MACROBIUS, AMBROSIUS THEODOSIUS

flourished AD 400 Latin grammarian and philosopher whose most important work is the Saturnalia, the last known example of the long series of symposia headed by the Symposium of Plato. Little is known about his life: he may have been a praetorian prefect in Spain (399), proconsul in Africa (410), and grand chamberlain (422). The Saturnalia, which is dedicated to Macrobius' son Eustachius, purports to give an account of discussions in private houses on the day before the Saturnalia and on three days of that festival. Macrobius also wrote a commentary on Cicero's Somnium Scipionis (The Dream of Scipio) from the De Republica. This is a Neoplatonic work in two books. Of a third work by Macrobius entitled De differentiis et societatibus Graeci Latinique verbi (On the Differences and Similarities Between Greek and Latin Words) only fragments remain.