Aither 2/2009:129-148 | DOI: 10.5507/aither.2009.014

Relation of Macrobio's Saturnalia to Plato's Συμπόσιον (Aemulatio or imitatio?)

Katarina Petrovićová

This article analyzes Plato's philosophical dialogue Σσμπόσιον as a rich source of inspiration not only for philosophers, but also for other men of letters, who considered Σσμπόσιον primarily as a constitutive work of a new literary genre, the so-called symposial dialogue. Examining the Saturnalia, a work composed by the noble Roman magistrate named Macrobius in the second third of the 5th century AD, as an example of educational dialogue, the author tries to demonstrate the particular ways of drawing inspiration from Plato's dialogue as well as other symposial works inspired by Plato. She analyses Macrobius' use of both personal and situational symposial topoi, and his practice of transforming them in order to portray an exemplary literary and scholarly debate, and to provide a more serious alternative to Plato's symposial dialogue, which Macrobius sees as more appropriate to Roman traditions as well as readers. Although this model text manifests all the characteristic features of symposial literature, they are elaborated so that the work entirely fulfils the educational aim of preserving the Roman culture as an integral and non-controversial entity.

Published: September 30, 2009  Show citation