrant scent of burning cedar, well-cleft, and of citronwood,

was wafted throughout the island. And she, within, singing with sweet voice, was weaving with a golden shuttle as she

passed to and fro before the loom. [Odyssey 5. 57] [9] Vergil: Whom a slave woman, Licymnia, had borne secretly to the Maeonian king and had sent him forth in forbidden arms to

Troy [Aeneid 9. 546]

Homer: Boukolion was a son of the noble Laomedon, eldest born, but

in secret his mother bare him. [Iliad 6. 23]

[10] Vergil: But he, breathing out his life: “Not unavenged, whoe’er you are, shall my death be, nor long will you exult in your victory: for you no less a like fate is watching and then the same earth

332 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA shall hold you too.” Mezentius smiled, and with anger in his smile replied: “Now die; but as for me, let the Father of the

gods and King of men see to it” [Aeneid 10. 739] [11] Homer:

“But another thing will I tell you and do you take it to your heart: truly not for long will you live, even you, but already death stands near, and strong fate, for you when vou have been overcome by the hands of the noble Achilles of the house

of Aeacus” [Iliad 16. 851] and in another passage:

And to the dead man spoke the godlike Achilles: “Lie dead, but, as for me, I shall receive my doom in that day whensoever it shall please Zeus and the other immortal gods to accomplish

it. [Iliad 22. 364]

[12] Vergil:

Even as when the bearer of Jove’s thunderbolt soars aloft, bearing high with hooked talons a hare or a swan of snowwhite body, or as when the wolf of Mars has seized from the folds a lamb which its dam seeks with loud bleatings. A shout goes up on all sides; the men press on and fill the trenches with

heaps of earth [Aeneid 9. 563]

[13] Homer: And he gathered himself and swooped, as a soaring eagle which

goes through the dark clouds to the plain to seize a tender lamb or a cowering hare; even so Hector swooped, brandishing

a sharp sword. [Iliad 22. 308]

CHAPTER 13 [1] Since even Vergil himself may without shame admit inferiority to Homer, I shall now cite passages in which, to my mind, his verse would seem to be somewhat plain and meager in comparison with his model’s. [2] Vergil:

Then, as he pleads in vain, and with many a word still left unsaid, Aeneas strikes his head down to the ground and left

a lifeless trunk [Aeneid 10. 554]

For these two lines Vergil went to the following single line in Homer:

Then, with the words still on his lips, his head was mingled with the dust [Iliad 10. 457]

and so I would have you note the remarkable speed of Homer’s line—a speed, too, attained without any loss of weight. Vergil has tried to produce the same effect, but without success. [3] In the chariot race Homer gives a clear picture of a chariot slightly in front of, and almost touched by, another that follows it: And now, with the horses’ breath, Eumelus’ back and shoulders grew warm, for the pair were resting their heads on his

very body as they sped along. [Iliad 23. 380]

But in Vergil this becomes: The charioteers grow wet with the foam and the breath of the

horses that follow. [Georgics 3. 111]

[4] Yet more remarkable is Homer’s description of the speed of a runner in the foot race as he follows the man in front:

He trod in his footprints before ever the dust had settled in them. [Iliad 23. 764]

The point of the line is this: that if a race should happen to be run on dusty ground, a runner’s lifted foot is, of course, seen to leave

334 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA a footprint, and yet the dust raised by the footfall settles, quicker than thought, on the print of the foot. [5] What Homer, then, that godlike poet, is saying is that the man behind was so close to the man in front that he trod in his footprints before the dust had time to settle on them. But here your poet, seeking to express the same idea, merely says: [Close behind Helymus] sped Diores, and foot grazes foot. [Aeneid 5. 324] [6] As another example of Homer’s polished style, take the line:

There he lay with his broad neck bent awry [Odyssey 9. 372] in your poet this becomes:

He rested his bent neck. [Aeneid 3. 631] [7] And, with your leave, let us compare the following lines

as well: Homer:

And sometimes the chariots ran along the all-nourishing earth, and at other times they were leaping high in the air [Iliad 23. 368] Vergil: Now the charioteers sink low, now, rising high, they seem to

be borne through the yielding air. [Georgics 3. 108] [8] Homer: And higher than all she holds her head and forehead [Odyssey 6. 107] Vergil: And she stands forth above all the goddesses as she goes. [Aeneid 1. 501]

[9] Homer: For you are goddesses and are ever present and know all things [Iliad 2. 485] Vergil:

For you recall, goddesses, and can recount. [Aeneid 7. 645] [10] Vergil:

He the while uplifts deadful cries to the heavens, as is the bellowing, when a bull has fled wounded from the altar and

shaken from its neck the ill-aimed axe [Aeneid 2. 222] Homer:

But he breathed out his life with a bellow, as is the bellowing

of a dragged bull, a bull which young men drag round the

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 13 335

thereat. [Iliad 20. 403] altar of the Heliconian lord, and the Earthshaker rejoices

[11] Look at the composition, or texture, of the two last passages and you will realize how wide is the difference between the two poets. Homer’s lines are also the neater in that, speaking of a bull dragged to sacrifice, he goes on to mention Apollo (in the words

“round the altar of the Heliconian' lord”) and then mentions Neptune as well (“and the Earthshaker rejoices thereat”), for we know on the evidence of Vergil himself, in the line: | He offered] a bull to Neptune, a bull to thee, fair Apollo [Aeneid 3. 119] that it is to these two gods, above all, that a bull is sacrificed. [12] Then compare the following passages: Vergil:

As when fire falls on a cornfield, and the south winds are raging, or a mountain torrent with rushing stream lays waste the fields, lays waste the glad crops and the labors of the oxen, and drags forests headlong down; the shepherd stands dazed, as from the high top of a crag he hears the sound [Aeneid 2. 304]

Homer:

As when destroying fire falls on a timberless wood and the whirling wind bears it every way, and the thickets fall headlong before it, assailed by the onset of the fire [Jad 11. 155] [13] and:

For he rushed along the plain like a winter torrent in spate, which in its swift course bursts the dykes, and neither does the barrier of the dykes check it nor the walls of the rich orchards stay its sudden coming, when the rain of heaven falls heavily,

and many fair works of men sink in ruin before it; even so, before the son of T’ydeus, were the serried ranks driven in

rout. [Iliad 5. 87]

Vergil has drawn the reference to fire from the first and the reference to a flood from the second of these two passages; to make a

1 Macrobius perhaps confuses Helike in Achaea (destroyed by an earthquake) with Helicon. See Homer Iliad 8. 203, Pausanias 7. 24 (Frazer’s Pausanias, 4. 165); but cf. also Hymni Homerici 22. 3 (see Lang’s Homeric Hymns, p. 235).

336 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA single comparison he has spoiled two, for he has failed to bring out in full the grandeur of either the one or the other. [14] Again Vergil:

As at times, when a whirlwind bursts forth, opposing blasts meet in conflict, the west wind and the south, and the east wind that rejoices in the horses of the Dawn; the woods roar and Nereus raging with his trident in the foam stirs up the

waters from their lowest depth [Aeneid 2. 416] Homer:

As two winds stir up the sea the haunt of fishes, the north wind and the west wind, the two that blow from Thrace, coming suddenly; and together with their coming the wave grows dark as it rises in a crest and strews much sea wrack out

along the shore [Iliad 9. 4] and in another passage:

[15] As the east wind and the south wind strive with one another to shake a thick wood in the glens of a mountain, beech and ash and cornel with deep bark, which hurl their tapering branches against each other with wondrous din, and there is noise of breaking boughs; so ‘Trojans and Achaeans

leapt against one another and slew, and neither side had

thought of deadly flight. [Iliad 16. 765] Here Vergil repeats the same fault as before in attempting by means of a combination of the two Greek comparisons to give a clearer picture of the scene. [16] Vergil:

The wind, rising astern, escorts us on our way [Aeneid 3. 130; 5. 777] Homer: And astern of our dark-prowed ship she sent a following wind

that filled the sail, a friendly escort. [Odyssey 11. 6] In place of Homer’s phrase “astern of the ship” Vergil has “rising astern,” and this is a neat enough rendering, but Homer excels by reason of the number of appropriate epithets which he has applied to the wind. [17] Vergil:

He feeds on the entrails and black blood of his unhappy victims. With my own eyes I saw him grasp in one mighty hand the bodies of two of our company and, as he reclined at

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 13 337 ease in the middle of the cave, dash them against a rock [Aeneid 3. 622] Homer:

But, springing up, he laid hands on my companions, and, grasping two together, he dashed them to the earth as though they had been whelps; and their brains gushed forth on the ground and bedewed the earth. Then he cut them up, limb by limb, and made ready a meal. And he ate as a mountain-bred lion, nor left he anything, entrails or flesh or bones with their marrow. And we wept and raised our hands to Zeus. [Odyssey 9. 288] Vergil here has given a bare and brief account? of what was done.

Homer on the other hand has introduced an element of pathos, an emotional appeal, matching the indignation which the cruelty evokes

with the pain which the narrative inspires. [18] Vergil:

Here too I saw the monstrous bodies of the twin sons of

Aloeus, who assailed the mighty heaven to tear it down with their hands and to thrust down Jove from his throne on high [Aeneid 6. 582]

Homer:

[She bare] the godlike Otus and far-famed Ephialtes; these were the tallest men that ever the grain-giving earth reared and far the goodliest—after the renowned Orion; at nine years old their breadth was nine cubits and they were nine fathoms tall. This pair threatened to raise the din of furious war even against the immortals in Olympus; they strove to pile Ossa on Olympus and Pelion with its quivering foliage on Ossa, to make

a road to the sky. [Odyssey 11. 308]

[19] Homer has measured the height and breadth of the great bodies and has given a word picture of the size of their limbs, your poet, however, speaks only of “their monstrous bodies” without

venturing to go on to specify the measurements. Homer has brought out the madness of the plan by his reference to the attempt to pile mountain on mountain, but for Vergil it is enough to have said that the giants “tried to tear down heaven.” Finally, you have

only to compare the one passage with the other to discover the truly shameful difference between them. 2 Macrobius, however, has quoted only a part of Vergil’s narrative.

338 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [20] Vergil:

As when a wave first begins to whiten out at sea, slowly the sea heaves and lifts its waves higher and then rises in a heap to

heaven from its lowest depths [Aeneid 7. 528] Homer:

As when on the echoing shore wave after wave of the sea in quick succession rises before the driving west wind, out at sea a wave first rears its head and then breaks on the land with a loud roar; and it goes with curling crest about the headlands

and casts the foam of the brine afar. [Iliad 4. 422] [21] Homer describes from the start not only the movement of the sea but also the waves on the shore; Vergil lightly omits the latter detail. Secondly, there is the phrase “out at sea a wave first rears its head,” which Vergil merely renders “slowly the sea heaves.” Homer adds, in his description of the scene, that the waves,

curling high, break on the shore and pour forth a mass of sea wrack; no picture could be clearer. Your poet represents the sea as rising from its depths all the way to heaven. [22] Vergil: He spoke and nodded to confirm his words—by the streams of

his Stygian brother, by the shores of the pitch-black torrent and its gloomy abyss—and his nod made all Olympus to shake [Aeneid 9. 104] Homer: The son of Cronos spoke and nodded with his dark brows, and the ambrosial locks floated forward from the king’s immortal

head, and he made great Olympus to shake [Iliad 1. 528] and:

And that falling water of Styx, which is the greatest and most

dread oath for the blessed gods. [Iliad 15. 37]

[23] When Phidias was fashioning his Olympian Jupiter, he was asked to what model he had gone for his likeness of the god. He replied that he had found the original Jupiter in the first of the two passages from Homer cited above; for the reference in it to the brows and the locks had enabled him, he said, to portray the

whole of the god’s features. But Vergil, as you see, has said nothing of either the brows or the locks of the god, although he has (it 1s true) referred to Olympus shaken by the majestic nod; and, as for his reference to the oath, this has been taken from the

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 13 339 other passage in Homer, as an addition to make up for the in_ sufficiency of what he took from the first. [24] Vergil: A boy whose cheeks unshorn showed the first bloom of youth [Aeneid 9. 181] Homer: With the first down on his cheeks, when youth has most grace. [Odyssey 10. 279] The description in the Latin here is the less graceful because Vergil

has omitted to refer to the gracious appearance of early youth—the time “when youth has most grace.” [25] Vergil: As a wild beast, close penned by a ring of hunters, rages against the darts and flings itself on known and certain death, rushing

with a bound upon the hunting-spears [Aeneid 9. 551] Homer: From the other side the son of Peleus rushed to meet him, like a marauding lion, one that men, even all the villagers assembled,

are eager to slay; at first it goes on its way unheeding, but when some bold youth has hit it with a spear, it crouches with

open mouth and foam is around its teeth, and it roars at the bidding of the stout spirit in its heart; with its tail it lashes its ribs and flanks on either side and goads itself to fight and, fiercely glaring, rushes straight on in its rage, if it may slay some man among them or itself be slain in the forefront of the throng. Even so his rage and valiant spirit urged Achilles to go

to meet the great-hearted Aeneas. [Iliad 20. 164] [26] In the Latin the comparison, as you see, my friends, has been

reduced to so narrow a compass that nothing could be more meager than Vergil’s description. But in the Greek, on the other hand, the wealth of language and incident is such as to make the comparison a complete picture of the train of circumstances occurring in an actual lion hunt. So great, then, is the difference between these two passages that one must almost blush for shame in comparing them. [27] Vergil: Even so the Trojan battle line and the battle line of the Latins meet; foot stands fast by foot, and man close-locked with man [Aeneid 10. 360]

340 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Homer:

] Even so closely joined were the helmets and the bossed shields; shield pressed on shield, helm on helm, and man on man. [Iliad 16. 214]

There I leave it to a reader to estimate the difference between the one passage and the other. [28] Vergil: And as when a tawny eagle in lofty flight bears away a snake

that it has seized and fastens its feet in its prey and clings to it with its talons; but the serpent, though wounded, writhes its sinuous coils and bristles with scales erect and hisses with its mouth, raising itself high; but the bird no less assails it with hooked beak as it struggles and all the while beats the air with

its wings [Aeneid 11. 751] [29] Homer: For a bird appeared to them as they hastened to cross, an eagle in lofty flight, flying to the left and skirting the army as it flew. In its talons it bore a monstrous blood-red serpent,

alive still, for the serpent was struggling and not yet had it forgotten the joy of battle, for it bent itself backward and smote the bird as it held it, in the breast by the neck; and the eagle in sore pain cast the serpent from it to the ground and dropped it in the midst of the throng and itself, with a cry,

sped away with the breath of the wind. [Iliad 12. 200]? [30] Vergil mentions only the eagle and its prey and takes no account of the omen which in Homer the bird imports. For by coming leftward it checked the advance of the victors; bitten by the serpent which it had caught it dropped its prey, in pain; and, after having thus—by dropping its prey from its beak—given a good omen, it flew past with a cry indicative of pain—circumstances which, taken together, gave an equivocal omen of victory.

But these circumstances, which were the soul of the simile in Homer, have been omitted by Vergil, with the result that in the Latin verses no more than, so to speak, a lifeless body is left. [31] Vergil: Small, first, and fearful, thereafter Rumor rises to the winds; 3 Cicero draws on this description for an account of a favorable omen received by Marius (De divinatione 1. 47. 106).

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 13 341

clouds [Aeneid 4. 176]

she plants her feet upon the earth and hides her head in the

Homer: Small is Strife’s crest at first, but thereafter she holds up her head in the heavens, while she walks upon the earth. [Iliad 4. 442]

In Homer it is Strife that grows from small beginnings until its growth reaches up to heaven; but Vergil has said the same of Rumor—and inappropriately, [32] since the growth of Strife and the growth of Rumor are not comparable. Strife indeed may go on and lead in the end to mutual destruction and to wars, but it 1s still “Strife,” that is to say, it has grown greater but its nature remains the same. On the other hand, when Rumor has outgrown its bounds, it ceases any longer to be “Rumor” and becomes the consciousness of a known fact, for, when knowledge of something reaches from earth to heaven, it is impossible any longer to speak

of “Rumor.” And there is a further point: even in the lofty language used by each poet Vergil has proved no match for Homer, for the latter has represented Strife as holding up her head in heaven, but the former has spoken only of winds and clouds.

[33] Now the reason why Vergil’s borrowings from Homer have not always come up to the standard of the original lies in the fact that in every part of his work Vergil sought to introduce an imitation of some passage in Homer; and yet it was impossible that

his human powers should everywhere have been able to equal the superhuman genius of the other. Take, for example, the following passage, which I should like all of us here to consider together and appraise. [34] Minerva gives her protege Diomede the help of burning fire—but only in battle—and, while he is slaughtering the enemy, the blaze that issues from his head and armor presents a threatening appearance that well becomes a combatant. In Homer's words:

shield. [Iliad 5. 4] She kindled a fire that blazed steadily from his helmet and

[35] But Vergil, having an extravagant admiration for this line, went too far in the use which he made of it. Thus, in one place, he says of ‘Turnus:

The blood-red crests quiver high on* his head and from his 4 Sub = “on,” 1.e., as seen from below; the received text reads in.

342 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

shield flash lightnings [Aeneid 9. 732] and elsewhere he says the same of Aeneas:

The top of his head is ablaze, and from the summit of his helmet crest too streams fire; his bronze shield belches forth

devouring flames. [Aeneid 10. 270]

How inappropriate the latter description is may be gathered from the fact that Aeneas was not yet engaged in battle but only coming into sight on board a ship. [36] There is another passage too which runs:

His tall helmet, crested with triple plume, bears aloft a Chimaera breathing fires of Etna forth from its jaws [Aeneid 7. 785] and again, when Aeneas is admiring the arms lately brought from Vulcan and laid upon the ground, there is a reference to:

A helmet striking terror with its crests and belching forth

flames. [Aeneid 8. 620]

[37] If, my friends, you would have another instance of Vergil’s excessive eagerness to make use of Homer as a model, take this passage which we have already called to mind [5. 13. 22]: The son of Cronos spoke and nodded with his dark brows, and the ambrosial locks floated forward from the king’s immortal head, and he made great Olympus to shake. [38] Vergil must have been dazzled by the brillance of these lines, since it took him some time to show a like regard for Jupiter’s words,

for in the first, fourth, and ninth books of the Aeneid the god speaks and no physical disturbances follow his words,’ although at

length the poet, after telling of the quarrel between Juno and Venus, goes on to say:

He begins; and, as he speaks, the lofty palace of the gods grows silent; the earth too grows silent, trembling from its foundations; hushed is the firmament on high; then sank the zephyrs, and the sea stills its waters into calm [Aeneid to. 101] as though the god who speaks is not the god who, but a short time before, has spoken without evoking any such mark of respect from the universe.

[39] Similarly malapropos is Vergil’s reference to Jupiter’s scales, the description of which is taken from the following passage in Homer: ° 1. 2573 4- 2233 9. 94.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 13 343 And then the Father poised the golden scales [Iliad 22. 209] for although Juno had already foretold the fate of Turnus, saying: Now I see the youth is hastening to meet a destiny that he cannot match, and the day appointed by the fates, a dawn that

is no friend to him, draws near [Aeneid 12. 149]

and, although it was clear that Turnus was certainly about to perish, nevertheless, at that late hour: Jupiter himself holds up the scales in even poise and lays on them the diverse destinies of the two heroes. [Aeneid 12. 725] [go] But for these and similar lapses Vergil should be pardoned, it is his excessive devotion to Homer that has led him to overstep

the mark. And indeed one who in all his poetry took Homer for his chief exemplar could not but sometimes be found inferior to him. For Vergil kept his eyes keenly fixed on Homer, with intent to rival not only the grand scale of his work but also its straightforward presentation, the effectiveness of its language, and its calm

dignity. [41] It is to Homer that Vergil has gone for the variety of ways in which he has depicted the greatness of his heroes’ diverse

characters, for the interventions of the gods, for the source of his mythology, for his realistic representation of the emotions, for his diligent study of the records of antiquity, for his wealth of similes, for the music and rapid flow of his language, and for the brilliance and consummate excellence of every detail of his work.

CHAPTER 14 [1] Now Vergil took such pleasure in imitating Homer that he has even imitated Homer’s metrical irregularities—irregularities that

are censured by certain critics in their ignorance. | refer to those lines which the Greeks term “headless,” “hollow” and “hypercatalectic” lines; for with his high regard for Homer’s style, Vergil did not shrink from using them.1 [2] Examples of “headless” lines (that is to say, lines which seem to begin with a short syllable) are:

drietat? in portas [Aeneid 11. 890]

pdrietibus? textum caecis iter [Aeneid 5. 589] and lines like these.

[3] A “hollow” line has a short syllable in the place of a long syllable in the middle of the line—thus:

... et duros|dbice®|postes | Aeneid 11. 890]

and:

concilium ipse pa|tér‘ et|magna incepta Latinus. [Aeneid 11. 469]

[4] “Hypercatalectic” lines are lines which are too long by a syllable; for example:

... quin|protinus|omnia5 [Aeneid 6. 33] and: 1 See Athenaeus 14. 632d and W. Christ, Metrik der Griechen und Romer (Leipzig, 18797), pp. 194-95. See also Morel, p. 160 (Incerti, De metris): Acephalus, primus quorum hic quem dicimus ipse est; nam prior est tribrachys. 2 J here is semiconsonantal, making the first syllable long. 3 Obice = objice. 4 The -er is lengthened because the ictus is on it. 5 Omnia is pronounced, by synaeresis, as a dissyllable.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 14 345 ... Vuljcano | decoquit | humor|em.. .°

[et foliis...] [Georgics 1. 295] et spu|mas mis|cent ar|genti | vivaque | sulpur|a® [Idaeasque pices ...]

and: [Georgics 3. 449] ...arbutus | horrid|a® [et steriles platani...]

[Georgics 2. 69]

[5] Then there are lines in Homer which would seem to have been plucked and shorn bare of all ornament and in no way to differ from everyday speech. But Vergil had an affection for these too, as suggesting the artlessness of an heroic age; thus: Homer: Chestnut horses, a hundred and fifty, all mares [lad 11. 680] Vergil: Love conquers all, let us too yield to love [Eclogues 10. 69] and:

Palinurus, you will lie unburied on an unknown strand. [Aeneid 5. 871] [6] Again, Homer will repeat words and phrases, with pleasing effect, and Vergil does not shun the use of such repetitions,’ for example:

Homer:

Like maiden and youth, as maiden and youth hold converse

together [Iliad 22. 127]

Vergil:

If even Pan, with Arcady to judge, were to contend with me, even Pan, with Arcady to judge, will own himself conquered. [Eclogues 4. 58]

[7] Then take Homer’s epithets, Vergil’s imitations are an admission of his admiration for them. Here are some examples:

Child-of-destiny, blest-by-the-gods [Iliad 3. 182] Bronze-clad men; and bossed shields [Iliad 4. 448; 8. 62]

Newly burnished corselets [Iliad 13. 342] 6 The redundant letter (or letters) is elided before the vowel with which the next line begins. 7 For Vergil’s use of the figure “repetition,” see also 4. 6. 23, above, and 6. 6. 12, below.

346 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

Poseidon-of-the-dark-locks [Iliad 13. 563; 14. 390]

Zeus the Cloud-Gatherer [Iliad 5. 631] Shadowy mountains and sounding sea [Iliad 1. 157]

Dark-skinned beans. [Iliad 13. 589] A thousand such expressions, shining like stars, give variety and dignity to Homer’s immortal poem; [8] and here are some of the epithets with which your poet matches them:

Ill-counseling hunger [Aeneid 6. 276] Golden-tressed branches [Aeneid 6. 141] Hundredfold Briareus. [Aeneid 6. 287]

You may add, too, “smoke-bringing night” [Aeneid 8. 255] and all the other instances which an attentive reader finds in almost every line.

[9] Often in the course of his narrative Homer seems to turn to address some other person, thus:

Then you would not have seen the godlike Agamemnon

slumbering [Iliad 4. 223]

and:

You would say that he was a surly fellow and a mere simpleton. [Iliad 3. 220]

[10] This too is a device which Vergil has not neglected to use, as for example, in the lines: You might see them moving away and streaming forth from

every part of the city [Aeneid 4. 401]

and:

You might have marked Leucate all aglow in battle array [Aeneid 8. 676] and:

the sea [Aeneid 8. 691]

You would think that the Cyclades, uprooted, were floating on and:

You may see them revel aimlessly in their delight to bathe. [| Georgics 1. 387]

[11] Moreover, past events, whether they have occurred recently or long ago, are fittingly recalled and introduced into the sequence of his story by that godlike poet Homer, but they are not arranged in chronological order, for, although he is careful not to withhold from us a knowledge of the past, his aim is to avoid writing as a historian. [12] Thus the Iliad began with the wrath of Achilles, but

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 14 347 Thebe in Asia and many another city had been destroyed by Achilles before “The Wrath”; and not to leave us in ignorance of the earlier happenings, the poet tells us of them at the appropriate time. For example:

We went to Thebe, the sacred city of Eetion, and this we

sacked and carried hither all the spoils [Iliad 1. 366] and:

Twelve cities of men have I sacked ere now, sailing with my ships, and—let me tell you—eleven on land, in the fertile realm

of Troy. [Iliad 9. 328]

[13] In the same way, to let us know under whose guidance the Greek fleet found its way to the unknown shore of Troy, Homer says (when inquiry® was being made of Calchas): And he it was that guided the ships of the Achaeans to Ilium

by his art of divination, a gift that Phoebus Apollo gave him [Iliad 1. 71]

and it is Calchas himself who tells us the meaning of the omen which befell the Greeks at their sailing—the serpent which devoured the sparrows—a sign to show that the host would be for ten years in an enemy land. [14] Elsewhere in the poem Homer introduces an old man recounting events of long ago, for old age is full of words and takes delight in telling a tale. Examples are the passages which contain the lines:

For in the past I had converse with better men even than you [Iliad 1. 260]

and, in another place: Would that I were thus young and my strength unabated. [Iliad 7. 157]

[15] Vergil has emulated Homer in the use of such passages of narrative, and with fine effect; for example, in the passages which begin:

For I remember Priam, son of Laomedon, as he came to visit

the realm of his sister Hesione [Aeneid 8. 157] and:

And I myself remember Teucer coming to Sidon [Aeneid 1. 619] 8 Reading quaereretur (cf. Iliad 1. 62). ® Iliad 2. 322.

348 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA and:

Such as I was when, under the very walls of Praeneste, I laid

low the foremost ranks [Aeneid 8. 561] and in the whole story of the theft by Cacus and its punishment.’ [16] Nor has Vergil omitted to relate the legends of ancient times, but has brought them also to our notice, in imitation of Homer, as, for example, in the lines which begin:

For they tell how Cygnus through grief for his beloved

Phaethon... [Aeneid to. 189] and in similar passages. 10 Aeneid 8. 193ff.

CHAPTER 15 [1] In his muster rolls of the allies (the Greek word is “‘catalogue”) Vergil has endeavored to imitate his same model, but in certain ways he has departed somewhat from the impressive account which Homer has given. [2] In the first place, Homer—leaving on one side Athens and Lacedaemon, and even Mycenae (although the leader of the expedi-

tion came from there)—has placed Boeotia at the head of his catalogue [Iliad 2. 494], not for any pre-eminence that the country enjoyed, but because it was the poet’s choice to make its famous

promontory the starting point of the roll. [3] Going thence he describes now inland and now maritime places, as each adjoins the other, the method of his description being to pass in turn to each adjacent place, as though he were making a journey through them

all. For in his book Homer does not jump from one place to an-

other and so leave gaps between adjoining regions, but by proceeding thus as though on his travels he returns at last to his point of departure and thus completes the tale on all the lands that his muster roll embraces. [4] Vergil, on the other hand, keeps to no regular order in recounting the various districts but passes at a bound from one place to another and so disrupts the sequence of

: his description. Thus, he first brings Massicus on the scene from Clusium and Cosae [Aeneid 10. 166]; Abas follows him, with his

company of troops from Populonia and Ilva; after them comes Asilas, sent from Pisae (and I need not remind you in how distant a part of Etruria Pisae is situated). After that the poet then comes

back to Caere, Pyrgi, and Graviscae (places quite near Rome), whose contingents are led by Astyr; and from there Cinirus carries

him off to Liguria and Ocnus to Mantua. [5] In the roll of the allies of Turnus too [Aeneid 7. 641] you will find, if you run

350 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA through in your mind the situation of the places mentioned, that here also Vergil has followed no geographical progression. [6] In the next place, all the heroes mentioned by Homer in his catalogue are also brought to our notice, as they fight with good

success or ill; and, when he wishes to tell of the death of men whose names he has not included in the catalogue, then, instead of

referring to an individual, he speaks of many men slain [Iliad 4. 538], and, if he wishes to suggest great slaughter, he refers to swathes of men mown down [Iliad 11. 67]. For Homer is careful not to go outside his catalogue in making specific mention of an individual and neither adds to nor omits from that list of names in his account of the battles.

[7] Your Vergil, however, has taken no trouble to observe this

practice, for in the battles he omits to mention names which appear in his muster rolls and refers by name to other men of whom he has not previously spoken. Thus, after telling us that under the leadership of Massicus there came “a company of a thousand men who left Clusium’s walls and Cosae” [Aeneid 1o. 167] he speaks, later on, of Turnus leaving the field on a ship which

brought king Osinius from Clusium’s shores [Aeneid 10. 655], although no earlier reference has been made to Osinius, and it is inappropriate at this point to introduce a king as fighting under the command of Massicus. [8] Moreover, neither Massicus nor Osinius

make any appearance at all in the battle scenes; and as for the warriors to whom Vergil refers as “brave Gyas? and brave Seres-

tus”? [Aeneid 1. 612], “fair Aquiculus ... and Haemon, votary of Mars” [Aeneid 9. 684], “gallant Umbro”? [Aeneid 7. 752], and “Virbius, son of Hippolytus, glorious in war” [Aeneid 7. 761],

they have gained no place, no mention creditable or otherwise, among the ranks of the fighting men. [9] Again, Astur® [Aeneid 10. 181] and Cupavo and Cinirus—who are brought to our notice in connection with the tales of Cygnus and Phaethon [Aeneid 10. 186 ]—take no part in the fighting; and yet Alesus [Halaesus: Aeneid

10. 352 and 411-25] and Sacrator [Aeneid 10. 747], both of whom are otherwise quite unknown, are there, as well as Atinas [Aeneid 10. 869; 12. 601] of whom the poet has not spoken before. 1 For an appreciation of the difficulties with which Vergil had to contend, see the introduction to W. Warde Fowler, Vergil’s Gathering of the Clans. For later references to these men, see Aeneid 12. 460 (Gyas), 12. 549 and 561 (Serestus), and 10. 544 (Umbro). 3 Macrobius reads Antio, but the text is corrupt.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 15 351 [10] Then Vergil often shows a careless inconsistency‘ in his references to persons whom he mentions by name. Thus in the ninth Book of the Aeneid he says: “Asilas lays Corinaeus low” [Aeneid 9. 571], but later, in the twelfth Book, Corinaeus kills Ebusus: As Ebusus comes on, aiming a blow, Corinaeus meets him and

face. [Aeneid 12. 298] seizing a half-burnt brand from the altar drives it full in his

[11] So, too, with Numa whom Nisus kills [Aeneid 9. 454], for afterward [Aeneid 10. 562] Aeneas “pursues the gallant Numa.” Camers also is laid low® by Aeneas in the tenth Book [Aeneid 1o. 562], but in the twelfth [Aeneid 12. 224] “Juturna disguised herself in the form of Camers.” [12] In the eleventh Book Chloreus is killed by Camilla,* in the twelfth by Turnus [Aeneid 12. 363]. Palinurus [Aeneid 5. 843] and Iapyx [Aeneid 12. 391] are both called “son of Iasus.” Are they then to be taken to be brothers? Hippocoon 1s said to be the son of Hyrtacus [Aeneid 5. 492] and so too is Nisus [Aeneid 9. 177]—but of course two men could have had the same name. [13] And so it 1s that we look in vain for that carefulness which Homer shows in such matters, who, for example, since there are two Ajaxes, speaks now of “Telamonian Ajax” and now of “Ajax the swift son of Oileus,” and elsewhere refers to the pair as “one

in heart as in name” [Iliad 17. 720]; and, since they are one in name, he invariably distinguishes them by definite characteristics,

to the end that such differences may free the mind of a reader from any doubt about the identity of the Ajax mentioned. [14] Now for a further point. Vergil in his catalogues has been

careful to avoid any distaste which a frequent repetition of the same form of words might arouse, a precaution which Homer has

not usually taken, since his technique is different. Thus, for example, Homer says: 4 Suetonius (Vita Vergili 23) says that the poet (who had intended to spend two more years on the Aeneid), after first drafting the work in prose, wrote the books in no particular order but just as the fancy took him—a fact which is enough to account for the many inconsistencies and other marks of incompleteness. See Nettleship’s “Essay on the Poetry of Vergil in connection with His Life and Times,” p. 65. 5 Vergil says that Aeneas “pursues fair-haired Camers.” 6 Actually, Camilla, pursuing Chloreus, is herself killed by Arruns (Aeneid 11. 768ff.).

352 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

And they that dwelt in Aspledon Iliad 2. 511]

And they that held Euboea [Iliad 2. 536]

And they that held Argos and ‘Tiryns [Iliad 2.559]

hills. [Iliad 2. 581] And they that held the valley of Lacedaemon among the rifted

[15] Vergil, however, shuns such repetition as a blemish,’ or even an offense, and so he varies his introductory phrases as follows: The first to come to battle was a fierce warrior from the shores

of Tuscany [Aeneid 7. 647]

By his side was his son Lausus [Aeneid 7. 649]

After these Aventinus displays on the field his renowned

chariot [Aeneid 7.655] Then twin brothers [Aeneid 7. 670] Nor was the founder of Praeneste absent [Aeneid 7. 678]

But Messapus, tamer of horses [Aeneid 7. 691] Lo, of the ancient blood of the Sabines [Aeneid 7. 706] Here one of the lineage of Agamemnon [Aeneid 7. 723] You, too, mountainous Nersae, sent forth [Aeneid 7. 744| Moreover, from the Marrubian race too, there came a priest [Aeneid 7.750]

There went, too, the son of Hippolytus [Aeneid 7. 761] [16] One perhaps regards Vergil’s wealth of phrases as preferable

to the inspired but unadorned language of Homer; and yet, in a way, the latter’s repetitions are peculiarly becoming, as worthily representing the genius of a poet of ancient times, and well suited to the recital of a muster roll. For, Homer’s object being, in this passage, to give a list of names and nothing more, he has not gone in for roundabout expressions, but, instead of even slightly turning

his phrases so as to adapt a form of words to fit each different case, he has, as a rule, taken up the usual attitude of one holding a

review and given us, as it were, the “parade state” of the troops deployed, the substance of which is, simply, a statement of the numbers present.

[17] Nevertheless, when it is proper for him to do so, Homer does at times introduce an excellent variety into his list of names of leaders, thus: And Schedios and Epistrophos led the Phocians [Iliad 2. 517] 7 See E. Fraenkel, “Some Aspects of the Structure of Aeneid VII,” Journal of Roman Studies, XXXV (1945), 1-14.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 15 353 And Ajax the swift son of Oileus commanded the Locrians [Iliad 2. 527]

And Nireus, moreover, brought three trim ships from Syme. [Iliad 2. 671]

[18] In fact, the way in which Homer brings together the names in his catalogue was so admired by Vergil that I would almost go so far as to say that, in his representation of it in the following passage, the adaptation is even more tasteful than the original. For Homer says:

They that held Knossos and walled Gortyn, Lyktos and Miletus and bright-shining Lykastos and Phaestos. [Iliad 2. 646] [19] And Vergil’s imitation of this model runs:

The troops stand in close order upon the plain: Argive youth and the company from Aurunca; Rutulians and the ancient Sicanians; there stand the battle lines of Gaurus and the men

of Labicum with their painted shields; those who till your forest glades, Tiber, and the sacred banks of Numicius, and those who plough the Rutulian hills and the ridge of Circeii, and the fields which Jupiter of Anxur guards. [Aeneid 7. 794]

CHAPTER 16 [1] A recital of facts and names is heavy going, and so, after such recitals, both Homer and Vergil introduce into their catalogues a story told in more pleasing verse, to revive the spirits of the reader. [2] Thus Homer in his nominal roll of districts and cities makes room for tales calculated to keep away any disagreeable

sense of having had too much, as for example, in the passages:

And men from Pteleos and Helos and from Dorion, where the Muses met that Thracian, Thamyris, and made an end of his singing, as he was going on his way from Oechallia, from the house of Eurytus the Oechalian. For he boastfully claimed that he would win even if the Muses themselves, daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, were to sing. And they were

wroth with him and maimed him; and moreover they took from him the divine gift of song and made him forget his

harping . [Iliad 2. 594]

[3] and elsewhere in the catalogue we read: Their leader was ‘Tlepolemos, that famous spearman, a son of

the mighty Heracles by Astyocheia, whom he took from Ephyra, by the river Selleéis, when he sacked many cities of heroes, fosterlings of Zeus. But Tlepolemos, when he had grown up in the well-built hall, then slew his father’s own

uncle... [Iliad 2. 657]

and so the story goes pleasantly on. [4] Vergil has followed the

authority of Homer in the use of this device; for in his first catalogue he tells the story now of Aventinus [Aeneid 7. 655] and now of Hippolytus [Aeneid 7. 761], and in the second catalogue the story of Cygnus [Aeneid 10. 189], such weaving, as it were,

of these delightful tales into the texture of the poem serving to relieve any dislike that a bare narrative might cause. [5] He has

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 16 355 certainly used this technique with consummate taste in all the Georgics, for, after his practical instructions, which naturally make hard reading, he has inserted at the end of each book a story drawn from some outside source, to refresh thereby the reader’s mind or ear. Thus the first Book ends with an account of the signs which foretell the weather; the second, with an eulogy of country

life; the third, with a description of a cattle plague; the fourth, with the by no means inapposite story of Orpheus and Aristaeus; and so the whole work is a clear illustration of the way in which Vergil copies Homer. [6] All Homer’s poetry is so full of pithy sayings that his several

apophthegms have passed into universal use as proverbs. For example:

But in no wise do the gods grant men all things at once [ [liad 4. 320]

One should entertain the present and speed the parting guest [Odyssey 15.74]

Due measure in all things is best [cf. Hesiod Works and Days 694] [Few sons can match their father] most are worse [Odyssey 2.277] A bond for a bad man is a bad thing to hold [Odyssey 8. 351] Who measures himself against a stronger is a fool [Hesiod Works and Days 210] and there are very many others. [7] You will not be disappointed if you look for the like in Vergil, thus:

We cannot all do all things [Eclogues 8. 63]

Love conquers all [Eclogues to. 69] All things yield to toil—to unremitting toil [Georgics 1. 145]

Is it, then, so very sad to die? [Aeneid 12. 646] For each man his appointed day stands fixed [Aeneid io. 467] Guile or courage—who cares to ask in war [Aeneid 2. 390] What each land yields and what each land rejects [Georgics 1. 53]

The accursed hunger for gold [Aeneid 3. 57] But don’t let me din into your ears lines which you know quite well, for there are a thousand such maxims on everyone’s lips or awaiting the eye of an attentive reader. [8] There are, however, matters in which (whether by accident

356 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA or design, I cannot say) Vergil refuses to follow Homer’s lead. Thus Homer chose to know nothing of “Fortune,” and nowhere in his work will you find Tuyn mentioned by name, for he commits the guidance of the universe solely to Destiny, or (as he calls

it) Mofpa.! Vergil, on the other hand, not only knows of and speaks of Fortune but assigns all power to it [Aeneid 8. 334], and yet the philosophers who refer to Fortune by name have held that

it has no power of its own but is the servant of Destiny or Providence.

[9] The same is also true sometimes of Vergil’s treatment of myths and stories. Thus in Homer Aegaeon comes to the help of Jupiter [JJiad 1. 404], but in Vergil’s poem he is represented as taking up arms against Jupiter [Aeneid 10. 565]. Again, in Vergil, Eumedes “the war-famed son of Dolon” is “the likeness of his parent in courage and prowess” [Aeneid 12. 346], although in Homer Dolon is a coward [Iliad 10. 374]. [10] Moreover, Homer does not make any mention of the judgment of Paris,? and he refers

to Ganymede not as Juno’s rival carried off by Jupiter but as Jupiter’s cupbearer received into heaven by the gods as worthy of their company [Jliad 20. 232]. [11] Vergil, however, tells of Juno,

great goddess though she was, as having resented the adverse judgment of Paris on her beauty—conduct unbecoming any honorable woman—and as having harassed his whole race for the sake of the wanton Ganymede [Aeneid 1. 27].

[12] Sometimes Vergil conceals his imitation of Homer by simply changing the presentation of a passage which he has copied from him and so giving it a different look. [13] Thus Homer in a powerfully inspired description represents Father Dis himself as leaping forth in terror and crying aloud at the shaking of the earth: And below the earth Aidoneus, king of the underworld, took

fright and leapt in terror from his throne with a cry; in fear lest he tind the depths of the earth broken through by Poseidon

the Earth-shaker and lest mortals and immortals behold his dwelling place, grim and dank and hateful to the gods. [Iliad 20. 61] [14] Vergil, however, turned the narrative into a simile and thus changed its appearance, for he says: 1 See John of Salisbury 3. 8 (490d). 2 Iliad 24. 29-30 are held to be spurious.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 16 357 As if beneath some force the earth, yawning open to its depths, were to unbar the mansions of hell and disclose the pale realms, hateful to the gods, so that the measureless abyss were visible

from above and the ghosts tremble at the inrush of the light. [Aeneid 8. 243]

And here too is another hidden theft, for Homer had said that the gods live a life free from toil—“living at their ease” [Iliad 6. 138] and Vergi) has said the same thing—darkly—to us:

The gods in the halls of Jupiter pity the vain fate of both armies, and grieve that men, poor mortal men, should suffer

such toils [Aeneid 10. 758]

toils, that is to say, from which the gods are free.

3° Dissimulando subripuit: a strong expression, as may be gathered from Cicero’s criticism of Ennius for his borrowings from Naevius (Brutus 19. 76): a Naevio vel sumpsisti multa, si fateris, vel, si negas, surripuisti (you have taken

much from Naevius, if you confess the debt, or, if you deny it, have stolen much). Sections 12-14 would seem to have been taken from a different source than that of the rest of chapter 16 (possibly from the Furta of Perellius Faustus) and to be comparable with the hostile criticism of Vergil in 6. 2. 33, below (nec Tullio compilando ... abstinuit: “he has not refrained from plundering even Cicero”), which Macrobitus may have borrowed from the same critic. In this connection see Nettleship’s remarks on 6. 2. 33 in his essay, “On Some of the Early Criticisms of Virgil’s Poetry” in Conington’s Virgil, I, qth and sth ed. The criticisms of Vergil in sections 1-4 and 7-14 of Chap. 17 below read as if Macrobius was excerpting here from a work of yet another hostile critic.

CHAPTER 17 [1] The difficulty which Vergil had in, so to speak, giving birth to a new story is the clearest indication of his debt to Homer, for the circumstances compelled Vergil to set out the origins of a war, whereas Homer was under no such necessity and, in fact, began his poem, with the “Wrath of Achilles,” as late as the tenth year of the Trojan War. [2] Vergil, then, made the chance wounding of a deer the cause of a disturbance; but, seeing that this was a trivial, and indeed an extremely puerile, incident he exaggerated the resentment of the rustics, to make their attack an adequate pretext for the war. But it ill became servants of Latinus to make war on their master’s sonsin-law—and least of all the grooms of the royal stables, who, by reason of the gift of the horses and the chariot [Aeneid 7. 280],

were bound to know of the treaty made by Latinus with the Trojans.

[3] What then does Vergil do? The Queen of the Gods is brought down from heaven and the chief of the Furies! fetched up from hell; snakes, breeding madness, appear here and there (as though in a stage play), and Latinus’s queen is not only represented as leaving the decent seclusion of her women’s apartments, but she is actually made to rush through the streets of the city; nor is that enough for her, but she summons the other matrons to join her in

her wild outburst and takes to the woods, where a company of hitherto respectable women behave like Bacchanals and hold a mad orgy [Aeneid 7. 274 ff.]. [4] In short, I could have wished rather that, in this passage too,

Vergil had had something, in Homer or in some other Greek writer, to guide him. And I have advisedly said “some other writer” 1 But cf. the use made by Ennius of Discordia in Annales 8 (W armington, I, 96).

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 17 359 because Vergil’s wine has not come from the grapes of a single vine, but wherever he has found material worthy of imitation he has turned it to good use for his own ends. Thus he has modeled his fourth Book of the Aeneid almost entirely on the fourth? Book of the Argonautica of Apollonius by taking the story of Medea’s passionate love for Jason and applying it to the loves of Dido and Aeneas. [5] And here he has arranged the subject matter so much

more tastefully than his model that the story of Dido’s passion, which all the world knows to be fiction, has nevertheless for all these many years been regarded as true. For it so wings its way, as truth, through the lips of all men,’ that painters and sculptors and

those who represent human figures in tapestry take it for their theme in preference to any other, when they fashion their likenesses, as if it were the one subject in which they can display their artistry; and actors too, no less, never cease to celebrate the story with gesture and in song. [6] Indeed, the beauty of Vergil’s narrative has so far prevailed that, although all are aware of the chastity of the Phoenician queen and know that she laid hands on herself to save her good name, still they turn a blind eye to the

fiction, suppress in their minds the evidence of the truth, and choose rather to regard as true the tale which the charm of a poet’s imagination has implanted in the hearts of mankind.* [7] Now let us see whether Vergil has attained also to the level of Pindar, whom Horace acknowledges to be beyond the reach of imitation [Odes 4. 2]. I say nothing of petty borrowings, taken as it were drop by drop, but I should like to discuss one passage with you which Vergil has attempted to copy almost in its entirety, for it deserves our somewhat close attention. 2 Recte third. 3 A reminiscence of the epitaph of Ennius: volito vivw per ora virum (Warmington, I, 402). Vergil altered the story of Dido for the purpose of his epic. See Conington, II (4th ed.), lix. 4 It is perhaps surprising (in view of the comparison with Pindar below) that Macrobius did not go on to point out Vergil’s inferiority to Apollonius in the simile of the flickering reflection of a sunbeam falling on moving water in a pail (Aeneid 8. 22-25, Apollonius 3. 755-60); since Vergil does not account for the necessary movement of the water (unless, indeed, tresulum is doing double duty and is to be taken with aquae as well as with lumen). In Apol-

lonius, on the other hand, the water is said to “have just been poured” into the pail, and so would still be in motion: ... TO 67] VEOV NE AEBNTL| NE TOV Ev yaLAG KEXvTAL

the operative word being véov.

360 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [8] When he sought to rival the poem which Pindar wrote to describe the nature of Mount Etna and its eruptions,® his expressions and words were so labored that his language in this passage is even

more extravagant and turgid than Pindar’s own, although the latter’s style has been held to be overrich and luxuriant. And to enable you all to form your own opinion of the worth of my criticism, I will repeat—so far as my poor memory permits—Pindar’s lines on Etna:

[9] Etna, from whose depths belch purest founts of unapproachable fire; by day rivers pour forth a glowing stream of smoke, but in the darkness a red rolling flame sweeps rocks

deep down to the level of the sea with loud din. And that monstrous serpent flings up fountains of fire most terrible, a wonder marvelous to behold, and a marvel even to hear, when

men are there. [Pythian Odes 1. 21] [10] Listen now to Vergil’s lines. You would say that they suggest a preliminary draft rather than a finished work: The harbor, sheltered from the approach of winds, is calm and spacious, in itself; but, hard by, Etna thunders with dreadful eruptions. At times the mountain flings forth a black cloud to heaven, smoking with pitchy eddies and white-hot ash, and heaves balls of fire on high and licks the stars; at times it flings and belches forth rocks and the out-torn bowels of the mountain and with a groan hurls the molten stones in a mass to the

sky and boils up from its lowest depths. [Aeneid 3. 570] [11] In the first place, Pindar in conformity with the truth has told of what actually would happen and what is seen on the spot; namely, that Etna gives out smoke by day and fire by night. Vergil, however, in his laborious search for resounding and sonorous words confuses the two periods of time and makes no distinction between

them. [12] Then, the Greek poet has vividly described the founts of fire belching forth from the depths, the flowing rivers of smoke,

and the tawny, twisting coils of flame rushing like some fiery serpents to the level of the sea; but your poet, seeking to render Pindar’s “glowing stream of smoke” by the phrase “a black cloud smoking with pitchy eddies and ash,” has given us an inordinately clumsy mass of words; nor is the expression “balls of fire” anything 5 Aulus Gellius 17. 10

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 17 361 but a harsh and inappropriate rendering of Pindar’s “fountains of fire.” [13] Moreover, it is quite meaningless to speak of ‘a black cloud smoking with pitchy eddies and white-hot ash,” since whitehot bodies do not usually smoke and are not black (unless, perhaps, Vergil is using the word “white-hot” improperly, after the manner of the common people, to mean “hot” instead of “glowing,” for of

course candens is derived from candor [whiteness] and not from calor [heat]). [14] As for his “rocks belched and flung forth’— rocks, too, which forthwith “melt and groan and are hurled in a mass to the sky”—Pindar wrote nothing of the sort, and no one has ever been heard to use such words; of all unnatural expressions it is the most unnatural.®

[15] Finally, from Vergil’s frequent use of Greek words you may judge how devoted he was to that language. For example, he speaks of:

Godlike (dius) Ulysses [Aeneid 2.261, 762]

Dens (spelaea) of wild beasts [Eclogues to. 52] Cunningly-wrought (daedala) dwellings [Georgics 4. 179]

Hills of Rhodope [Georgics 4. 461]

And Panchaean heights [Georgics 4. 462 | And the Getae and Hebrus and Attic (Actias) Orithyia. [Georgics 4. 463]

[16] And you will also find lines such as these:

Like a Thyad, when the cry of Bacchus is heard, and the three-year rites (trieterica ... orgia) goad her to frenzy and Cithaeron calls her with shouts by night [Aeneid 4. 302] It is not, mark you, the hated beauty of the Laconian daughter

of ‘T’yndareus [ Aeneid 2. 601 | Foot it together, you fauns and dryad maids [Georgics 1. 11]

Oreads troop on either side [Aeneid 1. 500]

| Some beat with their feet the measure of the dances (choreas)

[Aeneid 6. 644]

[17] and too: Nymphs were carding Milesian fleeces dyed with a rich glassgreen (byali) hue; Drymo and Xantho, Ligea and Phyllodoce, Nisaee and Spio, and Thalia and Cymodoce [Georgics 4. 334; Aeneid 5. 826] 6 Richard of Bury (Philobiblon, Chap. 162) says that Vergil had read Pindar but had not been able to imitate his eloquence.

362 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Alcander and Halius, Noemon and Prytanis [Aeneid 9. 767]

Amphion of Dirce on Attic Aracinthus [Eclogues 2.24] The aged company of Glaucus and Ino’s son Palaemon. [Aeneid 5. 823] [18] Furthermore, there is a verse of Parthenius,’ the grammarian

who taught Vergil Greek, which runs: Tradko kai Nypfit kai Ivaoa MeAiképtqg [To Glaucus and Nereus and to Ino’s son Melicertes | a line which becomes, in Vergil: Glauco et Panopeae et Inoo Melicertae

[To Glaucus and Panopea and to Ino’s son Melicertes] [Georgics 1. 437]

and elsewhere he writes of “swift Tritons” [Aeneid 5. 824] and “Huge monsters of the deep” (cete) [Aeneid 5. 822]. [19] Indeed Greek declensions, too, give Vergil such pleasure that he has, for example, used the Greek accusative Mnesthea for the Latin form Mnestheum [Aeneid 4. 288], although elsewhere he has used the Latin form of the ablative and has written nec fratre Mnestheo [Aeneid 10. 129]. He chose also to use the Greek form of the dative Orphi instead of the Latin form Orpheo in the line: Orphi Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo [Although Calliopea

aid Orpheus, and the fair Apollo, Linus] [Eclogues 4. 57] Again, he wrote:

Vidimus, O cives, Diomede [Argivaque castra] [We have seen, O citizens, Diomedes and the Argive camp] [Aeneid 11. 243]

(the Greek form of the accusative of such names as Diomedes ending in -e; for if anyone supposes that Vergil writing in Latin used the form Diomeden, then the line will not scan.®

[20] In short, we may conclude by noting the fact that Vergil, by choice, gave Greek titles to all his poems, calling them Bucolica,

Georgica, and Aeneis, the formation of the noun differing from regular Latin. 7 Aulus Gellius 13. 27. See also Anthologia Graeca 6. 164.

