Exemplarity and allusion in Macrobius' Saturnalia

This thesis builds a new framework for understanding the literary context of Macrobius’ Saturnalia. It takes the first systematic look at Macrobius’ interaction with his literary predecessors and argues that he consistently engages with his predecessors as both moral and aesthetic authorities, a process which I call ethical allusion. Focusing on this connection between literary and ethical agendas in the Saturnalia not only offers a fresh perspective on the significance of ‘classical’ and imperial literary presences in Macrobius’ dialogue. It also furnishes a more thorough knowledge of Macrobius’ relationship to his late antique contemporaries. Despite the lively debates in mid-twentieth century scholarship on the date of Macrobius and his oeuvre, nearly all the work done on elucidating the place of the Saturnalia in the late Latin intellectual scene is dominated by one of two scholarly meta-narratives, the relationship between ‘pagan’ and Christian culture, or the merits of ‘classical’ vs. ‘late’ Greco-Roman literature, both of which have come under question in recent years. This dissertation uses the concept of ethical allusion to shift scholarly focus in two ways. It uses this allusive technique as a means of establishing a better understanding of the relation of the Saturnalia to Macrobius’ other extant work, the Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis, a project which has been overlooked in the effort to assimilate Macrobius to the aforementioned critical paradigms. Second, ethical allusion serves as the basis from which I compare Macrobius’ reworking of his predecessors to those found in authors writing across the fourth and fifth centuries. The result throws into sharp relief Macrobius’ use of ‘antiquarian’ or scholarly knowledge to challenge and explore the existing elite social norms of his day.