Macrobius

Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, usually referred to as Macrobius (fl. c. AD 400), was a Roman provincial who lived during the early fifth century, during late antiquity, the period of time corresponding to the Later Roman Empire, and when Latin was as widespread as Greek among the elite. He is primarily known for his writings, which include the widely copied and read Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis ("Commentary on the Dream of Scipio") about Somnium Scipionis, which was one of the most important sources for Neoplatonism in the Latin West during the Middle Ages; the Saturnalia, a compendium of ancient Roman religious and antiquarian lore; and De differentiis et societatibus graeci latinique verbi ("On the Differences and Similarities of the Greek and Latin Verb"), which is now lost. He is the basis for the protagonist Manlius in Iain Pears' book The Dream of Scipio.

For the lunar crater, see Macrobius (crater). For the Irish bishop, see Macrobius (bishop). For the place in Antarctica, see Macrobius Cove.

Name

Macrobius's given name (praenomen) is unrecorded as is his family name (nomen). His recorded name is a series of three surnames (cognomina), properly ordered Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius. This is what appears in the earliest surviving manuscripts of the Saturnalia and how he is addressed in the excerpts from his lost De Differentiis. He is called "Macrobius Theodosius" in both Cassiodorus and Boethius and was apparently known during his lifetime as "Theodosius": The dedication of De Differentiis is "Theodosius to his Symmachus" (Theodosius Symmacho suo) and he addressed as "the very greatest Theodosius" (Theodosi optime) in a dedicatory epistle to Avianus's Fables. This was mistakenly reversed in later manuscripts to "Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius", which James Willis then used in his edition of the Commentary.[1]

Life
Macrobius presenting his work to his son Eustachius. From an 1100 copy of Macrobius' "Commentary on the «Dream of Scipio»".

Little is known for certain about Macrobius, but there are many theories and speculations about him. He states at the beginning of his Saturnalia that he was "born under a foreign sky" (sub alio ortus caelo), and both of his major works are dedicated to his son, Eustachius.[lower-alpha 1] His major works have led experts to assume that he was a pagan.

Which "foreign sky" Macrobius was born under has been the subject of much speculation. Terrot Glover considers Macrobius either an ethnic Greek, or born in one of the Greek-speaking parts of the Roman Empire, such as Egypt, due to his intimate knowledge of Greek literature. J. E. Sandys went further and argued that Macrobius was born in one of the Greek provinces. However other experts, beginning with Ludwig van Jan, point out that despite his familiarity with Greek literature Macrobius was far more familiar with Latin than Greek—as evidenced by his enthusiasm for Vergil and Cicero—and favor North Africa, which was part of the Latin-speaking portion of the Roman Empire.[3]

Scholars have attempted to identify him with a Macrobius who is mentioned in the Codex Theodosianus as a praetorian prefect of Spain (399–400), and a proconsul of Africa (410).[4] The Codex Theodosianus also records a praepositus (or lord chamberlain) named Macrobius in 422.[5] A number of older authorities go so far as to identify Macrobius the author with the first, and date his floruit to 399–410. There are objections to either identification: as Alan Cameron notes, the complete name of the first candidate is attested in an inscription to be "Flavius Macrobius Maximianus", while the second is excluded because "A praepositus must at this period have been a eunuch."[6]

However, since Macrobius is frequently referred to as vir clarissimus et inlustris, a title which was achieved by holding public office, we can reasonably expect his name to appear in the Codex Theodosianus. Further, Cameron points out that during his lifetime Macrobius was referred to as "Theodosius", and looking for that name Cameron found a Theodosius who was praetorian prefect of Italy in 430. "It is significant that the only surviving law addressed to this Theodosius sanctions a privilege for Africa Proconsularis on the basis of information received concerning Byzacena," Cameron notes.[7]

Works

Commentary on the "Dream of Scipio"
Main article: Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis

Macrobius's most influential book and one of the most widely cited books of the Middle Ages was a commentary on the book Dream of Scipio narrated by Cicero at the end of his Republic. The nature of the dream, in which the elder Scipio appears to his (adopted) grandson and describes the life of the good after death and the constitution of the universe from a Stoic and Neo-Platonic point of view, gave occasion for Macrobius to discourse upon the nature of the cosmos, transmitting much classical philosophy to the later Middle Ages.[8] In astronomy, this work is noted for giving the diameter of the Sun as twice the diameter of the Earth.[9] Of a third work On the Differences and Similarities of the Greek and Latin Verb, we only possess an abstract by a certain Johannes, doubtfully identified with Johannes Scotus Eriugena (9th century).[8]

See editions by Ludwig von Jan (1848–1852, with a bibliography of previous editions, and commentary), Franz Eyssenhardt (1893, Teubner text), James Willis (1994, new Teubner), and R. A. Kaster (OCT and Loeb, 2011); on the sources of the Saturnalia see H. Linke (1880) and Georg Wissowa (1880). The grammatical treatise will be found in Jan's edition and Heinrich Keil's Grammatici latini; see also Georg Friedrich Schömann, Commentatio macrobiana (1871).