8 The reading of the MSS here (vidimus, o cives, Diomeden: ut talium nominum accusativus Graecus est in en desinens. nam si quis eum putat Latine dixisse Diomedem, sanitas metri in versu desiderabitur) is patently incorrect; “e” was apparently taken for “e,” which could stand for either “em” or “en.” Servius reads Diomede, but Diomedem, the reading of several inferior MSS of Vergil and also mentioned by Servius, would seem to be preferable.

CHAPTER 18 [1] So much, then, for these matters, some of which are quite

well known to a number of Romans, and most are common knowledge. I come now to passages which Vergil has, so to speak,

dug out from the hidden recesses of Greek literature—passages which are understood only by careful students who have drunk deep of the learning of Greece. For Vergil’s learning was not only punctiliously accurate, but he also took pains to keep it hidden and

out of sight, with the result that it is not easy to recognize the , source of many of his borrowings. [2] In the introduction to his Georgics he wrote:

Liber and kindly Ceres, as surely as by your bounty earth exchanged the Chaonian acorn for the rich corn, and mixed draughts of Achelous with the new-discovered grape. [Georgics 1. 7]

[3] Commenting on these lines, all that the rank and file of schoolmasters tel] their pupils is that, thanks to Ceres, men gave up their old way of life and took to eating corn instead of acorns; that Liber by his discovery of the vine gave them wine to drink; and that water was mixed with the wine. What reason Vergil had for

making the name of the river Achelous, rather than that of any other river, stand for water is a question that nobody asks nor does anybody for a moment suspect that any erudite allusion underlies

this use of the name. [4] However, we have gone more deeply into the matter and have noticed that, as the authorities will show, the language of the learned poet conforms to the usage of the most ancient Greeks, who used to give the name “Achelous” a special sense of “water.”! And we know that they had good grounds for 1 Cf. Lovelace:

When flowing cups run swiftly round With no allaying Thames.

364 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA doing so, since the reason for the practice has been carefully recorded. But, before giving you this reason, I shall cite the evidence of an ancient poet to prove that this custom of using the word Achelous to stand for any water was widespread. [5] In his comedy Cocalus the old comic poet Aristophanes says:

“I was tottering under the cruel weight—for the wine was exciting me—since I hadn’t mixed the draught with Achelous” as though to say: “I was under the influence of the wine, since it had not been mixed with water,” or, in other words, the wine was undiluted.

[6] Now the famous writer Ephorus, in the second Book of his Flistories, explains why this expression for water was commonly used: ‘‘As a rule,” he says, “sacrifices are offered to a river only by

those who live near it; and it so happens that the Achelous is the only river that all men honor by giving its proper name a general significance; [7] for, in short, although with other proper names we often use the general for the particular—for example, calling Athenians ‘Hellenes’ and Lacedaemonians ‘Peloponnesians’—to the general name ‘water’ we give the particular name ‘Achelous.’ We find the most convincing explanation of this remarkable fact in the oracles of Dodona,? [8] where it is almost invariably the custom of

the god to bid sacrifice be made to Achelous; so that people commonly suppose that the oracle in speaking of Achelous is referring not to the river which flows through Acarnania but to water generally, and they copy the god in this use of the name. Proof of this is to be found in the fact that we are accustomed to employ the expression in connection with the divine power, for it is especially in oaths, prayers, and sacrifices—all being matters

which have to do with the gods—that we speak of water as ‘Achelous.’”’

[9] What clearer proof could there be that the Greeks of old habitually used the word Achelous to mean any water? And it follows that Vergil’s reference to Father Liber having mixed the wine with Achelous is an illustration of the excellence of the poet’s learning. Our quotations from the comic poet Aristophanes and the historian Ephorus are evidence enough of this use of the word, but

nevertheless we will take the inquiry further and cite Didymus, who is easily the most erudite of all grammarians; for he, after 2 Scholiast on Homer Iliad 24. 616. See Frazer’s Pausanias, Il, 527.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 18 365 stating the reason given by Ephorus, to which reference has already

been made, added another, in these words: [10] “And here is a better explanation: the fact that, since of all rivers the Achelous is the eldest, men seek to honor it by calling all running water gener-

ally by its name. At any rate Acusilaus, in the first Book of his History, has made it clear that the Achelous is the eldest of all rivers, for he said: ‘Ocean marries Tethys, his own sister, and from the marriage are born three thousand rivers, of which Achelous is the eldest and enjoys the greatest honor.’”’®

[11] What I have said is full and sufficient proof of the old custom by which the name Achelous was used as a general name for any water, but nevertheless there shall be added the testimony of that renowned writer of tragedies, Euripides, to which the same Didymus, the grammarian, has referred as follows, in his books on Tragic Diction: [12] “Euripides,” he says, “in his Hy pspyle applies the term “Achelous” to all water, for, speaking of water very far distant from Acarnania (the region in which the river Achelous flows), he says: ‘I will show the Argives a stream of Achelous.’’’4 [13] In the muster roll in the seventh Book of the Aeneid the

following lines refer to the people of the Hernici and their city Anagnia, then a very famous place: Those whom rich Anagnia feeds, and you, Father Amasenus. Not all of them have armor, or clanging shields or thundering chariots. Most sling bullets of pale lead. Some carry a pair of

javelins in their hands and wear caps of tawny wolfskin to cover their heads; the left foot is bare as they plant their steps,

a boot of raw hide protects the right. [Aeneid 7. 684] [14] Hitherto, so far as I know, I have nowhere found a reference

to the practice of marching to war with one foot shod and the other bare—in Italy—but there is plenty of evidence that the custom obtained among some of the Greeks, as I shall now show. [15] And

we may regard this passage as an admirable example of Vergil’s profound and careful research. For having read that the Hernici of Anagnia were descendants of the Pelasgians and took their name from a certain Pelasgian chief of theirs called Hernicus, he at-

tributed to the Hernici, an ancient colony of the Pelasgians, a custom which he knew from his reading to be of Aetolian origin. 3 Cf. Plato Cratylus 402b; and see also Acusilaus, Fragment B 21 (Diels). 4 Fragment 753 (Nauck).

366 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [16] That a Pelasgian Hernicus was a chief of the Hernict is proved at some length by Julius Hyginus in the second Book of his work on Cities; and Euripides, the famous writer of tragedies, shows us that it was the custom of the Aetolians to go to war with only one

foot shod, for in his Meleager he brings a messenger on to the stage, describing the dress of each of the chiefs who had met to capture the boar. His lines run as follows:® [17] Telamon bore a golden eagle on the shield which protected him against the beast, and he had a wreath of vine leaves on his

head, in honor of his native Salamis, rich in vines; Arcadian Atalanta, hateful to Cypris, had hounds and a bow and arrows; Ancaeus brandished a two-bladed axe; the sons of Thestius had

the sole of the left foot unshod (the other foot sandaled) to keep the leg nimble, as is the custom of all Aetolians.

[18] You see how very carefully Vergil has kept to the language of Euripides; for the latter says “the sole of the left foot unshod,” and the same foot is described as unshod by Vergil too, who has said: “The left foot is bare as they plant their steps.” [19] And that you may the better appreciate Vergil’s study of our Greek writers, I will mention in this connection a fact that is known to but few, namely, that Aristotle criticized Euripides here for what he held to be his lack of knowledge; since, said Aristotle, it is not the left foot but the right that the Aetolians leave unshod. And to give you proof, and not just an unsupported statement, I will cite Aristotle's very words, from the second Book of his work on The Poets, [20] wherein, speaking of Euripides, he remarks: “Euripides says that the sons of Thestius marched with the left foot unshod, his words being:

‘They had the sole of the left foot unshod (the other foot sandaled) to keep the leg nimble’

but in fact the practice of the Aetolians is just the opposite, for they wear sandals on the left foot and leave the right unshod, the need being, I take it, to keep the leading foot agile, rather than the foot that stands fast.”® [21] But in spite of this, Vergil, you see, 5 Fragment 534 (Nauck). 6 In Thucydides (3. 22) the men who escaped from Platea had the left foot shod. Cf. Livy 9. 40, where the Samnites are said to protect the left leg with a greave. Warde Fowler, in Vergil’s Gathering of the Clans, p. 60, points out

that a right-handed slinger needs a left foot as free as possible, to grip the ground as he discharges his missile.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 18 367 chose to take Euripides rather than Aristotle as his authority, for nothing would persuade me that one whose learning was so scrupulously exact was unaware of what Aristotle had said. And indeed

Vergil was right to prefer to follow Euripides, for, from what I have already said and from what I shall now go on to say, one may conclude that he was exceedingly well acquainted with the writers of Greek tragedy.

CHAPTER 19 [1] In his description of the death of Dido, in the fourth Book of the Aeneid, Vergil refers as follows to the cutting of a lock of hair from her head: Not yet had Proserpina taken from her head the auburn lock

and doomed her life to Stygian Orcus [Aeneid 4. 698 | then Iris is sent by Juno, cuts off the lock and duly delivers Dido to Orcus.

[2] Now this tale is not pure invention on Vergil’s part, as Cornutus (in other respects a very learned man) holds in the following note which he appended to the passage: “The origin of this

story of the need to take a lock of hair from the dying is not known, but Vergil, after the manner of poets, was wont to use his imagination, as, for example, in the incident of the golden bough.” [3] But I blush to think that so eminent a critic as Cornutus (and a man so learned in the literature of Greece) was unacquainted with the celebrated play of Euripides, the Alcestis; [4] for in this play Death appears on the stage, carrying a sword with which to cut off a lock of hair from Alcestis, and says: However, the woman shall go down to the house of Hades,

and I am on my way to her to make a beginning of the rite with my sword, for that mortal is dedicated to the god of the world below, the hair of whose head has been hallowed by

this blade. [Alcestis 73] [5] These lines, I think, show clearly who it was that Vergil followed when he introduced the story of the cutting off of the hair. Moreover, in the Greek, the word “‘hallowed” means “‘devoted

to a god,” and that is why your poet goes on to say, in the person of Iris:

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 19 369 As bidden I bear away this lock, devoted to Dis, and I free you

from your body. [Aeneid 4. 702]

[6] I have proved that pretty well all the passages to which I have referred rest on the authority of the Greek tragic poets, and I shall proceed now to note too a borrowing from Sophocles. [7] For in the fourth Book of the Aeneid Vergil represents Dido, when abandoned by Aeneas, as having recourse to the spells and incantations of sorceresses and witches, and he speaks, among other things,

of herbs, sought to allay her passion, which must be cut with sickles of bronze. [8] And, since it is worth while to ask what suggested to Vergil this use of bronze sickles, I shall quote Vergil’s

lines and then, after that, the lines of Sophocles which he has imitated. [9] In Vergil we read: Herbs juicy with the milk of black poison are sought, cut by

moonlight with sickles of bronze [Aeneid 4. 513] and in Sophocles the very title of the tragedy points to our question, for the play is called The Root Cutters. In it Medea is represented as cutting poisonous herbs (but with face averted, lest the potency

of their baneful odor kill her) and then pouring their juice into vessels of bronze, the herbs themselves being cut with bronze sickles. [10] The passage in Sophocles runs thus: Averting her eyes from her hand she receives in bronze vessels the juice, clouded with white, that oozes from the cutting, and a little later: These chests serve as covers to hide the severed roots, which she, lightly clad, and with cries and shrieks, was cutting with

sickles of bronze. [Nauck, 489]

[11] Unquestionably it was on the authority of these lines of Sophocles that Vergil has introduced bronze sickles into his narra-

tive. Certainly there is much to show that it was commonly the custom to use instruments of bronze for sacred ceremonies, and especially in connection with rites whose purpose it was to entice or curse a person or, indeed, to drive out diseases. [12] I shall not comment on that line of Plautus: My chinking disease has its remedy—the chink of bronze! nor on Vergil’s reference elsewhere to: 1 Reading: Medicum habet patagus morbus, aes (OCT Plautus, Fabularum incertarum fragmenta, LIT). The meaning is obscure (see Jan’s note). Possibly, a parasite is asking for money.

370 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA The ringing noise and sounding bronze of the Curetes [Georgics 4. 151]

[13] but I shall quote the words of Carminius,? a learned man and a most careful scholar, who says in the second Book of his work on Italy: ““And so I find both that the Etruscans, in their sacred rites of Tages, were wont formerly to use a plowshare of bronze when they were founding a city, and that among the Sabines the

priests used to cut their beards with razors of bronze.” [14] It would be tedious to seek to follow up these words of Carminius? with a review of the many passages in which the most ancient of the Greeks habitually made use of the sound of bronze as being particularly efficacious. Let it be enough for the matter in hand to have shown that in introducing a reference to bronze sickles Vergil was following the example of a Greek author. [15] In the ninth Book of the Aeneid Vergil has these lines: There stood the son of Arcens in his glorious armor, his mantle

embroidered with needlework; he was bright with red dye from Spain and conspicuous in his beauty. Him his father Arcens had sent, reared in his mother’s grove on the banks of the Symaethus, where is the altar of Palicus, rich and readily

appeased. [Aeneid 9. 581] [16] To the best of my knowledge I have found no account of this god, Palicus—or rather of these gods, the Palici, for there are

two of them—in any Latin author at all, but it is from the very depths of Greek literature that Vergil has unearthed the story. [17] In the first place, then, just as the river Symaethus to which Vergil refers in this passage is in Sicily, so it is in Sicily that the Palici are worshiped as gods, and the tragic poet Aeschylus, who certainly was connected with Sicily, was the first to write about them. He also gave—what the Greeks call an “etymology”—an explanation of their name in his verses, but, before quoting his lines, I must tell you briefly the legend of the Palici. [18] On the banks of the river Symaethus in Sicily the nymph Thalia was seduced by Jupiter, and finding herself with child and fearing the wrath of Juno, she prayed that the earth might open and swallow her up. Her prayer was granted, but, when the time was fully come for the children which she was bearing to be born, the earth opened again and the two babes of which she had been 2 Granius? (conti. Meursius).

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 19 371 delivered came forth. Since they had returned again from the depths of the earth in which they had been hidden, they were called “Palici,” because they had come back (néAw ixéoOat). [19] Not far from the place of their return are some lakes, small but of

immense depth, the waters of which are always gushing up and bubbling.’ The local inhabitants give to these “craters,” as they call them, the name of “Delloi’” and hold them to be the brothers of the

Palici. The craters are the object of the greatest reverence, and their divine power and efficacy are especially in evidence when an oath is to be taken beside them. [20] For if proof is required in connection with a theft that has been denied, or in some other such matter, and an oath is demanded from the person under suspicion, both parties (cleansed from all worldly pollution) approach the craters, security having first been taken from the party required to make oath, for the payment of the claim if the issue

award it. [21] Then the party making oath would invoke the divinity of the place and testify to the truth of his oath. If he swore truthfully, he would depart without hurt, but, if he had been conscious within of guilt when he made the oath, he would thereafter lose his life in the lake for his perjury. These circumstances invested the “brothers” with such an atmosphere of religious awe that the craters were called “unappeasable,” but the Palici on the other hand were styled “readily appeased.”

[22] The precinct of the Palici is also the seat of an oracle; for when a season of drought had parched the land of Sicily, the people of the island, advised by an oracular reply from the Palici, made a prescribed sacrifice to a certain hero, and the land brought forth its plenty again. ‘The Sicilians in thankfulness heaped the altar of the

Palici with fruits of the earth of every kind, and from this abundance the altar itself has been called “rich.” [23] There you have the whole story of the Palici and their “brothers.” Reference to it is found only in the literature of Greece, but Vergil has drawn just as freely from Greek sources as from Latin. [24] But now I must quote the authorities for what I have told you. There is a tragedy of Aeschylus,‘ entitled Aetna, in which (speaking of the Palici) the poet says: ‘What name then shall mortals give to them?” 3 See Aristotle Mirabilia 57 (8340). 4 Fragment 6 (Nauck).

372 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA “Zeus bids.us call them “The Holy Palici.’” “And shall the name Palici stand as for good reason given?” “Yes, for they have come back from darkness to this light.” [25] Again, Callias in the seventh Book of his History of Sicily

writes: “Eryce is about ninety stades from the city of Gela; the place is reasonably strong, and the city belonged of old to the Sicels. Close to the city, too, are what are known as the Dellot. These are two volcanic craters which the Siceliots hold to be the brothers of the Palici, and the bubbles which rise to the surface resemble the bubbles in boiling water.” So much for what Callias has to say. [26] Then Polemon, in a book entitled The Remarkable kivers of Sicily says: “The so-called Palici are held by the inhabitants of the country to be indigenous gods. These gods have two brothers, certain volcanic craters on low ground. Before approaching these craters, men must be free from all pollution, whether arising from

sexual intercourse or from the eating of certain foods. From the , craters rises an unwholesome stench of sulphur, which produces a severe headache in any who stand near them, and the water in the craters is turbid and in color closely resembles white soapsuds.* [27] The water rises in swelling, bursting bubbles, like the eddies in water bubbling as it boils. Men say that these craters are of 1mmense depth, so that even oxen which fell in and a pair of mules

which were being driven by and also some grazing mares which : leapt in—all disappeared. [28] An oath sworn here is for the Siceliots

the most binding of oaths. After the parties challenged have been

purified, the officials who administer the oath® take a written document and declare to those who are making oath the matters touching which the oaths are demanded. The party making oath, waving an olive branch and crowned with a garland, ungirt and clad in a single garment, lays hold of the crater and recites the oath as dictated to him. [29] If he has done as he has sworn, he returns home unharmed, but, if he is a transgressor in the sight of the gods, he dies forthwith. On the occasion of this ceremonial the parties

undertake to find sureties for the priests who have the duty of purifying the sacred precinct, if anything untoward happen. In the 5 Reading (with Jan) yaAatptna. 6 Reading dpxoc 5é égottv toig LikeAtmtaic péyitotoc. Ka9npapévav 58 tOv TPOKANVEVTM@V Of OPK@TAl K.T.A.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 19 373 neighborhood of this place dwelt the Paliceni, in the city of Palice,

which is named after these deities.” There you have the account given by Polemon. [30] Furthermore, Xenagoras, in the third Book of his history

of the sacred site of the oracle writes: “The Sicels, when the produce of the land failed, sacrificed to a certain hero Pediocrates,

by command of the oracle received from the Palici; and, after a season of abundance had returned, they filled the altar of the Palici with many gifts.”’7 [31] That passage in Vergil, then, to which I referred has now,

I think, been fully explained, and has been shown to have the support of competent authorities. Your literary critics, it is true, do

not regard the passage as obscure, for they are content, for their part, to know—and indeed to teach their pupils—that Palicus is the

name of a certain god. But who that god is and how he got his name they neither know nor wish to know, for they have no idea where to look for the information, just as if they were ignorant of Greek. 7 See E. A. Freeman’s excursus on the Palici in his History of Sicily (Oxford, 1891-94), I, 517-30.

CHAPTER 20 [1] We shall not omit to deal with the following passage in the first Georgic: Pray for wet summers, farmers, and for clear skies in winter (since after winter dust most joyous is the corn and joyous the fields); never else than after such seasons does Mysia take such pride in its tillage, and Gargarus itself marvel so at its harvests. [Georgics 1. 100] [2] ‘he meaning here would seem to be less clear and rather more involved than Vergil’s statements usually are. And there is also here a question which comes to us from ancient Greek times and calls

for our attention, namely, what is this Gargarus [or Gargara| which Vergil has chosen to regard as typical of fertility? [3] Now the Gargarus in question is in Mysia, a province by the Hellespont, but the name and place have a twofold significance,

for the name is given both to the peak of Mount Ida and to the town at the foot of that mountain. [4] In the following line from Homer the reference is to the mountain peak: He came to many-fountained Ida, mother of wild beasts, even

to Gargarus [Lliad 8. 47] for the actual context here makes it clear that Gargarus is to be taken to be the highest part of the mountain, since the poet is speaking of Jupiter [sitting on the mountain peak]. [5] And in another line the evidence of Homer to this effect is even more plainly stated, when he says: Thus he, the Father, slept in peace on the peak of Gargarus. [Iliad 14. 352]

There is also a line in a play by the old poet Epicharmus, called The Trojans, which runs:. . King Zeus, dwelling on Ida, where is snow-capped Gargarus [6] and from all these lines it is abundantly clear that the name

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 20 375 Gargarus is regularly given to the peak of Mount Ida.

[7] I shall now recount the authors who have referred to Gargarus as a town. The famous historian Ephorus, in his fifth Book, says: “After Assos, and near it, is the city of Gargarus”; and,

besides Ephorus, the old writer Phileas also, in his work entitled Asia, says: “After Assos is a city named Gargarus, and near it 1S Antandros.” [8] There is too a book of epigrams written in elegiacs and attributed to Aratus wherein it is said of a certain poet named Diotimus: I weep for Diotimus, who sits on stones and recites the alphabet

tu the children of the men of Gargarus? and these lines tell us also the name of the inhabitants of the town— the Gargareans. [9] Although it 1s evident that the name Gargarus must be taken to stand sometimes for the top of the mountain and sometimes for the town situated at its foot, Vergil is speaking not of the mountain top but of the town. However, let us inquire why

he has cited Gargarus as a place that abounds in the fruits of the field.

[10] It is quite well known that all the land of Mysia enjoys rich

crops on account, of course, of the moist nature of the soil, and that is why Vergil, in the passage which I quoted, after the reference to “wet summers” went on to say “never else than after such seasons does Mysia take such pride in its tillage” (as though to say that every country which has had the fitting supply of moisture will

have fields as fertile as those of Mysia). [11] But, when Homer speaks of “many-fountained Ida,” he 1s indicating the moist nature of the fields which lie at the foot of the mountain, for the epithet “many-fountained” implies an abundance of springs of water; and that is how this town of Gargarus came to have so rich an abun-

dance of the fruits of the field that, if you wished to express a

large number of anything, you used the name “Gargara” to represent this immense quantity. [12] We have evidence of such use in the following lines from a tragicomedy by Alcaeus:

J was just bringing a number of men from the fields to the feast, about twenty, when | see from above a swarm of people (Taépyap’ &vOpanov) in a ring.

Here, you see, the poet clearly intended the word Gargara to stand 1 Anthologia Graeca 11. 437.

376 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA for a multitude; and Aristomenes in his comedy The Helpers? uses the word in the same way, in the line: For we have a swarm of men inside (avipév Dapyapa).

[13] The comic poet Aristophanes, with his usual wit, seeks to express a countless number by means of a compound word made up of “sand” and “Gargara,” saying in his play The Acharnians [line 3]:

But the things that vexed me were sand-hundred—swarms (PALLAKOOLOYaPYApa).

Varro indeed in his Menippean satires has often used the word “sand-hundreds” (gappaxdo1a) by itself to represent “many,” but

Aristophanes added yaépyapa to suggest a number too great to count.

[14] It follows, therefore, from what I have said that Vergil’s lines mean this: that, if in the course of a year the weather is such that in the winter it is fine but the summer is rainy, then crops do very well; and that these conditions are so necessary for the fields that without them even the fields of Mysia, naturally very fruitful though they are, would fall short of the reputation for fertility which they enjoy. [15] After speaking of Mysia, Vergil goes on to mention Gargarus by name, because the city, situated

as it is on the lowest slopes of Mount Ida, is watered by the streams which flow down from the mountain and might well be thought to be in no great need of summer rain. [16] Moreover, to prove that the passage means that it is not only Gargarus that is moist (by reason of its proximity to the mountain) but the fields of all Mysia as well, we have the evidence of Aeschylus, who writes [in his Mysians]: Hail, Caicus, and ye streams of Mysia. [17] I have spoken of Vergil’s borrowings from the Greeks in the passage just quoted, but your poet would go to any ancient source for something to give beauty to his verse, and, to make this point clear (as well as for the pleasure it will afford), I shall refer also to the origin of his words “after winter dust most joyous is the corn,”

[18] since in a book of very old poems, said to be the earliest written in Latin, you will find this old rustic song: Dust in winter, mud in spring, corn in plenty, lad, will bring.‘ 2 Reading év Bondvoic.

3 Fragment 143 (Nauck). 4 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 17. 2. 13-14.

CHAPTER 211 [1] When he speaks of drinking vessels Vergil as a rule uses the Greek names, referring, for example, to carchesia [beakers], cymbia [bowls], canthari [tankards], and scyphi [goblets]. Of carchesia he says: “Take beakers of Maeonian wine,” said she, “and let us pour a

libation to Ocean” [Georgics 4. 380]

and, elsewhere: Here he duly pours a libation of two beakers of unmixed wine. [Aeneid 5. 77] Of cymbia he says:

We offer bowls foaming with warm milk. [Aeneid 3. 66] Of the cantharus he says: And his heavy tankard was hanging by its well-worn handle. [Eclogues 6. 17]

And of scyphi he says: And his right hand the sacred goblet clasped. [Aeneid 8. 278] [2] But no one asks of what shape these vessels are or what writer has mentioned them; all think it enough simply to know that they

are drinking vessels of one kind or another. Since scyphi and canthari are words in common use, the commentators may be forgiven for ignoring them. But carchesia and cymbia are very rarely

found in Greek, and I doubt whether you would ever find the words used in Latin authors, so that I think that inquiry into the meaning of these strange and foreign names is unavoidable. [3] The carchesium [beaker] is a drinking vessel known only to the Greeks. Pherecydes mentions it in his Histories, where he says that Jupiter made Alcmena a gift of a golden beaker as the price 1 See Isidore of Seville 19. 2; 20. 5-6; Athenaeus 10. 442d, f; 11. 469d; 470C; 474D-C, e-f; 4754; 4774-c; 481e-f; 482b.

378 MIACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA of her company. Plautus, however, did not use this unusual word but says in his play Amphitruo that Jupiter’s present was a dish. And vet the two vessels are of very different shape; [4] for a dish (patera), as the name itself shows, is flat and open (patens) , whereas a beaker is tall, waisted, and has handles of moderate size which run

from the top of the vessel to the bottom. [5] Asclepiades, a Greek and a particularly learned and careful scholar, thinks that carchesium as a name for a drinking vessel has its Origin in a nautical term; for in a ship (he says) the lower part

of the sail’ is called the heel, the part roughly in the middle is called the “neck,” and the top the carchesium, and from this part

there run down, on each side of the sail,3 what are known as “horns.”

[6] Besides Asclepiades there are others, famous writers of poetry, who have mentioned this drinking vessel; Sappho, for example, who says: And so they all took beakers and began to pour libations.‘ and Cratinus, who says in his Diomysalexander:

“How, pray, was he got up? Tell me this.” “He had a thyrsus, a saffron-colored robe, a coat of many

colors, and a beaker.” [Kock, 1, 24] and Sophocles, too, in the play entitled Tyro, says: To yonder table, I say, among the food and beakers.® So much, then, for the carchesium2, a word unknown to the Latin tongue and used only in Greece. [7] As for the cymzbium, or bowl, you will not find the word in

Latin,® although you will come across references to it in a few Greek authors. Thus the well-known comic poet Philemon says in The Ghost:

Rose drank a bow! of unmixed wine. [Kock, 2, 502] [8] Ihe comic poet Anaxandrides, too, in his play The Rustics, say's:

2 Amphitruo 534. 3 Recte mast. 4 Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, I, 282. > Fragment 599 (Nauck). Reading [with Jan] mpdc¢ thvd_e pou tpameCav. ®° In nostro sermone. Here and in g, below, where he says et apud Graecos et apud nos ab illis trabentes, (as well as in 18, below) Macrobius seems to be addressing his son.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 21 379 And the bowls of unmixed wine in which you pledged each other have been your undoing’ and Demosthenes uses the word in his speech against Midias, where he says: “Riding on a padded saddle from Argura in Euboea with a carload of cloaks and bowls and jars, which the customs officers proceeded to seize.”8 [9] Now the word cymbium, as its formation shows, is a diminutive of cymba, a word which in Greek as well as in Latin,® which

borrows the word from the Greek, means a kind of boat. And indeed I have myself noticed that among the Greeks the names of many kinds of drinking vessels have a nautical origin, as, for example, the carchesium of which I have just given an account, as well as these cymzbia, which are long drinking vessels resembling ships.

[10] That most learned scholar Eratosthenes refers to the cymbium in a letter to the Spartan Hagetor, in which he says: “They set up a mixing bowl! in honor of the gods, not made of silver nor studded with precious stones, but made of Kolian clay. As often as they filled it, they would first make a libation to the gods and then would draw off, one after the other, with a dipping bowl.” [See Athenaeus 4820. ]

[11] There were some who thought that cymbium was a contracted form of cissybium. This is a drinking vessel of which many writers make mention (not to speak of Homer, who relates that it was the vessel offered by Ulysses to the Cyclops'°), some holding

that the word properly denotes a wooden drinking vessel made from ivy (kioodc); [12] and, indeed, Nicander of Colophon, in the

first Book of his Aetolian History, says: “In the rites of Zeus of Didyma ivy is associated with pouring of libations, and that is why the ancient drinking vessels are called cissybia.” [Cf. Athenaeus 11. 477b.] Callimachus, too, refers to this vessel, in the lines: For he refused to drink unmixed wine, with mouth wide open, from a large Thracian cup but was content with a small cis-

sy bum 7 Reading éxaK@oev budc. Athenaeus 11. 481f reads é&kdpmoev (“have stupefied you”). 8 In Midiam 133, Athenaeus 11. 481e. The text of the latter has been followed. ® Apud nos: see note on section 6, above. 10 Odyssey 9. 346. 11 Callimachus Aetia, Fragment 178. 11-12 (Pfeiffer).

380 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [13] Those who think that the word cissy bium means a drinking

vessel made of ivy wood (as though to say kKiootvoc) seem to rely on the authority of Euripides, who says, in his Andromeda:

All the shepherd folk rushed up, one man with an ivy wood

goblet (kiooov...oxbgov) of milk, refreshment after toil, another with the gladdening juice of the vine.” That, then, is all we need to say of the cymbium. [14] And now, since we have already said that the cantharus is a kind of drinking vessel and also a kind of ship, the next thing to do is to prove the statement by examples of these meanings. That the word stands for a drinking vessel is well known, for Vergil himself18 most fittingly gives a cantharus to Silenus as the vessel appropriate to Father Liber; but in accordance with the promise given we must also show that cantharus is used to stand for a ship as well.44 [15] Thus Menander, in The Skipper, says:

“By the grace of the gods he has come to us from the salt depths of the Aegean, Strato. How fine it is to be the first to

tell you [that your son is safe and well] and your Golden Cantharus.” “Cantharus?”’

“The ship, of course; you don’t even get my meaning, you

pour fool!” [ Kock, 3, 101] [16] As for the scyphus, or goblet, Vergil says (of Evander at a feast in honor of Hercules): And his right hand the sacred goblet clasped [Aeneid 8. 278] for the scyphus is the drinking vessel associated with Hercules, just as the cantharus is appropriate to Father Liber. And indeed it is not without good reason that the old-time makers of images represented Hercules as holding a drinking vessel, and sometimes as unsteady with drink; not only because the hero is said to have been given to

drink but also because an old tale tells of his having crossed vast tracts of sea in a drinking vessel, as though in a ship. [17] And on each of these two points I shall have a few remarks to make, drawn

from ancient legends of Greece. Passing over stories which are commonly well known, I suggest that manifest proof of the hero’s 12 Fragment 135 (Nauck). 13 Eclogues 6. 17.

14 The promise is not found in the text as it has survived.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 21 381 fondness for hard drinking is to be found in the fact that Ephippus in his Busiris represents Hercules as saying:

“Good Gods! Don’t you know that I am an Argive—from Tiryns? ‘They are always drunk when they fight their battles.” “Yes, and that is why they always run away.” [ Athenaeus 10. 442e, and Kock, 2, 251]

[18] There is also a story, not so very well known, that near Heraclea, a city founded by Hercules, there lived a race of men called the Cylicrani, the name being derived from the Greek word KOALE, a kind of drinking vessel which, by the change of a single letter, we call [in Latin] a calix.

[19] Moreover, a tale of a voyage of Hercules in a drinking vessel to Erytheia, a Spanish island, is told by that eminent Greek writer Panyasis, and it has the authority of Pherecydes as well, but I have refrained from adding what they say because their stories are nearer akin to mythology than to history. For my part, I am

of the opinion that Hercules crossed the seas not in a drinking vessel but in a ship called a scyphus; for, as we have already said, cantharus, too, and carchesium and cymbium (this last derived from cymba, a boat) are all names that have to do with ships.

CHAPTER 22 [1] Vergil too sometimes borrows proper names from the ancient tales of Greece. For example, in the Aeneid (as you know) he calls one of Diana’s companions Opis, and those who are igno-

rant of the facts suppose that the name was given perhaps at random, or even invented by the poet; but it was a cunning device

of his to attribute to a companion of Diana a name which old writers of Greece had given to the goddess herself.t [2] The passage in Vergil runs: Meanwhile in the house of heaven the daughter of Latona was addressing swift Opis, one of the devoted company of maidens

who attend her, and sadly thus she spoke [Aeneid 11. 532] and later on in the same book we read: But all the while Trivia’s sentinel, Opis, sits on the hills? [Aeneid 11. 836] [3] that is to say, Vergil makes Opis the companion and attendant of Diana. But now let me tell you where Vergil has got this name from, for (as I said) he has taken what he knew from his reading to be an epithet of the goddess and has applied it to an attendant of

hers. [4] The famous poet Alexander of Aetolia, in a book entitled The Muses, tells what trouble the people of Ephesus took at the dedication of a temple to Diana to ensure, by the offer of prizes, that the most talented poets of the time should compose a number of different poems in honor of the goddess; and in Alexander’s verses the name of Opis appears, applied not to a companion of Diana but to Diana herself; [5] for, speaking (as I said) of the people of Ephesus, this is what he says: 1 E.g., Callimachus Hyanus in Dianam 204, 240. 2 Cf. 3. 6. 15, above. 3 Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, III, 296.

BOOK 5, CHAPTER 22 383 But they, hearing that Timotheus, the famous son of Thersander, was held in high honor by the Greeks for his skill in harping and in song, bade the man for shekels of gold hymn then the sacred millennium and Opis who shoots swift arrows, even the goddess who has her honored home on Cenchreae and (after that): Nor leave unsung the deeds of Leto’s daughter divine. [6] Evidently, unless I am mistaken, Diana has been spoken of here as Opis; and Vergil from his vast store of learning has taken this name and transferred it from the goddess to her companion. [7] Now consider the line: Gone forth are all the gods and they have forsaken their shrines

and altars. [Aeneid 2. 351]

No one asks where Vergil got this line from, but it is clear that he has taken it from Euripides, who in his play The Trojan Wozien represents Apollo‘ as saying, when Troy was doomed to capture: I am leaving Ilium, that famous city® a line which shows the source from which Vergil has borrowed his reference to the departure of the gods from a captured city.

[8] And, besides, it is not without the authority of ancient Greece that Vergil says:

With her own hand she [Pallas] hurled Jove’s rushing fire

from the clouds [Aeneid 1. 42]

for Euripides introduces Minerva calling on Neptune to let loose

the winds upon the Greek fleet, and saying the while that he should do what Jupiter has done, from whom she has received the thunderbolt to launch against the Greeks.® [9] Again, we read in Vergil that Pan is said to have enticed the

moon by the gift of a snow-white fleece, in the passage which contains the lines: With such snowy gift of wool (if we may trust the tale) calling

thee, O moon, to the depths of the wood [Georgics 3. 391] and, commenting on this passage, that accomplished critic Valerius Probus says that he does not know what authority there is for this story or myth. [10] I am surprised that it escaped the notice of so distinguished a man, for the author of the story is the poet Nican4 Recte Poseidon. 5 Troades 25. 6 Troades 8o.

384 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA der, whom Didymus (the best informed of all “grammarians,” whether of today or of yesterday) calls a writer of myths; and it was because Vergil knew this that he has added the words “if we may trust the tale,” thus admitting that he took for his authority a writer of such tales.

[11] In the third Book of the Aeneid there is a passage which contains the line:

What the almighty Father foretold to Phoebus, and Phoebus

Apollo to me [Aeneid 3.251]

and one reads it cursorily and without asking where it comes from. [12] And yet it is in such passages as these that the “grammarians,” to excuse their ignorance, attribute what is said to the poet’s inventive genius instead of to his learning, omitting to say that Vergil borrowed from others, for fear of having to name the authors from

whom borrowing has been made. But I assure you that in this passage, too, our learned poet has had a forerunner—the famous writer of tragedies, Aeschylus—[13] who says in his play entitled The Priestesses:

Send with all speed; for these are the oracles which Father Zeus, entrusts to Loxias?

and, in another play: Loxias is the interpreter of Father Zeus. [14] Here, clearly, (I suggest) is the source from which Vergil has taken the notion that Apollo’s prophecies are words spoken to him by Jupiter.

I hope that I have now proved to the satisfaction of you all that he who would understand Vergil must not only know the

sound of the Latin tongue but must also have drunk of the learning of Greece fully and to its very depths. [15] However, what I have said will be enough, I trust, to make good my case, for I certainly could have filled great rolls with Vergil’s borrowings from the most recondite learning of the Greeks, did I not fear to weary you. 7 Fragment 86 (Nauck). 8 Fumenides 19.

the saturnalia - BOOK 6 CHAPTER 1 [1] Eustathius, said Praetextatus, has given us an admirably well arranged account of the material which Vergil took from ancient Greece and introduced into his own poems. But we have not forgotten that Furius Albinus and Caecina Albinus, who are far the most learned of all our contemporaries, have promised! to tell us of Vergil’s borrowings from the old writers of Rome as well, and the occasion suggests that they should do so now. [2] All agreed, and Furius Albinus then began. My aim, he said, is to show the good use which Vergil has made of his reading of these older writers, to show you the flowers, so to speak, which he has culled from them all—the decorative passages which he has taken

from various sources to give beauty to his work. But I am afraid that in so doing I may afford the unlearned or the ill-disposed an excuse to censure him; for they may charge the great man with the wrongful use of what belongs to another and overlook the fact that . the reward of one’s reading is to seek to rival what meets with one’s approval in the work of others and by a happy turn to convert to some use of one’s own the expressions one especially admires there.

For this is what our writers have often done, borrowing both from one another and from the Greeks; and this is what the greatest of the Greeks often did among themselves. [3] Without mentioning writers of other lands I could give you

a number of examples to show how widespread has been this practice of mutual pilfering among the authors of our old literature,

but, with your permission, I shall leave the proof of this for another, and suitable, time, citing now only a single instance which, I think I may say, will serve pretty well to establish my point. [4] For Afranius, the writer of comedies in Roman dress, in his play 1 1, 24. 19, above.

386 NIACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA The Feast of the Cross Roads, made this straightforward reply to

those who were accusing him of having taken too freely from Menander: “T confess”, he said, “that I have taken not only from Menander

but from anybody, even from a Latin author, who had anything which was to my purpose, and which I did not think that I could improve on.”’? [5] But if all poets and other writers are allowed to act among themselves in this way, as partners holding in common,’ what right has anyone to accuse Vergil of dishonesty, if he has borrowed from his predecessors to embellish his poems? We may even say that they owe him thanks on this account, since by transferring something of theirs to his own immortal work he has ensured that the memory of these old writers—whom, as the tastes of today show, we are already beginning to deride as well as to neglect—should not wholly perish. [6] In fact, Vergil showed such judgment too in his borrowings, and such was the manner of his imitation, that when, in our reading of him, we come across another’s words, we either choose

to regard them as Vergil’s own or else realize with surprise that they sound better now than they did in their original context. [7] I shall begin, then by quoting the half lines or practically whole lines which Vergil has taken from other writers.4 After that [Chapter 2] I shall quote whole passages which he has taken over with some only slight change, or sentences copied in such a way that their source is evident, and others where the changes made leave us in no doubt of the origin. Then [Chapter 3], in connection with certain borrowings from Homer, I shall show that here Vergil has not himself borrowed from Homer but that others before him had drawn from that source and that Vergil (having certainly read their works) copied from them. [8] Vergil: Meanwhile the heaven turns round (vertitur interea caelum),

and night rushes up from ocean [Aeneid 2. 250] 2 Ribbeck, II, 198.

3 “L’originalité consiste surtout pour un Latin a mettre son empreinte sur un sujet dont il se soucie assez peu qu'il est a lui.” (H. Bardon, La Littérature Latine Inconnue, Il, 305.) 4 It will be observed that, although in many—and particularly in the earlier— of the parallels cited in Chapter 1 the correspondence between Vergil and his models is close, in others (and noticeably in the later examples) the parallelism is much less close than Macrobius here suggests.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER I 387 Ennius (Book 6):

Meanwhile the heaven turns round (vertitur interea caelum)

With its great constellations. [Warmington, I, 76] [9] Vergil: Atlas wheels round upon his shoulder the heaven studded with glowing stars (stellis ardentibus aptum) [Aeneid 4. 482; 6. 797] Ennius (Book 1): Who turns round the heaven studded with shining stars (stellis

fulgentibus aptunt) [Warmington, I, 20] (Book 3):

She looked forth at the heaven studded with shining stars

(stellis fulgentibus aptumt) [ Warmington, I, 58] (Book 10): And then the night went on, studded with glowing stars (stellis

ardentibus apta) [ Warmington, I, 122]

[10] Vergil: And the Father of gods and King of men (divum pater atque

honunum rex) calls a council [Aeneid to. 2]

Ennius Book 6):

Then in his wisdom the Father of gods and King of men (divum pater atque hominum rex) speaks forth [ Warmington, I, 76] [11] Vergul:

A place there is, (est locus, Hesperiam) the Greeks call it by

name the Western Land [Aeneid 1. 530; 3. 163] Ennius (Book 1):

A place there is, (est locus, Hesperiam) which mortals called

the Western Land. [ Warmington, I, 12] [12] Vergil:

And thou, Father Tiber, with thy sacred stream (tuo ... cui

flumiune sancto) [Aeneid 8. 72] Ennius (Book 1):

And thee, Father Tiber, with thy sacred stream (tuo cum

flumine sancto). [ Warmington, I, 18] [13] Vergil: Take and give a pledge of loyalty (accipe daque fidem); we

have hearts valiant in war [Aeneid 8. 150]

Ennius (Book 1):

Take and give a pledge of loyalty (accipe daque fidem), and

388 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

make a treaty true and firm. [ Warmington, I, 28] [14] Vergil: And the dead of night held (nox intempesta tenebat) the moon

hidden in a cloud [Aeneid 3. 587]

Ennius (Book 1):

When the dead of night held (xox intempesta teneret) hidden

the light of heaven. [ Warmington, I, 28]

[15] Vergil:

But you meanwhile shall pay me the full penalty with your warm blood (calido mihi sanguine poenas | persolves) [Aeneid 9. 422] Ennius (Book 1):

Truly no man alive shall do this unpunished, not even if it be you, for you pay me the penalty with your warm blood (m1

calido das sanguine poenas). [ Warmington, I, 32] [16] Vergul:

From all sides the untamed husbandmen rush together with

darts (concurrunt undique telis) [Aeneid 7. 520] Ennius (Book 3):

When weary, they stand; and they rain spears on each other; from all sides they rush together with thonged darts (concur-

runt undique telis). [ Warmington, I, 58]

[17] Vergil:

They strive with all their might (summa nituntur opum vt) [Aeneid 12. 552] Ennius (Book 4): The Romans on the ladders strive with all their might (summa

mituntur Opunt V1) [ Warmington, I, 60] (Book 16): Kings throughout their kingdom seek statues and sepulchres; they build a name; they strive with all their might [ Warmington, I, 146]

[18] Vergil:

And with me unroll the mighty borders of the scroll of war

(ingentes oras evolvite belli) [Aeneid 9. 528]

Ennius (Book 6):

Who can unroll the mighty borders of the scroll of war

(ingentes oras evolvere belli)? | Warmington, I, 66] [19] Vergil:

BOOK 6, CHAPTER I 389 Let no delay attend my words; Jupiter with us stands (Iuppiter

hac stat) [Aeneid 12. 565]

Ennius (Book 7):

Not always does heaven overthrow your plans; now Jupiter

[20] Vergil: :

with us stands (luppiter hac stat). [ Warmington, I, 92 | They assault the city, which is buried in sleep and wine

(somno vinoque sepultam) [Aeneid 2.265]

Ennius (Book 8):

Now the enemy overcome with wine and buried in sleep (vino domiti somnoque sepulti). {| Warmington, I, 110] [21] Vergil:

A shout rises to heaven (tollitur in caelum clamor), and all

the Latins... [Aeneid 11. 745]

Ennius (Book 17): A shout rises to heaven (tollitur in caelum clamor) raised from

either side. [ Warmington, I, 160]

[22] Vergil:

With galloping sound the horsehoof shakes the crumbling

plain (somitu quatit ungula campum) [Aeneid 8. 596] Ennius (Book 6):

The Numidians send out patrols, everywhere the horsehoof shakes the ground (quatit ungula terram) | Warmington, I, 76] (Book 8):

The cavalry pursue; with mighty sound the horsehoof shakes the ground (sonitu quatit ungula terram) | Warmington, I, 104] (Book 17):

The cavalry advance, and with its beat the hollow horsehoof shakes the ground to its foundation (concutit ungula terram). [ Warmington, I, 160]

[23] Vergil: One man who by delaying tactics saved for us the state (anus

gui nobis cunctando restituit rem) [Aeneid 6. 846] Ennius (Book 12): One man by delaying tactics saved for us the state (unus homo

nobis cunctando restituit rem). [ Warmington, I, 132] [24] Vergil: He sinks upon the wound; his armor clanged above him (soni-

tum super arma dedere) [Aeneid to. 488]

390 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Ennius (Book 16):

He falls, and thereat his armor clanged above him (somitum

simul insuper arma dederunt). [Warmington, Il, 156] [25] Vergil:

And now Dawn was strewing the earth with her first fresh light (et 1am prima novo spargebat lumine terras)

. [Aeneid 4. 584; 9. 459]

Lucretius:

When Dawn first strews the earth with light (cum primum

aurora respergit lumine terras). [2.144] [26] Vergil: Roll long trails of flames behind them (flammarum longos in-

volvere tractus) [Georgics 1. 367]

Lucretius:

Do you not see them draw long trails of flames (logos flam-

marum ducere tractus)? [2.207] [27] Vergil:

Again and again fires flash from the riven clouds (abruptis

nubibus igmes) [Aeneid 3. 199|

Lucretius:

Now from this side, now from that, fires flash from the riven

clouds (abruptis nubibus ignes). [2.214]

[28] Vergil:

He was awaking the mimicry of war (belli stmulacra ciebat) Lucretius:

[Aeneid 5. 674]

They assemble (comzponunt) and fill the field, awaking the

mimicry of war (belli simulacra cientur). [2. 324] [29] Vergil:

And the phantoms of those bereft of light (siulacraque luce

carentu7t) [Georgics 4. 472]

Lucretius:

When we often behold strange shapes and the phantoms of those bereft of light (simzulacraque luce carentuz). [4. 38] [30] Vergil:

| [Aeneid 9. 794] huge body. [5. 33] Grim and glaring fiercely (asper acerba tuens) he steps back

Lucretius: Grim and glaring fiercely (asper acerba tuens) the serpent with

BOOK 6, CHAPTER I 391 [31] Veregil:

Dawn, leaving the saffron couch (linquens Aurora cubile) of

Tithonus [Aeneid 4. 585; 9. 460]

Furius (Anzals 1): Meanwhile Dawn, leaving the couch (linquens Aurora cubile)

of Ocean [Morel, p. 81]

[32] Vergil: What race of men is this (quod genus hoc hominum) ? Or what

land so barbarous as to allow this custom? [Aeneid 1. 539] Furius (Azzals 6): What race of men is this (quod genus hoc hominum), O sacred

son of Saturn? [ Morel, p. 82 |

[33] Vergul:

She spreads abroad divers reports (rumoresque serit varios),

and thus she speaks [Aeneid 12. 228]

Furius (Annals 10): They spread abroad divers reports (rumoresque serunt varios)

and ask many questions. [ Morel, p. 82]

[34] Vergil:

Calling each man by name, and he rallies the beaten to battle (nomine quemque vocans, reficitque ad proelia pulsos) [Aeneid 11.731] Furius (Aznals 11):

He calls each man by name (nomine quemque ciet);, he reminds them that the promised time is come _—_—[ Morel, p. 82]

and then, below:

He encourages them by his words and witha] arouses their ardor to fight and rallies their hearts to battle (reficitque ad

proelia mentes). [Morel, p. 83] [35] Vergil:

Tell it, Pierian maids; we cannot all do all things (zon oma

poOssumus Om1mnes) [Eclogues 8. 63] Lucilius (Book 5):

He was older in years; we cannot all do all things (zo ommia

possumus omnes). | Warmington, III, 76] [36] Vergil: They look around on every side (diversi circumspiciunt) ; en-

couraged thereby he... [Aeneid 9. 416]

Pacuvius (Medea [or Medus]):

392 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA We look around on every side (diversi circumspicimus), a

thrill of fear seizes us. [Warmington, II, 264] [37] Vergul:

And so they pursue, with cheerful cries (rumore secundo) the

journey they have begun [Aeneid 8. 90]

Sueius (Book 5):

They return and with cheerful cries (rumore secundo) bring

back what they had sought. [Morel, p. 54]

[38] Vergil:

You shall never escape today (nunquam hodie* effugies), whithersoever you call me I shall come [Eclogues 3. 49] Naevius (The Trojan Horse): You shall never escape today (nunquam hodie® effugies), but

shall perish by my hand. [Warmineton, II, 116] [39] Vergil:

This man sold his native land for gold (vendidit hic auro patriant) and placed over it a tyrannous master, made and unmade laws, for a price (fixit leges pretio atque refixit) [Aeneid 6. 621]

Varius (The Death of Caesar): This man sold Latium (vendidit hic Latium) to foreign peoples and took away the lands of the Citizens of Rome, made and unmade laws, for a price (fixit leges pretio atque refixit).

. [ Morel, p. 100]

[go] Vereul:

That he may drink from a jeweled cup and sleep on ‘Tyrian purple (ut gemma bibat et Sarrano dormiat ostro) [| Georgics 2. 506]

Varius (The Death of Caesar): :

That he may lie too on Tyrian purple and drink from a cup of solid gold (¢ncubet ut Tyris atque ex solido bibat auro).

. . | Morel, p. roo]

[qi] Vergil: “Through ages such as these run on,” said the Fates to their spindles (“talia saecula,” suis dixerunt, “currite” fusis)

Catullus: [Eclogues 4. 46] Run on, spindles, run on with a thread that guides (currite

ducenti subtegmine,® currite, fust). [64. 327]

5 With this colloquial phrase cf. 7. 9. 8, below: nusquam hodie effugies. 6 The received text reads: currite ducentes subtegmina, currite, fusi.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER I 393 [42] Vergil: Happy, ah! all too happy, if only the ships of Troy had never touched our shores (numquam ... tetigissent nostra carinae) [Aeneid 4. 657]

Catullus:?

Almighty Jupiter, would that the ships of Cecrops had not in early time touched the Cretan shores (utinam non ... Gnosia

Cecropiae tetigissent litora puppes). [64.171]

[43] Vergil: He displayed his great bones and muscles (7zagna ossa lacer-

tosque) [Aeneid 5. 422]

Lucilius (Book 17):

The great bones and muscles (7agna ossa lacertique) of the

man are seen. [Warmington, III, 180] [44] Vergil:

She steeps his limbs in calm repose (placidam per membra

guietem |inrigat [Aeneid 1. 691]

Furtus (Annals 1):

And steeps their hearts in gentle sleep (szitemque rigat per

pectora somnum) [ Morel, p. 82]

Lucretius:

Now in what ways this sleep steeps the limbs in repose

(somnus per membra quietem|irrigat) . [4. 907]

[45] Vergil:

The watery plains (camposque liquentes) [Aeneid 6. 724] Lucretius [also of the sea]: The watery mass and floating plains (camposque natantes). [6. 405 |

[46] Vergil: And the two sons of the Scipios, twin thunderbolts of war (et

geminos duo fulmina belli|Scipiadas) [Aeneid 6. 842 | Lucretius: The son of the Scipios, the thunderbolt of war (Scipiades, belli

fulmen), the terror of Carthage. [3. 1034]

[47] Vergil:

And with its bitter taste will twist the wry mouths of those 7 The received text reads utinam ne. A closer parallel is omitted by Macrobius, i.e., between Catullus 66. 39 (invita, o regina, tuo de vertice cessi) and Aeneid 6. 460 (invitus, regina, tuo de litore cessi).

394 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA who make trial of it (et ora | tristia temptantum sensu torque bit

amaro) ® [Georgics 2. 246] Lucretius:

ora sapore). [2.401]

They twist the mouth with a foul flavor (foedo pertorquent

[48] Vergil: Such as are the flitting shapes (it is said) of those who have met

death (morte obita) [Aeneid io. 641]

Lucretius:

So that we seem, face to face, to see and hear those who have

met death and whose bones the earth holds in its embrace

(morte obita quorum tellus amplectitur ossa) [1. 134] and this passage of Lucretius is also the origin of the following line in Vergil: The land which embraces in its bosom the bones of my father Anchises (et patris Anchisae gremio complectitur ossa). [Aeneid 5. 31] [49] Vergil: Raising a face weirdly pale (ora modis attollens pallida miris) [Aeneid 1. 354] Lucretius: But certain phantom, weirdly pale (s¢zulacra modis pallentia

T1715) . [1. 123]

[so] Vergil: Then a cold sweat broke out from all my body (toto manabat

corpore sudor) [Aeneid 3.175]

Ennius (Book 16): Then sweat breaks out from all his coward body (timido manat

ex omm corpore sudor). [ Warmington, I, 158] [51] Vergil:

The well-greased pine timber glides (Jabitur uncta ... abies)

over the waters [Aeneid 8.91]

Ennius (Book 14):

Glides the well-greased keel (Jabitur uncta carina); its rush

bears it fleeting over the waves. [ Warmington, I, 138] [52] Vergil: § See Aulus Gellius 1. 21 for a reference to a statement by Hyginus that he

had found in a copy of Vergil which had come from the poet’s home the reading torquebit amaror, now the received text.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 1 395 And an iron rain pours down (ferreus ingruit imber) [Aeneid 12.284] Ennius (Book 8):

[53] Veregil: | The spearmen shower spears, making an iron rain (fit ferreus

imber) . [ Warmington, I, 104]

Yet the spear in its rush carried away the top of the helmet’s

peak (apicem tamen incita summum | hasta tulit) [Aeneid 12. 492] Ennius (Book 16):

Yet the spear flying against him carried away with it the helmet’s badge (tammen induvolans secum abstulit hasta|insigne) . [ Warmington, I, 158]

[54] Vergil: In clouds of dust the horsemen rage; all call for arms (omnes

arma requirunt) [Aeneid 7. 625]

Ennius [Book 6):

He harries the bleating flocks; all call for arms (omnes arma

requirunt) . [ Warmington, I, 68] [55] Vergil: Whom no eye would readily behold, no tongue easily address

(nec visu facilis nec dictu affabilis ullt) [Aeneid 3. 621] Accius (Philoctetes) :

Whom you could neither look at face to face nor address (quem neque tueri contra nec adfari queas) [ Warmington, II, 508]

[56] Vergil:

Now shall I win renown, either for having carried off the noblest spoils or by a glorious death (aut spoliis ego iam raptis laudabor opimis | aut leto insigni)® Accius (The Award of the Arms):

For to carry off the spoils from a gallant hero is honorable; but, were I to be vanquished, it is no disgrace to be vanquished by such a man (nam tropaeum ferre me a forti viro|pulchrum est: si autem vincar, vinci a tali nullum est probrum). [ Warmington, II, 360] ® A closer parallel, as Conington suggests, is found in Ennius, Aznales 14: Nunc est ille dies quom gloria maxima sese | nobis ostendat, si vivimus sive morimur (Warmington, I, 140).

396 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [57] Vergil: If Fortune has fashioned Sinon for misery, she will not, for all

her malice, fashion him for deceit also and for lies (nec si muserum fortuna Sinonem | finxit, vanum etiam mendacemque

improba finget) [Aeneid 2.79]

Accius (Telephus) :

For if Fortune has had power to rob me of my kingdom and my wealth, still she has not had power to rob me of my valor

(nam si a me regnum fortuna atque opes|eripere quivit, at

virtutem nequiit) . [ Warmington, II, 540] [58] Vergil:

Learn valor, my son, from me and honest toil, fortune from others (disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque labore, | fortu-

nam ex aliis) [Aeneid 12. 435]

Accius (The Award of the Arms): Be like to your father in valor, unlike in fortune (virtuti sis

par, dispar fortunis patris). [Warmington, II, 366] [59] Vergil:

Surely now neither mighty Juno nor the Father, the son of Saturn, looks on these deeds with impartial eye (sam 1am nec maxima luno|nec Saturnius haec oculis pater aspicit aequis) [Aeneid 4. 371]

Accius (Antigone): Surely now neither do the gods bear rule, nor does the King of

the gods care at all for the world (a7 1am neque di regunt| neque profecto deuim sumimus rex ommnibus curat). [ Warmington, II, 358] [60] Vergil:

Could they, once captured, be held captive? Did the flames of Troy consume the Trojans? (2111 capti potuere capi? num

incensa cremavit|Troia viros?) [Aeneid 7.295] Ennius (Book 11), speaking of the citadel of Troy (Pergamia) :

Which could not perish on the plains of Dardanus, nor when captured be held captive, nor when burnt be consumed (quae neque... potuere perire|nec cum capta capi nec cum combusta

creniarl) . [ Warmington, I, 128]

[61] Vergil:

Many besides whose story is buried in obscurity (quos fama

obscura recondit) [Aeneid 5. 302]

BOOK 6, CHAPTER I 397 Ennuius (Alexander) :

Many others come whose poverty obscures their names (pau-

pertas quorum obscurat nomina) [ Warmington, I, 238] [62] Vergil: Fortune aids men who dare (audentes fortuna iuvat) [Aeneid 10. 284]

Ennius (Book 7):

Good Fortune is given to men of bravery (fortibus est fortuna

viris data) [ Warmington, I. 92 | [63] Vergil:

They recast their fathers’ swords in the furnaces, and the curved sickles are forged into the stiff sword (recoquunt patrios fornacibus enses|\et curvae rigidum falces conflantur in

ensem) [Aeneid 7. 636; Georgics 1. 508]

Lucretius:

Then by slow degrees the sword of iron came to the fore, and the form of the sickle of bronze was turned to a thing of ill repute (7zde miuinutatim processit ferreus ensis|versaque in

obscenum species est falcis aenae). [5. 1293]

[64]: Vergil Their cups are clear springs and rapidly running rivers (pocula sunt fontes liquidi atque exercita cursu|flumina) [Georgics 3. §29] Lucretius: But rivers and springs would call them to allay their thirst (ad

sedare sitim fluviu fontesque vocabant). [5.945] [65] Vergil:

He gathers the fruits which the boughs and which the fields themselves have borne willingly of their own accord (quos ram fructus, quos ipsa volentia rura|sponte tulere sua, carpit) [Georgics 2. 500]

Lucretius:

What the sun and the rains had given, what the earth of its own accord had brought to birth, that was a gift enough to content their hearts (quod sol atque timbres dederant, quod terra crearat|sponte sua, satis id placabat pectora donum). [5-937]

CHAPTER 2 [1] I have quoted lines which Vergil has taken wholly or in part from other writers, or lines to which he has given as it were a dif-

ferent shade of meaning by changing certain words, and my purpose now (continued Furius) is to compare whole passages, that you may see the original of Vergil’s work reflected, so to speak, in a mirror. [2] Vergil:

Nor am I in any doubt in my mind how great a task it 1s to triumph here with words and thus add dignity to a theme so slight. But a sweet desire hurries me along the lonely steeps of Parnassus, and it is my pleasure to traverse ridges where no forerunners’ track turns aside down a gentle slope to Castalia [ Georgics 3.289]

[3] Lucretius:

Nor do I fail to see in my mind how dark the theme is: but high hope of praise has smitten my heart with a sharp magic wand and therewith has struck into my breast a sweet love of

the Muses. This is the love which has inspired me now to traverse in eager thought the lonely haunts of the Pierides,

never before trodden by the foot of man. [1.922] [4] Now listen to another passage from Vergil and compare it with its original. You will find the same “color” in both passages and the words too will sound almost alike. Vergil: Though no tall house with proud portals pours forth to fill? all

its rooms a huge wave of morning visitors, and though they gaze not openmouthed at doorposts inlaid with lovely tortoise

shell [Georgics 2. 461]

1 See reference to vo7mitoria in 6. 4. 3, below.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 2 399 and then, a few lines later: Still, repose without a care and a life that knows no guile, a life rich in manifold treasures, and ease amid broad domains, caves and living lakes, cool valleys, the lowing of oxen, and soft sleep beneath a tree—all are theirs; there they have woodland glades and the haunts of game, a youth hardy in toil and

inured to scanty fare [Georgics 2. 467 |

[5] Lucretius: Though in the house are no golden images of youths holding

in their right hands flaming torches to give light to banquets at night, though the house shines not with silver nor glitters with gold, nor do the paneled and gilded rafters resound to the music of the lute; still it matters not, when they lie in company on the soft grass by a running stream under the branches of a tall tree and at no great cost pleasantly refresh their bodies, above all when the weather smiles and the season of the year

dapples the green grass with flowers. [2.24]

[6] Vergil: No shady places in tall woods, no soft meadows can gladden

his heart, no stream that eddies, clearer than amber, among

rocks in its course to the plain [ Georgics 3. 520} Lucretius:

Nor can the tender willows and the dew-fresh grass, nor any streams that glide bank-high, delight her heart and turn aside

the care that has newly come upon her. [2.361] [7] he general “color,” and almost all the details, of a description of a plague in the third Georgic are taken from the description of the plague in the sixth Book of Lucretius. Thus Vergil begins: In this country once from the tainted air a woeful season came and glowed with the full heat of autumn. All the race of cattle it gave over to death and all the race of wild creatures [| Georgics 3.478]

and this is how Lucretius begins his description: Such a cause of disease and a deadly wave of heat once brought death to the fields, in the land of Cecrops, made the streets a

desert and emptied the town of its citizens. [6. 1138] [8] Since it would be long and tedious enough to quote the whole passage from each poet, I shall cite extracts, to show how closely the two accounts resemble one another.

400 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Vergil:

Then their eyes burn with heat, the breathing is deep-drawn, at times heavy with a groan, and their flanks below heave with long-drawn sobs; black blood flows from their nostrils and a rough tongue cleaves to a choked throat [Georgics 3. 505] [9] Lucretius:

First they would feel their heads burning with heat and both eyes be bright and bloodshot. Their throats, too, within would

choke and sweat with blood, and the passage of the voice be clogged and closed with ulcers; the tongue, the mind’s interpreter, would ooze with gore, enfeebled by pain, heavy

to move, and rough to touch. [6. 1145]

[10] Vergil: These are the signs they give of approaching death, in the first

days [Georgics 3. 503]

(they were described thus in the preceding lines):

The ears droop and on them breaks forth a fitful sweating, and that too, as death draws near, grows cold; the skin 1s dry

and hard and resists the touch [Georgics 3. 500]

[11] Lucretius:

And many signs of death besides would then be given: the spirits and mind perturbed by depression and fear, a clouded brow, a delirious, fierce expression; the ears troubled, too, and filled with noises; the breathing rapid, or deep and intermittent;

the damp sweat oozing and shining on the neck; the spittle thin and scant, stained with a yellow tinge, and a salty cough forced with difficulty through the hoarse throat. [6. 1182] [12] Vergil: Tt was helpful to insert a horn and pour in draughts of wine;?

this seemed to be the one cure for the dying; but presently

this very aid was fatal [| Georgics 3. 509]

Lucretius:

No sure form of cure was found for all; for what had given to some the power to draw in through the mouth the lifegiving breath of air and to gaze on the expanse of heaven, this

to others was fatal and brought death. [6. 1226 | [13] Vergil: 2 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 23. 23. 44.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 2 401 Moreover, change of pasture no longer avails; the remedies they sought work harm; the masters of the art of healing retire

baffled [Georgics 3. 548]

Lucretius:

No respite was there from the evil; their bodies would lie exhausted; the healing art muttered in voiceless fear. [6.1178] [14] Vergil: To the very birds the air is unkind, and headlong they fall and

leave their life in the clouds on high [Georgics 3. 546] Lucretius: Yet hardly at all was any bird seen in those places; nor does the

grim race of wild beasts survive in the woods; most would

languish under the plague and die. [6. 1219] You will agree, will you not, that the details in Vergil’s description have come from a single source? [15] But let us go on to compare other passages. Vergil: They rejoice to steep themselves in the blood of their brethren, and they exchange for exile the dear thresholds of their homes [Georgics 2. 510]

Lucretius:

They amass wealth by civil bloodshed and greedily double their riches; heaping murder on murder, they cruelly rejoice

in the sad death of a brother [3. 70] [16] Vergil: Many a thing has been bettered by time and the manifold toil of changeful ages; many a man has Fortune, revisiting him in

different guise, first mocked and then placed again on firm

ground [Aeneid 11. 425] Ennius (Book 8):

Many a thing does a single day bring about in war; and many a happy lot by chance sinks back; by no means does Fortune

attend any man all his days. [Warmington, I, 106]

[17] Vergil: |

O gallant-hearted youth, the more you surpass me in your proud valor, so much the more carefully is it right that I should deliberate and anxiously balance every reason [Aeneid 12. 19]

402 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Accius (Antigone):

The more I understand you to be of this mind, so much the more, Antigone, is it meet that I should take thought for you

and spare you [Warmineton, II, 356]

[18] Vergil has a passage which begins with the line: O light of the land of Dardanus, O surest hope of the Trojans and goes on: ~ [What long delays have held you? From what shores do you

come, O Hector of our hopes? ... What unseemly cause has marred the calm beauty of your face? Or what mean these

wounds I see? | [Aeneid 2.281] and with this compare: Ennius (Alexander):

O light of Troy, my brother Hector, why so pitiful a sight with your mangled body; or who are they who have dragged

you thus before our eyes? [ Warmington, I, 244] [19] Vergil:

Pelethronian Lapiths, mounted on horseback, invented the bridle and the art of turning the steed and taught the horseman to gallop over the ground in arms and to gather the feet

proudly [Georgics 3. 115] Varius (The Death of Caesar): The horse which the rider, holding a pliant rein, does not allow to go where it will but, first checking close its mouth, teaches it to gallop over the plains and trains it by control. [ Morel, p. 100]

[20] Vergil:

So may Daphnis love, as, when a heifer weary with seeking a

young bull through woods and tall groves, sinks down by a water brook on the green sedge, love-lost, and thinks not to

yield to the late hour of night [Eclogues 8. 85] Varius (The Death of Caesar):

As a hound of Gortyn, quartering a shady valley, if she has been able to light on the old lair of a deer, keenly pursues the absent quarry and, tracing its tracks all around, follows the faint scent through the bright air. Rivers that bar her path do not check her, nor steeps, for she is lost to all but the chase and thinks not to yield to the late hour of night. [ Morel, p. 100]

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 2 403 [21] Vergil:

Nor did I, your mother, lead you forth on your funeral journey nor close your eyes nor wash your wounds [Aeneid 9. 486]

Ennius (Cresphontes) :

Nor was it allowed me to cast earth upon them nor to shroud their blood-stained bodies, nor did tears of sorrow make salt

and wash away the blood. [ Warmington, I, 262 | [22] Vergil:

For he sang how through the great void had been massed together the seeds of earth and air and sea and of liquid fire withal, how from these elements all beginnings and the world’s

young orb itself grew into shape, how then the earth began to harden and to shut apart Nereus in the sea and little by little

to take on the forms of things; and now in amazement the

lands see the new sun shining [Eclogues 6. 31] [23] Lucretius (speaking of the chaos which preceded the present state of the universe) says: ‘Then, at that time, neither could the sun’s disk be discerned

flying on high with its brilliant light, nor the stars of the great firmament nor sea nor sky, nay, nor earth nor air, nor could anything be seen like to the things we know but a certain

strange and stormy disturbance and a conglomerate mass. Therefrom the parts began to fly asunder and things to be joined, like with like, and to shut apart the universe and to apportion its members and to arrange its mighty parts. [5. 432] [24] And then he goes on: That is to say, to-set apart the great heaven from the earth, and

the sea by itself, so that it might spread out with its waters kept apart, and likewise the fires of the sky by themselves,

pure and kept apart L5. 446 | and, later: For all these things come from smoother and rounder seeds .

than the earth. [5.455]

[25] Vergil: At the time when the horse of doom leapt over the lofty citadel of Troy and brought the armed infantry in its teeming womb

[Aeneid 6. 515]

Ennius (Alexander) :

404 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA For a horse teeming with armed men shall pass over with a mighty leap to destroy with its offspring the lofty citadel of

Troy. [Warmington, I, 244]

[26] Vergil:

Then the almighty Father, to whom belongs supreme power over the world, begins; and, as he speaks, the lofty palace of the gods grows silent; the earth too grows silent, trembling from its foundations; hushed is the firmament on high; then the winds are laid, and the sea stills its waters into calm.® [Aeneid 10. 100| Ennius (Scipio) :

The vast firmament of heaven stood in silence and wild Neptune stayed his rough waves; the sun checked the course of his horses and their winged hoofs; the ever-flowing streams stood still; and no wind is in the trees. [| Warmington, I, 394] [27] Vergil: They go to an ancient wood, the deep lairs of beasts; down fall

the pine trees; the ilex rings to the blows of the axe, beams of ash and oak logs for cleaving are split with wedges; and they

roll huge rowans from the mountains | Aeneid 6. 179] Ennius (Book 6):

They go through the tall woods, hew with axes, throw great

oaks; the ilex is cut down; crashes the ash; the tall fir is felled; they bring down the lofty pines; all the trees of the leafy forest are ringing with the din. [ Warmington, I, 70] [28] Vergil:

As, at times, with a mighty whirlwind, blasts from different quarters meet in conflict: the west wind and the south, and the east wind that rejoices in the horses of the Dawn [Aeneid 2. 416] Ennius (Book 17):

They rush together, as winds, when the rainy breath of the south wind and the north wind with its opposing blast strive in rivalry to lift up the waves on the mighty main. | Warmington, I, 160] [29] Vergil: Nor after all, for all this work, for all these labors of men and 3 Cf. 5. 13. 38, above.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 2 405 oxen, in turning the ground, does the rascally goose refrain

[from doing harm] [Georgics 1. 118]

Lucretius:

But after all, at times, when things won with great labor put forth their leaves throughout the land and are all in bloom, either the sun in heaven, burning them with too much heat, or sudden rains and chill frosts destroy them, and blasts of

winds with violent storm harass them. [5.213] [30] There are other passages, consisting of many lines, which

Vergil has transferred, with the change of a few words, from earlier writers to his own poems; and, since to repeat a large number of lines (Vergil’s and his model’s) is tedious, I shall simply call attention to the old books, so that he who will may read these

passages there and by comparing them with Vergil mark the astonishing similarities. [31] Thus, at the beginning of the Aeneid there is a description of a storm;® Venus then complains to Jupiter of the dangers which threaten her son, and Jupiter to comfort her tells of the good fortune of the race that is to be.6 The whole of this passage is taken from Naevius (from the first Book of his Pznic War) where, in the same way, when the Trojans are in peril in a storm, Venus complains to Jupiter, and there follow the words in which he comforts his daughter with hope for the future.” [32] The passage too about Pandarus and Bitias opening the gates® has been taken from the fifteenth Book of Ennius, who introduced an account of how two Histrians during a siege burst out from a gate and slaughtered the besiegers.®

[33] And in his eagerness to gather adornments for his work from every possible source, Vergil has not refrained from plundering *?® even Cicero, for in the line: 4 The word used, transcribere, suggests that Macrobius has, for the moment, forgotten the imaginary dialogue. 5 Aeneid 1. 8rff. 6 Aeneid 1. 223ff. 7 Warmington, II, 52. 8 Aeneid 9. 672ff. (See 5. 11. 29, above.) ® Warmington, I, 144. 10 Conpilando: see note to 5. 16. 14, above. Isidore of Seville (10. 44) defines conpilator as one qui aliena dicta suis praemiscet and goes on to quote

Vergil’s reply to rivals who charged him with borrowing from Homer: magnarum esse virium clavam Herculi extorquere de manu (cf. 5. 3. 16, above).

406 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA O Trojan hero, mighty in fame, mightier yet in arms [Aeneid 11. 124]

he is saying, of course, of Aeneas that his prowess has actually surpassed his reputation as a warrior, although as a rule the reverse

holds good; and this is the meaning of the following remark of Cicero’s in his Eulogy of Cato: “With him, unlike the usual run of men, performance surpassed reputation, so that (and this does not happen often) knowledge bettered expectation and what the ear had heard fell short of what the eye beheld.” [34] In the same way, with Vergil’s words: Next to him—but a long way behind, though next [Aeneid 5. 320]

we may compare what Cicero says in his Brutus: “After these two consummate orators, then, Crassus and Antonius, Lucius Philippus came next—a long way behind them, but still next.” ? 11 A lost treatise. 12 Brutus 47. 173.

CHAPTER 3 [1] ‘here are [said Furius] certain passages in Vergil which he is believed to have borrowed from Homer, but which—as I propose to show—he has in fact taken from Latin authors who had previously transferred them from Homer to their own poems. And, indeed, it is the very height of Homer’s glory that, although he is a target

for the watchful eyes of so many writers, and although all join forces to band themselves against him: He like an ocean-rock stands firm and unmoved. [Aeneid 7. 586]

[2] Thus Homer, describing a gallant fight fought by Ajax, says:

But no longer could Ajax stand his ground, for he was hard pressed by darts; and the will of Zeus was subduing him, and the shafts of the noble Trojans. His shining helmet kept ringing terribly about his temples, beneath the blows, and it was struck continually upon the well-wrought cheekpieces. His left shoulder grew weary as ever steadfastly he held his flashing shield, nor could they shake him from his place as they pressed him

with their darts, on this side and on that. And ever was he distressed with laboring breath, and sweat unspeakable poured down from all his limbs, nor could he in any way recover his

breath, but on all sides ill was heaped on ill. [Iliad 16. 102 | [3] Ennius in his twelfth [recte sixteenth] Book takes this passage and adapts it to the fight of the tribune Gaius Aelius, in the following lines: The darts come from all sides like rain and together fall on the tribune; they pierce his shield, its boss rings under the blows of

the spears and his helmet with a rattle of bronze; but, though they press from all sides, no man can mangle his body with the steel. Ever he breaks and shakes the spears as they bear down

408 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA on him in waves, sweat covers all his body; he is in sore distress with no chance to recover his breath, for the steel flew swiftly

and the Histrians kept pressing him hard as they hurled darts

from their hands. [Warmington, I, 154] [4] And this is the source from which Vergil has drawn the corresponding passage in which he describes (with more grace and elegance) ‘l'urnus trapped in the ‘Trojan camp: So, then, neither with his shield nor with his right hand has the warrior strength to make stand enough, for he is overwhelmed

with darts hurled at him from every side. With a ceaseless rattle his helmet rings about his hollow temples, and the thick bronze is dented by stones; the plumes are struck from his head and his bossed shield cannot meet the blows. The Trojans hurl spear on spear; and not least among them is Mnestheus, like a thunderbolt. Then sweat pours from all his body and courses down in a grimy stream; he has no power to recover his breath and a painful gasping shakes his weary limbs. [Aeneid 9. 806] [5] here is a line in Homer which runs:

Shield pressed against shield, helmet against helmet, man

against man [Iliad 13. 131]

Furius, in the fourth Book of his Annals says: Foot presses on foot, sword on sword, man on man

[ Morel, p. 82]

and this is the source of Vergil’s line: Foot stands fast by foot and man close-locked with man.1 [Aeneid to. 361] [6] Again, Homer has the line: Not even were [ to have ten tongues and ten mouths [Iliad 2. 489]

Hostius, in the second Book of his Histrian War has followed him, saying: Not though were mine a hundred tongues and as many mouths

and clear voices [Morel, p. 33]

whence comes Vergil’s line:

mine. [Aeneid 6. 625] Not though a hundred tongues and a hundred mouths were

1 Cf. Ennius Annales (Warmington, I, 190): “Foot presses on foot, and weapons grate on weapons.”

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 3 409 [7] Here is Homer’s description of a stallion that has broken loose: As when a stalled horse, barley-fed at the manger, has broken

his tether and runs, stamping with his hoofs, over the plain, being wont to bathe in a fair-flowing stream and exulting as he goes. He holds his head high and his mane floats about his shoulders, and his trust is in his glorious strength; and lightly his limbs carry him to the haunts and pastures of the mares [Iliad 6. 506]

[8] Ennius has gone to those lines for the following passage: And then as a horse which, fattened from the stalls, has broken

his tether in high heart and rushes forth through the green,

rich meadows of the plain, with chest uplifted and often shaking withal his mane on high; and the breathing forth of his hot breath sends out a white foam [Warmington, I, 194] And this in Vergil has become the passage which begins: As when a horse has broken his tether and fled from the stalls [and goes on:

free at last and master of the open plain, he either—see!— makes for the herds of the mares at pasture or, wont to bathe in a well-known stream, darts forth and with head tost high,

ders. | [Aeneid 11. 492] exulting, neighs; and his mane plays over his neck and shoul-

[9] Let no one regard the old poets as of little worth because to us their verse seems rough, for in the time of Ennius his style, and his alone, was pleasing to the ear, and the age that followed worked hard and Jong to win approval for the more smoothly woven texture of our day. But Caecina, too, is going to tell us what he remembers of Vergil’s borrowings from these early writers, so I shall not keep him waiting any longer.

CHAPTER 4 [1] It was now Caecina’s turn to speak. Furius (said he) from a memory well furnished with knowledge of authors both ancient and modern has discussed Vergil’s debt to antiquity for single lines or whole passages. It will be my endeavor to show that our scholarly poet has exercised a nice judgment with respect to individual words! found in old writers, and that he has chosen to introduce

into his poems certain words which our neglect of what is old leads us to regard as new.

[2] Take for example Vergil’s use of the word addita in the sense of imimmica or infesta in the line:

Juno will dog the Trojans (Teucris addita) and everywhere be

at their side. [ Aeneid 6. 90]

Fiere addita 1s equivalent to affixa [fastened to] and so to infesta

[hostile to]; and one might well suppose this to be an arbitrary attempt by the poet to coin a new expression. But it is nothing of the kind; for Lucilius had already used the word additus in this sense in the following lines in his fourteenth Book:

If the praetor were not dogging me (mihi ... additus) and bothering me, it would not be so bad, but he, I tell you, he is the one fellow who is fairly tearing my guts out. [ Warmington, II, 160]

[3] When Vergil says: [The house] to fill all its rooms pours forth a wave (vomit ...

undam) of morning visitors. [| Georgics 2. 462 | The phrase vomit undam is a fine expression, but it is an old one too—for Ennius says:

And Tiber pours forth (vomit) its stream into the salt sea. [ Warmington, I, 52] 1 See 1. 24. 19, above.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 4 A1I Hence also our current use of the word vomitoria for the openings

from which the spectators at the shows pour forth in a mass as they make their way to their seats. [4] Vergil’s use of agmen,? for actus or ductus, in the sense of a moving body, for example, of water, in the line: Tiber flows in gentle march (leni fluit agmine) [Aeneid 2. 782] is not inelegant; in fact it actually follows an old use of the word, for Ennius in his fifth Book says:

The river which flows in gentle march (Jeni fluit agmine)

through the pleasant town. [ Warmington, I, 64] [5] Vergil’s phrase: To consume with crackling flames (crepitantibus ... flamimis) [Georgics 1. 85] is not without precedent, for Lucretius before him wrote: Nor is there anything which is burnt up by the crackling flame

(flamma crepitante) with a more startling sound than the

Delphic laurel of Phoebus. [6.154] [6] In the line: Then [far and wide] the field bristles (horret) with an iron

crop of spears [ Aeneid 11. 601 |

Vergil’s use of the word horret is worthy of remark; but Ennius, in his fourteenth Book, has: On either side the army bristles (horrescit), rough with spears [| Warmington, I, 140]

in his Erectheus too he says: They raise their weapons in a bristle of spears (horrescunt tela) [ Warmington, I, 266] and in his Scipio we meet the line: Stippled with long spears the plain gleams and bristles (borret) [ Warmington, I, 396] but, in fact, before any other Homer had said: And battle, that brings death to men, bristled with spears. [Iliad 13. 339]

[7] Vergil has the line:

lumine) [Aeneid 7.9] The sea gleams under the shimmering light (tremulo sub

the words tremulum lumen being taken from the appearance of 2 See also Lucretius 5. 271: fluit agmine dulct.

412 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA what is actually seen; but Ennius had used the expression before him, in his Melanippe, in the line:

Thus, in the shimmering light (lumine ... tremulo), earth and the blue vault of heaven shine bright [Warmington, I, 328] and Lucretius wrote: Moreover the liquid water is disturbed by the sun’s rays and at dawn is rarefied by the shimmering heat (tremulo ... aestu). [6. 874]

[8] There are some who suppose that Vergil is the author of the word umbraculum in the lines: Here the gleaming poplar overhangs the cave and pliant vines

weave shelters (wmbracula) [Eclogues 9. 41]

although Varro in the tenth Book of his Religious Antiquities has said: “In the town some magistrates are allowed that kind of shelter (id genus umbracult)”; and although Cicero in the fifth Book of his treatise On Laws? writes: “Since the sun seems now to have moved down a little way from its midday position, and these trees are too young as yet to give adequate shade over all this spot, shall we go down to the Liris and carry on with the rest of our talk under the shelter (uwzbraculis) of those alders?” And likewise in his Brutus

too he writes of one who had come “from the sheltered retreat (umbraculis) of the learned Theophrastus.” 4 [9] In Vergil’s lines: The stags cross (transmittunt) the plain at full speed and flee,

a huddled herd, in a cloud of dust [Aeneid 4. 154] the word transmuttunt is a handsome synonym for transeunt; and Lucretius has used it in the same way in the lines: And the cavalry wheel round and suddenly cross (transmit-

tunt) the middle of the plains which they shake with the

fury of their charge. [2. 329] Moreover, Cicero writes: “We crossed (transmisimus) the bays of Paestum and Vibo before a following wind,”® transmisimus here being equivalent to transivimus. [10] Then, just as Vergil writes:

The whole troop, following her lead, slid (defluxit) to the

ground and left their steeds [Aeneid 11. 500]

3 De legibus, fragment 3 (Keyes). 4 Brutus 9. 37. 5 Epistulae ad Atticum 16. 6.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 4 4.13 so Furius, in his first Book, wrote:

Suddenly overcome by the grievous wound he dropped his horse’s reins, and slipped and slid (defluxit) to earth with a

rattle of bronze armor. [ Morel, p. 82 | [11] The word discludere, in the line which runs: Then the earth began to harden and to shut apart (discludere)

Nereus in the sea [Eclogues 6. 35] strikes our ears as an innovation; but Lucretius had anticipated Vergil, for he said, in his fifth Book: Therefrom the parts began to fly asunder and things to be

universe. —~ [5.443]

joined, like with like, and to shut apart (discludere) the [12] In the lines: A shepherd, ‘Tityrus, should feed sheep that are fat, but his

song should be a thin-drawn (deductum) strain [Eclogues 6. 4]

Vergil has neatly used the word deductum for tenue or subtile [1.e., thin-spun | ;° but Afranius, too, in The Maiden says: Sadly she answered me in a very few words, spoken in a thindrawn voice (voce deducta), and said that she preferred not to

rest [ Ribbeck, II, 249] Voce). [ Morel, p. go]

and likewise in Cornificius we have the line: To me as I was chatting in a thin-drawn voice (deducta ...

[13] However, this use of the word has its origin in the following passage from the Atellan play by Pomponius entitled The Kalends of March:

“You should speak in a thin-drawn voice (vocem deducas oportet), so that it may seem as if a woman were speaking.” “Well, give orders for the present to be brought in, and I, for my part, shall answer in a thin, shrill voice (vocem ... tenuem et tinnulam).... Yes, I shall now speak in a thin-drawn voice

(vocem deducam).” [| Rabbeck, I, 280] [14] Now take Vergil’s line: We sail close to the jutting (prozecta) rocks of Pachynus. [Aeneid 3. 699|

| The word proiectus is usually taken to be synonymous with abiectus [thrown away], but according to old writers it is equivalent to 8 And so “reedy” or “low’—cf. “scrannel.”

414 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA porro iactus [thrown forward], as in another line of Vergil’s: As with left foot thrown forward (proiecto) he makes ready

to fight. [Aeneid to. 587]

[15] And Sisenna in his second Book has said: “And the Marsians draw nearer and, covered by shields held before them (proiectis),

vie with one another in hurling heavy stones with their hands against the enemy.” In the same work, too, he speaks of: “A huge and ancient holm oak, covering most of the summit with branches

which jutted out (proiectis) all round.” Lucretius also says [of Tityos]: However huge the jutting bulk (proiectw) of body he extends. [3-987]

[16] Then the word tempestivus, applied to a pine tree in the line:

And in the woods to fell the pine in due season (te7zpestivam) [Georgics 1.256]

has been taken by Vergil from Cato, who says: “When you are going to root up a pine tree or nut tree, take it out when the moon is waning, after midday, and with no south wind blowing; the tree will be in its due season (tempestiva) for felling when its seed is ripe.”7

[17] In introducing Greek words into his poems Vergil was not

the first to venture to do so; he has in fact followed the bold example set by old authors. [18] Thus with his line: Lamps (lychni) hang down from the gold-fretted ceilings [Aeneid 1.726]

we may compare what Ennius had said before him, in his ninth Book:

Twice six lighted lamps (lychnorum) —[Warmington, I, 116] Lucretius too, in his fifth Book, had said: Nay more, there are (you see) lights by night which belong to

the earth, hanging lamps (ly chnz) [5.294]

and Lucilius, in his first Book: Moreover, how pompously we spoke of “clinopods” (clinopodas) and “candelabra” (lychnos) for bedfeet and lamps. | Warmington, III, 8] [19] In his use of the word aethra [radiance], in the line:

Nor was the sky bright with starry radiance [Aeneid 3. 585] 7 Pliny Historia naturalis 16. 75. 193; Cato De re rustica 31. 2.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 4 415 Vergil was anticipated by Ennius, who had said, in his sixteenth Book:

Meanwhile the torch dies, and a red radiance (rubra ... aethra)

slowly covers the ocean [Warmington, I, 150] and by Julius in his Teuthras—thus: Through the flaming radiance (aethram) far and wide is borne

the burning torch. [Ribbeck, I, 263 | [20] Again, it was because Lucretius had spoken of daedala

tellus® [earth manifold in works] that Vergil describes Circe® as daedala |manifold in works].1° [21] And he writes:

And the woods and the long expanse of heaven resound

(reboant) [Georgics 3.223] Nor do the paneled and gilded ceilings resound (reboant) to the music of the lute. [2.28]

because in Lucretius there is a line which runs:

[22] However, Vergil has been somewhat sparing in his use of Greek words; although old writers indulged in this license rather freely, using, for example, such words as pausa [pause], mzachaera [sword], asotia [prodigality], mzalace [mallow], and others like them. [23] They also made use of Punic and Oscan words, and it Was in imitation of them that Vergil did not reject words of foreign origin in such lines as: Buffaloes (wrz)11 of the forest ever make sport therein [Georgics 2. 374]

(for urus is a Gallic word meaning a wild ox), and: Under the incurved (camuris) horns are shaggy ears [ Georgics 3.55]

(camur being a foreign word which means “turning inward”’); and perhaps this word, camur, explains why we have the word camara to signify the shape of an arch.” 8 Lucretius 1. 7. 9 Aeneid 7. 282. 10 Le, “crafty.”

11 Uri agrestes boves sunt in Germania ... Dicti uriand tv Opé@vid est a montibus (Isidore of Seville 12. 1. 34). 12 Camerae sunt volumina introrsun. respicientia, appellatae a curvo;Kapovup enim Graece curvum est (Isidore of Seville 15. 8. 5 [De partibus aedificiorum|]: he also (12. 1. 35) derives camelus, “camel,” from camur).

CHAPTER 5 [1] You come across many epithets in Vergil which are believed

to be of his own invention, but I shall show that these too have been taken from old authors. Some of them are “simple” words, such as Gradivus and Mulciber; others, such as Arquitenens and Vitisator, are “compound” words. I shall speak of the simple words first. [2] In Vergil’s line: And Mulciber had portrayed the loose-girt Africans [Aeneid 8. 724]

Mulciber is Vulcan, and he is so called because he is the god of fire, which can soften (wulceat) and subdue everything. But Accius had said, in his Philoctetes:

Alas, Mulciber, it was for a coward that you fashioned with your handiwork the unconquerable arms [ Warmington, II,516]

and Egnatius, in the first Book of his poem On the Nature of Things, had said: Finally Mulciber bearing them himself, they reach the heights

of heaven [ Morel, p. 65] [3] Again in Vergil you have the line:

The butting (petulci) kids may trample on the flowers [Georgics 4. 10]

but Lucretius, in his second Book, has these:

Moreover the young kids in tremulous bleatings recognize their horned dams, and the butting (petwlci) lambs [the sheep |]. [2. 367]

[4] And Vergil might be thought to be showing very great daring in the choice of an adjective when he speaks (as he does in

BOOK 6, CHAPTER § 417 the Eclogues) of “seeds withal of liquid fire” 4—that is to say, when

he uses the word liquidus instead of purus [clear] or lucidus [bright], or else instead of effusus [far-flung] and abundans [widespread]—had not Lucretius before him applied this epithet to fire in his sixth Book, where he says: From this cause too it comes to pass that yonder swift, golden

glow of liquid fire flies down to earth. [6. 204] [5] Then tvistis is an apt synonym for amarus [harsh], as in the expression tristisque lupini? [the harsh lupin]; and Ennius makes this use of the word in the fourth Book of his Satires, when he says: He seeks neither for harsh (triste) mustard, nor for the tearful

onion. [Warmington, I, 386]

[6] In calling hares azriti? [long-eared] Vergil has not been the first to make use of this epithet, but he is following Afranius who (in a prologue) says, in the character of Priapus: “For the popular story that my father had long ears (aurito me parente natum) 1s

not true.” [Ribbeck, II, 258]

[7] And now for some observations on Vergil’s use of “compound” epithets. You will find in Vergil the line: She saw, as she was laying her gifts on the incense-burning

(turicremus) altars [Aeneid 4. 453]

but he is using here a word which Lucretius had used already, in his second Book, where he says:

For often before the fair shrines of the gods a calf has fallen sacrificed at the incense-burning (turicremas) altars. [2.352] [8] When Vergil speaks of A land which the dutiful Bearer of the Bow (Arquitenens)

[made fast] [Aeneid 3.75]

the epithet is one which Naevius had used in the second Book of his Punic War: Then his son the Pythian Apollo, the famous Bearer of the

Bow (Arquitenens), mighty with his arrows, hallowed at

Delphi. ... [Warmington, II, 58] and elsewhere that same poet says: When thou, goddess, Bearer of the Bow (Arquitenens) , mighty

with thine arrows... [Baehrens, p. 51]

1 Eclogues 6. 33. 2 Georgics 1. 75. 3 Georgics 1. 308.

418 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA and Hostius, too, in the second Book of his Histrian War has the lines:

Divine Minerva, and with her the unconquerable Apollo, Bearer of the Bow (Arquitenens), the son of Leto. [ Morel, p. 33]

[9] [Here are some more compound adjectives borrowed by Vergil from older writers. | Wood-haunting (silvicola): Thus Vergil tells of

Wood-haunting fauns4 [ Aeneid 10. 551]

Naevius, in the first Book of his Punic War, has: Wood-haunting men and unskilled in war [Warmington, II, 54] and Accius in his Bacchae: And now wood-haunting folk, visiting places unknown. [ Warmington, II, 392 |

[10] Winged-with-sails (velivolus) : In Vergil you have the words: Looking down on the sea winged-with-sails; [Aeneid 1.224] Livius® in his Helena has: You who have traversed the high seas winged-with-sails | Baehrens, p. 289]

Ennius in Book 14:

When afar they see the enemy approaching them down the

wind, in ships winged-with-sails [ Warmington, I, 138] and, again, in his Andromache he has: From the deep it hurries the ships winged-with-sails. [| Warmington, I, 246]

[11] Planter-of-the-vine (vitisator) : In Vergil you find the line: The planter-of-the-vine, holding as his emblem a curved sickle [Aeneid 7. 179] 4 Recte “to wood-haunting Faunus” (Fauno). 6 Eyssenhardt, accepting Ribbeck’s emendation, reads Laevius, for the meter of this line is unlike anything else that has survived of the works of Livius Andronicus, and Terentianus Maurus is generally held to have been in error

in ascribing a fragment of the play Ino (in dactylic hexameters) to Livius. Laevius (fl. ca. 90 B.c.) was influenced by the poets of Alexandria and wrote in a variety of meters, some of them odd and whimsical. See Merry, p. 182; Dimsdale, A History of Latin Literature, p. 117; Warmington, II, 18 and cf. 1. 18. 16 above.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 5 419 and Accius in his Bacchae has:

O Dionysus, most kindly father, planter-of-the-vine, son of

Semele, Euhian god. [Warmington, II, 394] [12] Night-wandering (noctivagus) : Vergil has the line, And kindly Phoebe with night-wandering chariot [Aeneid 10. 215]

and Egnatius, in the first Book of his poem On the Nature of Things, writes: As the night-wandering constellations set, dewy Phoebe, driven from her place, gave way, yielding to the mounting light. [Morel, p. 66] [13] Of-twofold-shape (bimembris) :

Vergil [in a passage referring to Hercules’ victory over the Centaurs] says:

Thou, in thy unconquered might, art the slayer of the cloud-

, born folk of-twofold-shape [Aeneid 8. 293] and Cornificius in his Glaucus has: To disgrace the Centaurs of-twofold-shape. [Baehrens, p. 325] [14] Goat-born (caprigenus) Vergil writes:

We see the goat-born brood untended on the grass [Aeneid 3.221]

Pacuvius in his Paulus has the line: Although for the goat-born flock the way is steeper [ Warmington, II, 302 |

and Accius in his Philoctetes has:

Worn by the hoofs of the goat-born [Warmington, II, 510] and with this epithet we may compare the epithet “bull-born” (taurigenus) in the last-named author’s Minotaur: Was he sprung from bull-born or human seed? [Warmington, II, 478] [15] Vergil’s use of the following epithets, too, is apt: “winged

steel” (volatile ferrum),® for an arrow; and “the nation of the gown” (gens togata),7 for the Romans. Of these two expressions Sueius had made use of the former and Laberius of the latter; for Sueius (Book 5) writes: 6 Aeneid 4. 71; 8. 694. 7 Aeneid 1. 282.

420 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA And the Volscian winged shaft (Volscumque volatile telum)® [Morel, p. 55]

and Laberius in his Ephebus has the line: You ask me to destroy the freedom and desires of the race of

the gown (togatae stirpts) [Ribbeck, IT, 347]

and (further on): That is why, by our aid, the lordship of the nation of the gown

(togatae gentis) has been enlarged. [Ribbeck, II, 347] 8 Volscumque Baehrens; Macrobius has volucrumque, a reading which would suggest that some such words as aptatum pennis have been omitted from the excerpt.

CHAPTER 6 [1] If it is your wish [continued Caecina] I will hurriedly search my memory to give you a list of the figurative expressions which Vergil has borrowed from ancient authors, but at present I should like Servius to tell us of those which he has noted as being of the poet’s own invention and not taken from old writers— or, if so taken, then taken with all a poet’s daring and given a new but apt turn. For, thanks to his daily discourses to the rising generation at Rome, Servius is bound to have readier knowledge for a commentary of this kind than anyone else. All approved of Caecina’s choice of a substitute for the rest of the discussion and called on Servius to comment on the matter referred to him. [2] The poet who is so worthy of our reverence, he began, has

added to the Latin tongue much that is of charm by the variety of his figurative use of words and expressions. Here are some examples. He writes: By stealth she bred (creavit) the horses, bastards of the dam she

had mated [Aeneid 7. 283]

as though the horses which she caused to be bred had been bred of Circe herself.1

[3] Again, he writes:

The place still fresh with warm slaughter [Aeneid 9. 455] although to describe the place as “still fresh with warm slaughter”

instead of as “still warm with fresh slaughter” is an unusual arrangement of the words. In the line: Thus he spoke, and his comrades left the bidden field [Aeneid 10. 444] 1 Creare prolem alicui is said of a woman bearing children to a man (see note in Conington’s Virgil).

422 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the expression aequore iusso stands for aequore iussi |left the field as bidden], and to say: With intent to sprinkle the flames with slain blood [Aeneid 11. 82]

is, in effect, to say, “with blood shed by the slain.” [4] In the line: At first light of dawn the victor paid the gods’ vows [Aeneid 11.4] the words vota deunt mean “vows of which payment was due to the gods.” And Vergil also says: And suffer me to be my son’s partner in the grave (et me con-

sortem nati concede sepulcro) [Aeneid 10. 906]

where another would have said: “And suffer me to share a grave with my son” (et me consortem nato concede sepulcri). Then, to say: She speeding her way along her bow with its thousand colors

(per mille coloribus arcum)? [Aeneid 5. 609}

is equivalent to saying “along her bow of a thousand colors” (per

arcum mulle colorum). , [5] In the line:

Hereupon others throw on the fire spoils stripped from the

Latins slain [| Adeneid 11. 193] the poet has written [the dative] 7g7, for 1m 1gnem, and in the line: Merely by the movement of his body and by his watchful eyes

he evades (exit) the blows. [Aeneid 5. 438]

[Exit (usually intransitive) stands for the transitive verb vitat, with _ the meaning “evades.” ]

In the phrase: The old man relaxed his hoary (canentia) eyes in death [Aeneid 10. 418] “hoary”’ is used instead of “aged”; [6] and in the expression:

In the hollow (antro) of a rotten tree [Georgics 4. 44] the [Greek] word antrum is used instead of the [Latin] word caverna.

In the description: She furrows her hideous brow with wrinkles [Aeneid 7. 417] 2 Mille coloribus (as Conington remarks) “answers the purpose and occupies the position of an epithet.”

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 6 423 “furrows” (arat) is a fine expression and not too extreme;® and in the line: Thrice he bears round with him on his brazen shield a forest

(silvuam) of darts [Aeneid 10. 886]

the poet speaks of a “forest of darts” instead of saying, simply, “darts.”

Then, too, Vergil calls a he-goat “the lord and master (vir) of the flock” [Eclogues 7.7]. [7] And you will notice too the beauty of such phrases as “a mountain of water” [Aeneid 1. 105], “a crop of spears” [Aeneid 3. 46], “an iron rain” [Aeneid 12. 284]—these phrases being comparable with the figure of speech contained in that line of Homer which runs: Else hadst thou put on a shirt of stones for the evils thou hast

done. [Iliad 3. 57]

Other notable examples of such figurative use of words are the phrase:

Gifts of ground Ceres [1.e., bread] [Aeneid 8. 181] the use of “night” for “sleep”, when he writes:

Draws the night into her eyes or heart [Aeneid 4. 530] the use of z7ago [with reference to an echo] in the line: And the image of the voice leaps back from the shock [Georgics 4. 50]

the phrase per aras (to indicate the passing from altar to altar), in the line:

They seek to obtain grace at every altar [Aeneid 4. 56] and the line:

He begins slowly to blot out Sychaeus [Aeneid 1. 720] [where the vigorous expression “to blot out Sychaeus” is used to convey the meaning “efface the memory of Sychaeus.” |

[8] Then Vergil often substitutes one word for another with beautiful effect, as, for example, when he says:

And they put on hideous faces of hollowed cork | Georgics 2. 387]

where the word “faces” (ova) stands for “masks” (personae). And in the line: Whence flashed through the boughs an alien-hued breath of 3 Arare (properly “plow”) is somewhat more striking in Latin than in the familiar English equivalent “furrow.”

424 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

gold [Aeneid 6. 204]

for, although one may ask what is a “breath of gold” or how does breath “flash,” nevertheless, the expression used has beauty. Again, in the line:

The branch bears leaves of like metal [Aeneid 6. 144] the use of the phrase “bears leaves of metal” (frondescit metallo) is a happy conceit. [9] When the poet says:

With milk of black poison [Aeneid 4. 514]

one may well ask how the name “milk” came to be given to something that is black; and, moreover, in the line: Fven so, those for whom Mezentius 1s justly an object of wrath [Aeneid 10. 714]

the expression irae esse [to be an object of wrath] is Vergil’s own invention, whereas the usual form is odio esse [to be an object of hatred ].

[10] Again, our poet sometimes begins by speaking of two persons or things and ends with a reference to each one separately. An example is the passage which begins:

Meanwhile the kings—Latinus of mighty frame rides in a

four-horse chariot [Aeneid 12. 161] just as you will find a similar construction in Homer, in the passage which begins:

And two rocks—the one reaches up to high heaven with pointed peak, and cloud encompasses it [Odyssey 12.73] and here is another example: Next straightway Orsilochus and Butes, two Trojan giants— now Butes she pierced with her spear point as he turned away: [Aeneid 11. 690]

[11] Here, too, are some more examples of unusual constructions:

Juturna, I confess, I counseled (Iuturnam ... suasi) to help her

unhappy brother [Aeneid 12. 813] for the normal usage would have required the dative case, not the accusative; and in the sentence: The city which I build is yours (urbem quam statuo vestra est). [The antecedent is incorporated in the relative clause. ] Again, in the lines:

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 6 425 Only do you, whichever stallions you propose to rear in hope of offspring, devote special pains even from their tender years [Georgics 3.73] he leaves us to understand the words ‘“‘on them” with “devote.” [12] Vergil will also repeat words with beautiful effect—thus: For not Parnassus’, not Pindus’, heights made you tarry [Eclogues 10. 11]

and:

What, my friends, what rewards worthy of such exploits? [ Aeneid 9. 252]

and:

You saw the horse on which, the arms in which, Turnus went. [Aeneid 9. 269]

[13] Nor is the parenthesis a mere redundancy in Vergil, for example:

If the glory of such deeds has no power to move you, still—

and she reveals the bough which haply was hidden—you

acknowledge this bough [Aeneid 6. 405 |

and: As this staff—for in his hand he chanced to be bearing a staff—

shall never with light foliage [put forth shoots]. [| Aeneid 12. 206]

[14] Very neat, too, is Vergil’s use of a sudden change from narrative to an address directed to the person of whom the tale was being told—thus, in the passage which begins: [They tell] how he overthrew famous cities in war, Troy and Oechalia and passed through a thousand hard toils under King Eurystheus, by the doom of cruel Juno. “Thou, in thy unconquered might, art the slayer of the cloud-born folk of two-fold

shape” [Aeneid 8. 290]

[15] And then there is the device of breaking off in the middle

of a sentence (7mtermissio) , for example: Whom [—but it is better far to calm the troubled waves? [Aeneid 1. 135]

a figure which Vergil borrowed from Demosthenes, who says: “For my part—but I do not wish to begin my speech with words 4 Cf. 4. 6. 20, above, where the figure is called taciturnitas.

426 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA that might cause resentment. I will only say that my accuser has the advantage of me.” [16] Truly worthy of a poet is the expression of indignation® in the words:

O God! (she cries) Shall this man go? [Aeneid 4. 590]

ofO mycompassion, in the line: : country, and household gods rescued from the enemy—

in vain [Aeneid 5. 632]

of alarm, in the line:

Quick! Bring your swords, serve out arms and mount the

battlements. The enemy are at hand [Aeneid 9. 37] and of the voice of complaint, in the line: Do you shrink then, Nisus, from making me your partner in a

venture of such high moment? [Aeneid 9. 199] [17] And mark, too, Vergil’s inventiveness (excogitatio) in coining such novel expressions (semsuz1) as:

Our lying weapons [Aeneid 2. 422]

To arm the steel with poison [Aeneid 9. 773] To tame wild growths by tilling [Georgics 2. 36] They will doff their woodland spirit [Georgics 2. 51] Deep-driven [the spear] drinks the maiden’s blood [Aeneid 11. 804]

and with this last example compare the words in which Homer speaks of a spear as “longing to sate itself on human flesh” [Iliad 21. 168].