Saturnalia
Main article: Saturnalia (Macrobius)
Early printed edition of Macrobius's In Somnium Scipionis and Saturnaliorum.

Macrobius's Saturnalia (Latin: Saturnaliorum Libri Septem, "Seven Books of the Saturnalia") consists of an account of the discussions held at the house of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus during the holiday of the Saturnalia. It contains a great variety of curious historical, mythological, critical, antiquarian and grammatical discussions. "The work takes the form of a series of dialogues among learned men at a fictional banquet."[10]

Editions and translations
  • Robert A. Kaster (ed.), Macrobius: Saturnalia. Loeb classical library 510–512. Cambridge, MA/ London: Harvard University Press, 2011. 3 volumes.
  • Percival Vaughan Davies (trans.), Macrobius: The Saturnalia. New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.
  • William Harris Stahl (trans.), Macrobius: Commentary on the Dream of Scipio. New York: Columbia University Press, 1952. (Second printing, with revisions, 1966)
  • Macrobius, Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius (1400s). Seven Books of the Saturnalia: Codex from the Plutei Collection of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence (in Latin). World Digital Library. Retrieved 2014-02-28.

Legacy

A prominent lunar crater is named after Macrobius.[11]

Macrobius Cove in Antarctica is named after Macrobius.

Cicero's Dream of Scipio described the Earth as a globe of insignificant size in comparison to the remainder of the cosmos.[12] Many early medieval manuscripts of Macrobius include maps of the Earth, including the antipodes, zonal maps showing the Ptolemaic climates derived from the concept of a spherical Earth and a diagram showing the Earth (labeled as globus terrae, the sphere of the Earth) at the center of the hierarchically ordered planetary spheres.[13]

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

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

See also

Notes
  1. Alan Cameron notes that several of the earliest manuscripts of his works spell his son's name Eustathius, then after pointing out that a certain Plotinus Eustathius was Urban prefect in 462 observes "Plotinus would be a peculiarly appropriate name for a neoplatonist philosopher and keen admirer of the great Lycopolitan (cf. Comm. I, 8, 5) to have given his son." There is also a Macrobius Plotinus Eudoxius who collaborated with Memmius Symmachus over an edition of Macrobius' Commentary.[2]

References

Citations
  1. Cameron, Alan (1966), "The Date and Identity of Macrobius", Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 56, pp. 27 & notes, JSTOR 300131.
  2. Cameron, "Date and Identity", p. 38.
  3. William Harris Stahl, Macrobius: Commentary on the Dream of Scipio (New York: Columbia University, 1952), pp. 4f
  4. Codex Theodosianus XIV.10.15, VIII.5.61, XI.28.6
  5. Codex Theodosianus VI.8.1
  6. Cameron, "Date and Identity", pp. 25f
  7. Cameron, "Date and Identity", pp. 26f
  8. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Macrobius, Ambrosius Theodosius". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 269.
  9. Hockey, Thomas, ed. (2007). "Macrobius, Ambrosius (Theodosius)". The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. p. 723. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_882. ISBN 978-0-387-30400-7.
  10. "Seven Books of the Saturnalia". World Digital Library. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2014-02-28.
  11. International Astronomical Union Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature. "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature". USGS. Retrieved 2013-07-17.
  12. Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, transl. W. H. Stahl, (New York: Columbia Univ. Pr., 1952), chaps. v-vii, (pp. 200-212).
  13. B. Eastwood and G. Graßhoff, Planetary Diagrams for Roman Astronomy in Medieval Europe, ca. 800-1500, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 94, 3 (Philadelphia, 2004), pp. 49-50.

Bibliography
  • Brigitte Englisch: Die Artes liberales im frühen Mittelalter (5.–9. Jahrhundert). Das Quadrivium und der Komputus als Indikatoren für Kontinuität und Erneuerung der exakten Wissenschaften zwischen Antike und Mittelalter. Steiner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-515-06431-1
  • Frateantonio, C., "Praetextatus – Verteidiger des römischen Glaubens? Zur gesellschaftlichen (Neu-)Inszenierung römischer Religion in Macrobius' Saturnalien," Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum, 11,2 (2007), 360–377.
  • Kaster, R. (ed), Studies on the Text of Macrobius's 'Saturnalia' (New York, 2010) (American Philological Association. American Classical Studies, 55).
  • Cameron, A., The Last Pagans of Rome (Oxford, 2011).
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