[18] [The following lines will furnish further instances of such inventiveness: |

Its fruit degenerates and forgets its former flavor [Georgics 2. 59]

[When winter] was curbing the running waters with ice [Georgics 4. 136]

[Earth] pours forth the Egyptian lily mingled with the smiling

acanthus [Eclogues 4. 20] Meanwhile the flame devours her tender heart, and deep within

her breast there lives the unspoken wound [Aeneid 4. 66] Under the damp oak the tow is alive, vomiting forth a slow

column of smoke [Aeneid 5. 681 |

5 De corona 3. * Cf. 4. 2. 2, above.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 6 427 [19] The baying of the hounds rises savagely to the sky [Aeneid 5.257]

And father Inachus pouring his river from an embossed urn [Aeneid 7. 792]

[Bees], fastening on the veins, lay down their lives in the

wounds they deal. [Georgics 4. 238]

And indeed all that Vergil has said of bees in likening them to doughty heroes is applicable here: his describing too of their customs, their pursuits, their communities, and their wars—in brief, his going so far as even to apply to them the name given to Roman citizens, Quirites.7 [20] But there—the day will end all too soon for me, if I seek to recount every one of Vergil’s figurative expressions;® nevertheless,

the examples which I have quoted will enable a careful reader to note all similar instances. 7 Georgics 4. 201. 8 A more orderly arrangement of the contents of the Saturnalia would have included much of this chapter in the sixth chapter of Book 4.

CHAPTER 7 [1] Servius had reached this point in his discourse when Praetextatus, seeing Avienus speaking in a low tone to Eustathius, said: Come, Eustathius, spare the blushes of our excellent young friend

Avienus and tell us openly, yourself, what he is whispering in your ear. [2] He has, replied Eustathius, for some time been eager to ask Servius a number of questions about Vergil which it falls within the province of a literary critic to discuss, and he would be glad to

have an opportunity to get some information from one more learned than himself on matters which he finds dark and doubtful. [3] I welcome your refusal, Avienus, to leave your doubts unresolved by keeping them to yourself, said Praetextatus. Let us then

beg our learned preceptor to be so good as to discuss them with you, for we shall all profit from what you wish to hear. Pray do not hesitate any longer to give Servius an opening for a talk on Vergil.t [4] At these words Avienus turned right round to face Servius, and said: Tell me, please, most learned Sir, why is it that, although

Vergil is always scrupulously careful to use words which fit his subject—whether it is laudable or horrible—he still showed such lack of care and used so mean a word in these lines:

Her white waist girt with barking monsters, she annoyed (vexasse) the ships of Dulichitum? [Eclogues 6.75; Ciris 59] For the word vexasse is applicable to a slight and trivial inconvenlence and is quite unsuited to a terrible situation in which human

beings are suddenly carried of and torn to pieces by a frightful monster. [5] And I have noticed another expression, of the same sort, in the lines: 1 Aulus Gellius 2. 6.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 7 429 Who does not know of cruel Eurystheus or of the altars of

Busiris the unpraised? ® [Georgics 3. 4]

Surely the epithet “unpraised” is inadequate to express detestation of a villain who used to sacrifice human beings from all over the world, and therefore, so far from being merely unworthy of praise, deserves to be hated and cursed by all mankind. [6] Again, the following expression, too, does not seem to me to

be a worthy product of that careful choice of words which we expect to find in Vergil:

| Through the tunic rough (squalentem) with gold [Aeneid to. 314]

for one cannot properly say “rough with gold,” since roughness is a consequence of dirt, and so the very opposite of the glitter and brightness of gold. [7] As regards the word vexasse, replied Servius, the following answer can, I think, be made to your criticism of it. Vexasse is a word expressive of weight and force, and it is, clearly, derived from

vehere, a word which already contains the suggestion of force exerted by another’s will, since one who is “carried” (vehitur) 1s

not his own master. Vexare, however, without doubt implies a more extensive use of force and movement than the word vehere from which it is formed, [8] for vexari is properly applied to one who is carried, seized, and dragged this way and that—just as taxare denotes more forcible and frequent action than tamgere from which it indubitably comes, zactare something more far-reaching and wider

in range than zacere from which it is derived; and quassare, too, something more severe and violent than quatere. [9] And so the

fact that it is a common practice to describe someone who is annoyed by smoke or wind or dust as vexatus is no reason why the word vexare should lose its true force and natural meaning, which the old writers, who spoke with accuracy and clearness, fittingly preserved. [10] Marcus Cato, for example, in the speech which he

wrote On the Achaeans used these words “And when Hannibal was mangling and harrying (vexaret) the land of Italy.” That is to say, Cato spoke of Hannibal as “harrying” Italy, because it would be impossible to conceive of any kind of disaster, savagery, or

atrocity which Italy did not suffer at that time. [11] Marcus Tullius, too, in the fourth Verrine says: “And the temple was so

2 Cf. 3. 5. 9, above. |

430 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA despoiled and plundered by this man that you would suppose it had been ravaged (vexata), not by an open enemy—for an enemy in

war would still have had religious scruples and would have respected the rules of customary law—but by barbarous brigands.”®

[12] To your criticism of Vergil’s use of the word illaudatus there seem to be two possible answers. One is to the effect that no man’s character is so desperately bad but that at times he does or says something commendable; and that is why this ancient verse 1s frequently quoted as a proverb: For even a fool often speaks a word in season. [13] But a man who under all circumstances and at all times is wholly undeserving of praise is ilaudatus, and the worst and most worthless of men. And just as freedom from any grounds for blame makes a man “blameless” (izculpatus)—the epithet izculpatus importing unqualified goodness—so too the epithet i#lazdatus marks

the utmost limit of wickedness. [14] And that is why Homer habitually expresses high praise by reference not to specific virtues but to the absence of faults, as, for example, when he says: And not unwillingly the pair of horses sped onward [Iliad 5. 366; 8. 45]

and, in the same way:

Then you would not have seen the godlike Agamemnon slumbering nor cowering nor loth to fight. [Iliad 4. 223] [15] Epicurus, too, in like manner defined the height of pleasure

as the removal and withdrawal of all pain, in these words: “The measure of the greatness of pleasure is the removal of all that causes pain.” And it is on the same principle that Vergil has also called the Stygian pool “unlovable”;* for just as he has expressed his abhor-

rence of the “unpraised” by the negation of praise, so he has expressed his abhorrence of the “unlovable” by the negation of love.

[16] The second way in which Vergil’s use of the epithet illaudatus may be defended is this. In old Latin laudare means “‘to name” or “to cite’; and so in civil actions the word “laudarv’” 1s used of a witness or surety (auctor), because he is “named.” [JJaudatus, then, 1s equivalent to dlaudabilis, that is to say, “one who can

never be named’’—just as of old the common council of Asia 3 Actio in Verrem Secunda 4. 55. 122. 4 Georgics 4. 479.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 7 431 decreed that no one should ever refer by name to the man who had burned the temple of Diana at Ephesus. [17] We are left with the third of your criticisms—Vergil’s description of a tunic as “rough with gold” (squalentem auro). The expression points to the abundance and thickness of the inwoven gold, which has the appearance of scales, for the word squalere is applied to the closeness and roughness of the scales (squamae) which we see on the skins of snakes and fishes. [18] There are a number of passages in Vergil and other writers which make this clear: for example, he writes: Whose covering was a skin with scales of bronze laid feather-

wise and buckled with gold, [Aeneid 11.770] and in another passage: And now indeed, having donned his shining corselet, he stood

bristling with scales of bronze [Aeneid 11. 487] and Accius, in his Pelopidae, writes: That serpent’s scales with rough gold (squamae squalido auro)

and purple interwoven. [ Warmington, II, 502 | [19] It is clear, then, that the word squalere was applied to what-

ever was so charged and covered to excess with anything as to strike the eye with a strange appearance suggesting a bristly roughness. ‘Thus a thick accumulation of dirt on an unkempt and scaly body 1s called squalor, and long and continuous use of the word in

this sense has so completely corrupted it that we have already begun to confine its application to filth. 5 Horror can mean “a bristly roughness.” See Page’s note on Aeneid 11. 487, in which he remarks that horrere constantly suggests the two ideas of (1) “roughness” and (2) a “sense of horror.”

CHAPTER 8 [1] Thank you, said Avienus, for correcting my mistaken opinion of what in fact was well expressed; but here is a line where, I think, something has been left out.?

He himself was sitting, with the staff of Quirinus and a short

robe girt, [Aeneid 7. 187] for, if we allow that there is nothing lacking, then we are left with the expression “girt with a staff and a robe,” and nothing could be more absurd, since the Jituzs is a short staff, curved at its thicker

end, which augurs use, and I fail to see how one could appear “oirt with a staff.”

[2] he expression, replied Servius, is elliptical, like so many others in common use. For example, when we say “Marcus Cicero, a man of great eloquence,” and “Roscius, an actor of consummate

charm,” neither of these two phrases is in fact full and complete, although both sound as if they were. [3] And just as Vergil, in another passage, writes:

Victorious Butes of giant frame [Aeneid 5. 372] that is to say, “having a giant frame”; and likewise has the line: He threw into the ring a pair of boxing gloves of giant weight [Aeneid 5. 401]

and similarly says:

A house of blood and gory banquets [Aeneid 3. 618] [4] so too, then, this phrase which you have quoted—ipse Quirinali lituo—should be taken to mean that Picus was “holding the staff of

Quirinus.” There would be no cause for surprise 1f Vergil had said: “There was Picus with the staff of Quirinus,” just as we say Statua grandi capite erat [There was a statue with a large head]; 1 Aulus Gellius 5. 8.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 8 433 and indeed the words est and erat and fuit are quite often left out, neatly and without doing any harm to the meaning. [5] But since mention has been made of the lituus, we must not overlook a question which, it occurs to me, may be asked, namely,

whether the augural staff, the Jitwus, gets its name from the trumpet, or whether a trumpet has been called Jitwus after the augurs’ staff,2 for each is of the same shape and curved in the same

way at the end. [6] If, however, as some suppose, the trumpet is called lituus from its sound, on the analogy of Homer’s expression Aiyge Bio? (“the bow twanged’’), then the augural staff must get its name of Jlituwus from its resemblance to a trumpet. And, moreover, Vergil uses that word for a trumpet in the line: And he would march to battle famed alike for his trumpet

(fituo) and his spear. [Aeneid 6. 167]

[7] I have another difficulty to suggest, said Avienus, since the sense in which Vergil uses the expression maturate fugam [make speed betimes]4 is far from clear to me, for the words fuga and maturitas strike me as conveying opposite ideas. And so I beg you to explain to me what mzaturate should be taken to mean here. [8] According to Nigidius,> replied Servius—and he was remark-

ably well instructed in all the liberal arts—the word mature is applicable to something which is done neither too soon nor too late, a happy medium being observed between the two extremes. And this is a good and proper definition of the word; for, of crops and fruits, those are called matwra which are neither unripe and sour nor, on the other hand, ready to fall and overripe, but which are seasonably full-grown at their proper time. [9] This explanation

as given by Nigidius was neatly expressed by the late emperor Augustus in two Greek words; for it is said that in his conversation and in his letters he habitually used the phrase onetdde Boadémc (“make haste slowly’’)® intending to suggest by this advice that, to get a thing done, one should combine prompt action with a careful delay, since maturitas—the right time—is the product of these two opposite factors. [10] And so, when Vergil represents Neptune as

ordering the winds to depart, he requires them to go quickly, as 2 Cf. Cicero De divinatione 1. 17. 30. 3 Iliad 4. 125. 4 Aeneid 1. 137. 5 Aulus Gellius ro. 11. 6 T.e., “More haste, less speed.” See Suetonius Augustus 25.

434 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA though in flight, but to moderate their blasts as they retire, as though going mature, that is to say, with the measure of moderation that befitted their departure; since the god is afraid that at their going they may harm the Trojan fleet if they go with undue violence, as though in headlong flight. [11] Vergil has also skilfully distinguished the two words aturare and properare, as being clearly opposed to one another, in the following lines:

If ever cold rain keeps the farmer indoors, many a thing may be done at leisure (#aturare) which would have to be done in a hurry (properanda) \ater, when the weather 1s fine. [Georgics 1.259] [12] A good distinction this, and a neat one; for in farming one can make one’s preparations at leisure in wet weather, since of necessity there is time on one’s hands then, but when the weather is fine there is need to hurry, for then time presses. [13] When, however, the desired meaning 1s that something has been done under too great pressure and too hurriedly, then it is more accurate to say praemature than mature, just as Afranius, in his comedy in Roman dress, called Titzlus, has the line:

Fool, you are prematurely (praemature) seeking untimely

(praecocem) rule. [Ribbeck, II, 248]

And in this line it should be observed that the poet says praecocem not praecoquem, for the nominative case of the word is not praecoquis but praecox.

[14] Avienus now put another question to Servius: Since his

Aeneas (he said) was a thoroughly good man, Vergil has not suffered him to come face to face with any horrible sights in the world below—representing him as hearing the groans of the guilty

rather than actually seeing their torments—but it has been his pleasure to lead him into the fields of the Blessed. Why, then, in the line:

Before the very vestibule and in the opening of the jaws of Hell | Aeneid 6. 273]

does he nevertheless show his hero a part of the region in which the wicked were confined? For one who has seen the “vestibule” and the “jaws” must surely have actually entered the house, unless the word “vestibule” is to be understood here in some other than its usual sense, and, if that is so, I should be glad to know what this other sense is.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 8 435 [15] There are very many words,’ answered Servius, which we commonly use without, however, clearly noticing their true and proper meaning, and vestibulum is one of them. It is frequently met in conversation, but it is not always the word clearly required by those who lightly make use of it, for they suppose the “vesti-

bule” to be the front part of a house, which is known as the atrium. [16] However, that learned man Gaius Aelius Gallus, in the second Book of his treatise On the Meaning of Words Which Relate to the Civil Law, says that the vestibule “is not in the house itself and is not a part of the house but is an open place before the door of the house giving means of approach and access from the street to the doors of the house.” That is to say, the actual house

door would be some distance from the street, with an empty space between it and the street. [17] Moreover, the etymology of the word is, usually, much in question, but I shall be only too glad

to acquaint you all with what I have read in the writings of the competent authorities. [18] ‘The particle ve,’ like some others, indicates sometimes an intensification and at other times a weakening. Take, for example, the words vetus [ancient] and vehemens [forceful]; in the former the particle, by elision, combines with aetas to indicate great age,

and the latter word is formed by the combination of the particle with mens to indicate overwhelming force and power of mind. On the other hand, in the words vecors [senseless] and vesanus [insane]

the particle ve indicates a deprivation of sense (cor) and sanity (sanitas) .

[19] We have just said that those who in the old days built large houses used to leave an open place before the house door between the doors and the street. [20] It was there that the callers who had come to pay their respects to the master of the house used to stand before they were admitted; so that they were neither standing in

the street nor actually within the house. And it was from this practice of “standing about in a Jarge place”—from this, so to speak, “standing room” (stabulatio)—that the name vestibula was given to

the spaces in which there would be much standing by the callers before they were received into the house.® 7 Aulus Gellius 16. 5. 8 Aulus Gellius 5. 12. 10; Ovid Fasti 3. 445. ® Cf. Ovid Fasti 6. 303.

436 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [21] There are others who agree that the vestibulum was as we / have described but disagree with the explanation that I have given of the meaning of the word, since in their view the word has reference not to the callers but to those who live in the house; for these latter never “stand about” in the vestibule but use the place only as a passage, as they go from or return to the house. [22] Whether then we are to understand, with the former, that

the particle ve has an intensifying force, or with the latter a weakening effect, it is nevertheless agreed that the “vestibule” is the name given to the space which separates a house from the street.

As for the word “Jaws” (fauces), this is the name given to the narrow passage through which one passes to the vestibule from the street. [23] Aeneas, then, when he sees the fauces and the vestibulum of the house of the wicked is not inside the house; and so he 1s not defiled by a dreadful and detestable contact with that house, but it is from the road that he sees places that are situated between the

road and the house. |

CHAPTER 9 [1] When, said Avienus, I once asked a man from the rank and file of the grammarians what the victims referred to as bidentes} were, he replied that they were sheep, and that they were described further as “woolly”? in order to show more clearly that they were

sheep. [2] “Very well,” said I, “granted that sheep are called bidentes, 1 should like to know the reason for this epithet.” Without a moment’s hesitation he answered: “Sheep are called bidentes because they have only two teeth.” “Where on earth, pray,” said I “have you ever seen a sheep to which nature has given only two teeth? This is a portent indeed and calls for propitiatory sacrifices.” [3] Whereupon the fellow, put out and annoyed with me, said: “Confine your questions to those which may properly be addressed

to a grammarian: for information about a sheep’s teeth, ask a shepherd.” The rascal’s smart retort made me laugh, and I left him;

but I put the question now to you, Servius, for you are an expert in etymology. [4] You have had your laugh, replied Servius, and so it is not for me to criticize your man’s theories about the number of a sheep’s teeth. But I am concerned to check any gradual growth of an idea

that bidens is an epithet applicable only to sheep; for the famous 1 Aulus Gellius 16. 6. 2 Aeneid 7. 93.

3 See Henry’s note, quoted by Conington on Aeneid 4. 57, that in their second year sheep have two prominent teeth, of their second and permanent set, and so seem for a time to have only two. See also Festus, p. 4: ambidens sive bidens ovis appellabatur quae superioribus et inferioribus est dentibus, 1e., a sheep which has both upper and lower teeth; and again (p. 30): bidentes autem sunt oves dentes longiores ceteris habentes. Cf. Isidore of Seville 12. 1. 9: ex his (sc. ovibus] quasdam bidentes vocant, eas quae inter octo dentes duos altiores habent.

438 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA writer of Atellan plays, Pomponius, in his Transalpine Gauls, has written: If ever I return, O Mars, I vow to offer sacrifice to you with

a two-toothed (bidente) boar. [Ribbeck, II, 279]

[5] Moreover, Publius Nigidius in his book on Divination by Entrails says that the term bidentes is applied not to sheep alone but to all sacrificial animals that are two years old. He has not indeed said why these victims are so called, [6] but I have read in the Commentaries on the Pontifical Law that they were originally called bidennes (an extra letter, ‘“d,” being inserted, as often happens;* just as we say redire for reire, redamare for reamare, and redarguere not rearguere); for it is the custom to introduce this letter D as a precaution against any unhappy consequence of a hiatus of two vowels. [7] The victims, then, were first of all called bidennes, for biennes [of two years] but by long use of the word

in speech bidennes was corrupted to bidentes. Nevertheless, | should add that Hyginus, who was far from being unacquainted with the pontifical law, wrote in the fifth Book of his work on Vergil that the name bidentes is given to victims which by reason of their age have two teeth longer than the rest, and so indicate that they have passed from infancy to a more advanced age. [8] Avienus then, quoting the following lines:5

Pelethronian Lapiths, mounted on horseback, invented the bridle and the art of turning the steed and taught the horseman (equitem) to gallop over the ground in arms and to gather

the feet proudly [Georgics 3. 115] asked why Vergil has assigned the function of the horse to its rider;

for (said he) it is clearly the horse and not the horseman that “gallops over the ground” and “gathers the feet” (gressus glomerare). [9] Your query, said Servius, is a good example of what comes from our neglect of reading the old texts; for, since our generation has deserted Ennius and all our old literature, we are ignorant of much that would be clear to us were it our usual practice to read the works of our old authors. All ancient writers certainly applied 4 Cf. 1. 9. 8, above.

5 Aulus Gellius 18. 5. Conington says in his note that the rider is said to do what the horse does; and he quotes Horace Epodes 16. 12: eques sonante verberabit ungula. Cf. Manilius 5. 636: hic glomerabit equo gyros.

BOOK 6, CHAPTER 9 439 the term eques alike to a man sitting on a horse and to a horse carrying a man; and the word equitare was used not only of the man but of the horse as well. [10] Thus Ennius, in the seventh Book of his Annals, says:

And then with a mighty rush the four-footed horse (eques)

and the elephants charge [ Warmington, I, 94]

a passage in which the addition of the epithet “four-footed” unquestionably indicates that the poet has called the horse itself eques.

[11] So too the word equitare, which is formed from the word eques, equitis, was used both of the man riding a horse and of the movement of the horse under him; for Lucilius, who was second to none in his knowledge of the Latin language, uses the expression equum equitare, in the latter sense, in the following line: To be sure, we see this horse run and go (equum ... equitare). [| Warmington, III, 408 |

[12] We must take it, then, that Vergil also, who made a careful

study of old Latin usage, when he said equitem docuere sub armis | insultare solo et gressos glomerare superbos, was saying that

they taught the horse, under its armed rider, “to gallop over the ground and to gather the feet proudly.” [13] Avienus went on to quote the line:

there, | Aeneid 2. 112]

When this horse framed of maple beams was now standing

adding: I should be glad to know whether it was by chance or of set purpose that Vergil, in describing the structure of the horse of Troy, mentioned this particular kind of wood. For although poetic license allows one kind of wood to stand for any kind you please, still it is not like Vergil to make a careless use of this license, but there is generally a definite reason for his choice of things or names.

[The rest of the Book has been lost. |

the saturnalia - BOOK 7 [After-dinner conversation of the third day of the Saturnalia, at the house of Symmachus |

CHAPTER 1! [1] When the first course had been removed at the end of the meal and the modest cups gave the signal to change the subject of conversation, Praetextatus said: Eating usually keeps men silent and

drinking makes them talkative,? but we are silent even over our cups, as though at this stage of a dinner such as ours we ought to refrain from serious, or certainly from philosophical, discussions. [2] But Vettius, said Symmachus, do you really think that there could be any place for philosophy when men are drinking? Should

she not, like a strict and truly modest matron, remain in her own apartments rather than join in the company of Liber, who is no stranger even to riotous gatherings, seeing that her reserve is such that she will not admit disturbing thoughts, much less noisy words, to her quiet retreat? [3] Let us take a lesson from the custom and

practice of a foreign people and follow the example of the Parthians, whose habit it is to dine with their concubines, not with their wives, holding that there is no reason why the former should not appear in company and add, too, to the general gaiety, but that the latter should always remain at home and preserve a cloistered

modesty, out of sight. [4] Or am I to suppose that philosophy should show herself where even the practical and popular profes-

sion of the rhetorician was ashamed to be seen? For when the Greek orator Isocrates—the man, you know, who was the first to

apply rules of rhythm to speech which had hitherto been free from such restraint’—was asked by his companions at a dinner to 1 With the contents of this chapter cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 1. A. 2 Cf. John of Salisbury 8. 6 (7292). 3 See A. C. Clark, The Cursus in Mediaeval and Vulgar Latin (Oxford, 1910);

and the preface to his Fontes Prosae Numerosae (Oxford, 1909), where he remarks that, at the end of the fourth century, accent was supplanting quantity both in Latin and in Greek.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER I 441 contribute something from his store of eloquence, he begged to be excused, “for,” said he, “I have no skill in what the present place and time require, and what skill I have is unsuited to the present place and time.” 4

[5] I agree with you, Symmachus, said Eustathius, when you assign the highest possible veneration and respect to philosophy and maintain that she ought to be worshiped only in her own sanctuary. But, if you make this the ground for forbidding her to attend a convivial occasion, then her foster children (honest conversation, moderation, sobriety, and reverence—and which of these

am I to regard as less worthy of respect than she is?) must also withdraw, with the result that, by banishing from such festive gatherings this band of worthy matrons, you are leaving the field open at dinners for the concubines alone, or, in other words, for vicious and blameworthy behavior. [6] No! Heaven forbid that philosophy, who in her lecture rooms treats carefully of the duties of the guests, should herself shun the banquet and so suggest that she is incapable of practicing what she preaches or that she does not know how to observe the moderation whose bounds she has

herself prescribed for every human activity. For if I invite philosophy to my table, I expect her to show moderation herself, since the essence of her instruction is to teach moderation in all things. [7] If, then, I may act as an arbitrator between you and

Vettius, I am for opening the doors of our dining room to philosophy; but I promise you that, when she joins our company, she will not transgress that measure of judicious control which is characteristic of her and her disciples. [8] Since, said Furius, you are second to none of our time as a disciple of philosophy, Eustathius, pray explain to us in your own words what you mean by the measure of judicious control which you say that philosophy would show as a fellow guest. [9] Well, replied Eustathius, I know that her first care will be to determine in her own mind the various dispositions of the guests present. If she finds that the majority of those who have met at table are well acquainted with her, or at any rate are well disposed toward her, she will allow herself to become the subject of conversation; for, just as a few consonants among a number of vowels 4 Cf. John of Salisbury Prol. (386b); Seneca Epistulae 29. 10. 5 For sections 9-17 see John of Salisbury 8. 10 (743b-744b).

442 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA join with them to form a word and readily lose their harshness, so a minority of uninformed persons may take pleasure in the company of the learned and either join harmoniously in their talk, if they can, or else listen with rapt attention to the discussion of such

high matters. [10] But if, on the other hand, she finds that the majority have had no training in philosophy and are strangers to it, she will require the learned minority present to hide their acquaint-

ance with her, and she will be content to listen to a flow of talk more agreeable to the greater part of the company, lest a handful of nobles, so to speak, be disturbed by the more boisterous rabble. [11] And this is one of the virtues of philosophy, that, although an orator can prove his worth only by speaking, a philosopher practices his art as much by timely silence as by speech. A few learned

men, then, (without prejudice to their knowledge of truth—for that knowledge will remain in abeyance) will so adapt themselves to the society of the unlettered that any suggestion of incompatibility will disappear. [12] It will be no cause for surprise if the wise man does what Pisistratus, the tyrant of Athens, once did. For, when his sons had refused to accept his good advice and dissensions between him and his children ensued, since he found that his rivals were pleased at the prospect of a feud in the royal house leading to a revolution, he summoned a meeting of all the citizens and told them that it was true that he had been angry with his sons for not complying with their father’s wishes, but nevertheless he had subsequently come to the conclusion that it better became his duty as a father to give way himself and fall in with the views of his children. The people were to understand therefore that the royal children and their father were at one; and by this means he put an end to the expectations of those who were plotting against the peace of the realm.

[13] So it is that in all the circumstances of life, and especially at a pleasant dinner party, everything that seems discordant must, without loss of decency, be harmonized. Thus at Agathon’s banquet® since Socrates, Phaedrus, Pausanias and Erysimachus [recte Eryximachus] were there, and at the dinner which Callias7 gave to his learned friends Charmadas [recte Charmides], Antisthenes, 6 Plato’s Symposium. 7 Xenophon’s Symposium.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER I 443 Hermogenes, and the other no less learned persons present, not a word was spoken that did not express the sentiments of a philosopher. [14] But at the tables of Alcinous and of Dido,® as though the only purpose of each feast was its enjoyment, you had Iopas at the latter and Phemius [vecte Demodocus] at the former, singing to the lute; Alcinous too had dancing men, and at Dido’s banquet you find Bitias drinking wine so freely that he fairly drenched himself with the brimming bowl. And suppose that one of those Phaeacians or Carthaginians had tried to blend deep philosophic discussions with the light table talk; would he not have spoiled the pleasure proper to those gatherings, and would he not—quite rightly—have been laughed at for his pains?

[15] The first duty of philosophy therefore will be to form a just estimate of the tastes of the guests. Then, when she sees that there is a place for her, she will not discuss her deep secrets as the cups go round, but the questions which she will pose, so far from

being knotty and difficult, will be both practical and light. [16] For, if among a company of those trained performers whose business it is to dance before the guests at a dinner, one of them to show off his skill challenges his fellows to run or to box, he will be turned

out of the merry party as unfit for his job. And in the same way at table, those who have the ability to do so may talk philosophy, if the occasion permits, to the end that the Muses may join with the Nymphs to contribute in due proportion to the mixture in the bowl holding the liquor born to make glad the heart of man. [17] If then, as must be admitted, the choice at every such party is between silence and conversation, the question that we have to ask is whether silence or the appropriate kind of talk is convenient at dinner. For, if (just as the Areopagites at Athens hear cases in silence) silence should always be the rule at banquets, then the question whether one should or should not talk philosophy at table does not arise; but, if, on the other hand, silence 1s not going to be the rule, then, where conversation is allowed, why is decent conversation banned; especially since good talk no less than good wine adds to the pleasure of such a social gathering? [18] Certainly if you look somewhat closely for the hidden meaning of the passage in Homer where Helen mixed with the wine a drug 8 Homer Odyssey 8; Vergil Aeneid 1.

444 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA

To lull all pain and anger and to bring forgetfulness of every ill®

you will find that the “drug” was no herb, no Indian juice, but her well-timed story which gladdened her guest and made him forget his sorrow; [19] for, in the presence of his son, she told of the famous exploits of Ulysses: What a deed it was that the hero did and dared in his hardiness.1°

By telling, then, of the father’s fame, and by recounting all his deeds of valor, Helen raised the spirits of the son; and so it is that she has been credited with having mixed some antidote to sorrow with the wine. [20] But,!! you say, what has this to do with philosophy? Well, nothing shows affinity to wisdom better than the ability to make the conversation fit the place and time by a just appreciation of the

persons present. [21] For some will be moved by stories that illustrate the military virtues, others by examples of deeds of kind-

ness, some again by stories of self-restraint, with the result that even those whose conduct was usually very different, after hearing

such talk, often come to amend their own lives. [22] Moreover, those who are entangled in the snares of vice will, if the tenor of the table talk treats too of such matters, be reproved by philosophy without feeling the reproof (just as the ivy-bound thyrsus of Father Liber with its hidden point deals an indirect blow); for, at dinner,

philosophy will not claim to play the censor so far as to rebuke faults openly. [23] Besides, those who are prone to faults will, if openly rebuked, fight back, and such disorder will then arise among the guests that it will look as if they had been bidden to the feast under some such command as this: And now rejoice in your exploits, my men; refresh yourselves and be assured that all is being made ready for the fight”? [Vergil Aeneid 9. 157] or, has Homer has put it, more concisely and clearly:

But go now to your meal, that we may join battle anon. [Iliad 2. 381]

[24] If therefore an occasion arises which calls for a necessary ® Odyssey 4. 221. 10 Odyssey 4. 242. 11 For sections 20-25 see John of Salisbury 8. 10 (744b-d).

12 Reading et pugnam sperate parari (cf. 5. 9. 4, above).

BOOK 7, CHAPTER I 445 rebuke, the philosopher will deliver the rebuke in such a way that it will be at once veiled and effective. No wonder, then, that (as I

have said) a reproof may be received from a wise man without being felt as such, for his reproof is sometimes so expressed as to gladden its recipient; and by his questions, too, no less than by the stories he relates, the wise man will illustrate the power of philosophy

and the fact that her speech is always to the point. [25] And so, let no business or place or gathering, of honest men, ban philosophy,

for she is so adaptable that her presence would seem to be needed everywhere and her absence to be, as it were, an offense against the divine law.

CHAPTER 2! [1] It seems to me, said Avienus, that you are introducing two new skills—a new method of asking a question, and also a new method of conveying a reproof—if both question and reproof are calculated to gladden those to whom the words are addressed; for a reproof always hurts even if it is deserved. But you have touched only lightly on these matters, so please expound them more clearly.

[2] Well then, replied Eustathius, I must ask you first of all to bear in mind that I have not been speaking of the kind of reproof which suggests an accusation, but reproof which takes the form of badinage. ‘The Greeks have a word for it—ox@ppa. Such language

would give as much pain as a direct accusation, if it were made harshly, but it will come from a philosopher in such a way as to be actually agreeable. [3] I will reply first to your inquiry about the method of asking

a question. If you would ask questions without giving offense,? you ask only those which the party questioned can readily answer and which relate to what you know he has learned by diligent application. [4] For it is always a pleasure to be called on to reveal

one’s learning and no one willingly hides it under a bushel, especially if the knowledge which he has worked hard to acquire is shared by him with few and is generally unknown, as, for example, knowledge of astronomy or logic, and the like. Indeed

it is then that men think that they are reaping the reward of their labor, when they have a chance to display their learning without incurring the reproach of showing off, for you escape this reproach if you refrain from obtruding what you know and reveal it only when asked to do so. [5] On the other hand, you cause consider1 ‘With the contents of this chapter cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 2. A. 2 For sections 3-9 see John of Salisbury 8. 10 (744d-745c).

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 2 447 able bitterness if you ask a man in the presence of a number of others a question about something of which he has acquired no great store of knowledge, for he must either say that he doesn’t know the answer—and this is regarded as, of all things, the most damaging to one’s self-respect—or he must answer at random and chance the actual truth or falsity of his reply, with the result that

he often betrays his ignorance and then goes on to blame his questioner for the whole of the unhappy occasion which has put him to shame. [6] Again, those who have traveled over seas and lands are glad

to be asked questions about something that will be unknown to many (for example, questions about the situation of a country or about an inlet of the sea), and they answer them with pleasure, describing the localities sometimes in words, sometimes with the help of a rod, for they take pride in bringing before the eyes of others what they have seen with their own. [7] hen there are the military commanders and military men generally. They are always eager to tell of their deeds of valor, but a fear of seeming to brag keeps them silent. If, however, they are invited to recount their exploits, they certainly regard themselves as fully repaid for their toils and think that they have been recompensed if they can tell a willing audience the story of what they have done. [8] But stories of this kind have so sweet a savor, as it were, of glory that, if any jealous rivals should happen to be present, they would frustrate such questioning by their protestations and would introduce other topics of conversation, to prevent the telling of such tales as usually win praise for the teller. [9] Furthermore, when perils are past and troubles wholly ended, a man is only too pleased to be asked to tell of those he has escaped, for, while he is still held in their toils, if only slightly, he shrinks from being reminded of them and fears to recount them: a feeling which Euripides has expressed accordingly in the following line [from his Andromeda |:* How sweet indeed is the memory of troubles from which we have been saved wherein the introduction of the words “from which we have been

saved” served to show that it is only when ills are ended that 3 Fragment 131 (Nauck).

448 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA pleasure in telling of them begins. And your own poet, in the line: Perchance the memory of even this shall one day bring pleasure [Vergil Aeneid 1. 203]

by the introduction of the words “one day” is saying, surely, that it is at some future time, when misfortunes have been borne and survived, that the memory of a pain no longer felt brings pleasure. [10] I should agree, however, that there are misfortunes of such a kind that the sufferer is unwilling to recall them even when they are past and resents being asked about them no less than when he was still involved in them—a man, for example, who has undergone

bodily torture at the hands of the executioners or has suffered some unhappy bereavements or who has at some time been the object of public censure. You must be careful not to question such a man, for you may be thought to be taunting him.

[11] The sort of man whom you will often call on for a story, if you can, is one whose public readings have been well received or who has brought a “free legation’’* to a successful conclusion or who has had courteous and friendly recognition by the emperor or

who by his wits or strength was a sole survivor when almost the whole of a fleet was captured by pirates,> for then even a long recital of such happenings is hardly long enough to satisfy the wishes of the narrator. [12] You give pleasure too® if you bid a man speak of the unexpected good fortune of a friend, when you find him unable to

pluck up courage to decide whether to speak or to keep silent about it, for fear of being thought to be either boastful or, on the other hand, spiteful.

[13] If a man is keen on hunting, ask him about the coverts drawn, about the hidden lairs of the beasts, and about the success of the hunt. If a religious devotee is present, give him a chance to * A purely titular mission: a privilege (granted only to senators) which enabled the holder to travel from Rome to the provinces on his private business at the public expense. But note that Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 2. A. 2 (630d) says: T\déMC¢ YodV EpwtHvtar nEpi npEeoPeldv Kai nEepi mOALTELV Sool péya tt Kai Aaumpov EipyacuEevot tTOYYAVOVOLV.

5 In Plutarch’s time such an incident would have occurred only outside the Mediterranean, which for long had been safe for shipping. The Red Sea, how-

ever, used to be infested by pirates; and from the second half of the third century Gothic pirates were active in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas also

(see H. A. Ormerod, Piracy in the Ancient World [Liverpool and London, 1924] pp. 258-59).

6 For sections 12-14 see John of Salisbury 8. 10 (745c-d).

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 2 449 tell of the observances by which he has won help from heaven and how great the reward which the performance of ceremonial rites

has brought him, for such people regard it as a kind of religious duty not to keep silent about the benefits which they have received from the gods—and, what is more, they like to be thought to be on good terms with the gods. [14] If an old man too is present you have a splendid opportunity, for he will think that you have done him the greatest of favors if you question him—even about matters which are no concern of his at all—since the old are habitually talkative; [15] and it is with this in mind that Homer has represented Nestor as having a whole heap of questions put to him all at once: Nestor, son of Neleus, now tell me true: how died the son of Atreus, Agamemnon of the wide domain? Where was Menelaos? ... Or was Menelaos not in Argos of Achaea? [Odyssey 3.247] And in that heap of questions the poet provided matter enough to satisfy the old man’s itch to be heard. [16] In Vergil, also, Aeneas, seeking to make himself in every way agreeable to Evander, gives

him a number of opportunities to relate a tale; for, instead of putting this or that particular question, Aeneas: Gladly asks for and hears each record of the men of old [Aeneid 8. 311]

and you know how Evander was won over by the questions—and at what length he answered them.

CHAPTER 3! [1] What Eustathius had to say met with universal approval, but Avienus then added: I would beg you, my most learned friends, to

urge and encourage the speaker to explain what he has just said about this “scozmma.” All then called on Eustathius to do so, and he took up the thread of his discourse as follows. [2] Besides categoria, or woyoc, [censure], he said, and besides 5iaBoAt which may be rendered in Latin by delatio [denunciation], the Greeks have two other terms, Ao1dopia and ox@ppa, for which

I find no Latin synonyms; unless perhaps you would define loedoria® as an affront and a direct insult; and as regards scomma I should be inclined to define it as a gibe—a biting remark which is figuratively expressed, since it often has a veil of guile or politeness,

so that the words used appear to say one thing but to mean something else.

[3] Nevertheless this gibe does not always go so far as to give rise to bitter feelings, but sometimes it even gives pleasure to its victims; and it is this kind of badinage rather than any other that a wise man, or for that matter any polite man, uses, especially when

the wine goes round at table—a time when tempers are easily aroused. [4] For just as even a light touch is enough to push a man over the edge when he 1s standing above a sheer descent,’ so too a

slight cause for resentment rouses to fury one who is drunk or even only tipsy. We should therefore be more than ordinarily careful at a dinner party to refrain from a gibe which contains a veiled insult. [5] Indeed, such words stick closer than direct af1 With the contents of this chapter cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 2. A; and Aristotle Ethica Nicomachea 4. 8. 2 For sections 2-6 and 10 see John of Salisbury 7. 25 (7o9a-b). 8 Perhaps a reminiscence of Juvenal 1. 149: ommne in praecipiti vitium stetit.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 3 451 fronts (just as a curved hook takes a firmer hold than a straight sword blade), all the more so because they move the rest of the company to laughter, and this seeming assent serves to confirm the insult.

[6] As an example of a direct affront, take these words: “Have you forgotten that you used to sell pickled fish?” But a gibe, which (as I have said) often conceals an insult, might be expressed thus:

“We remember the time when you used to wipe your nose on your arm.” * In each form of words the meaning is the same, but the former is a direct affront, because the taunt is cast openly in the other’s teeth; the latter is a gibe, because the taunt is figuratively expressed.

[7] Thus Octavius, who regarded himself as of noble birth, once

said to Cicero, when the latter was reading aloud: “I can’t hear what you are saying,” to which the other replied: “And yet you certainly used to have good holes in your ears’”—the point of the gibe being that Octavius was said to be of Libyan extraction, and it is a custom of the Libyans to pierce their ears. [8] It was Cicero, too, who, when remarking on his inability to give Laberius a seat beside him, said: “I should be glad to have you with me were I not already pressed for room”; whereupon that famous actor bitingly replied: “And yet it was always your way to sit on two seats’—thus taunting the great man with the fickleness of his political allegiance. Moreover, in saying: “Were I not pressed for room,” Cicero aimed a gibe at Gaius Caesar, who

was admitting, indiscriminately, so many to the Senate that the fourteen rows were not enough to hold the newcomers.* [9] From

expressions of this kind, then, which are charged with intent to insult, a wise man should always refrain, and everyone else should refrain from them at table.

[10] But there are other gibes which are not so unkind (suggesting, as it were, the bite of a beast that has lost its teeth), for example, Cicero’s reference to a consul whose term of office lasted for only a single day:® “We are accustomed,” he said, “to having Priests of the Day, but now we have Consuls of a day (diales).” And it was of the same man that he said: “Our Consul is 4 Cf. Suetonius Vita Horatzi 1. 5 See 2. 3. 10, above, and the note there. 6 See 2. 2. 13 and 2. 3. 6, above.

452 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA wide-awake indeed, for while in office he has not slept a wink”, and again, on being reproached by this same man for not calling on him during his consulate, Cicero replied: “I was on my way, but night overtook me.” [11]? Remarks such as these last, and others like them, which are humorous rather than bitter, and remarks too which refer to certain bodily defects, cause little or no resentment, for example, a reference to someone’s bald head as “a domed protuberance” or a description of a snub nose as “a Socratic depression,” since here, the slighter the misfortune, the lighter is any pain that the gibe may cause. [12] But, on the other hand, to taunt a man with the loss of an eye is bound to stir up strong feeling. Thus it was that King Antigonus, although he had sworn to spare the life of ‘Theocritus of Chios, put him to death on account of just such a gibe made at his expense by that man. For when Theocritus was being haled before Antigonus, as though for punishment, and his friends were encouraging him with the assurance that he would certainly meet with mercy as soon as the king had set eyes upon him, he replied: “You are telling me, then, that it is all up with me.” ‘The jest was ill-timed, for Antigonus had lost an eye, and the unhappy witticism cost Theocritus his life. [13] I should agree that philosophers too have sometimes, under provocation, had recourse to a gibe of the more bitter kind. For a royal freedman, lately raised to unexpected wealth, once invited a

number of philosophers to dinner and, to make fun of the oversubtlety of their inquiries, said that he would be glad to know why

the dish of which they were eating was of a uniform color, although its ingredients were both black beans and white beans; whereat the philosopher Aridices angrily retorted: “Perhaps you, for your part, would tell us why the marks made by white whiplashes and black whiplashes look alike.” [14] There are gibes which, on the surface, seem to be insulting

and yet at times do not provoke the persons to whom they are addressed, although the same words would convey a reproof, if the cap happened to fit; just as, on the other hand, there are gibes which seem to convey a compliment and yet are rendered insulting by reason of the character of the person at whom they are aimed. Of those two kinds I shall deal with the former first. ’ For sections 11-13 see John of Salisbury 8. 10 (745d-746D).

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 3 453 [15] The praetor Lucius Quinctius,’ soon after his return from a province which he had governed with the highest integrity—a matter for surprise in the days of Domitian—being in poor health, remarked to a friend sitting next to him at dinner that his hands were cold. Whereupon the other replied with a smile: “And yet they were warm enough when you came home from your province

a short time ago.” Quinctius was delighted by the quip and laughed, for he was the very last man on whom suspicion of peculation could fall. But, if those words had been addressed to a man with a guilty conscience and a memory of dishonest practices,

they would have moved the hearer to anger. [16] When Socrates challenged Critobulus, a young man well known for his good looks, to a beauty contest, he was speaking in jest and not to taunt. And, without doubt, if you were to say to a millionaire: “I am setting your creditors on you,” or to a thoroughly moral man: “You mistresses are grateful to you for the neverfailing generosity with which you have enriched them,” each man would chuckle with delight at your words, since he would hear them with a clear conscience. [17] But (as I have just observed) there are on the other hand gibes which seem to pay a compliment but in fact convey a reproof. For, if I say to an utter coward: “You are a fitting match for Achilles or Hercules,” or to a notorious scoundrel: “To my mind you are more upright than Aristides,” each man will assuredly regard the apparent compliment as an expression of censure.

[18] ‘he same gibes can sometimes please and at other times hurt the feelings of the same individual. It all depends on the different persons who happen to be present, for there is badinage which we should not object to hear, if aimed at us in the presence of friends, but we should dislike being made the target for any gibe in the presence of wife or parents or instructors, unless it hap-

pened to be such that those critics of our conduct would hear it with pleasure. [19] Thus one might chaff a young man in the presence of his parents or instructors by saying that it could lead to madness were he to continue to sit up and read all night, or a man in the presence of his wife by saying that he would be a fool to be

so devoted to her as never to have an eye for a pretty woman, 8 Macrobius has Quintus, but a “gentile” name is needed.

454 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA since remarks such as these give rise to much merriment, both in the persons addressed and in those who are present at the time. [z0]® A gibe too becomes agreeable if the party who makes it and the party at whom it is directed are of the same condition in

life, as, for example, if a man of slender means were to chaff another with his poverty, or if a man of obscure birth were to make fun of another’s humble origin. Thus Amphias of Tarsus, who from a market gardener became a person of importance, after some reference to a friend’s low estate, went on to say: “But there,

we are both grown from the same seed,” a remark which gave pleasure to all alike.

[21] Gibes which take the form of straightforward chaff, such

as the following, please those at whom they are aimed: if, for example, you rally a brave man for being careless of his own safety

and seeking to die for others, or charge a generous man with wasting his substance by thinking more of others than of himself. And it was in this seemingly disparaging way that Diogenes used to praise his master, Antisthenes the Cynic. “It was my master,” he would say, “who turned me from a rich man into a beggar and made me live in a tub instead of in a roomy house.” For this was a better way of putting it than had he said: “I owe him thanks for making me a lover of learning and a man of the highest virtue.” [22] And so, although we use only a single word, scomma or “gibe,” the effects of this kind of badinage differ. That is why the Lacedaemonians, among the other rules of their strictly regulated life, also received from Lycurgus the following form of discipline: that youths should learn to make gibes without malice and to put up with those directed at them by others; moreover, if any of them gave way to resentment at such chaffing, he was no longer allowed to chaff another. [23] You see, then, Avienus—for you are a young man, and may be taught (indeed you are so ready to learn that you anticipate the teaching) —you see, I say, that the consequences of every kind of gibe are uncertain (since a gibe may take effect in either of two

ways). And so my advice to you is that you refrain from such speech at dinner parties (where anger lies in ambush,!° as it were, ® For sections 20-22 see John of Salisbury 8. 10 (746b-c).

id) the (746d).

rest of section 23 and for section 24 see John of Salisbury 8. 10

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 3 455 to take advantage of the merriment) and choose rather to ask, or

to answer yourself, the questions that properly belong to such festive occasions.

[24] The men of old, my friends, were so far from regarding matters of this kind as mere play that Aristotle and Plutarch and your own Apuleius have treated of them in their writings; and it

would ill become us to think lightly of what all those wise men | thought to be deserving of their attention.

CHAPTER 4! [1] Questions of this kind, said Praetextatus, well become the old too. Why, then, does Eustathius recommend them only to the young? But come, every one of you here, let our talk be of matters which have to do with the dinner table. Let us deal not only with

the food and drink but debate also any subject that concerns our bodily nature, and other like topics—all the more so, since we have

our friend Disarius present, for with his professional skill and learning he will be able to make a most valuable contribution to such a discussion. I suggest then, if you agree, that we draw lots to determine in what order each shall propound a question which he thinks deserves an answer. [2] All agreed but called on Praetextatus to speak first, begging him to do so, that the line of his inquiry, if he began, might serve as an example for the rest to follow. [3] My question, said Praetextatus then, is whether a simple diet or a mixed diet is the easier to digest, and I ask it because we see many indulge in the latter, although some persons favor the former.

The simple life certainly has a suggestion of pride and obstinacy and, as it were, of self-advertisement, and, on the other hand, there would seem to be something pleasant and companionable about good living. I should like to hear, therefore, whether the one with its austerity or the other with its pleasures is the better fitted to preserve bodily health. We have not far to go for our authority, since Disarius is here, and with his knowledge of what suits our human bodies he is a match for nature herself, the creator and

nourisher of the human frame. I would have you tell us, then, Disarius, what advice medicine has to give on this point. 1 With the contents of this chapter and of chapter 5 cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 4. A.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 4 457 [4] If, replied Disarius, the question had been put to me by one of the uninformed lower classes, knowing that an illustration has

more effect on the minds of such people than an explanation, | should have contented myself with reminding him of the mode of lite of the beasts, pointing out to him that their diet is simple and uniform and that therefore they enjoy much better bodily health than human beings, and going on to say that those beasts become diseased which we cram for fattening with lumps of food made up of a variety of seasonings. [5] My questioner’s uncertainty would be resolved after he had observed the customary good health of the animals whose diet is simple and also the liability to disease of those which are crammed with a variety of food (for we know that a diet of the latter kind, by reason of its variety no less than of its quantity, is difficult to digest). [6] I should perhaps have used a second illustration and have made a deeper impression by inviting my questioner to reflect that no doctor, treating illnesses, was ever so recklessly careless as to prescribe a mixed rather than a simple diet for a patient suffering from a fever. And indeed the ease with which a uniform diet can

be digested is established by the fact that such a diet meets the patient’s requirements, for example when his natural constitution is weak.

[7] A third illustration would also have been available, and I might have pointed out that we should avoid eating a variety of foods just as we usually avoid drinking a variety of wines, for, unquestionably, the man who mixes his drinks becomes drunk sudden-

ly and sooner than the amount of wine taken would warrant. [8] But to you, Vettius—the one man whose happy lot it is to have attained to a complete mastery of all branches of learning—I must give a reasoned explanation rather than illustrations, although

the explanation will not have escaped your notice, even if I were to say nothing.

[9] The cause of indigestion lies either in the quality of the juice into which the food is transformed (that is to say, indigestion follows if the food should be unsuited to the bodily humor) or in the quantity of the food consumed, one’s nature then being unequal to the task of digesting all that has been taken. [10] Let us consider first the quality of the juice. A man whose diet is simple learns by experience to recognize easily what juice burdens or refreshes his

458 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA body, for he is in no doubt about the kind of food influencing him, since he has taken but one, and so a harmful effect is easily avoided because its cause is known. [11] But the man who feeds on a number of different foods feels the effects of divers qualities, resulting

from the different kinds of juice produced. There is no harmony among the fluids, seeing that they issue from a variety of matter, and the blood into which they are transformed by the agency of the liver is neither free-flowing nor pure, but they pass tumultuously into the veins. This is the source of a stream of diseases which have their origin in the discord of incompatible fluids. [12] Again, since all of the food eaten is not of the same kind, all is not digested at the same time, but some of it is digested more quickly and some more slowly, with the result that the sequence

of the processes is disarranged. [13] For the food we take is not subjected to a single process of digestion but, for the nourishment of the body, undergoes four processes. All men, even the dullest, are aware of one of those processes, but the explanation of the others is more obscure. And to make this point clear to all, I must begin my explanation a little further back. [14] We have in us four active principles, whose function is to

deal with the nourishment taken. One of these is called the “attractive” (ka8eAxtiKt}) principle, and it draws down the food after it has been masticated by our jaws; since, clearly, such bulky matter could not pass through the narrow gullet, did not some secret, natural force draw it down.

[15] But the food thus drawn down must not go right down through the body in one continuous movement, passing through each successive outlet to the lowest, and so be excreted unchanged, but it must await the health-giving process of digestion. This is the

function of the second principle, which (as the “retentive” principle) the Greeks call xaextikh.

[16] The third principle is called the “transformative” (GAXo1wtiKT)) principle, for it changes the form of the food, and all the other principles are subordinate to it, since of itself it has charge of the digestive processes. [17] Now the belly has two openings. The upper, facing upward, receives the food as it is swallowed and stores it in the cavity of the belly. ‘This cavity is the stomach, and the stomach is deservedly called the “father of the family,” as if it were the sole governor of

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 4 459 the whole living creature (for if the stomach is sick, then life is in danger, since the passage of nourishment is insecure), and nature has endowed the stomach (as though it were capable of reasoning)

with the ability to accept or refuse food. The lower opening of the belly faces downward and leads into the intestines, which lie next to it, and from there runs the passage by which waste matter is excreted from the body. [18] It is in the belly then that the first process of digestion 1s performed, by the transformative principle, which turns all that the

belly has received into juice, and the residue forms the waste matter which passes, by the lower opening, through the intestines,

it being the duty of the fourth principle, the “excretive”’ (Gnoxpitik), to effect the discharge of this waste matter from the body. [19] After the transformation, then, of the food into juice, action by the liver follows. Now the liver is a concretion of blood and so has a natural heat of its own; and it turns the juice that has been

formed into blood, so that, just as the first of the digestive processes is the turning of the food into juice, so the second process is the transition from juice to blood.

[20] This blood is conducted and dispersed by the liver’s heat through the channels of the veins to the several parts of the body,

the coldest part of the products of digestion flowing into the spleen, for the spleen is the seat of cold as the liver is of heat. [21] Indeed, the right side of a body is always the stronger? and the left side the weaker, because the right is ruled by the heat of its proper organ, the liver, but the left is enfeebled by contact with the cold which occupies that part.

[22] The third of the digestive processes takes place in the veins and arteries, which contain the blood and the breath of life. For the veins in some way remove the waste matter from the blood

which they have received and pass what is watery in it to the bladder, but they supply the free-flowing, pure, and nourishing blood to every part of the whole body. And thus it is that, although the belly alone receives the food, the nourishment that proceeds

from the food, dispersed through all the passages of the body’s parts, nourishes also the bones and their marrow and the nails and the hair. 2 Cf. Apuleius Apologia s1.

460 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [23] And this is the fourth process of digestion, namely the process which takes place in the several parts of the body; and it 1s in the course of this process that what has been received by each part of the body is turned into nourishment for that specific part. Nevertheless, the nourishment thus received, although purified so many times, still has its waste matter, and this—when all the parts of the body enjoy their proper state of health—disappears through hidden channels. [24] But if any part of the body should fall sick, then that ultimate waste matter of which I have spoken passes to that part, as being weaker; and this is the origin and cause of the diseases which doctors customarily call rheums. [25] And, to be sure, if the juice in its last stage, is unduly abundant, this surplus is rejected by the healthier part of the body, and then, of course, it passes to a weaker part which has not the strength to reject it. ‘The place to which this foreign matter comes is consequently swollen

by its reception, and this gives rise to pains. Such, then, is the threefold cause of gout, and of any disease which has its origin in a confluence of such foreign matter—namely, the abundance of the

liquid, the strength of the part of the body that rejects it, and the weakness of the part that receives it. [26] We have stated, then, that the digestive processes in the body are four. One depends on another, and, if a preceding process is hindered, then the process which follows it becomes ineffective. Let us look again now at that first digestive process, which takes place in the belly, and we shall see what hindrance is caused by a diet consisting of many kinds of food. [27] For as there are dif-

ferent kinds of food, so they differ in their nature; some are digested more quickly, some more slowly. When therefore the first digestive process is transforming the food into juice, since all the food taken is not transformed into juice at the same time, that

which is the first to be transformed turns sour while the rest is undergoing its slower transformation, and often we are actually made aware of this by belching. [28] As for the other food, which is digested slowly, this, during its slower process of digestion, gives off fumes under the influence of the body’s natural heat (just as damp wood gives off smoke when acted on by fire), for belching makes us aware of these fumes too. [29] But with food of a uniform nature there is no such antagonism and delay: the food is all turned into a uniform juice at the same time and there is no disturbance of

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 4. 461 any of the digestive processes, all following each other at their regular, fixed times. [30] It, however, anyone should reject my explanations (for no one is more intolerant of another’s arguments than he who lacks expert knowledge), refusing to consider the question of the quality

of the food and holding that it is only the quantity of the food eaten that hinders digestion, here too is a reason for supposing a diet which consists of a number of dishes to be a cause of diseases. [31] For a variety of foods requires a variety of seasonings, which stimulate the appetite more than nature needs, and the result is an accumulation of food in the belly, since under the stimulus of desire too much is eaten, even if but small portions are tasted of each dish. [32] That is why Socrates used to counsel the avoidance of such food or drinks as produce an appetite which goes beyond what is needed to appease thirst or hunger. Finally, this also is a reason for rejecting variety in diet: the pleasure that such variety gives; for grave and wise men should be on their guard against pleasure, inasmuch as virtue and pleasure are clean contrary the one to the other. [33] But at this point I end my argument, for I should be sorry to be thought to be finding fault with this very banquet at which we find ourselves, since—sober though it is—we are enjoying nevertheless a variety of dishes.

CHAPTER 5! [1] What Disarius had to say won approval and ready acceptance

from Praetextatus and the others, but Evangelus cried: This is intolerable, nothing could be more so, that our ears should be the

slaves of a glib Greek, and we ourselves forced to approve his rounded phrases, defeated by a volubility which tyrannically compels the hearers’ assent. [2] And since we confess ourselves unable to cope with this labyrinth of words, come, Vettius, let us urge Eustathius to maintain the contrary opinion and be good enough to give us all the arguments in favor of a mixed diet. In this

way the language of violence will be the victim of its own weapons and, just like one crow pecking out another crow’s eyes, one Greek will steal the applause from another. [3] Your request, said Symmachus, though somewhat acrimoni-

ously phrased, is welcome, Evangelus, for it is a pleasure, and useful too, to venture to oppose a case that has been so fully and so neatly put. But in making our attempt we must avoid any appearance of laying traps for an ingenious opponent and of jealousy at his brilliant handling of the question. [4] I must admit that even I could have found it in me to argue in support of the opposite theory—for it is the practice of the schools of rhetoric, in treating their stock themes, to present in turn the points to be made for and against the subject in issue—but it is perhaps easier for a Greek

to reply to the points made by another Greek, and so we all beg you, Eustathius, to rebut the theories and arguments of Disarius and to reinstate the pleasures of the table, which he has dismissed. [5] For some time Eustathius sought to be excused the task, but, pressed by so many men of distinction, whose wishes he could not 1 With the contents of this chapter and of chapter 4 cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 4. A.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 5 463 well oppose, he yielded to their urgency. You are compelling me, said he, to declare war on two of my best friends: Disarius—and the simple life. But excused by your authority, which I regard as having the force of the praetor’s edict, I shall avow myself, since I must, to be the advocate of good living.

[6] The illustrations with which our talented friend Disarius began, and almost won us over, are—as I shall show—specious rather than true. He says that beasts enjoy a simple diet and that therefore their health is less easily attacked by disease than is the health of human beings. [7] I shall prove that each of these statements is false, for the diet of dumb animals is not simple and they are as liable to diseases as we are. Evidence in proof of the one of my points is the variety of the pastures on which they feed. These contain both bitter plants and sweet plants, some producing a hot and others a cold juice, and no kitchen could show such a diversity of condiments as nature has provided in its herbage. [8] Everybody knows of Eupolis, and he

is deservedly held to be one of the elegant poets of the Old Comedy. Well, in his play entitled Te Goats he introduces those creatures boasting of the abundance of their food as follows: [9] We feed on all manner of shrubs, browsing on the tender shoots of pine, ilex, and arbutus, and on spurge, clover, and fragant sage, and many-leaved bindweed as well, wild olive and lentisk and ash, fir, sea oak, ivy, and heather, willow, thorn, mullein, and asphodel, cistus, oak, thyme, and savory.? Does this list of bushes and shrubs, with juices as diverse as their names, strike you as being the simple diet of which Disarius spoke?

[10] Then to prove that men are not more easily attacked by disease than beasts, what need of further evidence than Homer’s? For the plague of which he tells began with the beasts, since of course the disease fell on the easier victims before it could have spread to the human beings.’ [11] Moreover, the shortness of their lives points to the weakness of the dumb animals, for which of them, so far as our knowledge and experience go, lives as long as a man? Unless, perhaps, you propose to resort to the legendary tales of ravens and crows—and yet these are the very creatures 2 For a verse translation see T. R. Glover, The Challenge of the Greek (Cambridge, 1942), p. 46. 3 [liad 1. 50.

464. MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA which we see pecking greedily at any carrion, looking out for any

kinds of seeds, and harrying the fruit trees; for their voracity matches the longevity with which popular stories credit them. [12] Your second illustration, if I remember aright, is that it is the practice of doctors to prescribe a simple, not a mixed, diet for the sick. But you doctors do so, I take it, not because a simple food is more easily digested but because it is less appetizing, your object being to lessen the appetite for eating by the unpleasant monotony of the food, on the ground that the patient’s weakness makes nature unable to digest much. Thus, if a sick man desires more even of the simple diet, you refuse to give it him, although his appetite is still unsatisfied. And it is clear from this practice that your concern Is

not with the quality but with the quantity of the food taken. [13] As for your advice to avoid mixing what you eat as you would avoid mixing what you drink, it conceals a hidden fallacy, which is rendered plausible by the use of the same word—“mixing.” But in fact drinking and eating are very different matters, for who

ever suffered in his wits from much eating as one suffers from much drinking? [14] Cram yourself with food, and the stomach or

the belly feels the burden, but soak yourself in wine and you become like a madman, the reason being, as I suppose, that food, being solid, remains in one place awaiting the process of digestion and only then, after digestion, passes gradually to the other parts

of the body; whereas the drink, being naturally lighter, moves presently upward and with the spreading of its hot fumes attacks the brain, which is situated in the head. [15] We avoid mixing our

wines, then, for fear lest a substance which goes quickly to the head may do harm to the seat of reason by the sudden access of divers kind of heat; but there are no rational grounds for supposing that the consequences of consuming a variety of foods are equally to be feared, for the processes are not comparable. [16] In the account in which you have digested the sequence of the digestive processes, in clear and varied language, all that you

have said about the nature of the human body does nothing to invalidate my theory, though I do not deny the eloquence with which you have presented your case. There is only one point on which | disagree with you: when you maintain that the variety of the juices produced by a variety of foods is inimical to our bodies— and that too although our bodies themselves are made up of mutual-

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 5 465 ly inimical qualities, [17] for the elements of which we are com-

posed are the hot and the cold, the dry and the moist. Now a simple diet produces a juice of a single quality, but we know that like is nourished by like; and so tell me, pray, from what sources do the other three qualities of the body derive their nourishment? [18] Empedocles is my witness that everything strongly attracts its like, for he says: Thus sweet seized on sweet and bitter rushed toward bitter; sharp moved toward sharp and hot sprang upon hot.‘ [19] Furthermore, I often hear you quote with approval the words of your master Hippocrates: “If man were one, he would not suffer pain; he suffers pain, and therefore is not one.” If then man is not “one,” he cannot draw nourishment from a single source. [20] It

certainly was not the will of the all-creating deity that the air which surrounds us and which we breathe should have but one single

quality and so always be either cold or hot, but he ordained that it should not be continuously dry nor perpetually moist, since he could not have provided nourishment for us with a single quality, inasmuch as we had been created from the intermixture of four. He therefore made the spring hot and moist, the summer dry and hot, the autumn dry and cold, and the winter both moist and cold. [21] So it is too with the elements which constitute our first beginnings; they consist themselves of diverse qualities and thereby nourish us; for fire is hot and dry, air moist and hot, water likewise moist but

cold, earth both cold and dry. Why then do you require us to adopt a uniform diet, although nothing in us, around us, or in the elements of our being is uniform? [22] The fact that food turns sour or sometimes gives off fumes in the stomach you would attribute to the variety of the food; but to make us believe this you should prove either that this always happens to one who eats a variety of foods or that it never happens to one who follows a simple diet. If, however, it often happens that a man who at table enjoys an abundance of dishes does not feel

, these ill effects and a man who confines himself to but one kind of food experiences this unpleasantness which you arraign, why put it down to the variety of the food eaten and not just to the greediness of the eater? For even on a simple diet a greedy man suffers 4 See K. Freeman, Ancilla to the Pre-Socratic Philosophers (Oxford, 1956), p- 61.

466 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the penalty of indigestion, and the man who partakes of a mixed diet in moderation enjoys a good digestion. [23] But, you will say, that very lack of restraint in eating is in fact the result of the variety of the food, because the enjoyment of it tickles the appetite and provokes one to eat more than one needs. [24] If so, I come back to what I said before, that indigestion is the consequence not of the quality of the food eaten but of the way in which we eat it; for a man of self-control observes due measure even at a Sicilian or Asian banquet, but, if a man lacks such restraint, he eats to excess even if the meal consist only of olives or cabbage. In short, the man whose diet is plentiful and varied enjoys good health, if he observes moderation; just as that man becomes unhealthy whose food is merely salt but who eats it greedily.

[25] Finally, if you think that in what we swallow it is variety that does harm, why do you doctors compound of such incompatible and mutually discordant ingredients the curative draughts which you pour through our mouths into our insides? [26] You

mix euphorbia with poppy juice and temper with pepper the notoriously chilling effects of mandragora and other herbs; you do

not hesitate to use even the strangest kind of flesh, including in your potions the testicles of beavers and the poisonous bodies of snakes and adding thereto all the yield of India and all the herbs that Crete produces in abundance. [27] Since, then, medicaments as

well as food serve to protect life—the former restoring, the latter maintaining it—why do you take pains to ensure variety in the contents of the one but condemn the other to a squalid uniformity? [28] You ended your discourse by inveighing against pleasure, in language that suggests the buskin, as though pleasure were always In opposition to virtue, whereas such opposition is found only when moderation is disregarded and pleasure degenerates into extravagance. For surely the merest slave who eats only under stress of hunger and drinks only to quench his thirst looks to find pleasure

in those acts. Pleasure then is not to be branded straightaway as disreputable on its own account, but it becomes seemly or blameworthy according to the use which is made of it. [29] However, it is not enough to make excuses for pleasure and to refrain from giving it credit as well, for food taken with pleasure is drawn by the appetite into the belly which is openly waiting to

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 5 467 grasp and receive it, and that which is eagerly enjoyed is quickly digested there, unlike those foods which have nothing pleasurable to commend them. Why then blame a mixed diet as if it were an incitement to gluttony, when in fact a man’s health depends on the strength of his appetite, since, if that fails, health languishes and is endangered? [30] For steersmen at sea, sailing before a following wind, even if it blows hard, keep on their course by reefing their sails and thus check the gale when it is too strong, but, if the wind drops, there is nothing that they can do to raise it. And so it is with the appetite for food: when it is excited and grows, reason (like the steersman) controls it; but once it has altogether failed, the living creature dies.

[31] And so, as surely as we live by food and it is the appetite alone that makes food agreeable to us, we must by means of a planned variety always take pains to stimulate the appetite, although with reason at hand to keep it within its due bounds. [32] But I must ask you to bear in mind that this party at which

I find myself is in the best of taste and has nothing about it to make anyone feel uneasy. Nevertheless you are not to suppose that when I recommend a variety of dishes I am approving of the extravagance which looks for snow in summer and roses in winter, and (more concerned to make a display than to serve any useful purpose) raids all forest lairs and ransacks foreign seas; for the fact is that such extravagance is nevertheless of itself an indication of a decline of manners, even if those who indulge in it do not, thanks to their moderation, ruin their health thereby. [33] Applause greeted these arguments, Disarius adding: You have been speaking as a dialectician, Eustathius, I, as a doctor. To determine what regime to follow one should examine one’s normal practice, and experience will teach a man what serves best to keep him healthy.

CHAPTER 6! [1] Flavianus then said: On other occasions I have always heard

doctors agree that wine should be accounted one of the hot substances, and now Eustathius too was remarking on its heat, when he was touching on the causes of drunkenness. But for my part— and this is a question which I have often pondered—I think that wine is naturally nearer akin to cold than to heat, and, to enable you to judge for yourselves what my opinion may be worth, here are the reasons which lead me to this conclusion.

[2] Wine, in my submission, is naturally cold, but, when it has been brought into contact with objects that are hot, it is capable of becoming, and even seeks to become, hot. Now metal too, although cold to the touch—Homer, you will remember, says: “He bit the cold bronze’”?—nevertheless grows hot if it has been exposed

to the sun, and the heat from outside it drives out its natural coldness. Let us inquire, then, whether the same principle is applicable to wine. [3] Wine is used either internally, as a drink, or externally, as a fomentation to heal the surface of the body. Even doctors do not

deny that wine is cold when it is poured on the skin, but they maintain that it is hot when taken internally, although in fact it is

not hot when it is swallowed but grows hot when mixed with substances that are hot. [4] I should certainly be glad if they would

tell me why, when the stomach is sick and growing weak and exhausted, they seek to restore its vigor by prescribing wine as an astringent, unless it is because the cold of the wine would serve to bind and draw together what has become exhausted and loose; for, 1 For the contents of sections 3-13 cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 3. E; and for sections 15-21, ibid. T. 2 Iliad 5. 75.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 6 469 as I have said, although they apply nothing hot to an exhausted stomach for fear of increasing its exhaustion, they do not ban the drinking of wine, since by this treatment, what was weak is made strong.

[5] And here is another indication that heat is an accidental rather than an inborn property of wine. If one has unwittingly drunk aconite, copious draughts of unmixed wine usually, I agree,

effect a cure,’ for, as it flows through the intestines, the wine attracts the body’s heat, and so, just as if it were a hot substance, it now resists and counteracts the cold of the poison. But, if the aconite has been ground and drunk mixed with wine, there is no cure and the draught is fatal, [6] for then the wine, being naturally cold, has increased the cold of the poison by being itself mixed with it. The wine does not now acquire heat in the inward parts of the body, since it does not go down to the intestines in a free state but mixed with—or rather actually changed into—another substance.

[7] Again, wine is administered to persons who are worn out with excessive sweating or looseness of the bowels, to constrict in

each ailment the body’s channels of passage. A sufferer from sleeplessness is treated by doctors with substances that are cold, sometimes with poppy juice and sometimes with mandragora or similar remedies, which include wine, since wine usually restores sleep, a fact which clearly goes to prove its natural quality of cold. [8] Then again, all hot substances provoke to venery, stir the seed, and favor procreation, but after copious draughts of unmixed wine

men become less active lovers and the seed which they sow is unfitted for generation, since the excess of wine, as a cold substance,

makes it thin or weak. [9] But the clearest proof of the truth of my opinion is the fact _ that the effects of extreme cold and drunkenness are the same. For in each condition the symptoms are shivering, heaviness, pallor, jerky and hurried breathing, and a trembling of the muscles and limbs; in each, the body is numb and the speech indistinct; and often, too, excess of wine, like exposure to extreme cold, results in the morbid state known to the Greeks as paralysis. [10] Consider also the kinds of treatment for drunkenness: the patients are put to

bed under a number of blankets to restore the lost heat, or are 3 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 23. 23. 43: merum remedio est contra... aconita ... contragque omnia quae refrigerando nocent.

470 NLACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA given hot baths, and their bodily heat is stimulated by the warmth induced by the application of ointments. [11] Lastly, of those who are often drunk, some quickly grow old, others‘ become prematurely bald or gray—conditions which are simply due to a lack of heat. [12] And then there is vinegar (which is simply wine that has

gone bad). Is anything colder than vinegar? For it is the only liquid which has the power to extinguish a spreading fire, since its essential cold overcomes the heat of that element. [13] And I am

not overlooking the fact that of the fruits of trees those are the coldest whose juice resembles the flavor of wine, for example, ordinary apples or pomegranates or the quince—which Cato calls the Cotonian apple. [14] I have made these remarks because I wished to let you all know my theories about wine—a subject which has often interested

me and one to which I have given much thought. But I am not abandoning my right to ask a question, and I address myself to you, Disarius, with a request that you answer one which it occurs to me should be put. [15] I remember having read in the work of a Greek philosopher (unless I am mistaken, it was in Aristotle’s treatise O17. Drunkenness)

that women rarely become drunk but old men often, and that no explanation was given either of the frequency of the one occurrence or of the rarity of the other. Now since this question is one that is wholly concerned with our bodily nature, and since that is a matter

which comes within the scope of your interests and your professional activities, please explain—if you agree with the philosopher— the reasons for the statement which he dogmatically expressed.

[16] In this as in everything else, replied Disarius, Aristotle is right, and I cannot but agree with a man whose theories accord with nature herself. Women, he says, rarely become drunk, old men often. There is a completely rational explanation of each part of this twofold statement, and the one depends on the other; for when we have learned what it is that keeps women from becoming drunk, then we know what it is that often brings old men to this pass, since it so happens that the nature of a woman’s body is the direct opposite of the nature of an old man’s body. [17] A woman’s body is full of moisture, as appears from the 4 Reading cito senescunt alii, alii ... (Willis).

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 6 471 smoothness and sheen of her skin, and above all from the repeated

purgings which rid her body of the burden of superfluous fluid. The wine, then, that a woman drinks meets such an abundance of

fluid that it loses its force and becomes diluted, and with its strength extinguished it does not easily attack the seat of the brain.

[18] The truth of this statement is supported by the further consideration that a woman’s body, being subject to frequent purgings,

is provided with a number of outlets to open up channels and make ways for the exit of the moisture that collects for evacuation, and it is through these outlets that the fumes of the wine quickly disappear.

[19] An old man’s body, on the other hand, is dry, as is evident from the harshness and roughness of his skin. That is why at that

time of life it becomes more difficult to bend, for this too is an indication of dryness. Wine drunk by an old man encounters no resistance and opposition from moisture but lays hold of the dry body with its strength unabated and presently takes possession of the parts which serve a man’s faculty of reason. [20] The bodies of old men are, without doubt, hard as well; and so, in these harder limbs, the natural channels themselves also become blocked, and consequently there are no means of escape for the fumes of the wine drunk, but they ascend in their entirety to the very seat of the mind. [21] Thus it happens that, even when they are sober, old men labor under the unpleasantnesses which attend drunkenness—for their limbs tremble, their speech is indistinct, they are

talkative, and they are easily provoked to anger—and in their liability to these conditions old men sober resemble young men drunk. If, then, old men are but slightly under the influence of wine, they do not experience these unpleasant symptoms for the first time but rather exhibit in a more marked degree symptoms to which they have already become subject by reason of their age.

CHAPTER 7! [1] All agreed with the arguments put forward by the last speaker, but Symmachus added: While we approve of all that Disarius has said to explain why women rarely become drunk, still he has overlooked one point—the fact that, owing to the extreme

cold of their bodies, wine that they have drunk grows cold and becomes so weakened that in its enfeebled state it has not the power to arouse any of the heat which produces drunkenness. [2] But, Symmachus, said Horus, there are no grounds for supposing, as you do, that a woman’s nature is cold, and, if you will

allow me, I shall easily prove that it is hotter than a man’s. [3] When childhood is over, the natural moisture of the body hardens

and turns to bristly hair. That is why the groin, the cheeks, and other parts of the body are then covered with hair. In a woman, however, this moisture is dried up by the body’s heat; consequently

she has less hair and so the whole of her body remains shining and smooth. [4] A further indication of the heat in a woman’s body is the abundance of blood in it, for blood is naturally hot, and it is to prevent the blood from burning up the body—as it would

if it were to remain in the body—that it is removed by frequent purgings. It is impossible then to call women cold, since they are full of blood and therefore, undeniably, full of heat. [5] Again, although it is not the custom today to burn the bodies

of the dead, we learn nevertheless from our reading that, in the days when it was regarded as an honor to the dead to commit

them to the flames, if ever there happened to be a number of bodies for burning at the same time, those who had charge of the funeral rites used to add one woman’s body to every ten men’s 1 For the contents of sections 1-12 cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 3. A; and for sections 14-20, ibid. Z.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 7 473 bodies, and this one body, as naturally inflammable and therefore

quick to catch fire, would help to kindle the rest. [6] Thus it is clear that the men of old, too, were well aware of the natural heat of women.2 And I would add that, since heat is always a cause of generation,

the reason why girls reach puberty more quickly than boys is because they are naturally hotter; and in fact the Common Law fixes the age of puberty at the twelfth year for a girl and at the fourteenth for a boy.

[7] But why go on? For we see that in very cold weather a moderate amount of clothing is enough for a woman, and they do not wrap themselves up in a number of coverings, as men usually do—the reason being, of course, that their natural heat resists the attack of the cold air. [8] Our friend Horus, replied Symmachus with a smile, is making a stout effort to abandon his Cynic philosophy and to appears as a Sophist instead, for he uses the arguments which prove the coldness

of a woman’s body to support the opposite view. The fact that women are not as hairy as men argues lack of heat, for it is heat that produces hair, and that is why eunuchs (whose nature, as all will admit, is colder than a man’s) are deficient in hair, and, what

is more, in the human body the hotter parts are the most hairy. Moreover, a woman’s body is smooth because the skin is as it were closed by the coldness of her nature, for such closeness of texture is a concomitant of coldness, just as smoothness is of closeness. [9] As for the frequent purgings, these point not to the great quantity

but to the bad quality of the moisture within, for the moisture evacuated is that which has not been absorbed and assimilated but is voided as weak, and (having no fixed abode) it is expelled by

nature as a substance which is harmful and too cold. Strong proof of this is found in the fact that during such purgings women

actually feel cold, from which we may understand that what is 2 Pliny notes that cremation was not an old practice at Rome; the dead used

: to be buried, but cremation became the practice after it had become known that the bodies of those who had fallen in wars abroad were dug up again (Historia naturalis 7. 54. 187). A general disuse of cremation, by the fourth century, may have been connected with the influence of Christianity and Judaism. (See Ammianus Marcellinus 30. 10. 1.) In the time of Sidonius it would

seem that, in Gaul, disposal of the dead might be by burial or by cremation (Carmina 16. 121; Epistulae 3. 12. 1 and 3. 13. 5).

474 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA voided is cold and therefore, having been as it were deprived of life through lack of heat, does not remain in the living body. [10] If use was made of a woman’s body to help men’s bodies to burn, it was not because of bodily heat but because of the fatness

of the flesh and its affinity to oil—qualities which would not be consequent on the heat of a woman’s body.

[11] ‘hat women reacn puberty quickly is due not to the excessive heat but to the greater weakness of their nature, just as inferior

fruits ripen more quickly but the hardy more slowly. If, however, you would look to generation for the true answer to this question of heat, bear in mind that men can beget children for longer than women can bear them, and take this as unquestionable proof of the coldness of the one sex and of the heat of the other; for the same lite force is more quickly extinguished in the colder body, just as it persists for longer in the hotter body. [12] And if women stand cold weather better than men, it is the coldness of their own nature that enables them to do so, for like takes pleasure in like; it is their natural constitution, which happens to be colder than men’s, that keeps their bodies from shivering in the cold. [13] However, these are matters for each to decide as he will. But it is now my turn to ask a question, and I have one which, to my mind, 1s well worth an answer. I put it to my very dear friend Disarius again, a man of excellent learning, in this as in every thing else.

[14] When I was lately at my Tusculan villa for the yearly festival of the vintage, I noticed that slaves and countryfolk alike drank freely of the grape juice (as it was pressed out or flowed down of itself) without becoming drunk. What particularly sur-

prised me was the fact that this was so with men whose wits I knew became unsettled by the stimulus of only a little wine. And

so I ask you why is it that drinking grape juice intoxicates but slowly, or not at all.

[15] Everything sweet, replied Disarius, quickly cloys; the desire for it does not last long and satiety is followed by disgust.

Now grape juice is simply sweet and nothing more; it has no mellowness; for wine when it is new is sweet but when it grows to

maturity it is mellow (suave) rather than sweet (dulce). [16] Homer bears evident witness to the difference that exists between

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 7 475 these two qualities, when he speaks of “sweet honey and mellow wine” 5—calling honey “sweet” and wine “mellow.” Grape juice, then, being not yet mellow but only sweet, gives rise to a certain degree of disgust and does not admit of being drunk in quantities large enough to cause drunkenness. [17] There is another and further point: the natural antipathy between sweetness and intoxication, an antipathy which is such

that doctors induce vomiting in patients who are dangerously distended by the great quantity of wine they have drunk and, after the vomiting, prescribe bread and honey to counteract the vinous fumes remaining in the veins, for in this way the sweetness of the

honey protects the patient from the ill effects of drunkenness. ‘nat, then, is why grape juice, with its only quality of sweetness, does not intoxicate.

[18] Moreover, if we reason aright, it follows that grape juice,

as a mixture of air and water, is heavy and by its own weight quickly flows and passes down into the intestines instead of remaining in those parts of the body which are susceptible to intoxi-

cation. There is no doubt that after such passage downward the grape juice leaves in a man the two properties of its nature, of which in its essence the one is air and the other water. [19] Now the air, being as heavy as the water, passes down to the lowest parts of the body, and the natural property of the water is such that it not only has no power of itself to unsettle the wits, but it actually dilutes and drives out anything strong and vinous that has lodged in the man.

[20] Again, that grape juice contains water is proved too by the fact that as it grows older its bulk decreases but its strength is keener, for, with the evaporation of the water, which was having a mitigating effect, there remains only the natural wine with its strength unchecked and unmitigated by the admixture of any weak fluid. 3 Odyssey 20. 609.

CHAPTER 8 [1] Furitus Albinus followed. I too, he said, so far as in me lies,

am not leaving our friend Disarius idle. Tell me, please, what makes it difficult to digest mincemeat, although the careful mincing

has done much to help the subsequent digestion of the meat by removing all that was heavy in it and by going far to complete the digestive process. The word itself, msicium, is of course derived from izsectio [cutting up] and it obtained its present form—isicium —by losing a letter.

[2] ‘his kind of food, replied Disarius, is hard to digest for the very reason which leads you to suppose that it has been predigested.

For since, as the result of the mincing, it is light, it floats on the liquefied food which it finds in the middle of the belly, instead of adhering to the belly’s walls which provide the heat that promotes

digestion. [3] Thus, if as soon as the food has been prepared by mincing you throw it into water, it floats. And from this you can understand that it behaves in the same way in the liquid of the belly, that is to say, it is kept from contact with the necessary digestive agent, so that its digestion in the belly is slow, just as foods which are prepared by steaming are cooked more slowly than those which are prepared over a fire. And there is the further point that, in the vigorous process of mincing, the meat becomes mixed with a quantity of air, and this air has first to be disposed of

in the belly, in order that then, and only then, the residue of the meat may be unencumbered and ready for digestion. [4] Here too is something that I very much wish to know, said Furius, why some persons find the more solid foods easier to digest than the light, for, although they quickly digest a beefsteak, they have difficulty in digesting fish that is hard. [5] In such cases, said Disarius, the cause of what happens is to be

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 8 477 found in an excessive force of the heat in the man. If this force meets

with suitable matter to act on, it is freely acted on by it and freely engages it, and the result of this interaction is that the matter is quickly consumed. But if the matter is light, it is sometimes passed by and, as it were, overlooked by the force of the heat; or at other times it is turned into ash instead of into juice, just as great billets of oak are turned by fire into glowing lumps of charcoal, but, if straw falls into fire, all that remains to be seen of it presently is ash. [6] And here too is a not inapt illustration of what occurs: a very powerful mill grinds the largest grains but passes over the smallest and leaves them intact; and again, you see that a high wind uproots pines or oaks, whereas a hurricane does not easily break a reed.t [7] Delighted by those ingenious explanations, Furius would have put more questions to Disarius, but Caecina Albinus intervened. I also, he said, wish to have a few words with our eloquent and learned friend. Tell me, please, Disarius, why mustard and pepper, if applied to the skin, penetrate it and make a sore, but, when eaten, they do no harm to the substance of the belly. [8] Spices that are sharp and hot, said Disarius, produce sores when applied to the skin, because, if used unmixed with any other substance, their strength is unimpaired, and their effect is harmful. But when they are swallowed they are bathed in the fluid in the belly, and, being diluted, their force is weakened. After that, the heat of the belly turns them into juice before they can do the harm which in an unimpaired state they would do. [9] Talking of heat, contined Caecina, I am reminded of a question which I have always thought worth asking. Why is it that in Egypt, of all countries the hottest, the natural property of the wine produced there, so far from being hot, is, one might almost say, cold?

[10] You know from your experience, Albinus, replied Disarius,

that water drawn from deep wells or springs gives off vapor in winter and feels cold in summer,? the reason being simply this: when, according to the season of the year, the air which surrounds us is hot, the cold sinks to the lowest parts of the earth and affects

the waters which have their source in those depths; and, on the other hand, when in winter the air is cold, then it is the heat that 1 Cf. Avianus Fabulae 16 (De quercu et harundine). 2 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 2. 106. 233.

478 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA sinks to the lower parts and gives warmth to waters which have their origin in the depths. [11] But in Egypt the air is always hot, and so, that which everywhere else varies in temperature with the changing seasons of the year remains constant there, and the cold, in making for the lowest parts, envelops the roots of the vines and imparts a corresponding quality to the juice which issues from them. ‘That is why in a hot climate the wine is not hot. [12] Having begun to discuss the question of heat, said Albinus, I find it difficult to leave it for another. And so I should be glad if

you would tell me why, when one plunges into hot water, one feels the heat less if one keeps still but feels it more if one moves

about and disturbs the water, each new movement of the water adding to the sensation of heat.

[13] Hot water brought into contact with our body, said Disarius, presently becomes gentler to the touch, either because it has adapted itself to the skin or because we have imparted cold to it. But movement keeps bringing more and more of the hot water

into touch with the body for the first time; thus the process of adaptation, to which I have just referred, is no longer operative, and a continually renewed contact increases the sensation of heat.

[14] Then, objected Albinus, why is it that we get a sensation of cold, not of heat, when we set hot air in motion with a fan in summer? For if the principle is the same, here too movement ought to increase the sensation of heat.

[15] With hot water and hot air, replied Disarius, the principle is not the same, for the substance of water is the more solid, and, when matter that has density it set in motion, it impinges with all its

force intact on the surface that it meets. But air is dissipated by movement and becomes wind,* that is to say, the air, in consequence

of the disturbance, flows more freely, and a breeze is produced. Then, as a breeze, it removes what had previously surrounded us,

namely, the heat. And so, with the removal of the heat by the breeze, the result is that the disturbance of the air brings in from outside a sensation of cold. 3 Cf. Aristotle Problemata 24. 12. 4 Cf. Lucretius 6. 685: ventus enim fit ubi est agitando percitus aer.

CHAPTER 9 [1] So question followed question, until Evangelus interrupted and said: I shall now put our friend Disarius to the test, if for once,

with those brief replies which he doles out, as it were, drop by drop, he will give a satisfactory answer to a questioner. [2] Tell me, then, Disarius, why does one who keeps turning round and round in a circle experience dizziness and dimness of vision and at last, if he persists, fall down? No other bodily movement has this inevitable effect.

[3] The body, replied Disarius, is capable of making seven movements: it can go forward or backward; turn to the right or to the left, move upward or downward, or rotate in a circle.t [4] Of these seven movements only one is found in the heavenly bodies— the rotatory movement, which is the movement of the sky, the stars, and the rest of the elements. Creatures that live on the earth are best acquainted with the first six, although they occasionally make use of the seventh as well; and those six, being movements in a straight line, have no ill effects. But the seventh, the circular movement, with its repeated turnings, confuses—and involves in the humors of the head—the spirit that supplies the vital principle to the brain which is the director, so to speak, of all the bodily senses. [5] It is this spirit, then, which (surrounding the brain) supplies to the several senses their own proper force and gives strength to the sinews and muscles of the body; and therefore, when it is confused by dizziness and overcome by the simultaneous disturbance of the

humors of the head, it grows faint and ceases to perform its function. That is why one who moves quickly round in circles finds himself harder of hearing and his vision less clear, [6] until at last, with the failure, as it were, of that from which sinews and 1 Cf. Macrobius Commentary 1. 6. 81.

480 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA muscles derive their strength, the whole body, which those sinews and muscles sustain and keep strong and erect, is now abandoned by its supports and collapses and falls. [7] However, to counteract all these unpleasant effects, habit (which experience has described as second nature) comes to the help of those who often practice this rotatory movement, for the spirit of the brain, to which I have just referred, having become accustomed to something that is no longer a novelty to it, begins to feel no fear of this movement and

so does not abandon its functions. And thus it is that even this disturbance has no ill effect on these who are habituated to it. [8] Now, said Evangelus, I have you in my net, Disarius, and, unless I am much mistaken, there will be no way out of it for you

today,? for I have heard your professional colleagues, and you yourself too, often say that the brain has no capacity for feeling but, like the bones, teeth, and hair, is devoid of feeling. Is it true that you are all in the habit of saying this? Or will you deny it? [9] It is quite true, said Disarius. There! cried Evangelus, now you are fairly caught, for, granted that the hair is not the only part of a man that has no feeling—a statement which it is not easy to establish—why did you say a moment ago that all the senses are served

from the brain, although you admit yourself that the brain has no capacity for feeling? Can even the notorious glibness of you Greeks find an excuse for this reckless contradiction?

[10] The meshes of your net are too few and too wide, replied Disarius, with a smile. See, Evangelus; you will find that I have escaped from its toils with the greatest of ease. [11] Nature has

so provided that things which are very dry or very moist are devoid of feeling. Thus, bones, teeth, nails, and hair are so thickened by their great dryness that the operation of the vital principle—the

operation which supplies sensation— cannot penetrate them; and fat, marrow, and brain are so moist and soft that their softness fails to take in that same operation of the vital principle which the dryness of those other parts fails to receive. [12] Hence, teeth, nails, bones, and hair, on the one hand, and fat, marrow, and brain, on

the other, are incapable of sensation; and, just as no pain is felt when hair is cut, so the cutting of a tooth or of a bone or of fat or of the brain or of marrow will be quite painless. [13] But, you will say, we see the cutting of a bone accompanied 2 See note on 6. 1. 38.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 9 481 by acute pain, and men suffer agony too from toothache. True indeed; no one would deny it. But, whenever a bone is cut, the pain felt during the operation of cutting comes from the membrane which covers the bone; and, as soon as the doctor’s hand has cut

through this covering, the bone and the marrow inside it are as insensitive to pain as hair is when it is cut. With toothache, too, the pain felt is not in the bone of the tooth but in the flesh enclosing

the tooth. [14] With the nails, you may cut all that has grown beyond the quick and feel nothing, and, if you cut a nail at the quick, the pain you feel is not in the actual nail but in the flesh in which the nail is embedded. It is the same with hair. To cut hair which is outside the body is painless, but, if the hair is plucked out, then the flesh from which it is torn feels the hurt. And as for the

brain, to touch it causes severe pain and is often fatal, but the sensation of pain is not in the brain itself but comes from the membrane which clothes it. [15] 1 have named, then, the parts of the human body which are devoid of sensation, and I have indicated the cause of this insensi-

bility. To discharge the rest of my debt I must explain why the brain, although it is insensible, nevertheless controls the senses. And

here too I shall endeavor to pay my creditors, if I can. [16] The senses of which we are speaking are five: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. They are either in the body or related to it,

and they are the property of mortal bodies only, for a divine body is devoid of sensation, and the vital principle is of itself more divine

than any body, even a divine body. If, then, the excellence of divine bodies is such that they disdain sensation as fit only for mortal bodies, all the more is the dignity of the vital principle far too great to need sensation.

[17] Now it is the vital principle which constitutes a human being and makes him a living creature, and this principle gives light to the body. Moreover, it gives light to the body by dwelling

in the body, and its abode is in the brain. Since it is naturally spherical and since it comes to us from on high, this vital principle occupies that part of man which is high and spherical and which is such as to be devoid of sensation, for the vital principle has no need of sensation. [18] But, because sensation is necessary for a

living creature, this principle of its own operation places in the 3 Cf. Macrobius Commentary 1. 14. 9 and Apuleius Apologia 50.

482 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA hollows of the brain the spirit whose nature it is to produce and control the senses.

[19] From these hollows, then, which our predecessors called

the ventricles of the brain, there issue seven pairs of nerves (Syzygies in Greek, but you can give them any Latin name you please), our Greek name indicating that two nerves issue together as a pair and have a fixed goal. [20] These seven pairs of nerves which have their origin in the ventricle of the brain serve as pipes and by the law of their nature conduct the sense-producing spirit to their several proper parts, so as to impart the faculty of sensation to the members of a living creature, both to members that are near

and to those that are far off.

[21] The first of these pairs of nerves goes to the eyes and enables them to recognize forms and distinguish colors. ‘The second

pair passes to the ears, and by its means there is produced in the ears the ability to take note of sounds. The third pair enters the nostrils and provides the power of smell. The fourth occupies the

palate, by which one judges tastes. The fifth pair is operative through the whole body, for every part of the body can distinguish between things that are soft and hard, cold and hot. [22] The sixth pair passing from the brain goes to the stomach, which is especially in need of the faculty of sensation to enable it to seek what it lacks, to reject the superfluous, and, in a sober man, of itself to exercise due moderation. The seventh pair of nerves imparts sensation to the marrow of the spine. This marrow is to a living creature what the keel is to a ship, and its use and importance are so outstanding that

doctors have called it “the extension of the brain” (longum cerebrum) .

[23] Finally from the spinal marrow, as from the brain, there issue a number of passages which serve to supply the power to carry out the three aims of the vital principle. For under the wise guidance of that principle the body of a living creature pursues three ends: it seeks to live, to live fittingly, and to obtain immortality by the perpetuation of its species. [24] Effect is given to these

three aims of the vital principle, as I have said, by means of the spinal marrow, for the heart, the liver, and the organs of breathing, all of which are essential to life, are supplied with strength from

the spinal passages to which I have referred. The nerves of the hands, feet, and other parts of the body, which enable life to be

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 9 483 lived fittingly, also draw their powers from that source, and, that the species may be perpetuated, it is from the spinal marrow too that the privy parts and the womb are furnished with their nerves,

to the end that they may perform their proper functions. [25] Thus every part of the human body depends for its existence on the operation of the spirit located in the ventricle of the brain and on the beneficent action of the spinal marrow. In this way, then, it comes about that, although the brain itself is devoid of feeling, feeling nevertheless passes from the brain to the whole of the body. [26] Bravo! said Evangelus. Our Greekling has given us so clear an account of the hidden and secret processes of nature that we seem to see with our eyes all that he has described in words. But there!—I have been butting in, for it was the turn of Eustathius to ask a question, and I now make way for him. [27] No, said Eustathius, let Eusebius, most eloquent of men, or any others who will, now come forward with a question. For my part, I shall feel freer and more at ease if I join in the conversation later.

CHAPTER 10 [1] Very well then, said Eusebius, I must have a word with you, Disarius, about old age, for we are, both of us, pretty well knocking at its door now. And this is my question. When Homer describes old men as “gray about the temples,”’! is he making the part stand for the whole, as poets often do, or has he some reason for referring to gray hair on this rather than on some other part of the head? [2] Here, as always, replied Disarius, that godlike poet speaks

with knowledge of the facts, for the front of the head is moister than the back, and that is why it is usual for grayness to begin in front.?

But, said Eusebius, if the front of the head is the moister part, why does it become bald, for the only cause of baldness is a lack of moisture? [3] The point is well taken, said Disarius, but the explanation is

quite clear. Nature has made the front parts of the head more permeable than the rest, so that any superfluous or vaporous exhala-

tion surrounding the brain has more passages through which to

escape. That is why we see in the skulls of the dead certain “sutures,” which serve, so to speak, to tie together the two halves of the head. When these passages are somewhat large, dryness takes the place of moisture; and so such men are rather slow to go gray, but they do go bald. [4] If then, objected Eusebius, it is dryness that makes men go bald, and the back of the head is, as you have said, the dryer part, why do we never find the back of the head bald? [5] Ihe dryness of the back of the head, replied Disarius, is its natural state and is not the consequence of any defect: everybody’s 1 Iliad 8. 518.

2 See Pliny Historia naturalis 11. 47. 131.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 10 485 occiput is dry. But the dryness which causes men to go bald is the result of a constitutional failing, called by the Greeks “dyscrasia.”

[6] Then persons with curly hair, because their constitution is such that their heads are dryer than those of other men, are slow to go gray, but they quickly go bald. On the other hand, persons whose hair is thinner do not on that account readily lose it—if it is

nourished by a moisture called (in Greek) “phlegm’—but they quickly go gray, their hair going gray because it takes the color of

the moisture which nourishes it. [7] But then, continued Eusebius, if it is an abundance of moisture that makes the hair turn gray, why have we come to regard old age as a time of extreme dryness? [8] Because, said Disarius, advancing years having quenched

natural heat, old age is, consequently, cold; and the cold of old age gives rise to chilly and superfluous moisture. In general, length of days has dried up the life-giving fluid, so that old age is dry by reason of a lack of natural moisture,’ although it is moist with an

abundance of unhealthy moisture, the product of the cold. [9] That is why the growing burden of age is subject, too, to wakefulness, for sleep, which is produced by moisture more than by anything else, is the product of natural moisture; as is clear from the fact that young children sleep much, it being then the time of life which is moist with an abundance of a natural, and not of a superfluous, moisture. [10] It is for the same reason that the hair does not turn gray in

youth, although the body then is very full of moisture, because the body is not moist with the phlegm which is the product of cold but is nourished by that natural and life-giving moisture to which I have referred. For it is the moisture which either issues from the cold of old age or is the product of some chance defect that is superfluous and, as such, harmful as well. [11] It is moisture

of this last kind that we see threatening women with the gravest dangers unless it be frequently voided; and this is the moisture which enfeebles the legs of eunuchs, for the bones of their legs are always as it were floating in a superfluous moisture and so, lacking their natural strength, readily become bent, because they are unable

to support the weight of the body they carry, just as a reed bends under a weight placed upon it. 3 Cf. Athenaeus 15. 692b-c.

486 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA [12] Since, said, Eusebius, the discussion of superfluous moisture has led us, from the subject of old age, to talk of eunuchs, tell me, please, why these persons have such high-pitched voices that, unless

you were to see the speaker, you often would not know whether it is a Woman or a eunuch that is speaking.

[13] Disarius replied that this too was a consequence of an abundance of superfluous moisture; for (said he) an effect of this moisture is to thicken the windpipe through which the sound of the voice rises and so to narrow the passage for the voice. ‘Uhat is why women and eunuchs have high-pitched voices, whereas men (in whom the utterance of the voice has a free and completely

unimpeded passage) have deep voices. [14] Moreover, that in eunuchs and in women the same kind of coldness gives rise to much the same abundance of troublesome moisture is clear too from the fact that the bodies of both often grow fat, and certainly each of the two closely resembles the other in the development of the breasts.

CHAPTER 11 [1] After Eusebius and Disarius had finished speaking, the order?

in which the diners were seated now required Servius to put a question, but under the stress of his natural shyness and modesty he colored and blushed. [2] Come, Servius, (said Disarius), pluck up your courage, for in learning you are more than a match not only for the younger men of your own age but for all your elders too. Lay aside the bashfulness which your blushing cheeks proclaim and freely discuss with us what comes to your mind, for we shall learn as much from your

questions as from the answers you would yourself give to the questions of others.

[3] Servius remained silent for a time but at length repeated encouragements moved him to say: The question? I put to you, Disarius, has to do with this weakness of mine to which you have referred. Why does shyness, which is a mental state, give rise to the physical act of blushing? [4] When, replied Disarius, our nature encounters something which makes a decent person feel a sense of shyness or shame, she enters the blood and shrinks away to the inmost part of our being.

The blood is disturbed, flows through the body, and colors the skin—hence the blush. [5] Physicists say too that, when one’s nature

feels shame or shyness, she spreads out the blood before her to serve as a veil, just as we often see a man hold a hand before his face when he is blushing. And there can be no possible doubt here, for the redness of a blush is simply the color of the blood. [6] And why, added Servius, does one blush for joy? Joy, said Disarius, comes to us from outside, and our nature hurries eagerly 1 See note on I. 24. 15. 2 Cf. Aulus Gellius 19. 4 and 6.

488 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA to meet it. The blood goes with her and tinges the skin, which, as it were, shares to the full her gladness—hence the blood-red color of the skin.

[7] But why, rejoined Servius, does fear, on the other hand, make one turn pale? Here, too, replied Disarius, the reason is clear; for, when our nature is afraid of something that comes to us from without, she withdraws wholly to the depths of our being, just as we ourselves seek retreats and hiding places when we are frightened.

[8] And so, when she thus goes down wholly into hiding, she draws with her the blood (in which she is always borne along as

though in a car), and, after the withdrawal of the blood, the moisture that remains in the skin is thinner—hence the pallor. Fear

also makes one tremble, because, when the power of the vital principle, fleeing inward, abandons the sinews which were keeping the limbs firm, then one quivers and shakes with fear. [9] That too is why fear is accompanied by a loosening of the bowels, because the muscles which were keeping the excretory passage closed are deserted by the power of the vital principle as it makes its inward flight and loosen the bonds which were keeping the waste matter in check pending evacuation. [10] To these explanations Servius gave a respectful assent and relapsed into silence. 3 Reading egestionis (Willis).

CHAPTER 12! [1] Avienus then said: It is my turn now to follow the example of the rest and put a question. The conversation has already strayed

some way from the dinner table and passed to less appropriate inquiries. It is up to me to bring it back to topics which belong to a convivial gathering. [2] When served with that salted meat which we call laridum [bacon]—the word standing, I take it, for large aridum—I have often resolved to consider why the mixing with it of salt keeps meat for a long time fit for use. I could of course form my own opinion [about the curing of bacon] but I should rather learn the reason from a man who cures our bodies. [3] By the law of its own nature, said Disarius, every body 1s subject to dissolution and decay, and, unless something can be found to bind and hold a body together, it readily liquefies and

passes away. While the breath of life is in it, a body is held together by the in-and-out movement of air, which animates the

receptacles of the breath and nourishes and feeds them by the continually renewed action of breathing. [4] But when the vital principle leaves the body, and this action therefore ceases, the limbs begin to decay and the whole body is broken and crushed by its own weight. It 1s then that the blood too, which was giving strength to the limbs while it was still capable of retaining warmth, becoming corrupt as warmth leaves it, no longer remains in the veins but forces its ways out and, with the relaxing of the body’s outlets, flows forth as feculent matter. [5] The mixing of salt with

a body checks this process, for salt being naturally dry and hot binds with its heat the dissolving body and by its dryness restrains 1 With the contents of sections 6-7 cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 6. Z; with sections 8-16, ibid. 7. T and with sections 18-19, ibid. 6. T.

490 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA or absorbs the moisture. And here is a way in which you may easily see that moisture is undoubtedly dissipated or destroyed by salt; for, if you make two loaves of bread of equal size, one salted and the other not, you will find that the unsalted loaf is the heavier, clearly because it continues to retain moisture by reason of the lack of salt.

[6] I should also like to ask you, my friend, said Avienus, why

it is that wine which has been strained is a stronger and more potent drink but is, in a sense, weaker, inasmuch as it does not last for long in good condition—that is to say, why is it that such wine is as quick to affect the drinker as it is ready, if kept, to turn flat? [7] The reason why such wine quickly affects the drinker, said Disarius, is because, in so far as it becomes more liquid by being purged of its dregs, it penetrates more easily into his veins. However, it readily turns flat because, having nothing at the bottom to support it, it is open on all sides to anything that can harm it, for the dregs of wine sustain and nourish it and supply it with strength, and so perform for it, as it were, the functions of a root. [8] Here is another query, said Avienus. Why do dregs always sink to the bottom, except the dregs of honey, which is unique in getting rid of its dregs by sending them to the top? Dregs, replied Disarius, consist of a thick and earthy substance,

and they are the heavier part of all liquids but honey, of which the dregs form the lighter part. In those other liquids, then, the dregs sink and fall to the bottom by reason of their weight, but in

honey, since they are the lighter part, they give way and are forced from their place to the top. [9] These remarks, said Avienus, suggest similar questions. How do you account for such difference in the age at which honey and wine are held in the highest esteem—honey when it is at its freshest

but wine when it is very old? Whence, of course, the proverb which gourmets quote: that to make good mead you should mix fresh honey of Hymettus with old Falernian.? [10] The reason is to be found, replied Disarius, in the fact that the two stubstances differ in character—wine being naturally moist, but honey dry—and, if you feel any doubt about what I have said,

consider the effect of each as a medicament, for, if a part of the > Cf. Horace Satires 2. 2. 15: “Refuse to drink the mead unless the honey is from Hymettus and the wine Falernian.”

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 12 491 body has to be moistened, it is fomented with wine, but, if a part has to be made dry, it is smeared with honey. The passage of time, then, draws something out from each—the wine becoming purer and the honey dryer, as the latter loses its juice and the former is relieved of the water that was in it. [11] My next question, said Avienus, is not unlike those which I have asked already. If you keep vessels of wine and oil for a time half full, the wine as a rule turns sour and is spoiled, but the oil on the other hand acquires a more mellow flavor. Why is this? [12] Of your two observations each is true, said Disarius, for air comes from outside into the empty space above the liquid and draws out and absorbs all the finest moisture. The result of this process of drying is that the wine is, as it were, deprived of its

strength and, as it happens to have been naturally a weak or a strong wine, it either becomes sour and rough or harsh and astringent; oil, however, by the drying out of superfluous moisture is cleansed, so to speak, of the mustiness latent in it and thus acquires a new and mellow taste. [13] Hesiod,’ said Avienus (returning to the line of his inquiries), says that when you come to the middle of a jar of wine you should drink sparingly, although you may drink your fill of the rest of the jar, doubtless indicating thereby that the wine in the middle of a jar is the best. Experience too has proved that with oil the best part is that which floats at the top, and with honey the part which lies at the bottom. Why, pray, do we consider the oil at the top, the wine in the middle, and the honey at the bottom of the jar to be the best?

[14] Without a moment’s hesitation Disarius replied: With honey the best part is heavier than the rest, and so, in a jar of honey, since the part at the bottom is certainly the heaviest, it is therefore superior to that which floats above it. In a jar of wine, on the other hand, the lower part, being mixed with the dregs, is not only turbid but also inferior in flavor, and the wine at the top of the jar is spoiled by its proximity to the air, which mingles with the wine and weakens it. [15] That is why farmers do not regard it as enough to have their wine jars stored under the roof but bury them and protect them by means of lids sealed on the outside, thus keeping the wine as far as possible from contact with the air, which 3 Opera et dies 3609.

492 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA goes to show that air is so clearly harmful to wine that it is with difficulty that it keeps in good condition, even if the jar is full and its contents therefore less accessible to the air. [16] In general, if you broach a jar of wine and so make room for the air to mix with the wine, all the wine that is left in the jar is spoiled. We may say

then of the wine in the middle of a jar that the further it 1s removed from either extremity of the jar the less harm it suffers,

being thus neither made turbid by contact with the dregs nor weakened by contact with the air.

[17] Why, continued Avienus, does the same drink seem stronger to one who has drunk it fasting than to one who has taken food? Abstention from food, said Disarius, empties the veins but a full meal blocks them, and so a drink which, thanks to the empty state

of the body, does not find the veins choked with food flows right in. It is not diluted by being mixed with anything else, and it tastes all the stronger for passing through the void. [18] I should also like to know, said Avienus, why a quite little drink taken when one is hungry relieves the hunger, although food taken when one is thirsty, so far from quenching one’s thirst, increases more and more the desire to drink. [19] The reason is well known, said Disarius, for, if you drink when you are hungry, there is nothing to prevent the liquid you have swallowed from passing in all directions to every part of the body and filling the veins. Therefore the lack of food, which had caused the sense of emptiness, is remedied by the taking of the drink and—there being no longer, as it were, a complete void—is relieved. But food, being more solid and bulky, is taken into the veins only after a gradual process of digestion. Therefore it brings no help or relief to the thirst which it meets—indeed it absorbs any foreign fluid that it finds—with the result that the lack of fluid— which we call thirst—is increased.

[20] And this is a matter of which I should be sorry to remain ignorant, said Avienus: Why is it more pleasurable to quench thirst by drinking than to satisfy hunger by eating? What I have already said, replied Disarius, makes this point clear as well. For the whole of the drink you swallow passes at one and the same time into every part of the body, and the sensation which

all those parts feel gives rise to a single and supreme sense of

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 12 493 pleasure. But food is taken piecemeal and so relieves the sense of want gradually, with the result that the pleasure derived from food

is likewise broken up into a number of small parts and correspondingly diminished. [21] Another question, please, said Avienus. Why should one be more easily satisfied if one swallows one’s food somewhat greedily than if one ate the same amount more slowly? There is a short answer to that one, replied Disarius, for when a

meal is swallowed greedily, much air is carried in with the food, since the jaws are wide open and the breathing rapid. Air therefore fills the veins and then takes the place of the food in producing a sense of satiety.

[22] If you don’t find me tiresome, Disarius, put up with my inordinate talkativeness, for it comes from a desire to learn, and tell me, please, why one can more easily keep quite hot food in the mouth than endure to hold it in the hand, and why, if any of the food is too hot for us to be able to go on biting it, do we swallow

it down straightaway without burning and harming the belly? [23] The internal heat of the belly, said Disarius, as being much

greater and more powerful, surrounds and weakens by its own greatness anything hot that it receives. And so, if you put something hot into your mouth, it is well not to open the mouth as some do, for the fresh intake of breath would increase the heat, but you should keep your lips closed for a while, so that the greater heat which actually comes to the help of the mouth from the belly may subdue the lesser heat. The hand, however, has no heat of its own to help it to endure something hot.

[24] I have for long wished to know, said Avienus, why the water which you surround with lumps of snow, and so bring to the temperature of the snow, 1s less harmful to drink than the water

which comes from actual melted snow. ror we know how many and how serious are the illnesses caused by drinking snow water.‘ [25] I can take your inquiries a step further, said Disarius, for,

even if you warm on the fire water which comes from melted snow and drink it hot, it is just as harmful as if drunk cold. The dangerous properties of snow water, then, are not due simply to the cold but have some other cause, and I shall be glad to explain it, with Aristotle for my authority, who posed this question in his 4 Cf. Aulus Gellius 19. 5.

494 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Inquiries into Natural Science, answering it (if I mistake not) in words to this effect. [26] “All water,” he says, “contains a portion of very fine vapor, and to this it owes its health-giving property. But it also has an earthy sediment, which gives it a degree of solidity, though it is a solidity less than that of earth. When, therefore, water congeals under the influence of cold air and frost, that very fine vapor is of necessity, as it were, squeezed out of it by

a process of evaporation, so that with its departure the water becomes solid and only the earthy part of its nature remains in it.

This is clear from the fact that, when the same water has been melted by the heat of the sun, its volume is found to be less than it

was before the water was frozen, the water now lacking its only health-giving part, which the process of evaporation has removed.” [27] Snow, then, (which is simply water solidified in the air) has

lost its element of fineness in the process of solidification, and consequently the drinking of melted snow implants in the intestines the seeds of divers kinds of diseases. [28] The mention of frost, said Avienus, has reminded me of an

old question which used to puzzle me: why wine never, or but seldom, freezes,> although most of all other liquids usually solidify

under extreme cold. Could it be because wine contains certain seeds of heat—and would this, rather than (as some think) the color of wine, account for Homer’s use of the epithet ai@ow ®—or 1s

there some other reason? If there is, I don’t know it, and I much wish to know. [29] Let it be granted, said Disarius, that wine has the protection

of a natural heat. But what of oil? Is it less fiery or has it less power to warm the body? And yet oil is solidified by frost. Certainly if, in your opinion, the hotter a thing is the more difficult

it is for it to freeze, then it would be reasonable to suppose that oil too should not solidify and that the colder liquids should freeze easily. But vinegar is the most cold-producing of all liquids, and

yet it never freezes. [30] Could it be then that the reason for the greater readiness of oil to solidify lies rather in its greater smoothness and density? For it seems that the smoother and more compact things are, the more easily they congeal. Wine, however, has not the softness of oil, and it is much more fluid. As for vinegar, it is 5 Cf. Aulus Gellius 17. 8. ® E.g., liad 4. 259. The word means (a) “sparkling” or (b) “fiery.”

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 12 495 both the most fluid of all liquids, and it is so much harsher than the others that its sourness is disagreeable. And here sea water provides a parallel, since like vinegar it too is naturally bitter and

harsh and never freezes. [31] For it is true that the historian Herodotus, contrary to the opinion of almost all who have gone into these questions, has written? that the Bosporus, which he also calls the Cimmerian sea, and all the sea in those parts, known as the Scythian sea, becomes frost-bound and frozen, but the facts

are not as supposed. [32] It is not the sea water that freezes, but, since there are in those regions numerous rivers and marshes

which flow into the actual seas, it is the surface of the sea, on which the fresh water in floating, that freezes, and—while the sea water remains unaffected—ice is indeed seen in the sea, but it is formed from the waters that come in from outside. [33] We see the same thing happen in the Pontus too, where lumps and, so to speak, severed pieces of ice are carried along, being the frozen waters of many rivers and marshes, on which the cold takes effect because they are lighter than sea water. [34] Now to prove that a great quantity of such waters flow into the Pontus and cover the whole of its surface with fresh water, we have not only the statement of Sallust—that the Pontic sea is fresher than all the others8—

but the further evidence that if you throw straw or wood or any other floating objects into the Pontus, they are carried out of it into the Propontis and so into the sea which washes the coasts of Asia, although it is an established fact that sea water flows into

the Pontus but does not flow out from it. [35] For the only channel by which the waters of the ocean pass into our seas is the strait of Gades between Spain and Africa. This current unquestionably advances along the coasts of Spain and Gaul to the Tuscan

sea, then it forms the Adriatic sea and afterward passes, on the right to the Parthenian sea,® on the left to the Ionian sea and straight on to the Aegean sea, so making its way thence into the Pontus. —

[36] What [you may ask] is the reason then why, although the Pontus receives an inflow of water from outside, water flows out of it like a river? But the explanation of each phenomenon is clear. 7 4. 28.

8 Cf. Isidore of Seville 13. 16. 4: quod mare [1.e., Ponticus sinus] ex multitudine fluminum dulcius quan cetera. ® Te. the Eastern Mediterranean. See Ammianus Marcellinus 14. 8. ro.

496 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA The surface water of the Pontus, because of the great quantity of fresh water that flows in from the land, flows outward, but there is an inflowing stream underneath. [37] And herein lies the explanation of the fact to which I have already referred, that floating

objects thrown into the Pontus are carried out of it, but, if [a heavy object, such as] a column falls into it, it is borne inward; and it has often been proved by experience that all heavier objects at the bottom of the Propontis are driven thence to the inner parts of the Pontus.

[38] One more question, said Avienus, and I shall have done. Why does something sweet always seem sweeter if it is cold than it would if it were hot? Heat, replied Disarius, absorbs sensation, and such warmth thwarts the tongue’s faculty of taste. Thus an irritation of the mouth forestalls and shuts out the sense of sweetness. But, in the absence of heat with its adverse effects, then (and only then) the

tongue is able to enjoy the sweet flavor at its true value and without any diminution of pleasure. ‘There is, too, the further point that, by reason of the heat, the sweet juice does not make its way

into the recipient veins without ill effects, and the resulting hurt lessens the pleasure.

CHAPTER 13! [1] Horus followed. Although, said he, Avienus has asked a number of questions about food and drink, he has nevertheless— whether purposely or through forgetfulness, I don’t know—left out

the one which above all must be asked: Why is it that you feel thirsty rather than hungry when your stomach is empty? Explain this, please, Disarius, and oblige us all.

[2] Your question, Horus, is well worth discussing, replied Disarius, but the reason would seem to be clear. For a living creature consists of different elements, and one of these bodily components is such as to seek the nourishment which either alone or, at any rate, to a much greater degree than the rest is suited to it. I

refer to heat, which demands for itself a supply of liquid. [3] Certainly, if we look at the four elements themselves when they are outside us, we see that neither water nor air nor earth demands anything to feed on or to consume, or in any way harms objects placed near or in contact with it; only fire desires to be continually fed and destroys whatever it meets. [4] Consider, too, how great a quantity of food is consumed in early childhood by reason of the great heat of the body then. And reflect that old men, on the other hand, easily put up with lack of

food, since the heat of the fire which is normally restored by nourishment has as it were been extinguished. Moreover, in middle

age, if the natural heat has been stirred up by much excercise, a man’s appetite for food is keener. And let us also bear in mind the

nature of the bloodless creatures, which is such that for lack of heat they seek no food. [5] If, then, appetite always indicates the presence of heat, and 1 With the contents of sections 1-5 cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 6. A;

with sections 7-16, ibid. 4. H and © (of which only the titles survive); and with sections 17-27, zbid. 1. ©.

498 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA if liquids are the form of sustenance proper to heat, it is good that—

when our bodies seek nourishment after fasting—the heat should demand, in preference to anything else, that which is peculiarly its own, since, when that has been taken, the body as a whole is refreshed and can the better bear to wait for the more solid food. [6] As Disarius finished speaking, Avienus took up from the table a ring which had suddenly fallen from the little finger of his

right hand, and, when his companions asked why he was not wearing it on the hand and finger on which a ring is usually worn, he showed them his left hand, somewhat swollen from an injury.

[7] This gave Horus an opportunity to put another question. Tell me, Disarius, said he, (for the whole structure of the human body comes within the field of a doctor’s knowledge and your learning goes even beyond the requirements of your profession), tell me, pray, why is it that by general consent we hold that a ring should be worn on the fourth finger—a finger which is actually called azedicinalis—and on the left hand rather than on the other? ? [8] A discussion of that very point had come to us from Egypt,

replied Disarius, and I was in doubt for a while whether to call it just an idle tale or a true explanation. But later, after turning up

some books on anatomy, I discovered the truth: that there is a certain nerve which has its origin in the heart and runs from there

to the finger next to the little finger of the left hand, where it ends entwined with the rest of the nerves of that finger; and that this is the reason why it seemed good to the men of old to encircle that finger with a ring, as though to honor it with a crown.§

[9] It is indeed true, said Horus, that the belief held by the Egyptians is as you say, Disarius, for I have myself seen their priests (or prophets, as they call them) 1n a temple go round the statues of the gods and on each anoint this finger with a preparation

of perfumes. When I asked why they did this, I was told by their chief priest of the nerve to which you have referred and also of the number which that finger serves to indicate. [10] For, when bent, it stands for the number six, the number which is in every respect the full, perfect, and divine number. The chief priest explained to 2 Cf. Isidore of Seville 11. 1. 71: quartus [digitus] anularis eo quod in ipso anulus geritur. idem est medicinalis quod eo trita collyria a medicis colligun-

tur. (Ihe thumb is reckoned the first finger.) See also Isidore 19. 32 (De anulis) .

3 Aulus Gellius ro. 10.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 13 499 me at length the reasons why the number six is the full number, but, since the reasons have nothing to do with our present conversa-

tion, I am not going into them now.‘ But that is what I learned in Egypt—a country where the people are masters of all branches of religious knowledge—of the grounds for wearing a ring on this finger rather than on any other. [11] At this point Caecina Albinus intervened and said: If it is your pleasure, my friends, I propose to tell you what I remember having read on this very point in that leading authority on pontifical

law, Ateius Capito. After explaining that it was sacrilegious to engrave representations of the gods on rings, he went on to give the reason why a ring was worn on this, the fourth, finger of this, the left, hand. [12]5 “Of old,” he said, “men used to carry a ring around with them not as an ornament but for use as a seal. That is why only a single ring was allowed. And, since only a free man could give an assurance under seal, only a free man might wear a ring; a slave therefore used not to have the right to wear a ring. A device was engraved on the material of the ring (which might be

made of iron or of gold), and the ring was worn on whichever hand and finger the wearer chose. [13] Afterward, it became the practice of an age of luxury to engrave the sealing device on precious gems, and this practice, generally followed, led to rivalry, as men boasted of paying more and more for procuring stones for

engraving. Consequently, rings ceased to be worn on the right hand, since much of one’s work is done by that hand, and they were worn instead on the left, which has less work to do, the object

being to ensure that the precious stones should not be broken by

the frequent movement and use of the right hand. [14] Of the fingers of the left hand the fourth was chosen, as being better fitted than the rest to take charge of a precious ring, for even on the left

hand the thumb (called pollex—from polleo’—because of its strength) is never idle and always has as much work to do as a whole hand (which is why, according to Capito the Greeks call the thumb é&vtiyeip,as though it were a second hand). [15] The finger next to the thumb seemed to be bare and to lack the protection of 4 See Macrobius Commentary 1. 6. 12.

5 For methods of wearing rings, see Pliny Historia naturalis 33. 6. 22-25. 6 Cf. Isidore of Seville 11. 1. 70: primus pollex vocatus eo quod inter ceteros polleat virtute et potestate.

500 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA , its neighbor, since the thumb is so far below it as scarcely to rise

above the level of its root. The middle and little fingers were avoided as unsuitable, the one because it was too large and the other because it was too short, and so the choice fell on the finger enclosed between these two, which, having less work to do, is thus better adapted to protect a ring.” [16] That is what one reads in the pontifical law. But let each man subscribe to the Etruscan or the Egyptian theory as he shall think fit. [17] Horus now rejoined the conversation with a question. You

know, Disarius (he said) that my only property is this garment which I am wearing: that is to say, I haven’t a slave, nor indeed do I want one, but all the services that life requires I find for myself. [18] Now I was recently staying at Ostia, and, since this cloak of mine was soiled, I washed it for a while in the sea and dried it on the shore in the sun. Nevertheless, after the washing, the same dirty stains as before were visible on it. This surprised me, but a sailor who happened to be near said: “You would do better to wash your Cloak in the river, if you want to get rid of the stains.” I took his

advice, to test its truth, and, after the cloak had been washed in fresh water, and dried, I saw that it was as clean and bright as ever. I ask you, then, why fresh water is better than salt water to wash away dirt. [19] This question, said Disarius, was asked and answered long ago, by Aristotle, who says that sea water is much denser than fresh water; in fact, sea water contains a sediment, whereas fresh water is uncontaminated and tenuous. That, he says, is why even those

who have not learned to swim are more easily held up by sea water,” since river water, being, as it were, weak and devoid of any

help and support, quickly gives way and lets a heavy body that

enters it sink to the bottom. [20] It follows, therefore, (said Aristotle), that fresh water, as being naturally light, passes more quickly into the things to be washed and in the process of drying draws out the stains of the dirt with it, whereas sea water, being, as It were, grosser, does not easily penetrate to cleanse, because of its density, and, drying with difficulty, it does not draw out much of the dirt with it. [21] Since Horus seemed ready to accept this explanation, Eustathius said to Disarius: Don’t, I beg you, take advantage of one who 7 Cf. Aristotle Problemata 23. 13.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 13 501 trusts you and relies on your good faith in putting his question; for here Aristotle’s arguments were, as in some other matters, more

ingenious than true. [22] It is certainly not the density of the water that makes washing difficult. For those who wish to clean

some particular things often mix ashes (or in default of ashes powdered earth) with the water to thicken it and so speed up the process of cleansing which otherwise, in water alone and even in fresh water, would be slower. The density of the sea water, then, is in no way a hindrance. [23] Nor yet is sea water less able to cleanse because it is salt, for saltness usually separates and, as it were, opens out channels and so should have removed more thoroughly whatever had to be washed away. But the only reason why sea water is not suitable for washing out stains is because it is oily (pinguis), as Aristotle himself, too, has often testified and as salt itself shows, for (as everybody knows) it contains an oily element. [24] A further indication of the oily nature of sea water is the fact that, when it is sprinkled on a flame, instead of extinguishing the flame, it takes fire itself, the oiliness of the water supplying sustenance to the fire. [25] Finally, let us be guided by Homer, the one man who has shared nature’s secrets, for he represents Nausicaa, the daughter of Alcinous, as washing the clothes not in the sea (although she was by the sea) but in a river. And the same passage of Homer shows us that sea water contains an admixture of an oily substance, [26] since Ulysses—when he had been out of the sea for some time and was standing with his body now dry—says to Nausicaa’s handmaids: Maidens, stand thus yonder afar, while I myself wash the brine

from off my shoulders. [Odyssey 6.218]

And some lines further on the poem describes how Ulysses, after going down into the river:

Wiped the crusted brine from his head. [Odyssey 6. 226] [27] For the inspired poet, who followed nature in everything, has expressed what regularly happens when a man comes out of the sea and stands in the sun—that is to say, the water is quickly dried

off by the sun, but there is left on the surface of the body a sort of scaly deposit (flos), which is quite noticeable when one comes to wash it off, and this is the oily element in sea water, which is the only hindrance to its ability to cleanse.® ® For the washing of clothes in sea water, cf. Anthologia Graeca 9. 276.

CHAPTER 14 [1] Since your attention is no longer engaged by the others, continued Eustathius, perhaps you will lend an ear for a while to me. We have just been talking about water, and I would ask you why

it is that the images of objects immersed in water appear to be larger than the actual objects. For example, most of the dainties which we see exposed to view in eating houses look bulkier than they really are—that is to say, in the little glass jars full of water the

eggs seem to be of greater size, the little livers to have thicker

fibers, and the onion coils look huge. And, indeed, on what principle does our sense of sight itself depend? For the theories which some people are in the habit of propounding on the subject are neither true nor probable. [2] Water, replied Disarius, is denser than air (air being a rarified

medium), and so sight passes through it more slowly, the visual ray? on striking against the water is beaten back, broken open, and recoils. When it returns, thus broken open, it impinges now on the outlines of the object of vision not with a direct blow but from all sides, and so it comes about that the visual image of the object of vision seems to be greater than the object itself. For certainly the sun’s orb, too, appears to us to be larger than usual in the morning, because the air between us and it is still dewy from the night, so

that the sun’s image is enlarged, just as if it were seen reflected in water.

[3] ‘The nature of vision has been brilliantly investigated by Epicurus, and his views on the subject should not, in my opinion, be rejected, especially since the theories of Democritus agree with them—for in this as in everything else those two philosophers are of the same mind. [4] Epicurus, then, holds that from all bodies 1 T.e., the ray emitted by the object of vision.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 14 503 images flow in a continuous stream and that the sloughed-off par-

ticles, cohering to form an empty shape, are for ever carried abroad, without the slightest intermission, to find lodgement in our eyes, thus reaching the seat which nature has appointed for them as the seat of the appropriate sense. Such is the explanation given by that famous man, and, if you disagree with it, I await your reply.” [5] What has misled Epicurus, said Eustathius, smiling, is clear enough. He has fallen into error by regarding sight as analogous to the other four senses; for in hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching nothing passes from us, but we receive something from outside ourselves which brings about our perception of it. [6] Thus a sound comes to our ears spontaneously from beyond us; effluvia invade our nostrils; anything that produces taste impresses itself on the palate; and whatever is perceptible by touch is perceived by being

brought into contact with our bodies. These circumstances led Epicurus to suppose that from the eyes too nothing moves outward

but that images of things pass into the eyes spontaneously from without. [7] His theory is refuted by the fact that, in a looking glass, an image turned toward him looks back at the beholder, although, if indeed the image which came from us travels [back] in

a straight line, it ought to show its back part when it leaves the looking glass—its left answering to our left and its right to our right—for, obviously, when an actor takes off his mask what he sees is the side which he put on, that is to say, not the face of the mask but the hollow behind the face.’

[8] In the next place I should have liked to ask the great man whether images leave objects only when there is someone who wishes to see the objects or whether these shapes spring forth on all sides even when no one is looking at the objects. [9] Were he to hold to my first alternative, then I ask at whose command the images present themselves to the beholder and are made to turn toward him as often as he chooses to turn his eye in their direction. [10] If, however, he were to adopt my second suggestion and say that all objects emit a continuous stream of images, I ask how long

these streaming images will cohere without any bond to secure permanence or, granted the ability to persist, how will they retain 2 Cf. Apuleius Apologia 15; Aulus Gellius 5. 16.

3 For the explanation given by Lucretius of the reflection of an image by a looking glass, see De rerum natura 4. 292ff.

504 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA any color, since color (although in its own nature bodiless) yet can

never exist apart from a body. [11] And then, since the pupil of the eye, the organ of vision, is quite small, how is it possible to suppose that images of sky, sea, shore, meadow, ships, herds, and the countless things besides, which we see at a single glance, come rushing in on us as soon as we turn our eyes in their direction? 4 And how does one get a view of a whole army? Are we to suppose that each individual soldier emits an image and that all these thou-

sands of images unite and pass in a body into the eyes of the beholder?

[12] But why do we trouble to belabor with words so frivolous a theory, when its own futility refutes it? It is well established that our process of seeing comes about as follows. [13] The pupil of the eye, whichever way you turn it, sends out

its own innate ray of light in a straight line; if that emanation, which belongs to the eyes from which it flows, finds light in the air that surrounds us, it passes straight through that light until it meets an object; and, if you turn your face to look around you, the visual ray goes forth too, on one side or the other, in a straight line. Now the jet of light itself (which, as we have said, issues from our eyes) springs in the first place from a small root, but eventually it widens its field, just like the rays which are depicted by a painter [as issuing from a single point], and that is how the eye, although the aperture through which it looks is very small, can view the vast expanse of the heavens.5

[14] In order to see, then, we need these three things: the ray of light which we send out from ourselves; light in the air which lies

between us and the object of our vision; and the object which meets the visual ray and so puts an end to its course. For if the course of the ray proceeds too far, the ray becomes tired and unable to maintain a straight course: it is broken open and spreads apart to

right and left. [15] That is why, wherever on the earth’s surface you take your stand, you seem to see an enclosing limit of the sky, and this is what was called the “horizon” (or boundary) by the men of old, whose investigations have accurately ascertained that for one looking to his front across level ground the limit of sight does * Cf. Cicero Epistulae ad Atticum 2. 3. 2. For Plato’s theory of vision see Respublica 6. 507. * Cf. Manilius 4. 927: parvula sic totum pervisit pupula caelum.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 14 505 not exceed 180 stades in a straight line and that thereafter it begins to curve off.° I have said “across level ground” because we can see high objects at a very great distance, which is natural since we also see the sky. [16] In every circle, therefore, that forms a horizon the observer himself is the center; and, since we have stated the distance which sight travels from the center to the circumference of the circle, it is Clear that within the boundary of the horizon the diameter of the circle is 360 stades; and, whether the observer moves forward or

backward, the circle which he sees around him will be of the same size.

[17] And so, then, as we have said, when the ray of light which

proceeds from us through the light that is in the air has met an object, the act of “seeing” is complete, but, in order that the object seen may be identified, the eyesight reports the visible appearance

to the reason, and the reason, by calling in the help of memory, recognizes the object. It is the function, then, of the eyes to see and

of the reason to judge; [18] and the process by which an act of vision comes to completion with the recognition of a shape is threefold, consisting of sense perception, reason, and memory; for the sense perception refers the object seen to the reason and the reason calls up a memory of what has been seen. [19] Now the reason has so necessary a part to play in the visual

process that in the exercise of the single sense of sight it often (prompted by the memory) detects the presence of yet another sense. For example, if I see fire, my reason knows that it is hot, even before I touch it, and, if it is snow that I see, then the reason

knows too that what I see is cold to the touch. [20] Indeed, without the cooperation of reason, sight is so ineffective that to neglect the reason leads one to suppose that an oar dipped in water is broken or that a tower seen from a distance is round, although in fact it has corners; and yet if the reason addresses itself to the task, it knows that the tower has corners and that the oar is actually unbroken. [21] The reason too distinguishes al] those errors which gave the School of the Academy an excuse for condemning the evidence of the senses, for accompanied by reason the senses are to be regarded as among the most reliable sources of knowledge. But the reason

6 Macrobius Commentary 1. 15. 17-19. ,

506 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA does not always find the evidence of a single sense enough to establish the identity of an object; [22] for, if I see from afar an object with the shape of the fruit called an apple, it does not necessarily follow that the object is an apple—it might have been made from some material to resemble an apple. I must therefore call for the advice of a second sense and let smell judge. But, if the object

had been placed in a heap of apples, it could have acquired the smell of an apple, and so at this point I must consult my sense of touch, which enables me to judge by the weight. But there is a risk that this sense too may itself be deceived, should a cunning craftsman have chosen a material equal in weight to an apple’s. I must therefore have recourse to my sense of taste, and, if the taste of the object agrees with its appearance, then I have no hesitation in regarding the object as an apple. [23] Thus it is clear that the effectiveness of the senses depends on the reason; and that is why a creative Deity has placed all the senses in the head,’ that is to say, around the seat of the reason. 7 Macrobius Commentary 1. 6. 81.

CHAPTER 15! [1] When Eustathius had finished speaking, his discourse was greeted by all with acclamation, admiration was expressed for the substance and weight of his arguments, and even Evangelus himself

showed no reluctance to confirm what the others had said. But Disarius then added: It is applause such as this which you have won

that encourages philosophy to claim to handle themes that relate to an art with which it is unacquainted, and the result is that it often falls into manifest errors. Your master, Plato, for example, does not refrain from treating even of anatomy, a field that belongs

to medicine, and so he has given later generations grounds for laughing at him. [2] For he has said that food and drink pass into the body by separate ways, the food being drawn in through the gullet but the drink passing into the divisions of the lungs through the windpipe, called the trachea? It is a matter for astonishment, or rather for regret, that so great a man should have entertained such opinions or, at any rate, have committed them to writing in his books. [3] Erasistratus, then, the most famous of the doctors of old, was right when he attacked Plato and said that “his account is widely at variance with what rational observation shows.” “For,” says Erasistratus,? [4] “there are two pipes, like canals, which lead

downward from the throat. Through one of these all food and drink are introduced and pass down into the gullet, and from there are carried into the belly, called in Greek ‘the lower belly’ (j kato Kothia), where they are reduced and digested, the drier excrement

then passing into the bowel, which the Greeks call the ‘colon’ (xOXov), and the more liquid being drawn through the kidneys into 1 With the contents of this chapter cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 7. A. 2 Cf. Timaeus 7oc and gia. 3 Aulus Gellius 17. 11.

508 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the bladder. [5] Through the other of the two upper pipes, called by the Greeks ‘the rough windpipe’ (tpaysta dptnpia) the breath passes from the mouth and nostrils into the lungs, and back again; and the same pipe serves as a passage for the voice. [6] Io prevent the drink or the drier food, which ought to have passed into the

gullet, from falling from the mouth and slipping into the pipe through which the breath passes in and out (and so meeting and blocking the path of the breath), a kind of helpful device of nature has placed the ‘epiglottis’ on top of both these pipes (which are attached to one another), to close each in turn. [7] While one is eating and drinking, this ‘epiglottis’ covers and protects the ‘rough windpipe,’ so that none of the food or drink can fall into the passage or the tidelike incoming and outgoing breath, and that is why, with the actual mouth of the windpipe thus protected, no liquid flows into the lungs.” [8] This is what Erasistratus has said, and I think that truth and reason are on his side; for, since food that is not rough and dry but softened and tempered by liquid has to be taken into the belly, both solids and liquids must pass by way of the same opening, so that the food, mixed with the drink, may go through the gullet and be lodged in the belly. And we may be sure that nature would make no arrangement which was not calculated to promote the well-being of the living creature. [9] Again, if anything thick falls down into the lungs, which are compact and smooth, how does it make its way through them or how can it pass to the part where digestion takes place? For we all

know that an extremely violent and shattering fit of coughing, severe enough to endanger life, immediately occurs whenever too deep a breath accidentally draws in some rather solid matter which falls down into the lungs. [10] Moreover, if nature supplied a passage for drink to enter the lungs, what would happen to the lungs

when one drank barley gruel or swallowed a drink mixed with grain or compounded of some coarser substance? [11] And so nature has been careful to provide the epiglottis, to close the wind-

pipe when nourishment is being taken and thereby prevent anything from slipping through the windpipe and being drawn into the lungs by careless breathing, just as, too, when one has to speak,

the epiglottis turns to close the opening to the gullet and thus allows the windpipe to afford a clear passage for the voice.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER I5 509 [12] Another thing that we know by experience is that those who sip their drink have more liquid in their bellies, since a liquid taken a little at a time remains there longer; but, if one drinks more greedily, the very force with which the liquid is swallowed carries it into the bladder, and the digestion of the drier food is delayed. No such difference would arise if food and drink in the first place passed by separate channels. [13] As for the commonly quoted

words of the poet Alcaeus: “Wet your lungs with wine, for the Dog Star is returning,’ 4 they mean that the lungs indeed find liquid to their liking but absorb only as much as they judge to be needed.

And so it would have been better, you see, had the greatest of all philosophers refrained from interfering in matters which were outside his province, instead of treating of things about which he knew all too little. [14] These words piqued Eustathius somewhat and he replied: I used to look upon you as a philosopher as well as a doctor, Disarius,

but it seers to me now that you would have us forget what the human race with one accord proclaims and believes: that philosophy is the art of arts and the discipline of disciplines. In fact, medicine is acting now like a reckless parricide in attacking philosophy, for

the chief glory of philosophy is to discuss matters which are the concern of reason, that is to say, incorporeal things, and it sinks to a lower level when it treats of the physical world—of the divine bodies of the heavens or the constellations. [15] As for medicine, however, its place is with the lowest of the dregs of the physical world, since the reason for its existence is to deal with earthy, terrestrial bodies. But one may well ask: “Why speak of reason in this connection, when in medicine the ruling principle 1s guesswork

rather than reason?” Does, then, the art which hazards guesses about vile bodies of clay dare to insult philosophy, whose subject matter, under the sure guidance of reason, is the incorporeal and the truly divine?

Nevertheless, I would not have you think that this general defense of philosophy is no more than an excuse to avoid discussing

this question of the lungs. Let me tell you, then, the principles which guided the great Plato. [16] The epiglottis, to which you refer, is a device of nature to cover and uncover in regular turns the passage for food and drink 4 Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, I, 418.

510 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA in such a way as to allow the former to pass into the gullet and the

latter into the lungs; the lungs being divided into a number of channels and forming a network of fissures, not to afford exits for the breath (since the breath could well pass out by hidden ways)

but to allow the juice of any food that may have fallen into the lungs to pass presently through these many channels to the seat of the digestive process. [17] Then again, if by any chance the windpipe has been severed,

drink cannot be swallowed, but, as if its own proper passage had been cut, the drink is rejected, even though the gullet remains uninjured, and this is something that would not happen unless the windpipe were the passage for liquids.

[18] It is also a well-known fact that, if the lungs are sick, the patient suffers severe and burning thirst, and this would not occur unless the lungs were the place to which the drink passes. Note too that creatures without lungs know nothing of drinking. For there is no redundancy in nature, each several organ being made with the object of serving some vital need, and, if the need does not exist,

then the lack of the particular organ which would have served it is not felt. [19] Consider this point as well. If the gullet were receiving both

food and drink, the bladder would have no function to perform, for the gullet could have passed the waste matter from both the food and the drink to the intestine, to which it now passes the waste from the food alone. Nor would separate channels be needed

for the passage of each kind of waste, since, if both kinds were evacuated from the same place, a single channel would suffice for the two. However, as things are, the bladder and the intestine have separate duties to perform for the preservation of health, because

the gullet passes the waste matter to the latter and the lungs to the former. [20] And we must not omit to mention that we find no trace of the food in the urine, which is the waste product of the drink, and that neither in color nor in smell has it any of the properties of the waste matter from the food; and yet, if the food and the drink had

been present together in the belly, some property of the waste matter from each would infect the urine.

[21] Lastly, how is it that stones, which are produced in the bladder from what is drunk, are never formed in the belly? For

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 15 511 their only origin is the drink, and so they ought to be produced in the belly as well as in the bladder, if the belly were the place to which the drink passes. [22] Famous poets, too, are well aware that the drink flows into the lungs, for Eupolis in the play entitled The Flatterers says: Protagoras was bidding him drink, to have his lungs well-rinsed before the Dog Star roseé [23] and Eratosthenes gives evidence to the same effect in the line: And moistening the depths of his lungs with unmixed wine. Moreover, Euripides most clearly supports this fact, when he says: Wine passed the channels of the lungs.® [24] Since, then, the principles which govern the structure of the

body and the authority of witnesses of note support Plato, surely it is madness to hold an opinion that contradicts his. 5 Athenaeus 1. 22f (reading [with Reiske] ékxAvotov). 6 Fragment 973 (Nauck).

CHAPTER 16} [1] At this point Evangelus, who grudged the Greeks any credit, mockingly interrupted and said: Enough of this exchange of arguments. You two are only trying to show off your wealth of words.

No! If your learning amounts to anything, tell me which came first—the egg or the hen. [2] You think to make fun of us, said Disarius, but as a matter

of fact the question you have put is one which is well worth asking, and the answer to it well worth knowing. You jest about what you suppose to be a triviality, in asking whether the hen came

first from an egg or the egg from a hen, but the point should be regarded as one of importance—one worthy of discussion and careful discussion at that. I shall set out the arguments which, as I see

it, are to be adduced in support of each proposition, and then I shall leave it to you to make your choice and say which you think to be the nearer to the truth. [3] If we admit that everything that exists has, at some time or another, had a beginning, it will be right to suppose that nature made the egg first. For at its beginning a thing is always as yet imperfect and shapeless, and it is only by the additions which come

with increasing skill and the passage of time that it reaches its perfection. To fashion a bird, then, nature, beginning with something shapeless and rudimentary, made the egg, in which as yet there is no resemblance to the living creature; and it is from the egg

that the complete bird, as we see it, has come—the product of a gradual process of development. [4] Again, everything which nature equips with embellishments of various kinds is, without doubt, at its beginning, simple, and it 1 With the contents of sections 1-14 cf. Plutarch Quaestiones convivales 2. I’; and with sections 15-34, ibid. 3. I.

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 16 513 acquires its diversity by a combination of accretions. The egg, then,

was created simple to look at and of uniform appearance on all sides and from it were developed the various embellishments that go to make up the appearance of a bird. [5] For just as the elements _

came into existence first and from their combination al] other bodies were created, so too the formative principles in the egg should—if you will forgive the metaphor—be held to be, as it were, the elements of the hen.

[6] My comparison of an egg to the elements from which all things come is not without point, for, if you take into account every kind of living creature born after an act of coition, you will find that in a considerable number of instances an egg is the first beginning, as the element. For living creatures either walk or creep

or live by swimming or by flying. [7] Among those that walk lizards and the like are created from eggs; those that creep are in the first place born from eggs; all creatures that fly come from eggs, with one exception, the bat, the nature of which is uncertain, for it indeed flies, with its skin-covered wings, but it ought not to be reckoned among the creatures that fly because it goes on four feet, brings forth the young which it produces fully formed, and feeds them on milk. Almost all the creatures that swim come from the eggs of their kind, and the crocodile actually comes from eggs which have a shell, like the eggs of birds. [8] And you will not think that I have gone too far in calling an egg an element, if you question those who have been initiated into

the rites of Father Liber. For in these rites the egg is so revered and worshiped that (by reason of its rounded and almost spherical shape and as completely encased and containing life) it is called the image of the universe, which by general consent is held to be the first beginning of all things.

[9] Now let him come forward who holds that the hen came first, and let him proceed to make out his case, as follows. An egg, he will say, is neither the end nor the beginning of the creature to

which it belongs. For the beginning is the seed and the end, the fully-formed bird itself, the egg being but the seed in process of development (digestio semunis). Since, then, the seed comes from

the living creature and the egg from the seed, it follows that the egg cannot have existed before the living creature, any more than the process of digesting food (digestio cibi) can take place before

514 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA there is someone to do the eating. [10] To say that the egg was made before the hen is like saying that the womb was made before the woman; and to ask how the hen could have come into existence without the egg is like asking how men were made before the existence of the organs of generation to which they owe their creation. Consequently, just as it will be wrong to say that a man is the product of the seed, since the seed is the product of the man, so it will be wrong to say that the

hen is the product of the egg, since the egg is the product of the hen.

[11] Again, if we were to allow our opponent’s point, that things which exist have had some beginning in time, we should add that nature in the first place fashioned each living creature perfect

and complete and then laid down an everlasting law for the perpetuation of the species by procreation. [12] Evidence that there could have been initial perfection is provided by the fact that today too not a few living creatures are born, perfect and complete, of earth and rain; as, for example, mice in Egypt, and frogs, snakes, and the like in other places. Eggs, however, are never produced

from the earth, because there is nothing perfect and complete about an egg; but what nature fashions is perfect and complete, and

eggs issue from creatures that are perfect and complete, as the parts from a whole. [13] I should certainly agree that the egg is the seedbed from which the bird is produced; but let us see how philosophers define “seed” and what the definition proves. It establishes that the seed is the means of reproduction and that it aims at producing something

like that from which it comes. But it is impossible to aim at producing a likeness of something which is not yet in existence, just as it is impossible for seed to emanate from something which is still nonexistent. [14] Consequently, we must suppose that at the first beginning of things—in company with all the other living creatures which are born from seed alone (and with them there is no question but that they were in existence before the seed which

they produce)—birds too were produced by creative nature, perfect and complete. And since the generative force has been implanted in them all, we must suppose that it is from these first living creatures that there now proceeds the divers modes of

birth, which nature has diversified to match the diversity of creatures.

: BOOK 7, CHAPTER 16 515 There, Evangelus, you have the arguments for use on either side;

pretend for a while that you are not making fun of us and ask yourself which side you will take. [15] Your inordinate volubility, replied Evangelus, leads you to take seriously what was meant to be a joke. But kindly explain something which has for long occupied my mind: I have given real thought to it. There were brought to me lately from my estate at

Tibur some wild boars which the huntsmen had found in the

woods, and, since the hunt went on for a fairly long time, some of the dead beasts were brought in by day and others by night. [16] The flesh of those which were brought in by day remained whole and sound, but the flesh of those which were carried through the night by the light of a full moon went bad. The fact became known and the bearers on the next night drove a copper nail into every part of the body. When they came in with the boars the flesh was sound. And so I ask you why the moonlight was harmful to the dead beasts in a way that the sun’s rays were not.? [17] There is an easy and straightforward answer to your question, said Disarius. It is only under the combined influence of heat and moisture that a thing ever goes bad, and with game the process of decomposition is simply the liquefaction of the solid flesh by a

certain latent discharge of moisture.

[18] Now a gentle and moderate heat fosters moisture but excessive heat dries out the moisture and makes the flesh shrink. Consequently, the sun with its greater heat draws the moisture out of dead bodies, whereas moonlight, which contains no obvious heat but only a hidden warmth, tends rather to spread moisture through the bodies; and as the result of this indrawn warmth and increased moisture decomposition sets in. [19] When he heard this explanation, Evangelus looked at Eustathius and said: If you accept the reason which Disarius has given,

you should signify your assent. But, if it contains anything to move you to make some comment, don’t hesitate to let us know, for there is much force in what you two have to say and I should be glad to hear you both. [20] Everything that Disarius has said, replied Eustathius, has been clearly stated and is true. But there is one question into which ic would be well to look more closely: the question whether it is 2 Cf. Pliny Historia naturalis 2. 104. 223.

516 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA the degree of heat that causes decomposition. Can we really say that the cause of decomposition is a lesser and moderate heat, not a greater heat? For certainly it is in summer that the heat of the sun makes meat go bad, not in winter; and in summer the sun is extremely hot, whereas in winter it is only warm. [21] Conse-

quently, it is not on account of its gentler heat that the moon spreads abroad moisture; but the light which flows from the moon has a special property of its own—the Greek word is idi@pa — a certain innate quality which is such as to moisten bodies and, as it

were, to water them with a hidden dew, and it is the mixture of this quality with the moon’s own heat that causes flesh which for a while has been penetrated by it to go bad. [22] For all heat is not of a single and uniform nature, differing only in degree, as it happens to be greater or less; but there are the clearest proofs that fire contains the most diverse qualities, which have nothing in common. [23] Thus goldsmiths use only fire made from straw when they shape the gold, because other kinds of fire are regarded as unfit for working this particular material. Doctors, again, demand a fire made of vine twigs, in preference to one made

from any other wood, when they distill their medicines. Those whose business it is to melt and fashion glass feed their fire with pieces of the tree called the tamarisk. [24] And heat from olive wood, although it gives health to the body, is destructive in a bath-

house, because it causes damage by loosening the joints of the marble. It is not surprising, then, that by reason of the peculiar property of each, the sun’s heat dries and the moon’s heat moistens.

[25] This too is the reason why nurses, when they walk in moonlight, wrap up unweaned children, to prevent the light of the

moon from adding to the moisture of which their charges, by reason of their tender age, are naturally full, for the additional moisture might distort their limbs, just as wood which is still green and moist is warped by the application of heat. [26] Moreover, it is well known that one who sleeps for long in

moonlight is awakened with difficulty and comes near to losing his reason, for he is overcome by the weight of the moisture which is spread and diffused through the whole of his body by the moon’s peculiar property of opening and relaxing all the body’s passages

to flood it. [27] And it is for this reason that Diana, the moon, is called Artemis (as though to say depétepic, she who cleaves the

BOOK 7, CHAPTER 16 517 air). And women in labor call on the moon as Lucina, because it is her proper function to enlarge the openings of the body and make a way through its passages, thus helping to quicken delivery, [28] as the poet Timotheus has neatly put it, in the lines:

Through the bright vault of the stars and of the moon that brings easily to birth. [29] This peculiar property of the moon is no less evident in connection with inanimate objects, for timber which has been thrown when the moon is full, or still waxing, is unsuitable for working, since it is, as it were, softened by the moisture which it has absorbed; and farmers, to keep the corn dry, are careful to wait until the moon is waning before they gather it from their threshing floors. [30] On the other hand, if the object of your work needs moisture, you will deal with it when the moon is waxing. Then too will be the best time to plant trees, especially when the moon is above the earth, since the young shoots need moisture to feed them and make them grow. [31] The very air not only feels but also shows the effect of the moon’s quality of moistness; for when the moon is full, or when it is waxing—since then its upper part is full—the air either dissolves in rain or, if the weather be fine, gives out an abundance of dew, a circumstance which led the lyric poet Aleman to speak of dew as the son of the air and the moon.’ [32] Thus there is evidence everywhere to prove that the moon’s light has the property of moistening flesh and causing it to decompose, although it is experience that makes us recognize this property, rather than a process of reasoning. [33] As regards what you have said about the use of a copper nail, Evangelus, I have a theory which, unless I am mistaken, is

consistent with the truth of the matter; for copper has a certain pungent force, which doctors call astringency, and that is why they add filings (or scales) of copper to the remedies which they prescribe to check the deadly effects of putrefaction. Then, men who spend their time in a copper mine always have sound and healthy eyes, and those whose eyelids had previously lost their lashes find that the hair grows again on those parts, for an exhalation from the

copper, strikes against the eyes and draws out and dries out the harmful moisture which is entering their eyes. [34] And that is why 3 Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, Il, 330. 4 See Edmonds, Lyra Graeca, |, 84.

518 MACROBIUS: THE SATURNALIA Homer too, for these reasons, sometimes calls bronze “joy of men’”® and sometimes “bright to see.”*® Aristotle also testifies that wounds

inflicted by a sword of bronze are less harmful than wounds inflicted by a sword of iron and are more easily healed, “because,” he says, “the bronze has a certain remedial and drying force, which

it imparts to the wound.”7 And so it is, by a like process of reasoning, that the nail driven into the body of a dead beast counteracts the moisture from the moon.® 5 Odyssey 13. 19. 6 Iliad 2. 578; 16. 130. 7 Aristotle Problemata 1. 6.

8 ‘The abrupt ending of the chapter suggests that the conclusion of the work —describing, perhaps, the departure of the guests and referring again to the conversation between Decius and Postumianus (1. 1. 7, above)—has been lost.

APPENOIX a Doctors and Dons} As early as the time of Julius Caesar Roman citizenship had been given to physicians practising in Rome and to teachers of the liberal

arts there (Suetonius: Divus Julius 42, 1); but both medicine and teaching were for long regarded as at any rate semi-servile occupations (cf. Pliny, Historia naturalis 29. 8. 17; Martial 5. 56); and, for an unkind criticism of doctors and dons, see Athenaeus 15. 666a: ei LT) tatpoi Toav obdév Gv TV TOV ypauLAaTIKmv pwMpdtepov. The

younger Pliny indeed has a good word for scholastici: quo genere hominum mibil aut stmplicius aut sincerius aut melius (Epistulae 2. 3. 5), but Juvenal (3. 76) classes doctors and schoolmasters with fortunetellers, tightrope walkers, and the masseurs at public baths. Suetonius relates that Vespasian was the first to pay a yearly salary

from the Privy Purse to Latin and Greek rhetoricians (Divus Vespasianvs 18). Later, both medicine and education became “socialized” and emperors made generous provision from public moneys for, and granted privileges to, mzedici and professores litterarum: quo facilius liberalibus studtis et memoratis artibus multos instituant (see Codex Theodosianus 13. 3, De Medicis et Professoribus, and 14.9, De Studus Liberalibus,; cf. 6. 21). But although the later emperors legislated to raise the social status of the teaching profession, it may be doubted just how far their action represented a genuine enthusiasm for letters, for, since there was as yet no press, the emperors would be well aware of the usefulness to

them of the professorial panegyric; and especially noteworthy in this connection are the careers of the poet-professor Ausonius

(Gratian’s tutor), Libanius the rhetorician, and Eugenius the rhetorician who became Arbogast’s “lackey”? emperor.® 1 See p. 47 II. 2 Famulus (Claudian, De quarto consulatu Honor 74). 3 See Glover, pp. 120-121; and Dill, pp. 399-405.

APPENOIX B Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarisnt}

“He who writes last comes off best,” said Seneca (Epistzlae 79. 6), “for he finds the words ready to hand and, if he arranges them differently, they have the appearance of being new: nor is he laying hands on what belongs to another, since words are common property.” A poet, then, may owe much to other poets (whether predeces-

sors or contemporaries and whether fellow countrymen or not) without forfeiting a just claim to originality. To condemn Latin poetry because it owes so much to Greek would be to condemn also much modern poetry dating from the Renaissance; for all the lines were laid down by the Greeks, and later ages, it is submitted,

have been most successful when content to keep to them. The Romans, it is true, borrowed more extensively and added less of their own, but Greek literature was still alive then and was interpreted to the Romans by the descendants of the men who had produced it. As regards Vergil’s alleged lack of originality Nettleship has remarked? that “no sooner had a fine thought, phrase, or

even rhythm been struck out by a poet than it became, by common consent, the property of all subsequent writers. To appropriate it was not to commit a plagiarism but to do honour to its inventor.” And elsewhere’ Nettleship pointed out, with illustrations, that in Vergil’s day “to use a friend’s verses seems to have been regarded by the Roman poets as a compliment and a mark of affection.” A poet, too, may borrow from another with the intention that the borrowed words may be ga@véevta ovvetotot and be recog1 See p. 187 46 and p. 2271 5. > Essays in Latin Literature, p. 123. 3 Ancient Lives of Vergil with an Essay on the Poems of Vergil in connection with his Life and Times, p. 62.

APPENDIX B 521 nized. Or his reading may (as Vergil’s) have been so wide and deep that an apparent borrowing may be the consequence of what A. C. Bradley? calls “unconscious reproduction.” Or, again, there may be no causal connection at all between two identical expressions, and what might seem to be an imitation be in fact a coincidence; since “with human eyes all over the world looking at the same objects there must be coincidences of thought and impression and expression.” Nullumst iam dictum quod non sit dictum prius.® Before the invention of writing it would have been difficult to establish the ownership of a poem, and plagiarism may therefore be regarded as to some extent an inevitable consequence of oral tradition. And indeed the conception of “copyright” had to await the invention of printing, although, by Roman law, the publisher (as against the author of a poem) could rely on the rule scriptura:°

that writing accedes to the paper or parchment on which it is written, so that the owner of the writing material is also the owner of whatever is written on it (Gaius 2. 77: cf. Seneca, De beneficiis

7.6.1). There is a curious reference in Plato’s Parmenides (128e) to a

theft from Zeno of a certain treatise, before he had decided whether or not to publish it. Isocrates (Panathenaicus 16) complained that his rivals made a living by copying his discourses; and

there is the odd fact that Aristophanes in his Ecclesiazusae was able to quote and make fun of certain passages in Plato’s Republic which were not published until some twenty years later.’ 4 A Commentary on Tennyson’s In Memoriam (London and New York, 1901), p. 71. 5 ‘Terence Eunuchus 41.

6 It would seem that the practical Roman regarded a picture as of greater use and value than a poem; for in pictura this rule is reversed, and it is the canvas or wood on which a picture 1s painted that is held to be the accessory. Gaius 2. 78. 7 See G. Murray, Greek Studies (Oxford, 1948), p. 36.

APPENoOIXx C LINES IN HOMER, LUCRETIUS, AND VERGIL WHERE THE TEXT OF MACROBIUS DIFFERS FROM THE OXFORD CLASSICAL TEXT}!

Homer 0.c.T. MACROBIUS lhiad

1.238 év nrarduye EV TaAGMAIG (5. 3. 13)

I.424 Kata daita weta daita (1. 23. 1) 1.425;

3.36 avdtic adOic (1. 23. 1; 5. 5. 11)

3.220 CaKotdov TE TIV CaKOTOV Tlva EupEevar (5. 14. 9) EWUMEVAL

5. 31 TELYEOLNAT TA TELYEOLBAT Ta (1. 12. Q)

6.24 ‘yevetj yevenv (5. 12. 9)

6.305 pvointoAr EPVOINTOAL (5. 3. 10)

7.156 maphopoc mapnopos (5. 8. 9)

7.157 si0° @>o HBwott aid’ dco HBPoowt (5. 14. 14)

8.330 ovdKk dpédnos éppiynose (5. 3. 9) 9.328 ésddexa dh dM6EKA LEV (5. 14. 12)

10.457 ‘tov ye tobde (5. 13. 2) 10.473 Tplotoiyi TOLOTOLYEL (5. 9. 9) 10.481 8° époi d€ pot (5. 9. 9) II. 2 Opvv0’ dpvv8’ (1. 22. 4)

11.241 avr EvOa (5. 11. 30)

11.478 &rei 57 EMELOT] (5. 6. 10) 12.136 ovdé méPovto ovd’ EmEBovto (5. II. 27)

12.302 nap avtog Wet ADTOOL (5. 5. 10)? 12.305 wpetdApevoc wsOGAUEVOS (5. 5. 10)? 1 Homer /liad: Monro and Allen, 3d ed. Homer Odyssey: Allen 2d ed.; Lucretius: Bailey, 2d ed.; Vergil: Hirtzel. See p. 37 9. 2 In 5. 10. 9 Macrobius agrees with the OCT.

APPENDIX C 523 Homer o0.c.t. MACROBIUS Iliad

12.308 pnEacbar tunEao8ar (5. 10. 9) 15.436 Aiac dé piynos Alas 0° Eppiynos (5. 3. 9)

15.741 pearryin perdryin (5. 9. 15)

16.110 mnoAdS Eppsev péev donetos (6. 3. 2)

16.139 dodpe dotpa (5. 10. 12)

16.139 ToaAdunoi TAAGUNOW (5. 10. 12)

16.250 mnatnhp Bedc (5. 3. 7)

16.767 tav0@Aotov BadvorAotov (5. 13. 15) 17.54 dadvapéBpoyev dvaBéBpvyev (5. 6. 14) 17.720 EXOVTES OUL@VOLOL EXOVTE OLMVVLOL (5. 15. 13)

18.182 tic yap o¢ Tig T Gp o& (5.9. 1)

19. 2 Spvv0" dpvv (1. 22. 4)

20.62 fnep0e EévepOev (5. 16. 13)

20.171 payéoao8ar wayéeo8ar (5. 12. 25)

20.307 avactet Gvaooet (5. 3. 8)

22.30 OY éo0Tt 60° EoTi (5. 10. 3) 22.209 &TiTALVE ETITHVE (5. 13. 39) 22.310 GpaAryv GMAaATV (5. 12. 13) 23.220 GPvVOOOLEVOG Govoodpevos (5. 7. 2) 23.358 petaotolyi, onpNnve pEetaotoryet’ onpatve (5. 7. 4) and 757

23.380 sdpée vt’ Huw TOE KA Dpovs (5. 13. 3)

23.562 &10c GEtov (5. 7. 3)

23.618 ‘yépov TEKOG (5. 6. 2)

23.764 tonte nOdEc01 moootiv étomte (5. 13. 4)

23.850 togevtijor TOEELTI Pot (5. 7. 6) Odyssey

2.2 Opvot’ dpvvt’ (5. 8. 7)

5.2 Opvv0" ®pvv8’ (1. 22. 4) 5.58 thvd Evdo001 tétpEVv Setvi) OEedc, adbdnEeooa (5. 12. 8) éodoav

5-59 TAO tTnAOoE (5. 12. 8)

5-60 @dov T dva vfjcov Ovov d’ dn KaAOV d606EL (32. 19. 5)? OdWOEL

5.264 Kai Aovoaca oOLyaAdevta (3. 19. 5)

6.109 dds ayvn (5. 4. 10) 3 In 5. 12. 8 Macrobius agrees with the OCT.

524 APPENDIX C Odyssey

8.505 é0OTIKEl ELOTHKEL (5. 5. 4) 8.507 d1anrATEar OLAaTUTEaL (5. 5. 4)

8.508 é&m aKpns ém dkpac (5. 5. 4)

8.512 ato Elato (5. 5. 4)

9.291 Ondiooato OnAiGOaTO (5. 13. 17)

9.372 mTaxdv TAATOV (5. 13. 6)

9.532 si of potp éott si kat of poipa (5. 12. 6) 9.533 éiKTipEevov és bwopogov (5. 12. 6)

10.279 yapiéotatoc yapicotatn (5. 13. 24) 11.72 KataAsinetv KataAgsings (5. 7. 13)

11.74 doo Sood (5. 7. 13)

11.206 égopyndnv EpapunOny (5. 7. 8)

II. 309 ovsc tovs (5. 13. 18)

11.580 éAKnoE etAkvos (5. 7. 15) 13.80 vnypstoc vndvpios (5. 3. 12) 13.81 8 Got éEvmedin of 8’ Wc Ev nEdiw (5. II. 20) 13.82 mndvtec dp’ dppn- TAVTEG AGMOPUNVEVTESG (5. II. 20) OEVTEC

13.83 KéAEev8ov KéAev0a (5. 11. 20)

23.162 @c pEv O>s dpa (5. 4. 12) Lucretius

2.27 fulget ... renidet fulgens ... renidens (6. 2. 5) 2.28 citharae...templa citharam ...templa (6. 2. 5) cithara ... tecta (6. 4. 21)

2.144 primum aurora cum primum aurora respergit novo cum spargit (6. 1. 25)

2.214 abrupti abruptis (6. I. 27)

2.324 cCamporum... componunt ... cientur (6. 1. 28) clientes

2.361 vigentes virentes (6. 2. 6)

2.367 cum vocibus invocibus (6. 5. 3)

2.368 cornigeras corniferas (6. 5. 3) 3. 1034 Scipiadas Scipiades (6. 1. 46)

4.908 irriget inrigat (6. I. 44) 5.213 et tamen sedtamen (6. 2. 29) 5.215 torret torrens (6. 2. 29) 5.432 hic...lumine largo his ... lumine claro (6. 2. 23) 5.446 altum ... caelum magnum ...caelum (6. 2. 24)

APPENDIX C 525 Lucretius

5-945 atsedare ad sedare (6. 1. 64) 5.1294 in opprobrium in obscenum (6. 1. 63) 6.205 color aureus ignis calor aureus ignis (6. 5. 4)

6.1147 fauces ... atrae fauces...artae (6. 2.9) 6.1183 perturbata animi perturbati animi, mens (6. 2. 11) mens

6.1189 per fauces rauca vix per fauces raucas vix edita tussis

edita tussi (6. 2. 11)

6.1219 illis solibus illis sedibus (6. 2. 14) 6.1221 exibant silvis exsuperant silvis (6. 2. 14)

6.1227 ali alis (6. 2. 12)

Eclogues | 4.20 fundet fundit (6. 6. 18)

Vergil

4.57 Orphei Orphi (5. 17. 19) 4.59 dicat dicet (5. 14. 6) 6.49 secuta secuta est (4. 6. 3) Georgics

1. 6 quae qui (1. 16. 44)

1.126 ne signare quidem nec signare solum (1. 8. 3)

1.145 vicit vincit (5. 16. 7)

1.256 aut et (6. 4. 16)

1.259 agricolam agricolas (6. 8. 11) 1. 367 albescere involvere (6. I. 26) 2. 36 fructusque cultusque (6. 6. 17)

2.247 amaror amaro (6. I. 47) 2.395 ad aram ad aras (3. 5. 8)

2.468 latis laetis (6. 2. 4)

2.469 et at (6. 2. 4) 2.501 carpsit carpit (6. 1. 65)

3.109 vacuum tenerum (5. 13. 7) 3.508 obsessas oppressas (6. 2. 8)

3.548 iam nec mutari nec mutari iam (6. 2. 13)

4.238 invulnere in vulnera (6. 6. 19)

4.338 Nesaee Nisaee (5. 17. 17)

4.393 trahantur sequentur (I. 20. 5) 4.540, 551 iuvencas luvencos (3. 5. 5)

1.296 fremet fremit (4. 5. 12)

526 APPENDIX C Aeneid

1.373 vacet...nostrorum vacat...tantorum (3. 2. 17)

1.433 dulci dulces (5. 11. 2)

1.501 gradiensque ingrediensque (5. 13. 8)

1.612 Cloanthum Serestum (5. 15. 8)

1.619 “TLeucrum memini memini Teucrum (5. 14. 15)

2.32 murantur miratur (5. 5. 3)

2.112. cumiamhictrabibus cumiamtrabibus (6. 9. 13)

2.223 qualis mugitus mugitus veluti (4. 5. 8)

2.261 dirus Vlixes dius Vlixes (5. 17. 15)

2.362 possit lacrimis lacrimis possit aequare dolorem

aequare labores (5. I. 10)

2.390 requirat requirit (5. 16. 7)

2.416 adversi rupto diversi magno (6. 2. 28)

2.426 procumbit procubuit (4. 3. 14) 2.632 descendo discedo (3. 8. 1)

2.762 dirus Vlixes dius Vlixes (5. 17. 15) 2.792 conatus 1b1 conatus erat (5. 7. 8)5 2.794 simillima somno simillima fumo (5. 5. 14) 3.26 horrendum et dictu horrendum dictu et visu (3. ro. 6) video

3.420 latus tenet (5. 6. 4) 3.516 pluviasque Hyadas Pliadasque Hyadas (5. 11. 10)

4.130 iubare exorto exorto lubare (3. 20. 8)

4.240 supra luxta (5.6. I1) 4.443 altae alte (5. 6. 13)

4.638 paravi parabam (3. 3. 2)

5.235 aequora curro aequore curro (3. 2. §)

5.238 proiciam porriciam (3. 2. 2 and 5)

5-423 exuit extulit (6. 1. 43)

5-469 lactantemque quassanternque (4. 1. 2)

5.518 aetheriis aeris (3. 8. 4) 5.626 excidium exitlum (4. 3. 16) 5.632 et rapti Orapti (6. 6. 16) 5-674 ciebat ciebant (6. 1. 28)

6.38 intacto niveo (3. 5. 5) 4 In 5. 13. 14 Macrobius agrees with the OCT. 5 In 5. 5. 14 Macrobius agrees with the OCT.

APPENDIX C 527 Aeneid

6.405 tantae pietatis tantarum gloria rerum®

imago (6. 6. 13)

6.406 veste forte (6. 6. 13)

6.407 agnoscas agnoscis (6. 6. 13)

6.498 ac et (4. I. 4)

6.597 obunco adunco (4. 4. 15) 6.627 possim possem (5. 7. 16) 6.700 conatus ibi conatus erat (5. 7. 8)7 : 6.822 miunores nepotes (4. 6. 18)

6.842 aut et (6. I. 46)

6.846 restituis rem restituit rem (6. 1. 23)

7-464 aqual aqua vis (5. 11. 23) 7-625 equis eques (6. 1. 54) 7.655 palma fama (5. 15. 15)

7.723 hinc hic (5. 15. 15)

7.796 et Sacranae acies stant Gauranae acies (5. 15. 19)

7.799 Anxurus Anxuris (5. 15. 19) 7.811 tingeret tangeret (5. 8. 4) 8.90 — celerant peragunt (6. 1. 37)

8.563 Erulum Erimum (5. 8. 8) 8.566 tum tunc (5. 8. 8) 8.599 cingunt cingit (3. 3. 9)

9.37 ascendite muros et scandite muros (6. 6. 16)

9.138 nec solos an solos (4. 4. 11)8

9.158 sperate parari sperate parati (5.9. 4)® 9.252 pro laudibus istis pro talibus ausis (6. 6. 12)

9. 323 lato recto (5. 9. 8)

9.328 augurio potuit auguriis poterat (5. 9. 10)

9.476 excussi expulsi (4. I. 5) 9.678 coruscl coruscis (5. I1. 26) 9.732 invertice sub vertice (5. 13. 35) 9.733 mittit mittunt (5. 13. 35) 9.807 iniectis obiectis (6. 3. 4)

10.103 Zephyri venti (6. 2. 26)1° 6 Cf. Aeneid 4. 272. 7 In 5. 5. 14 Macrobius agrees with the OCT.

8 In 5. 9. 2 Macrobius agrees with the OCT. * In 7. 1. 23 Macrobius agrees with the OCT. 10 In 5. 13. 38 Macrobius agrees with the OCT.

528 APPENDIX C Aeneid

10.129 Menestheo Mnestheo (5. 17. 19) 10.168 quique urbem quique Cosas liquere (5. 15. 7) liquere Cosas

10.270 avertice ac vertice (5. 10. 2 and 13. 35)

10.271 aureus aereus (5. 13. 35)!

10.524 et per (5. 10. 5)

10.531 multa talenta magna talenta (5. 10. 5)

10.536 applicat abdidit (5. 10. 5)

10.551 silvicolae Fauno silvicolae Fauni (6. 5. 9)

10.554 tum tunc (5. 13. 2)

10.555 tepentem reliquit (5. 13. 2)

10.758 iram casum (5. 16. 14) 11.24 quae qui (4. 4. 9) 11.85 Acoetes Aletes (4. 3. 5)

11.193 derepta direpta (6. 6. 5) 11.243 Diomedem Diomeden!?? (5. 17. 19) 11.268 subsedit possedit (4. 4. 22) 11.425 varlique varlusque (6. 2. 16)

11.483 praeses praesens (5. 3. 10) 11.485 sub altis sub ipsis (5. 3. 10)

11.669 in vulnere in sanguine (4. 6. 14)

11.731 in proelia ad proelia (6. I. 34)

11.768 Cybelo Cybelae (5. 1. 12) 11.860 et duxit adduxit (5. 3. 2)

11.794 vot votis (5. 3. 7)

12.21 casus causas (6. 2. 17)

12.101 ardentis loquentis (4. I. 2)

12.150 vis inimica lux inimica (5. 13. 39)

12.201 et ac (3. 2. 9)

12.207 umbras umbram (5. 3. 14)

12.221 tabentesque pubentesque (4. 3. 4)

12.224 Camerti Camertae (5. 15. 11)

12.339 rapida rara (5. 12. 1)

12.565 esto dictis dictis esto (6. I. 19)

12.813 misero (fateor) (fateor) misero (6. 6. 11) 11 In 5. 10. 2 Macrobius agrees with the OCT. 12 See note on 5. 17. 19 in the translation.

SELECTEO BIBLIOGRAPHY

Works cited in abbreviated form in the notes are listed here under their abbreviations, which are placed in brackets and precede the full entry. Alfoldi, A. A Conflict of Ideas in the Late Roman Empire. Tr. by Mattingley. Oxford, 1952. [Baehrens] Fragmenta poetarum Romanorum. Ed. by A. Baehrens. Leipzig, 1886.

Bardon, H. La Litterature Latine Inconnue. 2 vols. Paris, 1952-56. Bede, The Venerable. Bedae opera de temporibus. Ed. by C. W. Jones. Cambridge, Mass., 1943.

Bloch, H. “The Last Pagan Revival in the West,” Harvard Theological Review, XXX VIII (1945), 199-243. Boissier, G. La Fin du Paganisme. 7th ed. 2 vols. Paris, 1922. Bornecque, H., and F. Richard, trs. Macrobe: Les Saturnales. 2 vols. Paris, 1937. [CIL] Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Berlin 1862 to date. Codex Theodosianus. Ed. by T. Mommsen and P. M. Meyer. 2d ed. 2 vols. in 3. Berlin, 1954.

Comparetti, D. Vergil in the Middle Ages. Tr. by Benecke. London, 1908.

[Conington] Conington, J., and H. Nettleship. The Works of Virgil. 3 vols. Vol. I: 5th ed., London, 1898; Vol. II: 4th ed., London, 1884; Vol. III: 3d ed., London, 1883. [Diels] Diels, H., and W. Kranz. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. ath ed. 3 vols. Berlin, 1951-52. [Dill] Dill, S. Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire. 2d ed. London, 1899.

530 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Dimsdale, M. S. A History of Latin Literature. London, 1915. Dudden, F. H. The Life and Times of St. Ambrose. 2 vols. Oxford, 1935.

Duff, J. W. and A. M. Minor Latin Poets. Loeb Classical Library. London and Cambridge, Mass., 1954.

[Edmonds, Elegy and lambus] Greek Elegy and Jambus. Ed. by J. M. Edmonds. Loeb Classical Library. 2 vols. London and Cambridge, Mass., 1954.

[Edmonds, Lyra Graeca] Lyra Graeca. Ed. by J. M. Edmonds. Loeb Classical Library. 3 vols. London and Cambridge, Mass., 1952.

Ellis, Robinson, ed. The Fables of Avianus. Oxford, 1887. [Eyssenhardt] Macrobius. Ed. by F. Eyssenhardt. 2d ed. Leipzig, 1893.

[Festus] Sexti Pompei Festi De verborum significatu quae supersunt cum Pauli epitome. Ed. by W. M. Lindsay. Leipzig, 1913.

Fowler, W. Warde. The Death of Turnus. Oxford, 1919. [Fowler, Essays] Fowler, W. Warde. Roman Essays and Interpretations. Oxford, 1920. [Fowler, Festivals] Fowler, W. Warde. The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic. London and New York, 1899. Fowler, W. Warde. Vergil’s Gathering of the Clans. 2d ed. Oxford, 1918.

Fraenkel, E. “Some Aspects of the Structure of Aeneid VII,” Journal of Roman Studies, XX XV (1945), 1-14. [Frazer, Pausanias| Frazer, J. G. Pausanias’ Description of Greece. 2d ed. 6 vols. London, 1913.

[Glover] Glover, T. R. Life and Letters in the Fourth Century. Cambridge, England, 1go1. Glover, T. R. Studies in Virgil. London, 1904.

Hardie, W. R. Lectures on Classical Subjects. London and New York, 1903. [Isidore of Seville] Isidor1 Hispalensis episcopi Etymologiarum libri XX. Ed. by W. M. Lindsay. 2 vols. Oxford, 1911.

[Jan] Macrobius: Opera quae supersunt. Ed. by L. von Jan. 2 vols. Quedlinburg and Leipzig, 1848-52.

Knauer, G. N. Die Aeneis und Homer: Studien zur poetischen Technik Vergils mit Listen der Homerzitate in der Aeneis. Hypomnemata 7. Gottingen, 1964.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 531 [Merry] Merry, W. W. Selected Fragments of Roman Poetry from the Earliest Times of the Republic to the Augustan age. 2d ed. Oxford, 1898. Momigliano, A., ed. The Conflict between Paganism and Christi-

anity in the Fourth Century. Oxford-Warburg Studies. Oxford, 1963.

Mommsen, T. History of Rome. Tr. by W. P. Dickson. 4 vols. New York, 1886.

[Morel] Fragmenta poetarum Latinorum epicorum et lyricorum praeter Ennium et Lucilium. Ed. by W. Morel. 2d ed. Stuttgart, 1963.

[Nauck] Nauck, A. Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta. 2d ed. Leipzig, 1889, Euripidis fragmenta. 3d ed. Leipzig, 1892.

Nettleship, H. “The Ancient Commentators on Vergil,” in J. Conington, The Works of Virgil (4th and 5th eds.), Vol. I. Nettleship, H. Ancient Lives of Vergil with an Essay on the Poems

of Vergil in Connection with His Life and Times. Oxford, 1879.

[Nettleship, Essays in Latin Literature] Nettleship, H. Lectures and Essays on Subjects Connected with Latin literature and scholarship. Oxford, 1885.

[Nettleship, Lectures and Essays| Nettleship, H. Lectures and Essays, 2d series. Oxford, 1895. Nettleship, H. “On Some of the Early Criticism of Virgil’s Poetry,”

in J. Conington, The Works of Vergil (4th and sth eds.), Vol. I. [Ribbeck] Scaenicae Romanorum poesis fragmenta. Ed. by O. Ribbeck. 3d ed. 2 vols.: I. Tragicorum fragmenta, I]. Comicorum fragmenta. Leipzig, 1897-98. Rose, H. J. Plutarch, Roman Questions. Oxford, 1924. Sainte-Beuve, C. A. Etude sur Virgile. 2d ed. Paris, 1891.

Saintsbury, G. A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe. Vol I. Edinburgh and London, 1961. Sellar, W. Y. The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age: Virgil. 3d ed. Oxford, 1897.

[Stahl] Stahl, W. H., tr. Macrobius’ Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. New York, 1952.

[Warmington] Remains of Old Latin. Ed. by E. H. Warmington. Loeb Classical Library. Vols. 1-3. London and Cambridge, Mass., 1961.

532 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY [Webb] Joannes Saresberiensis: Policraticus. Ed. by C. C. J. Webb. 2 vols. Oxford, 1909.

Webb, C. C. J. “On Some Fragments of Macrobius’ Saturnalia,” Classical Review, XI (1897), 441. Wessner, P. “Macrobius,” in Pauly’s Real-Encyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, XIV (Stuttgart, 1928), cols. 170-98.

Whittaker, T’. Macrobius, or Philosophy, Science, and Letters in the Year goo. Cambridge, England, 1923.

Wilkins, A.S. M. Tulli Ciceronis De oratore libri tres. Oxford, 1892.

[Willis] Macrobius: Saturnalia. Ed. by J. Willis. Leipzig, 1963.

Wissowa, G. De Macrobii Saturnaliorum fontibus capita tria. Dissertation. Breslau, 1880.

HOMER, LUCRETIUS, VERGIL HOMER

Iliad 4. 125, 433 10. 255-65, 316 I. 51-52, 116 4. 141, 330 10. 457, 333

I. 70, 138 4. 223,346 10. 469-81, 316-17 I. 71-72, 347 4. 223-24, 430 Il. 1-2, 306, 317 I. 157, 346 4. 259, 494 II. 2, 147 I. 234-39, 292 4. 320, 355 II. 131-47, 320-21 I. 260-61, 347 4. 422-26, 338 II. 155-57; 335 I. 366-67, 347 4- 442-43, 341 II. 241, 329

I. 423-25, 149 4- 443, 292 II. 475-79, 305

I. 469, 291 4. 448, 345 Il. 492-95, 302 I. 528-30, 338, 342 5+ 4,341 II. 534-35, 330 2. 87-93, 323 5+ 31, 56 11. 680-81, 345 2. 235,317 5. 75, 468 12. 131-36, 328 2. 381, 444 5. 87-93, 335 12. 200-7, 340

2. 381-82, 375 5. 366, 430 12. 299-306, 301 2. 459-63, 311-12 5. 631, 346 12. 299-308, 321

2. 485, 334 6. 23-24, 337 12. 440-41, 315 2. 488-90, 370 6. 138, 357 13. 131, 408 2. 489, 408 6. 305-7, 291 13. 339, 411 2. SII, 352 6. 488-89, 320 13. 341, 330 2. $17, 352 6. 506-11, 409 13. 342, 345 2. $27, 353 7- 92,299 13. 363-69, 300 2. 536, 352 7- 132-35, 313 13. 389-91, 325 2. 559, 352 7+ 152-58, 313 13. 563, 346 2. 578, 518 7. 157,347 13. 589, 346 2. 581, 352 7. 321-24, 372 14. 231, 309 2. 594-600, 354 7. 323,291 14. 267-68, 295 2. 646-48, 353 7. 433, 120 14. 352, 374

2. 657-02, 354 8. 1, 306 14. 390, 346 2. 671, 353 8. 16, 290 15. 37-38, 338

2. 766-67, 122 8. 45, 430 15. 436, 291 2. 859, 317 8. 47-48, 374 15. 605, 134 3+ 3-4, 319 8. 62, 345 15. 733-41, 318 3. 23-28, 3217 8. 306-8, 322 16. 33-34, 326 3: 33-37, 301 8. 330, 291 16. 102-11, 407 3. 57, 423 8. 485-86, 300 16. 130, 518 3. 182, 345 8. 518, 484 16. 130-39, 322 3. 220, 346 9. 4-7, 336 16. 214-15, 340

3: 277, 150 Q- 328-29, 347 16. 250, 291 4. IOI, 120 9. 340-41, 375 16. 440-42, 320

4. 123, 290 10. 13, 184 16. 482-84, 325

534 INDEX OF CITATIONS 16. 765-71, 336 23. 757, 308 9. 288-94, 337 16. 851-54, 332 23. 764, 333 9. 372, 334

17. 53-58, 306 23. 850, 308 9. 528-30, 532-35, 33! 17. 720, 352 24- 339-45, 305 10, 21-22, 295

18. 182, 315 24. 343, 718 10. 144-47, 296

IQ. 2, 147 10. 210-13, 371 19. 10-13, 374 Odyssey 10. 279, 339

19. 18, 314 2. 2-4, 312 It. 6-7, 336

20. 61-65, 356 2. IO-II, 3/3 II. Q-10, 303 20. 164-75, 339 2. 2775 355 II. 66-78, 310

20. 226-29, 312 3. 72-74, 311 11. 204-8, 308-9 20. 307-8, 291 3. 113-16, 296 II. 206-8, 302

20. 403-5, 334-35 3- 247-49, 251, 449 II. 243-44, 290

21. 122, 289 4. 149-50, 304 II. 308-16, 337 21. 168, 426 4. 221, 444 Il. 576-81, 310 21. 362-65, 327 4. 242, 444 I2. 13-15, 309 21. 448, 121 5. 1-2, 306, 327 12. 73-74, 424 22. 25-32, 379 5. 2, 247 12. 85-97, 304 22. 93-96, 301 5. 57-62, 331 I2. 104-5, 305 22. 127-28, 345 5. 60, 249 12. 208-12, 324

22. 200, 343 5. 264, 249 I2. 236-43, 304

22. 308-11, 332 5. 270-74, 325 12. 403-4, 290, 303

22. 317-18, 313 5+ 291, 296 12. 403-6, 307

22. 364-66, 332 5. 297,291 13. 19, 518 22. 373-74, 300 5. 490, 330 13. 80, 292

22. 410-11, 276 6. 102-9, 297 13. 81-83, 327 23. 15-16, 321 6. 107, 334 13. 96-104, 293-94 23. 114, 309 6. 149-52, 296 14. 162, 112

23. 164, 309 6. 218-19, fol 15. 74,355 23. 220-21, 307 6. 226, fol I5. 126, 303 23. 358, 308 7. 14-17, 297 IQ. 307, 112 23. 368-69, 334 7- 36, 134 20. 69, 475

23. 380-81, 333 7. 241-42, 299 21. 207-8, 298 23. 560-62, 307 8. 351, 355 23. 153-62, 297-98 23. 618, 303 8. 505-13, 299-300 24. 402, 117 23. 685-86, 308

LUCRETIUS

1. 7,415 2. 4Ol, 394 5+ 937-38; 397 I. 123, 394 3+ 70-72, 4ol 5+ 945,397

I. 134-35, 394 3. 987, 414 5+ 1293-94, 397. I. 922-27, 398 3+ 1034, 393 6. 154-55, 411 2. 24-33, 399 4. 38-39, 390 6. 204-5, 417

2. 28, 415 4. 907-8, 393 6. 405, 393 2. 144, 390 5+ 33,390 6. 874-75, 412

2. 207, 390 5. 213-17, 405 6. 1138-40, 399 2. 214, 390 5+ 294-95, 414 6. 1145-50, 400 2. 324, 390 5+ 432-30, 443-45, 403 6. 1178-79, 401

2. 329-30, 412 5. 443-44, 413 6. 1182-89, 400 2. 352-53, 417 5. 446-48, 403 6. 1219-22, 401

2. 361-63, 399 5+ 455, 403 6. 1226-29, 400 2. 367-68, 416

INDEX OF CITATIONS 535 VERGIL

Eclogues I. 239, 145 3- 529-30, 397 I. 4,262 I. 256, 414 3. 546-47, 401 1. 64-65, 262 I. 259-61, 434 3. 548-49, 4ol

2. 24, 362 I. 269-70, 199 4. 10-11, 416 2. 52, 246 I. 272, 107, 199 4. 44, 422

3. 8-9, 280 I. 295, 345 4. 50, 423 3. 49, 392 I. 308, 477 4. 102, 224 3. 77, 195 I. 344, 222,224 4. LIO-11, 211 3. 108, 282 I. 345, 206 4. 136, 426 4. 20, 426 I. 367, 390 4. 151, 370 4. 43-44, 212 1. 387, 346 4. 179, 361 4. 46, 392 I. 437, 362 4. 238, 427

4. 57, 362 I. 508, 397 4- 334-36, 338, 361 4. 58-59, 345 2. 36, 426 4. 361, 290 5. 27-28, 279 2. 51, 426 4. 380-81, 377 5+ 74-75, 206 2. 59, 426 4. 393, 138

6. 4-5, 413 2. 69, 345 4. 461, 361

6. 17, 377 2. 126-27, 130, 249 4. 462, 361 6. 31-37, 403 2. 246-47, 393-94 4. 463, 361

6. 33,417 2. 290, 246 4. 465-66, 280 6. 35-30, 413 2. 374, 415 4- 472, 390 6. 48-50, 275 2. 387, 423 4. 477, 260 6. 74-75, 273 2. 395, 206 4- 479, 430

6. 75-76, 428 2. 461-63, 398 4. 504, 278

7. 7,423 2. 462, 410 4. 507, 263

7+ 43,279 2. 467-72, 399 4. 511, 273 7. 61, 226 2. 500-1, 397 4. §21, 263 8. 63, 355, 391 2. 506, 392 4. 522, 268

8. 85-88, 402 2. 510-11, 401 4. 525-27, 280

Q. 2-4, 276 3- 4-5, 429 4. 538, 205

9. 28, 279 3+ 55,415 4. 540, 205

9. 41-42, 4l2z 3- 73-745 425 4. 551, 205

IO. 11-12, 425 3. 108-9, 334 10. 52, 361 3. III, 333 Aeneid 10. 69, 345, 355 3. 115-17, 402, 438 I. 1-3, 287

3. 223, 415 1. 8, 214 Georgics 3. 226-27, 266 I. 34-35, 288 I. §-7, 113 3. 289-93, 398 I. 37,256 I. 5-8, 132 3. 325, 120 I. 39-40, 272 I. 7-9, 363 3. 391-93, 383 I. 41, 272 I. 11, 362 3. 449, 345 I. 42, 383 I. 53,355 3- 478-80, 399 1. 65-66, 295 I. 75,417 3. 482, 268 I. 71-73, 295 I. 84, 132 3. 498-99, 255 1. 81, 296 1. 84-93, 284 3. 500-1, 255 I. 92,291 1. 85, 411 3. 500-2, 400 I. 94, 275 I. 100-4, 374 3- 503, 400 I. 105, 423

I. 118-19, 404-5 3. 505-8, 4oo I. 135, 280, 425 I. 145-46, 355 3- §20-22, 399 I. 159-69, 293

I. 126-27, 63 3- 509-11, 400 I. 137, 433

536 INDEX OF CITATIONS I. 198-203, 324 2. 261, 361 3. 19, 196 I. 203, 448 2. 265, 389 3. 21, 220 I. 216, 159 2. 272-73, 262 3. 26, 221 I. 224, 418 2. 274-76, 300 3. 46, 423

I. 228, 255 2. 281, 402 3- 57,355

I. 250, 276 2. 293, 296-97, 202 3- 66, 377 I. 282, 479 2. 304-8, 335 3+ 755417 I. 294-96, 274 2. 324-27, 283 3. 89, 208 I. 306-9, 296 2. 326-27, 219 3. 97-98, 291 I. 326-29, 296 2. 341-44, 300 3. 118-19, 201

I. 354, 394 2. 351,219 3- IIQ, 220, 335 I. 372-74, 296 2. 351-52, 217, 383 3. 130, 336

I. 373,195 2. 352, 219 3. 163, 387

I. 384, 262 2. 355-60, 300-1 3. 175, 394 I. 411-14, 297 2. 361-63, 283-84 3. 192-93, 290, 303 I. 430-36, 323 2. 365-66, 263 3+ 199, 390 I. 472-73, 263 2. 379-82, 301 3. 221, 419

I. 475, 260 2. 390, 355 3+ 251-52, 354

I. 483, 262 2. 403-4, 263, 269 3. 268-69, 303 I. 498-503, 297 2. 416-18, 404 3- 284, 97

I. 500, 362 2. 416-19, 336 3. 321-23, 275 I. 501, 334 2. 422, 426 3. 332, 263 I. 530, 387 2. 425-26, 263 3. 420-32, 303-4 T. 539) 39! 2. 470, 330 3- 437, 202 I. 573, 424 2. 471-75, 301 3. 438, 202 I. 588-93, 297 2. 496-99, 301-2 3. 486-87, 303 I. 595-96, 298 2. 535,256 3- 489-90, 273, 304 I. 612, 350 2. §50-51, 267 3. 513-17, 325 I. 619, 347 2. 553, 267 3. 566-67, 304 I. 628, 277 2. 556-57, 261 3. 570-77, 360 I. 691-92, 393 2. 560, 277 3. 585-86, 414 I. 720-21, 423 2. 563, 260 3. 587, 388

I. 723,159 2. 597-98, 260 3. 618, 432 I. 726, 414 2. 601, 361 3. 620, 279 I. 734, 202 2. 626-31, 324 3. 621, 395

I. 736, 223 2. 632-33, 214 3. 622-25, 336-37

2. 1,299 2. 648-49, 261 3. 623, 278 2. 3-5, 299 2. 674, 260 3+ 631, 334 2. 31-39, 299 2. 682-83, 685-86, 798 3. 645, 264

2. 79-80, 396 2. 702, 203 3. 646-47, 262 2. 83-85, 266 2. 717, 203 3. 699-700, 413

2. 89-90, 261 2. 717-20, 189 3. 712-13, 276 2. 100-1, 280 2. 719-20, 190 3. 715, 288 2. 112-13, 439 2. 729, 266 4. 56-57, 201, 423

2. 116-19, 205 2. 762, 361 4. 57, 204 2. 222-24, 334 2. 774, 254 4. 57-59, 226 2. 223-24, 273 2. 782, 411 4. 62, 201 2. 225-27, 200 2. 792-93, 308 4. 63-64, 204 2. 241-42, 283 2. 792-94, 302 4. 66-67, 426

2. 248-49, 201 3. 10, 262 4. 69-73, 305 2. 250, 386 3. II, 283 4. 71,419 2. 250-51, 300 3. 12, 202 4. 130, 253

INDEX OF CITATIONS 537 4- 154-55, 412 5. 426, 308 6. 460, 393 4. 176-77, 340-41 5. 438, 422 6. 470-72, 254 4. 177, 292 5. 468-70, 254 6. 497, 261 4. 219-20, 193 5+ 471-72, 254 6. 498-99, 255 4. 238-46, 305 5. 481, 205 6. 515-16, 403 4. 288, 362 5. 483-84, 204 6. 522, 292 4. 301-2, 273 5. 485, 308 6. 529-30, 279 4. 302-3, 361 5+ 517-18, 214 6. 535-36, 37 4. 305-67, 325-26 5+ 589, 344 6. 539, 37

4. 371-72, 396 5. 609, 422 6. 578-79, 291 4. 401, 346 5. 626, 264 6. 582-84, 337 4. 419-20, 276 5. 632, 426 6. 592-93, 268 4. 441-46, 306 5. 074, 390 6. 595-600, 370 4. 453,417 5. 681-82, 426 6. 597-98, 267 4. 482, 387 5. 738-39, 37 6. 602-3, 268 4. 512,190 5- 740-42, 308 6. 611, 267 4. 513-14, 369 5+ 777s 336 6. 612, 267 4. 514, 424 5. 792, 263 6. 616, 268 4. 530-31, 423 5. 822, 362 6. 621, 267 4. §34-35, 278 5. 823, 362 6. 621-22, 392 4. 584-85, 306, 317, 390 5. 824, 362 6. 625, 408

4. §85, 391 5. 826, 367 6. 625-27, 310 4. 590-91, 256, 426 5. 871, 345 6. 635-36, 197

4. 591, 261 6. 6, 330 6. 644, 361

4. 612-20, 330-31 6. 33, 344 6. 657, 194 4. 634-35, 190 6. 38-39, 205 6. 700-1, 308

4. 638, 196 6. 47-48, 255 6. 700-2, 302

4. 651,277 6. 65-66, 198 6. 724, 393

4- 657-58, 393 6. 90-91, 410 6. 797, 387 4. 659-60, 256 6. 119-23, 271 6. 822, 279 4. 669-70, 276 6. 123, 272 6. 842-43, 393

4. 677, 278 6. 124, 194 6. 846, 389 4. 698-99, 368 6. 141, 346 7- 9,411 4. 702-3, 369 6. 144, 424 7. 10-14, 331 5. 1-2, 288 6. 167, 433 7. 15-20, 311 5. 8-11, 307 6. 179-82, 404 7+ 30, 32, 159 5+ 31,394 6. 204, 424 7+ 139, 190 5+ 771377 6. 214, 309 7- 179, 418

5+ 98-99, 307 6. 229-30, 190 7. 187-88, 432 5+ 144-47, 327 6. 232-35, 309 7. 188, 41 5. 194-95, 250 6. 258-59, 197 7+ 197-200, 312 5. 235-38, 192-93 6. 273, 434 7+ 249-50, 255

5. 237-38, 192 6. 276, 346 7. 282, 415

5+ 257,427 6. 278, 309 7. 283, 421

5. 259-61, 307 6. 287, 346 7+ 293-94, 256 5. 302, 396 6. 308, 260 7. 293-305, 308-10,

5. 315, 308 6. 336, 268 312-13, 315-16, 5. 320, 406 6. 356-57, 263 318-20, 257-58 5. 324, 334 6. 363-66, 309 7+ 295-96, 396 5+ 372, 432 6. 405-7, 425 7+ 303, 190 5. 4OI-2, 432 6. 427, 260 7. 304-5, 272 5. 422-23, 393 6. 446, 278 7. 305-6, 272

538 INDEX OF CITATIONS

7. 307, 272 8. 358, 59 9. 599, 261 7. 359, 261 8. 362-63, 209 9. 617, 317

7. 417, 422 8. 455-62, 312 9. 627, 206 7. 462-66, 327 - 8. 484, 279 9. 675-82, 328 7. 520-21, 388 8. 485, 268 9. 684-85, 350 7. 528-30, 338 8. 560-67, 313 9. 732-33, 341-42 7. 536, 265 8. 561-62, 348 9. 755, 261 7+ 537) 261 8. 589-91, 313 9. 767, 362

7. 586, 407 8. 596, 389 9: 773, 426

7. 601-3, 215 8. 597-601, 198 9. 782-87, 317 7- 625, 395 8. 612-19, 313-14 9. 794, 390

7. 636, 397 8. 620, 342 9. 806-14, 408 7. 645, 334 8. 643, 267 IO. 2, 387

7- 647, 352 8. 676-77, 346 10. 63-64, 256 | 7. 649, 352 8. 691-92, 346 10. 85, 287

7. 055,352 8. 694, 419 10. 100-3, 404 7. 670, 352 - 8. 702-3, 273 10. 101-3, 342 7. 678, 352 8. 714, 90 IO. 129, 362

7. 684-90, 365 8. 724, 416 10. 167, 350 7. 6O1, 352 9. 18-19, 315 10. 188, 279 7. 699-702, 311 9. 37-38, 426 10. 189, 348 7. 706, 352 9. 47-50, 284 10. 215-16, 419 7+ 7235352 9. 59-60, 273 10. 264-66, 379 7+ 744 352 9. 104-6, 338 10. 270-71, 342

7+ 750, 352 Q. 115-16, 279 10. 270-75, 319 7+ 752,350 9. 138-39, 267, 315 10. 284, 397 7. 759-60, 280 9. 146-47, 315 10. 314, 429 7- 761, 350, 352 9. 157-58, 315, 444 10. 360-61, 339

7. 785-86, 342 9. 181, 339 10. 361, 408 7. 792, 427 9. 199-200, 426 10. 395, 261 7+ 794-800, 353 Q. 252, 425 10. 418, 422 7. 808-11, 372 9. 269, 425 10. 419-20, 212

8. 72, 387 9. 294, 277 10. 444, 421 ° 8. 84-85, 196 Q. 303-10, 315-16 10. 449-50, 395 8. 90, 392 9. 314-23, 316 10. 467, 112, 355

8. OI, 394 Q. 328, 317 10. 467-68, 379

8. 150-51, 387 9. 399-400, 278 10. 472, 319 8. 157-58, 347 9. 416, 392 10. 488, 389 8. 175-76, 211 Q. 422-23, 388 10. 517-10, 289 8. 181, 423 9. 433-34, 278 IO. 521, 289 8. 182-85, 312 9. 435-37, 322 10. 524-36, 320

8. 184, 291 9- 455-50, 421 10. 532-33, 259 8. 197, 278 9. 459-60, 306, 377, 390 10. 551, 418 8. 243-46, 357 9. 460, 391 10. 554-55, 333 8. 255, 346 9. 479-77, 255 10. 557, 259 8. 270, 210 9. 486-87, 403 10. 562, 357 8. 278, 377, 380 9. 528, 388 10. 587-88, 414

8. 279, 222 9. 546-47, 331 10. 597,259

8. 285-86, 225 9. 551-53, 339 10. 599-600, 285 8. 290-93, 425 9. 563-67, 332 10. 641, 394 8. 293, 419 9. 571, 351 10. 706, 262 8. 311-12, 449 9. 581-85, 370 10. 714, 424

INDEX OF CITATIONS 539 10. 723-20, 321 II. 267-68, 262 12. 201, 194 10. 739-43, 331-32 II. 415, 280 12. 204, 279 10. 745-46, 329 II. 425-27, 40l 12. 206-7, 425 10. 758-59, 357 II. 469, 344 12. 206-11, 292

10. 767, 292 Il. 483-85, 292 12. 221, 260 10. 781, 265-66 11. 486-90, 321-22 12. 224,391 10. 782, 262 Il. 487-88, 431 12. 228,391 10. 812, 266 II. 492, 409 12. 284, 395, 423 10. 819, 278 Il. 500-1, 412 12. 298-300, 351 10. 844, 261 II. 532-35, 382 12. 339-40, 330 10. 850, 269 Il. §42-43, 215 12. 346, 356 10. 854, 278 Il. 601-2, 411 12. 395, 266 : 10. 856-57, 261 11. 669, 278 12. 435-36, 396 10. 861-62, 277 II. 690-91, 424 12. 492-93, 395

10. 879, 269 Il. 731, 391 12. 547, 262

10. 886-87, 423 II. 745, 389 12. 552, 388 10. 906, 422 Il. 751-56, 340 12. 565, 389 Il. 4,422 II. 768-73, 777, 284 12. 636, 258 II. 15-16, 207 Il. 770-71, 431 12. 638-39, 258 II. 24-25, 266 II. 794-95, 297 12. 646, 355 II. 39-40, 278 II. 804, 426 12. 648-49, 197 II. 49-50, 276 11. 836, 270, 382 12. 725-26, 343 II. 68, 273 11. 860-62, 290 I2. 770-71, 197 II. 82, 422 11. 882-83, 263 12. 777-78, 277

Il. 85, 260 II. 890, 344 12. 777-79; 197 II. 124-25, 406 I2. 19-21, 285, 401 12. 813-14, 424

Il. 154-55, 277 12. 43-45, 269 12. 836-37, 216 II. 158-59, 197 12. 67-68, 330 12. 882, 269 II. I9I, 321 12. 95-96, 277 12. 933-34, 277 Il. 193-94, 422 I2. 101-2, 255 I2. 934, 260 Il. 243, 362 12. 149-50, 343 12. 936-37, 258 II. 266-68, 269 I2. 161-62, 424

NOTE TO GENERAL INDEX Passages cited from the works of Homer, Lucretius, and Vergil are not included in the General Index as they appear in the Index of Citations (pp. 533-39); variations from the received text are listed in Appendix C (pp. 522-28).

The contents of excerpted passages of Homer, Vergil, and other poets are

not indexed.

It has been found convenient to keep separate the initial letters I and J, U and V. The following letter abbreviations of names have been used:

A. M.P. Marcus C.Aulus Gaius Publius D. Decimus Quintus L. LuciusQO. T. Titus

:

Aborigines of Italy, 60 Mysians, 376 Acarnania, 84, 364 The Priestesses, 384 ablution, ritual, 189-90 Supplices, 125n Acca Larentia, 71-72 Aesculapius, 137

) Accitani, 133 Aesopus, actor, 233-34 Accius, 1297; (cited): Aesopus, freedman, 77 Annals, 62 Aetolia, 365-66, 382

Antigone, 396, 402 Aetolian War, the, 95 Award of the Arms, 395, 396 Afranius (cited): 417

Bacchae, 418, 419 Lhe Chair, 252 Minotaur, 419 The Feast of the Cross Roads,

Pelopidae, 431 385-86 Philoctetes, 395, 416, 419 The Maiden, 413 Telephus, 396 Titulus, 434

Achelous, connoting water, 363-65 Agathon, a character in Plato’s Sym-

Acilius, C., senator, 487 posium, 159-60, 442

Acilius, Manius, consul, 95 agmen, meaning of, 411

Actium, 907 Agonalia, festival, go

actors, 180-84, 233-34 Agrippa, M. Vipsanius, 176, 177 Acusilaus (cited), 365 air, 142, 465, 478, 5173 identified with Adad, 152-53; see also sun, the deities, 103, 124, 201-2

Adargatis, 152-53 Albidius, 162-63

additus, meaning of, 410 Albinovanus, P., 229 addubitatio (4ndpnotc), Albinus, A. Postumius, 28, 252 _

rhetorical figure, 277-78 Albinus, Caecina, 7-8, 13-22 passim,

GOEAMOG, meaning of, 126 29, 33-34) 35 39 61, 157» 163, 185, adfectus (emotion), 254-81 passim 231, 385, 409, 477-78, 499 _ adjournment days, 105, 107 Albinus, Furius, 8, 13-22 passim, 209, Adonis, 141, see also sun, the 33> 39) 157, 163, 231, 245, 385, 410,

Adriatic sea, 495 441, 476-77

adtestatio, rhetorical figure, 278 Alcaeus, comic poet, 375

Aegean sea, 495 Alcaeus, lyric poet, 509 Aelian, 1437, 1447 Alcibiades, 159

Aelius Gallus, C. (cited), 435 Alcinous’ banquet, 288, 443

Aemilia, vestal virgin, 71 Aleman, 517

Aemilian Law (sumptuary), 2437 Alcmena, 138, 377 Aemilius, military tribune, 109 Alexander, writer, 129-30 Aemilius Lepidus, M., consul, 94?, 243 Alexander of Aetolia, poet, 382-83 Aemilius Lepidus, M., triumvir, 94?, Alexander the Great, 57, 247

169, 229 Alexandria, 57, 907, 139

Aemilius Regillus, 71 Allia, battle of the, 109

GEpOtEpic, GEpdtopic, meaning of, altar (ara), 193-94, 222-23

103, 516 ambarvalis, meaning of, 206

Aeschylus (cited): 129 Ammianus Marcellinus, 4, 967, 4737,

Aetna, 371-72 4952 Eumenides, 384 Ammon, 144

542 GENERAL INDEX Amphias of Tarsus, 454 aposiopesis (mtermussio, tactturnitas) ,

an, meaning of, 97 rhetorical figure, 279-80, 425

Anagnia, 365 apostrophe, rhetorical figure, exanalogy, grammatical, 40, 45 amples of, 277

Anaxandrides, (cited), 378-79 Appius Claudius, 210

Anaxilaus of Rhegium, 79 apples, 248, 470

Ancus, king of Rome, 71, 72 “appointed” days, 105, 107

Andron of Laodicea, 168 April, 85, 142

Angerona, Angeronia, 71, 217 Apuleius, 287, 4597, 4817, 5037 animalis, meaning of, 204-5 Aquinius, L., soothsayer, 109

Anna Perenna, 85 ara (altar), 193-94, 222-23

Annales Maximi, 195 Ara Maxima, Rome, 210, 211, 223,

Annuus, 74-75 225-26 annus (year), 96-97; see also calendar, Aratus, 286-87; (cited), epigram, 375,

Roman Phaenomina, 130

Antandros, 375 Arcadia, 84, 147

Antevorta, 58 Archilochus (cited), 115-16 Anthologia Graeca, 821, 164n, 3627, Architis, 141-42

3752, 501N Areopagites, 443

Antian Law (sumptuary), 243-44 Argiphontes, meaning of, 134-35

Antias, Valerius, 40, 94 ar gumentum:

Antigonus, king of Macedon, 452 ab exemplo, 271-72 Antiochus, king of Syria, 71, 162 ab imagine, 271, 273-74

Antipater, Caelius, 43 a loco (from the place), 262-64, 275 Antipater, the Stoic, 120, 124 a maiore, 276

Antisthenes, the Cynic, 55, 442-43, a materia, 267, 268-69

454 a minore, 257, 275-76

Antium, 151 a modo, 267-68, 271-72, 275 Antius Restio, 77-78, 243-44 a parabola, 273

Antonius, M., grandfather of the a simili, 258, 271, 275

Triumvir, 285, 406 circa rem, 271

244. Argus, 135

Antonius, M., the Triumvir, go, 163, praeter spem, 276

Antonius Gnipho, 226 Aricia, 89

Aphrodite, see Venus Aridices, philosopher, 452

Apis, 144 Aristomenes (cited), 376

Apollo, 114-27 passim, 135, 208-9, 220 Aristophanes, 51”, 1287, 214, 521;

and Aesculapius, 137 (cited), Acharnians, 376, Cocalus, and Horus, 143 364 and Janus, 66-67 Aristotle: on bronze, 518; on fresh

and Jupiter, 384 water and sea water, 500-1; on table and Liber, 128-29 talk, 455; on the pleasures of the and Mercury, 134 senses, 186-87 and the penates, 201 Ethica Nicomachea, 45on

and the sun, 143 Inquiries into Natural Science oracle and temple of, 128, 131, 208 (cited), 493-94

Apollodorus, 64, 117, 137 Inquiries into the Nature of the Apollonius Rhodius, 3127, 359 Divine, 128 a&nopnoicg (addubitatio), rhetorical Mirabilia, 3710

figure, 277-78 On Drunkenness, 470

GENERAL INDEX 543 The Poets (cited), 366-67 Babylonians, 35

Problemata, 187n (cited), 478n, Bacchanalia, festival, 40

5007, 5187 Bacchus, 128-29, 133

Arruntia, vestal virgin, 229 Bacis, 144

Diana bacon, 89, 489

Artemis, 103, 116, 118, 516; see also backgammon, 47

Asclepiades, of Myrlea, 378 Baiae, 235

Asina, Cornelius, 54 Balbus, Cornelius, 211 Asinius Celer, 238 baldness, 452, 470, 484-85

Asinius Pollio, 41, 78, 173, 212 Bassus, Gavius, 67, 211; (cited), 245

Asper, grammarian, 206-7, 210 bath, shower, 235

aspersion, ritual, 190-91 bathhouses, 516

assembly days, 105, 107 “battle” days, 105, 107-8, 109

Assos, 375 bean pottage, 89

Assyrians, 126, 141, 151, 152 Bede, 24, 357, 847, 87, 89n, 917, 967, Ateius Capito, 97; (cited), 220, 221, 977, 1007

499-500 bees, 27, 427

Atellan plays, 70; see also Novius; bellaria (dessert), 185, 245, 248

Pomponius bidentes, 437-38

Aterianus (Haterianus), Julius, 214 birds, 174-75, 214-15 Athenaeus, 307, 817, 1177, 1667, 2307, Bitias, a Carthaginian, 443 2422, 2457, 2477, 248N, 3447, 377N, “black” days (dies atri), 104, 108-9

379M, 4857, 51172, 519 blushing, 487-88

Athenians, 35, 62, 80, 112, 116 boars, 141, 220-21, 229, 437-38, 515 Atta, T. Quinctius, (cited), 246 bodies, human, 479-83, 497-98

Attis, 142 Boeotians, 88, 128

augural law, 157 Bona Dea (Good Goddess), 87-88,

August, 90 15672

Augustus (Octavian, Octavius) : bone, 480-81

ancestry of, 451 Borysthenes, river, 80 and the calendar, 70, 90, 99 Bosporus, 495

anecdotes and sayings of, 170-78, brain, 464, 471, 480-82

184, 433 Branchidae, 1257

correspondence with Vergil, 155-56 “bridges” (pontes), 47n

daughter of, see Julia bronze, 369-70, 518; coins, 58-59

enrolls freedmen as soldiers, 80 bruma, meaning of, 143

forum of, 171 Brutus, Junius, see Junius Brutus wife of, see Livia bulla (amulet), 50-51

aurata (gilthead), fish, 235 bulls, 144; sacrifice of, 208, 220-21,

Aurelius Cotta, C., 29 335 Auruncl, 45 burial, practice of, 472-73 Ausonius, 6572, 519 business days, see fastt

auspices, 36, 110 Busiris, 206, 428-29

Autronius Maximus, 74

Aventine Hill, Rome, 78, 225 caduceus, 135-36

Avianus, 1, 5, 4777 Caecilius, L., 178

Avienus, 1-14 Passi, 33, 395 425 455 Caecilius Metellus Pius, 228-29

49, 57-58, 114, 157, 159, 163-64, 169, Caecilius Statius, 236 . 185, 282, 283, 292-93, 428-39 passim, Caecina Albinus, see Albinus, Caecina

446, 450, 454-55, 489-98 passim Caelian Hill, Rome, 89

544 GENERAL INDEX Caelius, senator, 48, 233 28, 72, 161, 162-63, 233, 241, 243,

Caelius Antipater, 43 470; (cited):

Caelius Rufus, M., as dancer, 234 De re rustica, 414 Caelus (Heaven), father of Saturn, On the Archaeans, 429

64 Origins, 43, 97, 207

Caepio, 78 Cato [M. Porcius Cato], of Utica, caerimonia, meaning of, 198 172, 236 Caesar, C., pontiff, 229 Cattle Market, Rome, 209

Caesar, Julius, see Julius Caesar Catullus (cited), 160, 1817, 392-93 Calabra, a ward, Rome, 101-2, 103 Catulus, Q. Lutatius, 229

Calchas, 347 Cebes, a disciple of Socrates, 81 calendar, Greek, 84, 92-93, 112; Cecrops, king of Attica, 73

Roman, 84-113 Ceres, 88, 132, 222, 224, 423 calix (KUALE), 381 Chaldeans, 226

Callias, a character in Xenophon’s chaos, primeval, 64, 123

SYMPOSIUM, 442-43 Charmadas [recte Charmides], a

Callias, historian, 372 character in Xenophon’s Symposi-

Callimachus, 215, 3827; (cited), 379 Um, 442

Calpurnius Piso Frugi, C., 169 Chios, Theocritus of, 452

Calvus, C. Licinius, 214 xpovog (time), 64, 139, 148

Camesene, 58 Chrysippus, 115

Cameses, 58 Cicero [M. Tullius Cicero], 29n, 47, canullus, camilla, meaning of, 215 647, 67N, 74N, 95, 967, 111M, 1147,

Camuirus, Rhodes, 120, 122 1387, 154, 1567, 160-61, 179, 233-34,

Campania, 129, 239 2432, 2657, 28572, 34072, 4337; CTiItiCampus Martius, Rome, 71 cism of Julius Caesar, 167-68, of candelabrum, meaning of, 200 Pompey, 167, of Vatinius, 166-67;

Caninius Revilus (Rebilus), C., 164, oratory, 282-83; rebuked by

167 Labertus, 168, 451; brother of, see

Cannae, battle of, 79, 109 Tullius Cicero, Q.

cantharus, meaning of, 377, 380, Brutus, 28, 3577, 406, 412

381 Epistulae ad Atticum, 72n, 73n, 236,

Capitol, the, Rome, 43, 51 412, 5047

carchestum, meaning of, 377-78, 381 Eulogy of Cato, 405-6

Carmentalia, festival, 105-6 In Verrem, 265, 267, 268, 429-30

Carminius, 370 Letters to Nepos, 161

Carna, 89 On Domestic Economy, 252 Carneades, the Academic, 48 On Fate, 237

Carsitani, 246 On Laws (De legibus), 47n, 412

Carthage, 218-19 Philippics, 46

Carutius, 72 Pro Flacco, 161

Cascellius, jurist, 178 Pro Milone, 46

Casinum, 239 Pro Murena, 232n Cassius Hemina, 95, 109, 110, 202 Cimmerian Sea, 495

Cassius Longinus, C., the tyrannicide, Cingius, 86, 87, 89 168-69; husband of Junia Tertia, cissybium, meaning of, 379-80

163 citron, 248-49

Cassius Severus, 171 Claros, oracle, 131; temple, 128 catillo (“scavenger” fish), 240 Claudia [Quinta], 176

Cato [M. Porcius Cato], the Censor, Claudius, Appius, 210

GENERAL INDEX 545 Claudius Quadrigarius, 42, 46, 109 Critobulus, follower of Socrates, 453

Cleanthes, 115, 120, 130, 149 Critolaus, 48 Cleomenes, king of Sparta, 80 Croesus, 75

Cleopatra, 244 Cronus (Kpévoc), 64, 148 cloaca maxima, Rome, 239n Cumae, 78

Cloatius Verus (cited), 208, 245, 246, Curius, Manius, 45

248, 249, 251 Curtius, 173

Clodius, P., 179 curule chair, 50 clothing, see dress “customary” days, 110 coins, 58-59 custos, meaning of, 210-11 Columella, 245”, 248n Cutilia, 60 Colophon, 379 Cylicrani, 381

comutia calata, meaning of, 101-2 cymbium, meaning of, 377-81

common days, 108 Cyprus, 140, 214 Compitalia, festival, 40, 43-44, 61, 106 Cyrene, 59 copper, 517-18

Corinth, 50, 81, 201, 219 daemon (Saipwv), 150 Cornelian Law (sumptuary), 243 Dalmatia, 907

Cornelius, Q., 229 Damasippus, 166

Cornelius Asina, 54 dancing, 183-84, 231-34 Cornelius Balbus, 211 dancing school, 232

Cornelius Dolabella, P., 167 Darius’ mother, 75 Cornelius Fronto, M., 283 day, civil, at Rome, 35-38 Cornelius Labeo, 87-88, 110, 131, 201 days of ill omen (dies atri), 104, 108-9

Cornelius Lentulus, 229 “days of purification,” 111 Cornelius Rufus, 119 days of the month, 83, 98, 100, Cornelius Scipio, 53 105-113; see also under specific

Cornelius Scipio, P., father of Afri- classifications of days, e.g., festivals,

canus, 78-79 market days; rest days

Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilia- “days of utterance,” see fasti

nus, P., 29, 232, 237 Decius, 7, 30, 31-33

Cornelius Sisenna, L., (cited), 414 decurion, office of, 168 Cornelius Sulla, Faustus, 163-64 dsivmoicg (horror), 274 Cornelius Sulla, L., 163, 167, 233, 243 deivmMoic (indignation), 256-71 passim Cornificius, grammarian, 67, 115, 120, deities, epicene, 214; with contra-

125, 149 dictory epithets, 118

Cornificius, poet, (cited), 413, 419 Delloi, 371-73

Cornutus, 368 Delobor, king of Assyria, 151

Coruncanius, Tiberius, 45 Delos, 60, 124, 208-9 Cotta, C. Aurelius, 29 Delphi, oracle, 117, 128; temple, 50,

Cotyle, 60 209

court days, see fasti delubrum, meaning of, 200-1 cow, as symbol, 135 Demaratus of Corinth, 50, 201

Crassus, L. Licinius, 235-36 Democritus, 1887, 502

Crates, the Cynic, 55 Demodocus, 443

Cratinus (cited), 378 Demosthenes, Athenian orator, 164, cremation, practice of, 472-73 265, 267, 425; (cited), 379 Cremera, battle of the, 109 Demosthenes, of Rome, paramour of

Cretans, 102 Julia, 77

Crete, herbs of, 466 depontant, 47n

546 GENERAL INDEX dessert (bellaria), 185, 245, 248 eagles, as symbols, 126

“devotio,’ 213, 218-19, 368-69 Fanus, see Janus

Diana, 123-24, 382-83 earth, 141-42, 365, 497

as Artemis, 103, 516 Earth (goddess) :

as Jana, 67 as Adargatis, 152-53

as Opis, 382-83 as Good Goddess, 87, 89

as Trivia, 66 as Hestia (Vesta), 150

see also Artemis; moon, the as Isis, 140, 142 Didian Law (sumptuary), 242 as Latona, 124 Dido, 159, 222-23, 226, 359 as Maia, 87, 89 Didyma, 1257, 126, 379 as Mother of the Gods, 142, 153 Didymus, grammarian, 364-65, 384 in Egypt, 135 dies, see days of the month; see also Echo, 148

under specific classifications of eels, 236 days, e.g., festivals, market days, egg or hen, which existed first,

rest days 512-15 108-9 Egyptians: dies instauraticii, 75 hieroglyphics, 135, 143 Diespiter, 102 measurement of time, 84, 96, 100, diet, 456-67 112 digestion, 457-61, 476-77 religious practices, 57, 138, 139,

dies atri (days of ill omen), 104, Egnatius (cited), 416, 419

digitus medicinalis (ring finger), 498 143-44, 498-99 diners, appropriate number of, 56-57 statues of the sun, 134, 143, I51

Diodorus Siculus, 1317 wearing of rings, 498-99 Diogenes, the Cynic, 55, 75, 81, 454 wine, 477-78

Diogenes, the Stoic, 48 eixmv (imago), rhetorical figure, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 607 271, 273-74

Dionysus, 130-31 Eko@vnotic (exclamation), rhetorical

Diotimus, 375 figure, 257, 279 Dis, 60-61, 82, 108, 218-29; see also emotion (adfectus, md80c), 254-81 Hades; Proserpine passini

Disarius, 47, 8, 10-11, 13, 55, 164, Empedocles (cited), 122, 465 456-57, 462-63, 467, 470, 472, 474, Ennius, 3577, 358”, 359”; (cited): 409 476-80, 484-88, 489-96, 497-98, 500, Alexander, 397, 402, 403-4

502, 507, 509, 512 Andromache, 418

dizziness, 479-80 Annals, 42, 387-90, 394-97, 401,

doctors, 519; see also Disarius; 404-5, 407-8, 410-11, 414-15, 418,

Erasistratus; medical practice 439 Dodona, oracle, 60, 364 Cresphontes, 403 dogs, as symbols, 139; in Egypt, 163 Erectheus, 411

Dolabella, P. Cornelius, 167 Melanippe, 412

Domitian, 90, 453 Satires, 417 Domitius, Gnaeus, censor, 235 Scipio, 404

Domitius, Gnaeus, consul, 67-68 éravagopa (repetition), rhetorical

draco, see serpent figure, 280, 345, 425

draughts, 47 Epaphus, 209 dress, 49-52, 167, 227-28, 432 Ephesus, 382-83, 431

drinking vessels, 377-81 Ephippus (cited), 381

drunkenness, 469-72, 474-75 Ephorus (cited), 364

GENERAL INDEX 547 Epicadus, 82 exclamation (£xkgd@vnotc), rhetorical

epicene deities, 214 figure, 257, 279

Epicharmus (cited), 374 exemplum (napddetyya), rhetorical

Epictetus, 81-82 figure, 271-72 Fpicureans, 160 eximius, meaning of, 205-6 epilepsy, 188 Fabius Gurges, 228

Epicure, ; I, 430, 502-4

émitipnotic (obiurgatio), rhetorical Fabius Maximus Servilianus, 109

figure, 280-81 Fabius Pictor, 192, 194

eques, usage of, 438-39 Fabricius Luscinus, C., 45 Erasistratus, 11, 507-8 Falernum, 239, 252, 490 Eratosthenes, 379, 511 Fannian Law (sumptuary), 229-30,

Eryce, Sicily, 372 . 239, 241-42

442 110

Erysimachus [recte Eryximachus],a _fasti (business or court days, “days of character in Plato’s Symposium, utterance”), 98, 100, 105, 107, 109,

Erytheia, Spanish island, 381 Fatua, 88

Etna, 360-61 Fauna, 87-88 Etruscans, 50, 500; calendar, 102; Faustulus, 72 religious beliefs, 212, 215, 370 Faustus, son of L. Cornelius Sulla,

Pugentus, 519 163-64247 eunuchs, 485Favorinus,

euphony, 67, 438 fear, physical effects of, 488 Eupolis (cited) , The Goats, 463; The February, QI, 92, 93, 97, 98

Flatterers, 51 Februus, QI

Euporus (Philocrates), 78 Fenestella, 71

Euripides (cited): 124, 128, 150, Feralia, festival, 41

SIL feriae (rest days), 83, 103-7

Alcestis, 368 Feriae Latinae (Latiar), 106, 108 Andromeda, 380, 447 Feriae Sementivae, 106 Hypsipyle, 365 Festival of Joy (Hilaria), 142 ACrea i hari, of the (Lucaria), ET,Festival 007 Festival ofGroves the Handmaids, 80 41

Phaethon, 11558-62, ; 122 , festivals, 40-44, 71-72, ope 80, 105-8, Phoenissae, . 128, 142; see also under specific The Trojan Women, 383 ; rusebius, ; ; names festivals, 4, 10-25of passi772, 32, 49, e.g.. 53, ; . Compi-

. festra,1, 37, 22626 , Eustachius, 164, 282, 283, 483, 484, 486

talia; Saturnalia

Eustathius, 4, 9-10, 12-19 passim, 29, Festus, Pompeius, 198, 206, 215

48, 49; 157, 158, 163, 185, 286, 293, rene Oy 219

385, 428, 441, 446, 450, 462, 467, 468, a a ;

483, 500, 503, 509, 515 re ne 5 ae dius Fioulus. P Evander, 45, 190, 197, 223, 276, 449 iguius, see INigi@rus figuras, tEvangelus, 5, 10-16 passim, 55-56, 74, figures, rhetorical, 256-59, 271-81, 154-55, 164, 220, 225, 226, 286, 462, 421-30; see also under specific

479, 480, 483, 507, 512, 515, 517 names of rhetorical figures, é€.g.,

“evocatio,” 217-18 apostrophe; hyperbole

exaggeration (hyperbole, nimietas), fingers, 30, 67, 498-99

rhetorical figure, 257, 278-79 fire, 465, 516

548 GENERAL INDEX fish, 235-40 passim, see also under Gela, Sicily, 372 specific names of fish, e.g., pike, Gellius, A., 2, 3, 21, 237, 28”, 357,

sturgeon 427, 457, 46, 47, 48N, 5§2n, 57N,

fish ponds, 236 71n, 81M, 1047, 1077, 1087, 1097, Flaccus, Granius, 128 156N, 1627, 1647, 1657, 168”, 1807, Flaccus, L., 161 1827, 1857, 187, 198”, 2087, 2277, Flaccus, Q. Horatius, see Horace 2412, 243N, 2837, 2977, 3267, 3607, Flaccus, Verrius, see Verrius Flaccus 362, 3947, 4287, 4327, 4337, 4357,

Flaminian Circus, 200 4377, 438N, 4877, 4937, 4947, 4987,

Flavianus, Venestus, 48 5037, 5077

Flavianus, Virius Nicomachus, 4, 6-7, Gellius, Gnaeus, 63, 109, 241 13-15 passim, 29, 48, 49, 157, 158, Gemuiunus, II0-11

162, 185, 468 Genius (god), 135-36 Flavius, M., 96 Geryon, 60, 82, 88

Flavius, Gnaeus, 1o1 Germanicus (name of September), go Flavius Vespasianus, T., 519 Giants, the, 138

Floralia, festival, 41 gibes and jokes, 159-79, 450-55 food, 187-88, 228-40, 245-53, 456-67, gilthead (aurata), fish, 235 491-94, 496, 497-98, 507-11; see also glassmakers, 516

sumptuary laws; and specific Glaucippus, 93 names of food, e.g., apples; fish; gluttony, 187-88, 228-30, 236-40, 461 nuts Gnipho, Antonius, 226 Fortune (goddess), 135-36, 151 Good Goddes (Bona Dea), 87-88, 1567

Fregellae, 219 goldsmiths, 516

Fronto, M. Cornelius, 283 gout, 172, 181, 460

Fulvius, a fuller’s son, 163-64 Gracchus, C. Sempronius, 78

Fulvius Nobilior, 87, 95 Gracchus, Tiberius Sempronius, 232

Furius, consul, 95 grammar: accidence, 39-44 passim, Furilus, a writer, 218 45-47, 361-62; syntax, 421-22, Furius Albinus, see Albinus, Furius 432-33

Furius Bibaculus, M., 161; (cited), grammarians, 33, 384, 437

391, 393, 408, 413 Granius Flaccus, 128

Furius, L., 63 Granius Licinianus, 110, 3707, grape Juice, 474-75 Gabi, 219 grapes, 252-53 Gabinius, A., 234 Great Mother, the, 87

Gades, 139, 495 “Greek anthology,” see Anthologia Gaius, jurist, 377, 1967, 521 Graeca Galba, 171, 178 Greek calendar, 84, 92-93, 112 Galla, Maevia, 163 Greek language: compared with Gallus, C. Aelius, 435 Latin, 165, 290; Vergil’s use of,

gambling, 239 361-62, 414-15

games, 47, 59, 71, 239 Greek religious practices, 63, 73, 119

games, public, 41, 51, 75, 118-19, 151 Grumentum, siege of, 78 Gargara, (Tépyapa, large quantity), Gurges, Fabius, 228 375-76

Gargarus, 374-76 habit, 480

Gauls, 80 habitus (outward appearance) descripGavius Bassus, 67, 211; (cited), 245 tion of, to evoke or express

Gavius Hirrius, 236 emotion, 254-55, 261, 269

GENERAL INDEX 549 Hades, 60-61, 131; see also Dis; Hestia (Vesta), 150

Proserpine Hierapolis, Syria, 126

Hagetor, a Spartan, 379 high priest (rex sacrorum), 101, 103,

hair, 472, 473, 480-81 106, 229 half-festivals, 105 high priestess, 103

Handmaids, Festival of the, 80 Hularia (Festival of Joy), 142

Hannibal, 78, 162 Hippocrates, 138; (cited), 188, 465

hares, as food, 230 Hurrius, Gavius, 236

harmony of the heavens, 148 Homer, 9-10, 20-21; compared with Haterianus (Aterianus), Julius, 214 Vergil, 286-348, 349-355, 407-9; for “heads” or “ships,” a game of chance, passages cited, see Index of Cita-

59 tions, 533-34; for passages contain503 | text, see Appendix C, 522-24

hearing, sense of, 186-87, 481, 482, ing variations from the received

heat: bodily, 469, 472-74; effects of, homoeopathy, rhetorical figure, 277

477-78, 496, 515-16 honey, 59, 185, 239, 475, 490-91

Heaven (Caelus), father of Saturn, honey jars, 88

64-65 honey-wine (mead), 224, 240, 490

heavens, the, see universe, the Horace [Q. Horatius Flaccus]

Hecate of the Nether World, 88 (cited) :

Hecuba, 75 Epistles, 18”, 258 Helen, 443-44 Epodes, 438n Helike, in Achaia, 3357 Odes, 907, 359 Heliopolis, 144, 151-52 Satires, 247, 490”

Hemina, Cassius, 95, 109, 110-11, 202 horae (hours of the day), 143

hen or egg, which existed first, Horatil, 45

512-15 Horatius Flaccus, Q., see Horace Heraclea, 381 horizon, 504-5 Heracles (Hercules), 59-61, 82, 135, horror (deiv@oic), 273-74

293, 380-81 Hortensian Law, 110

as Mars, 226 Hortensius, Q., 227-28, 236

as the Sun, 138-39 Horus, 10, 11, 13, 55, 57; 100-1, 105, cult of, 88-89, 138-39, 209-11, 224, I1I-12, 164, 230, 231-32, 472, 473,

225-26 497-501 passim

epithets of, 87, 209-10 Horus (Egyptian god), 143

Herennius, 170 hostia, see religion and ritual:

Hermes, 115, 134 sacrifices

Hermogenes, a character in Xeno- Hostia (Ostia), 78, 239, 500

phon’s Symposium, 442-43 Hostilius, Tullus, 50, 63

Hermunthis, Egypt, 144 Hostius (cited), 408, 418

Hernici, 365-66 Hostus, 52

Herod, king of the Jews, 171 Hostus Hostilius, 52 Herodotus, 847, 92%, 495 hours of the day (horae), 143

Herrenus, M. Octavius, 209-10 household gods, see penates, the

Hersennius, Octavius, 226 humor, see wit and humor Hersilia, a Sabine woman, 52 hunger, 492, 497-98

Hesiod, 286; Opera et dies (Works Hyacinthia, festival, 128 and Days) (cited), 150, 355, 4913 Hyginus, see Julius Hyginus

Theogony, 657, 1387 Hylas, actor, 183-84 Hesperia (Italy), 38, 387 Hyllus, 194

550 GENERAL INDEX Hymettus, honey of, 490 4407, 4417, 4447, 446n, 4487, 4507, hyperbole (s27ietas), rhetorical 4522, 45472

figure, 257, 278-79 jokes and gibes, 159-79, 450-55

judges, conduct of, 239-40 lao, 131 quglans (walnut), 245

Ida, mountain, 374-75 Julia, daughter of Julius Caesar, Ides, 85, 100-4 passiz1, 109 1677 iduare, meaning of, 103 Julia, daughter of Augustus, 77,

illaudatus (anpraised), Vergil’s use 176-77

of, 207, 429, 430-31 Julius Aterianus (Haterianus), 214

imago (eixdv), rhetorical figure, Julius Caesar, C., 79-80, 90, 236;

271, 273-74 anecdotes, 163, 167, 178, 180-82;

inamiabilis (anlovable), Vergil’s use and Cicero, 167-69, 451; and the

of, 430 calendar, 83, 96-99, IOI, 112

India, medicaments from, 466 On Grammatical Analogy (cited), indignation (deivwoicg), 256-71 45

pansinn, 426 Julius Caesar, L., 229

imiugis, meaning of, 205 Auspices, 110

insicium (mincemeat), 476 Julius Hyginus, 58, 202, 214-15, 366, instauraticius, meaning of, 75 39472, 415, 438 intercalary days, 92-100 passim Julius Modestus, 40, 71, 110 intercist dies (half-festivals), 105 July, 89-90; originally Quintilis, 85

internussio (aposiopesis, taciturnitas), June, 87, 89

rhetorical figure, 279-80, 425 Junia Tertia, wife of C. Cassius,

internundinum, 1117 10300

Inuus (Pan), 147-48, 383-84 Junius, historian, 94

Ionian Sea, 495 Junius Brutus, L., 61, 89, 252 Iopas, Dido’s minstrel, 443 janes Brutus, M., 163 irony, rhetorical figure, 257 uno: Isidore of Seville, Sos 357, 3771, and Janus, 68, 103

9672, 1007, 1507, 1717, 2357, 24572, and Latona, 123-24 2482, 2937, 3777, 405M, 415M, 4377 ond the venates 201-2

tie tro, ae as the air, 103, 124 Isocrates the lower air and , 4,400571esasas the moon, 103earth, 201-2

Italica, 78 ;

epithets, 80, 89, 223

Italy, 38, 58, 66, 387 Junonius, 68, 89 Jana (Diana), 67 Jupiter (Zens): 217)384 293s 33°39 an pollo, Janiculum, hul, Rome, 58, 59, 90 and Saturn, 73

January, 59, 91 and the penates, 201-2 Janus wanus) » 58-59, 66-69, 91, 103, as Maius, at Tusculum, 87

TOO, 125-2 as the middle air, 201

Janus, a building in Rome, 46” as the sun, 143, 149-51

John of Salisbury, 24-25, 277, 457, as the universe, 130 562, 57M, 757, 1587, 168n, 1707, at Heliopolis, 151-52

1737, 1747, 181, 182m, 185n, 187, cult of, 102, 103, 109, 110, 220-21 2272, 229M, 2300, 232N, 233N, 234N, epithets, 102, 12572, 200, 379 2372, 239%, 240, 2417, 244N, 356N, Juvenal, 220”, 239”, 4507, 519

GENERAL INDEX 551 Kalends, 68, 85, 94, 100-2, 103-4, 109 Liberalia, festival of Liber, 41,

Kalends of the Beans, 89 131-32

Kpiog, meaning of, 144 Libyans, 118, 144, 451 Kpovocg (Cronus), 64. Licinia, vestal virgin, 71, 229 KvAIG (Calix), 381 Licinian Law (sumptuary), 242-43 Licinianus, Granius, 110, 3707

Labeo, see Cornelius Labeo Licinil, 235

Laberius, D., 167-68, 179, 180-82, Licinius, a freedman of Augustus,

451; Ephebus (cited), 420 173

} Labienus, 77 Licinius Calvus, C., 214 Lacedaemonians, (Spartans), 80, 128, Licinius Crassus, 160 454 Licinius Crassus, L., 235-36, 285,

Laelius, C., 29 406 Laelius, M., 51 Licinius Crassus, M., 234

Laevinus, 214 Licinius Crassus Dives, P., 242 Laevius, 1307, 418” Licinius Lucullus, L., 236

Lais, 164 Licinius Macer, C., 72, 94

lamb, as sacrifice, 103 lictors, 50 lampreys, 235-36 Ligyreans of Thrace, 128 Lanuvium, 37, 246, 249 Lindus, 116

Laodicea, 168 Lintirian land, 72

Larcius, T., 63 lions: Larentia, Acca, 71-72 and Andargatis, 153

Larentinalia, festival, 71 and Heracles (Hercules), 139

Lares, 61, 71 and Serapis, 139

laridum (bacon), 89, 489 and the Mother of the Gods, 142, Latiar (Feriae Latinae), 106, 108 153 Latin language, compared with . and the Sun, 143-44

Greek, 165, 290 liquids, 494-96; see also water laurel, 85, 225-26 literary critics, 156, 157, 428 Laurentines, 103 litotes, examples of, 428-30 Laurentum, 78 lituus, meaning of, 432-33 Lavernium, 237 liver, the, function of, 458, 459, 482 Latona, 117, 119, 123-24 litare, Mearns of, 205

Lavinium, 202 Livia, 177 “law” days, 108 Livius, Postumius, 80

laws: judiciary law of Tiberius Livius Andronicus, (cited), 418 Gracchus, 232; sumptuary laws, Livy, 43”, 51”, 72, 74n, 79n, 89n, 229-30, 239, 241-44; the Twelve 1097, 1197, 21072, 3667 Tables, 36-37, 42, 94-95, 242; See locus, source of an argument, 2657,

also under specific names of laws, 267

e.g., Fannian Law Lollius, M., 178 Leandrius, 117 Longinus, C. Cassius, 168-69

Lebanon, mountain, 141-42 looking-glass images, 503 Lentulus, Cornelius, 229 Love (god), 135-36 Lepidus, see M. Aemilius Lepidus Lucaria (Festival of the Groves), 41

Lesbos, 122 Lucetius, 102

Libanius, 519 Lucian, 1517, 1527, 1837 .

185 414

Liber, 128-34 passim, 444 Lucilius, C., 47, 160, 240; (cited),

“Liber’s sweetmeats” (sweet wine), 242, 439, Satires, 46-47, 240, 410,

552 GENERAL INDEX Lucina, 516 and Liber, 133-34

Lucretius, for passages cited see and the sun, 126, 133-34

Index of Citations, 534; for as Neton, 133

passages containing vartations Sacrifice in Honor of, 41 from the received text, see Martial, 497, 787, 1517, 519

Appendix C, 524-25 masks, 60

Lucrine Lake, 235 Masurius Sabinus (cited), 40, 41, Lucullus, L. Licinius, 236 70-71, 209-10

Lucumo [L. Tarquinius Priscus], Matius (Mattius), Gnaeus, (cited),

50-51, 63, 201-2 43, 252

Lupercalia, festival, 106 maturus, Maturare, meaning of,

lustrare, meaning of, 206 433-34 lustricus dies, 111” Mauritania, 228-29 Lutatius Catulus, Q., 229 May, 87-89

lux, derivation of, 120-21 mead or honey-wine, 224, 240,

Lycopolis, Egypt, 121 290

Lycurgus, Spartan lawgiver, 454 Medea, 88, 215, 359, 369 medical practice, 137-38, 457, 464,

Maccius Plautus, T., see Plautus 466, 468-70, 475, 490-91, 509, 516,

Macer, C. Licinius, 72, 94 517, 519

Macrobius, 1; criticism of Vergil, medicaments, 249, 466, 468-69, 475, 17-23; influence on writers, 23-25; 490-91

Commentary on the Dream of Memphis, 144 Scipio, 23, 96M, 134”, 1547, 479, Menander, 386; (cited), 380

4817, 4997, 5057, 50672 Menippus, 81

Maecenas, C. Cunius, 171 Menippean satires, see Varro

Maenian Law, 75 Mercury, 118, 134-36

Maevia Galla, 163 and Apollo, 134 Maia, 87-89 and Earth, 87 Maiesta, 87 and the Sun, 114-15, 134-36 Maius (May), 87 called Camillus, 215 Mallius, 70 Messala, origin of name, 53

Mallius, L., portrait painter, 164 Messala, M., consul and augur,

Mallius, P., friend of Cicero, 168 67-68, I10

mane, meaning of, 37-38 Messana, Sicily, 53, 79, 236 Manes (departed spirits), 37-38, Metellus Pius, Caecilius, 228-29

72, 9I meter, Vergil’s use of, 344-45

Mania (goddess), 61 metonymy, examples of, 422-23 Manilius, M., 1257, 2337, 4387, Mezentius, 206-7

5047 Micythus, slave of Anaxilaus of

Manlius, military tribune, 109 Rhegium, 79

March, 84-85 Miulesians, 117

Marcius, a soothsayer, 118, 119 milk, 326

Marcius Philippus, L., 236, 406 mincemeat (i7s1c1um), 476 market days (nundinae), 93-94, 105, Minerva, 126-27, 201-2

109-11 Minotaur, 117

marriage customs, 36-37, 103-4 mirror-images, 503

marrow, 480, 482 Mnevis, 144

Mars, 85, 220 Modestus, Julius, 40, 71, 110

and Heracles (Hercules), 225-26 months, Roman, 84-90, 91-113 passim

GENERAL INDEX 553

383 . 433, 438 .

moon, the, 91, 96, 113, 135-36, 217, Nigidus Figulus, P., 66, 67, 201, 238,

and Artemis or Diana, 103, 516 nimuetas (hyperbole), rhetorical

and Ceres, 132 figure, 257, 278-79

and Juno, 103 Nisus, 89

and Venus, 214 Nonae Caprotinae, 81

moonlight, effects of, 515-16 Nones, 85, 93-94, 100-4 passim, 109

Mother, the Great, 87 Novius, playwright, 70, 161

moths, 249 105

Mother of the Gods, 142, 153 | Numa Pompilius, 40, 91-94 passim,

movements, bodily, 479 numbers, lucky and unlucky, 917;

Mucius, 163 reckoned by the fingers, 30, 67, Mucins, Q., jurist, 36-37 498-99

Mulciber, 416 Numenius, 126

mullet, 238 Nundina, 111

Mummius (cited), 70 nundinae (market days), 93-94, 105,

Munatius Plancus, 244 I0Q-II

Murena, origin of the name, 235 nuts, 245-48

Muses, the, 57, 443

and Apollo, 134 obiurgatio (émitipnoic), rhetorical and Heracles (Hercules), 87 figure, 280-81

and Mercury, 134 Ocean, 149, 495 .

Musonius, a philosopher, 47 Octavius (Octavian), see Augustus

mustard, 477 Octavius Herrenus, M., 209-10 Mutina, battle of, 163 Octavius Hersennius, 226 Mys, slave of Epicurus, 81 October, 90

Mysia, 374, 375 Oenopides, 119

; oixktog (pity), how evoked, 258-81 Ne a130-31, 3577, 4187; passim, 426 |of, oil, of Casinum, 239; properties Punic War, 249, 405, 417, 418 491, 494 Phe Soothsay er, 246 old age, characteristics of, 449,

The Trojan Horse, 392 |

; 470-71, 484-85, 497 nails, human, 480-81 1; olives, 252

735 Olympia, 79 Nausicaa, 501 Naxos, 122 Opis, 210, 382-83

names and surnames, 49-50, 52-54, 228, olive wood, as fuel, 516

-36 er Nemesis, ; Ops, 72-73, 88,9 217 147

Nap les, 31, 78, 129 Opalia, festival, 72

Opias, envoy of Delebor, 151

Necessity (god), 135-3 Oppius, (cited) 246, 249 nefasti dies, 107, 109 Neptune (Poseidon), 118, 208, 220, Optatus, 23

335; and the penates, 201 oracles (cont.) Neton, statue of Mars, 133 at Claros, 131

Nicander of Colophon, 383-84; at Delphi, 117, 128

(cited), 379 at Didyma, 1257, 379

Nicocreon, king of Cyprus, 140 at Dodona, 60, 304

Nicomachus, see Flavianus, Virius at Heliopolis, 151-52

Nicomachus of Liber, in Thrace, 128

554 GENERAL INDEX of Sarapis, in Egypt, 140 patera (dish), meaning of, 378 of the Palici, in Sicily, 371, 373 TALOO0G (emotion), 254-81 passim

Orata, Sergius, 235 Pausanias, 717, 3357, 3647

oratory and writings, styles in, Pausanias, a character in Plato’s

282-83, 285, 442 Symposium, 442

Orbilius, schoolmaster, 178 peacocks’ eggs, 227 Orchian Law (sumptuary), 241 Pie 249-50 Oropus, sack of, 48 eca1ocrates, 373

Orphic poems, on, 130-31, 153 Pelasgians, 45, 60, 63, 82, 365-66

Osiris, 142-43 penates, the, 201-3; as household

Ostia (Hostia), 78, 239, 500 gods, 48, 158, 160 Oracilius Pitholaus, M., 164 PePPet, 477

; Pericles, sons of, 30 outward appearance (habitus), , a229 descrinti f k Perpennia, vestal virgin,

escription evoke or ; 81 , Perseus,of, slaveto of Zeno the Stoic,

express emotion, 254-55, 261, 269 “Persian apple.” 248-

Ovid, 617, 657, 687, 827, 847, 1047,ersius, Pers;12972 PPPs 24°49 1227, 13872, 1767, 227%, 3267, 4357 persolvere, meaning of, 204

Oysters, 235 Petronius, 2307

a Phaedo, 81

P achynus, Sicily, 118 Phaedrus, a character in Plato’s Pacuvius (cited): Medus, 215, Symposium, 442

391-92; Paulus, 419 Phemuus, 443 Pacuvius Taurus, 170 Phidias, 338-39 Padua, men of, 78 _ Phileas (cited), 375 Paestum, bay of, 412 Philemon (cited), 378 Paganalia, festival, 106 Philippus, L. Marcius, 236, 406 Palice, Sicily, 373 Philochorus, 73, 214 P acuvlus, Sextus, 90 Pherecydes, 117, 377, 381

Paliceni, 373 Philocrates (Euporus), 78

Palicus (Palici), 370-73 philosophy, 157-58, 440-45, 509

pallor, cause of, 488 Philotis (Tutela), 80

paludamentum, 49 Philoxenus, 187 Pan (Inuus),Rome, 147-48, 383-84 Phas 67, I4I Pantheon, 244 hrygia, 201 Panyasis, poet, 381 Phrygians, religious practices of, Papirian Code, the, 223 142, 153

Papirius Praetextatus, 52-53 physicians, 519; see also Disarius; parabola (napaBoan), rhetorical Erasistratus,; medical practice

figure, 271, 272-73 . physicists, 58, 64, 66, 123, 124, 130,

mapddserypa (exemplum), rhetorical 141, 149, 487

figure, 271-72 picta toga, 50

Paralus, son of Pericles, 30 Pictor, Fabius, 192, 194 parenthesis, rhetorical figure, 425 pig, as sacrifice, 106; see also sow

Parmenides, 30 pig, “Trojan,” 229-30 Parnassus, 128 pike, as food, 239-40 Partemetis, Egyptian priest, 151 Pinarii, 210 Parthenian sea, 495 Pinarius, 89

Parthia, L., 95 Parthians,151 440Pinarius, Pindar, 359-61

GENERAL INDEX 555 Pisander, 287 pollex (thumb), meaning of, 499 Pisistratus, of Athens, 442 Pollio, Asinius, 41, 78, 173, 212

Piso, 87, 194-95 Pompei, 168

Piso Frugi, C. Calpurnius, 169 Pompeius Festus, 198, 206, 215

Pitholaus, M. Otacilius, 164 Pompeius Macula, 163-64

pity (olktog), how evoked, 258-81 Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus, 78, 167

passin, 426 Pompilius, Numa, 40, 91-94 passim,

plagiarism, 385-86, 520-21 105

Plancus, 163 Pomponius, 70, 161; (cited): plane trees, 227 The Kalends of March, 413 Plato, 3, 29-30, 75, 81, 115, 122, 504”, Maevia, 43

507, 509-II, 521; epigram by, The Transalpine Gauls, 438 164-65; on the use of wine, Pompylus, slave of Theophrastus

185-86 the Peripatetic, 81

Cratylus, 115N, 122”, 1347, 1497, pontes (“bridges”), 477

1507, 36572 pontiffs, duties of, 195

On the Laws, 186 pontifical banquet, a, 229

Parmienides, 521 pontifical law, 157 Phaedo, 81 Pontius, friend of Scipio Africanus, Phaedrus (cited), 149-50 237 Symposium, 29, 567, 159-60, Pontus, 495-96

442-43 Popilia, vestal virgin, 229

Plautus [T. Maccius Plautus], 160 Populia, daughter of Marcus, 177

1947; (cited): 369 Populifugia, (Rout of the People),

Amphitruo, 378 festival, 194-95 Aulularia, 222 Porcius Cato, see Cato

Baccaria, 237 Porphyrius, 126

Calceolus, 246-47 porricere, meaning of, 192-93

Curculio, 247 portrait painting, 164, 166

Persa, 1607, 1947, Poseidon, see Neptune Stichus, 1607 Posidonius, Stoic philosopher, 149, pleasure, 160, 186-88, 430, 461, 466, 150

492-93 Postumianus, 4, 30, 31-33, 48, 49

Pliny the Elder, 677, 71m, 1517, Postumius, military tribune, 109 1527, 1637, 17571, 2277, 2307, 2347, Postumius Albinus, A., 28, 252 2357, 236M, 2377, 238”, 242, 2447, Postumius, Livius, 80 2452, 2477, 2487, 251M, 252, 376”, Postvorta, 58 4007, 4147, 469n, 4737, 4777, 484, Potitu, 210

4997, 5157, 519 Potitius, 89

Pliny the Younger, 60”, 238”, 283, Praeneste, 89, 246

519 praetexta toga, 49-52

Plotinus, 114 Praetextatus, origin of the surname,

Plutarch, 2187, 455 52-53

Numa, 61n, 84n Praetextatus, Vettius Agorius, see Quaestiones Convivales, 16, 218”, Vettius Agorius Praetextatus 4407, 4467, 448n, 4507, 4567, priests, duties of, 101, 103, 106 4627, 4687, 4727, 4897, 4977, Probus, Valerius, 2977, 383

507M, 5127 profanus, meaning of, 196-97 poison, 249, 424 proiectus, meaning of, 413-14

Polemon, geographer, 372 Propontis, 495

556 GENERAL INDEX Proserpine, 88, 108, 141, 191 religiosus, meaning of, 196, 198-99

Protagoras, 30 Remus, 72

Protarchus of Tralles, 58 repetition (&mavagopé), rhetorical proverbs, 47-48, 64, 112, 156, 181-83, figure, 280, 345, 425 226, 243, 293, 355, 376, 430, 462 rest days (feriae), 56, 83, 103-7; see

Publicia, wife of Cornelius also market days

Lentulus, 229 Restio, Anttus, 77-78, 243-44

Publicius, a tribune, 61 Revilus, Caninius, 164, 167

Publilius Syrus, 180, 181-83 rex sacrorum, see high priest

Publius, 163 Rhegium, 79, 236

Punic Wars, the, 51, 79, 119, 232, rhetorical devices, Vergil’s use of,

237 156, 254-81 passim, 421-27

Pylades, 183-84 rhotacism, 1937 Pythagoras, 92 ring finger, 498 Python, killed by Apollo, 117, rings, 498-500

123-25 ritual, see religion and ritual

Roman religious practices, see

Quadrigarius, Claudius, 42, 46, 109 religion and ritual questions, how to ask them, 446-49 Rome, 52, 217-18; see also specific

Quinctius, L., praetor, 453 names of places in Romie, e.g.,

Quintilian, 147, 1577, 1607, 1677, Aventine Hill; Capitol

17072, 2287, 23872, 25472, 256m, 265m, Romulus, 52, 72; and market days,

2717, 28372 110; and the calendar, 84-90, 91,

Quintilis (name of July), 85 94; Cottage of, 101 Roscian Law, 1687

ram, as sacrifice, 110, 220; color of Roscius Gallus, Q., 233-34 fleece, 212; in the Zodiac, 86, 144 Rout of the People (Populifugia),

Reate, 77 festival, 194-95 recognition, theory of, 505-6 Royal Palace (Regia), 85, 103, 110 Regia (Royal Palace), Rome, 85, Rutilius, 111 103, I10

Regillus, Aemiulius, 71 Sabazius (Sebadius), 129-30 religio, religiosus, meaning of, 1096, Sabines, 50, 52, 63, 68-69, 247, 370

198-99 Sabinus, Masurius (cited), 40, 41,

religion and ritual, 189-226 70-71, 209-10

“devotio,’ 213, 218-19, 368-69 sacer, meaning of, 196, 212-13,

epicene deities, 214 215-16

“evocatio,’ 217-18 Sacrifice in Honor of Mars, 41

gods identified with the sun, sacrifices, see religion and ritual

114-53 passi7i Sali, 67-68, 86, 102, 225, 226, 234

purification rites, 189-91, 371, 372 Sallust [C. Sallustius Crispus], 40,

rest days (feriae), 56, 83, 103-7 283, 495; (cited), 228-29, 232 sacrifices, 477, 60-61, 63, 71, 73; salt, 489-90 82, 106, 119, 204-5, 206, 211, 225, salt water (sea water), 495, 500-1 437; at Delos, 208; in Egypt, 57; Salus (personified), 106, 137

see also specific names of Sammonicus, see Serenus, animals, e.g., bull; lamb; sow Sammonicus

taboos, 88-89, 106, 156 Samothrace, 201-2

temples, furnishings of, 222-23 sanctus, meaning of, 196, 197-98 Vergil’s use of ritual terms, 192-99 Sappho (cited), 378

GENERAL INDEX 557 Sarapis, 57, 139-40; see also Isis; wolf Serapis, see Sarapis

Saturn, 57-73 Serenus, Sammonicus, 238; (cited), and Janus, 58-59 241-42; The Secret World, 218 and the Pelasgians, 60 Sergius Orata, 235 as Cronus, 64, 148 serpent (draco), 88; as symbol, 67,

as Jupiter, 73 124, 135-36, 137, 138; see also

as the heavens, 73 Python

as the sun, 148 Servilia, mother of M. Junius Brutus, in Cyrene, 59 163 in Egypt, 57 Servilius Geminus, 164

in Greece, 61-62, 73 Servius, 472, 9, 13-23 PASSIIN, 33, 39, 45, temple of, at Rome, 63-64 155, 164, 245, 253, 421, 428, 429, 432, Saturnalia, festival, 29, 39, 47, 58-63, 433, 435, 437, 438, 487, 488

70-73, 82-83, 85, 158 Servius Tullius, 94, 110-11

Saturnia, 59 Severus, emperor, 237-38 Satyrs, 65, 128 Severus, Cassius, 171

Scaevola, P., 106-7, 229 Sextilis (month of August), 84, 90

“scavenger,” 240 Sextus, pontiff, 229

schoolmasters, 85 sheep, 102-3, 219, 247, 437

Scipio, see Cornelius Scipio sheep-dipping, 107, 156, 199 Scropha, origin of surname, 54 shower baths, 235 scyphus (goblet), meaning of, 377, Sibylline Books, 51, 119

380, 381 Sicani, 45

Scythian sea, 495 Sicily, 53, 65, 79, 118, 236, 370-73 seals, use of, 499 Sidonius Apollinaris, 1677, 4737

seasons of the year, 143, 465 sight, sense of, 186-87, 481, 482, 502-6 sea water (salt water), 495, 500-1 Sigillaria, festival, 73, 74, 82-83

Sebadius (Sabazius), 129-30 Silanus, D., 229

Segetia, 106 Silenus, 380

Sela, 106 singing, as an accomplishment, 233 Seleucus, king of Syria, 79 Sisenna, L. Cornelius (cited), 414

Semele, 88 slaves, treatment and behavior of, 62,

Semonia, 106 74-82, 85, 158

Sempronia, wife of D. Junius Brutus, sleep, 469, 485

232 smell, sense of, 186-87, 481, 482, 503,

Sempronia, mother-in-law of 506 Cornelius Lentulus, 229 snails, as food, 230 Sempronius Gracchus, C., 78 snake, see serpent

Sempronius Gracchus, Tiberius, 232 snow and snow water, 493-94

Sempronius Tuditanus, 94, 110 Social War, the, 79

Semurian land, 72 Socrates, 29, 30, 81, 159, 188, 442, 453,

Senaculum, Rome, 63 461 Seneca, 277, 56”, 75”, 1687, 274N, sol (sun), 115 4417, §20, 521 Solinian land, 72

151 369; T'yro, 378

Senemur (Senepos), king of Egypt, Sophocles (cited), The Root Cutters,

sensation, 480-83 sow, as sacrifice, 87, 88, 103, 224 sense perception, as a source of Spain, 133, 139, 228, 495 knowledge, 505-6 Spartans, see Lacedaemonians

September, go Speusippus, 115

558 GENERAL INDEX spleen, the, function of, 459 taciturmitas (aposiopesis), rhetorical spirits of the departed (mmanes), 37-38, figure, 279-80, 425

72, OI tactful conversation, 450-55

squalor, squalere, meaning of, 429, 431 Tages, an Etruscan deity, 370

stars, sacrifice to, 214-15 tamarisk wood, as fuel, 516

Statius Tullianus, 215 Tarentum, 239, 247, 250

Sterculius, 59 Tarquinius Priscus, L. [Lucumo], 507-11 passim Tarquinius Superbus, L. [Tarquin], Stonil, 219 Tarquitius Priscus (cited), 212; Omen Strabo, 172 from Trees, 251 straw, as fuel, 516 Tarsus, Amphias of, 454 stomach, 458-59, 468-69, 476, 482, 50-51, 63, 201-2

Stoics, 160 61, 89

285 110

sturgeon, 237-38 taste, sense of, 186, 481, 482, 503, 506 styles, in oratory and writing, 282-83, Tatius, T., king of the Sabines, 68,

Sublician Bridge, Rome, 82 teeth, 480-81 Sueius, 248; (cited), 392, 419-20; The temples, contents classified, 223

Compote (Moretum), 247 Terence [P. Terentius Afer], 521

Suetonius, 507, 907, 1557, 1617, 1637, Terentius Varro, M., see Varro

"1677, 1682, 1707, 1787, 2267, 2357, terenus, meaning of, 247 | 2937, 3237, 3517, 4337, 4517, 519 Terminalia, festival, 93

Sulla, see Cornelius Sulla Tertia, Junia, wife of C. Cassius, 163

Sulpicius, Q., 109 Tertius, on ritual, 223

Sulpicius, Servius, 198 Tertullian [Q. Septimus Florens

sumptuary laws, 229-30, 239, 241-44 Tertullianus], 2287

sun, the, 67, 95, 113 Thalia, a Sicilian nymph, 370 and Greek and Roman deities, Theocritus, 286

114-153 passim Theocritus of Chios, 452

and signs of the Zodiac, 125, Theophrastus, the Peripatetic, 81

143-46 Occ, meaning of, 149

and the universe, 130, 135, 153 Theron, king of Hither Spain, 139 as source of life, 132, 135-36, 141, Thersander, 383

153 Theseus, 117-18

surnames, see names Three Arch Gate, Rome, 209 sweets (bellaria, dessert) 185, 245, 248 Thucydides, 209, 255, 3667 Sylla [Sulla], origin of surname, 119 thirst, 492-93, 497-98

Symaethus, river in Sicily, 370-71 thumb (pollex), 499-500 Symmachus, Q. Aurelius, 4, 5-6, 7-23 thunder, taboos connected with, 106 passim, 29, 33, 39, 43, 48, 84, 154, thyrsus, 133, 444 155, 160, 163, 165, 169, 180, 245, 253, ‘Tiber, river, 239

. 283, 440, 441, 462, 472, 473-74 Tibur, 226

syncretism, 14, 114-53 time (ypdvoc), 64, 139, 148

Syria, 171 Timotheus, lyric poet, 117, 383, 517 tithes, offered to Apollo, 60, to

table, as altar, 222-23 Hercules, 209, 225 Tables, the Twelve, 36-37, 42, 94-95, Titius, 194

242 Titius, C., 229, 239

table talk, 440-55 ‘Titus, 110

taboos, religious, 88-89, 106, 156 toga, 49-52, 167, 228

GENERAL INDEX 559 Toronius Flaccus, 174 De lingua Latina, 104n, 143m, 194n

506 Nature, 236

touch, sense of, 186, 481, 482, 503, Gallus, or, The Wonders of

trabea, 49 Human Antiquities (Antiquities of

Trajan, 151-52, 237-38 Man), 35-36, 46

_ Tralles, 58 Marius: On Fortune, 246

Trasimene Lake, battle of the, 79 Menippean satires, 56-57, 81, 185,

treasury, public, 63-64 225, 226, 376

Trebatius, 110, 196, 197, 204, 213 On Agriculture (De re rustica),

trees, 251, 517 227, 230, 23672 Tremellius Scropha, 54 On Augurs, 108

trinundino die, 1117 On Customs, 215-16

Tritons, 64 Religious Antiquities, 68, 193, 194, Trivia, 66, 210 200, 209, 412 Trojan Horse, the, 439 To Libo, 247

“Trojan pig,” the, 229-30 Vatinius, P., 161, 166-67, 172, Tuditanus, Sempronius, 94, 110 178

Tullianus, Statius, 215 Veii, 219

Tullius, Servius, 94, 110-11 Velabrum, Rome, 72

Tullrus Cicero, N., see Cicero Velius Longus (cited), 209

Tullius Cicero, Q., 166 Venus (Aphrodite), 214, 244; birth Tullus Hostilius, 50, 63 of, 64-65; cult of, 85-87, 141-42

Turacian land, 72 Venustus Flavianus, 48 Tuscan sea, 495 Veranius, on religious ritual, 192,

Tusculum, 87, 239 205, 210 Tutela (Philotis), 80 Vergil:

Tutilina, 106 criticism of, 17-23, 154-58

Twelve Tables, the, see Tables, the debt to Homer, 286-357; to other

Twelve Greek writers, 358-61, 368-76; to

two bridges, the, in Rome, 239-40 earlier Latin authors, 385-409

Tyre, 138 diverse styles, 282-85

knowledge, 107; of augural law,

Umbrians, 35-36 157, 189-226; of religious ritual,

Umbro, 106 189-211; of the reckoning of the

universe, the, 64-65, 67, 130, 152, 513 year, 112-13; of the Roman civil

unlovable (inamabilis), 430 day, 37; of the rules of rhetoric, unpraised (laudatus), 207, 429, 430-31 254-81

Urbinus, 77 language: constructions and

Urbinus, C., 228 epithets, 416-27; peculiar use of Latin words, 410-14; use of

Valerius Antias, 40, 94 figures, 254-81 passim, 421-27; Valerius Maximus, 53 use of Greek words, inflexions,

Valerius Probus, 2977, 383 and names, 361-62, 414-15; use of

Varius Rufus, L., 170; The Death of meter, use of, 344-45

Caesar (cited), 392, 402 Oscan and Punic words, 415

Varro [M. Terentius Varro], 387, for passages cited, see Index of 41, 47, 60, 63, 75, 86, 88, 94-95, Citations, 535-39 103-4, 108, 111, 128, 211, 235 for passages containing variations

Catus,; On the Bringing Up of from the received text, see

Children, 208-9 Appendix C, 525-28

560 GENERAL INDEX Verrius Flaccus, 51, 64, 71, 86, 103-4; | water:

(cited), 40 properties of, 465, 478, 500, 502

Vespasian, 2357, 519 ritual use, 128

Vesta (Hestia), 85, 150, 202 sea water (salt water), 495, 500-1 Vestal Virgins, 70-71, 116, 229 snow water, 493-94 vestibule (vestibulum), meaning of, spring water, 477-78

434-36 wine, 185, 227

Vettius, 171 effects of drinking, 133, 185-86, Vettius, C., a pelignian, 78 468-72

Vettius Agorius Praetextatus, 4-5, Falernian, 239, 490 6-15 PaSSi71, 29-30, 32, 33, 34; 39, medicinal use, 249, 468-69, 490-91 43, 46, 49, 50, 55, 56, 57, 58, 61, 74, properties of, 468-70, 474-75; 84, 100, 114, 154, 156, 157, 158, 159, 477-78, 494-95 160, 161, 220, 222, 225, 226, 253, 286, ritual use, 88, 128

385, 428, 440, 456, 457, 462 storage of, 491-92

vexare, Meaning of, 429-30, Vergil’s wine jars (honey jars), 88

use of, 428 wit and humor, 52-54, 159-61, 450-55 Vibo, bay of, 412 wolf, as symbol, 121, 139

victims, sacrificial, see religion and women: and rites of Hercules, 88-89;

ritual physiology of, 470-74; voices of,

vidua, meaning of, 103 486

Viminal Hill, Rome, 68 Women, the Goddess of, 88

Vinalia, festival, go working days, 105, 107 vinegar, 470, 494-95 wrasse, fish, 238-39

vine twigs, as fuel, 516 world, see universe, the Vipsanius Agrippa, M., 176, 177

Virginius, military tribune, 109 Xanthippus, son of Pericles, 30

vision, theories of, 502-6 Xenagoras (cited), 373 Vitula (goddess), 194-95 Xeniades of Corinth, 81 vitulari, vitulatio, meaning of, 194-95 Xenon, 66

| volones (volunteers), meaning of, 79 Xenophon, 4427 Volumnuus, P., 229

Volupia, 71 Zeno the Stoic, 81

vomitoria, meaning of, 410-11 Zeus, see Jupiter

Vulcan, 87, 416 Zilmissus, 129

zodiac, the 86, 92, 96, 125, 143-46

walnut (juglans), 245 Zopyrion, 80