The Saturnalia

«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.» — Macrobio abre el prefacio dirigiéndose a su hijo Eustachius y pone el amor a los hijos por encima de todos los lazos de la Naturaleza

«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.» — Macrobio declara el propósito del libro: atajar el camino de la educación de su hijo poniendo a su disposición su propia lectura

«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.» — Macrobio describe la obra como almacén literario del que sacar un hecho histórico sepultado o un dicho memorable

«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.» — Macrobio dice haber ordenado en cuerpo lo que primero anotó sin plan ni orden, como ayudas de memoria

«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» — Macrobio pide que no se le impute a falta citar en las palabras mismas de los autores: la obra se presenta como colección de cosas que vale la pena saber y no como exhibición de lengua

«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» — Macrobio enuncia el símil de las abejas, que liban, reparten y transforman los jugos en un solo sabor mezclándoles algo propio; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«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.» — Macrobio aplica el símil a su propio trabajo: la disposición y la fermentación mental mezclan los extractos y producen algo distinto de las fuentes, aunque estas se vean

«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.» — Macrobio traslada el símil a la digestión: lo absorbido que no se transforma no alimenta, y con el alimento de la mente pasa igual

«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.» — Macrobio pide ocultar lo que produjo el resultado, como los perfumistas mezclan las esencias sin que domine ningún olor

«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.» — Macrobio cierra con el símil del coro: voces altas, bajas y medias, de hombres y de mujeres, y flautas, sin que ninguna sobresalga, dan una sola armonía

«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.» — Macrobio declara el efecto que busca —avivar el entendimiento, fortalecer la memoria, dar destreza al discurso— y se excusa por haber nacido bajo cielo ajeno a la lengua latina

«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.» — Macrobio se reprende a sí mismo por la excusa y trae el reproche de Marco Catón a Aulo Albino

«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.» — Macrobio refiere el caso: Albino escribió en griego una Historia de Roma y pidió en el prefacio que no se le criticara por ser romano y serle el griego lengua ajena

«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?”» — Macrobio cita la respuesta de Catón: se pide perdón tras errar por inadvertencia o por fuerza, y a él nadie lo obligó a hacer aquello por lo que pide perdón de antemano

«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—» — Macrobio define la obra como repositorio de enseñanza y de guía, con ejemplos de muchas épocas informados por un solo espíritu; el tramo se corta en el límite de chunk

«And I shall now proceed to indicate the theme of the work in the form, as it were, of a prologue.» — Macrobio cierra el prefacio anunciando que pasa a indicar el tema de la obra a modo de prólogo

«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;» — Continuación de la misma frase de Macrobio tras el corte de chunk: quien no huya de lo que no sabe hallará lectura placentera, educación y cosas útiles de recordar

«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.» — El marco que Macrobio fija para el diálogo: nobles romanos y eruditos se reúnen en casa de Vettius Praetextatus y dedican la fiesta a conversar sobre las artes liberales

«For the whole of the rest days! the better part of the day is devoted to serious discussions, but at dinner their talk is 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.» — Macrobio reparte el día de fiesta: la parte mejor para discusiones serias y la sobremesa para asuntos que convienen a la mesa, con el placer por fin y no el propósito grave

«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.» — Macrobio invoca el Banquete de Platón como precedente de conversación de sobremesa, con un Sócrates que pelea de mentiras y deja escapar a sus víctimas

«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.» — Macrobio pide que no se le impute injusticia por juntar personajes de generaciones distintas y se ampara en los diálogos de Platón

«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.» — Macrobio alega los casos de Parménides con Sócrates y de Sócrates con Timeo como licencias platónicas del mismo orden

«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.» — Macrobio declara improcedente contar con los dedos las edades de los personajes que reúne

«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.» — Macrobio explica el recurso de marco: Decius pregunta a Postumianus para que las palabras de cada hablante se distingan mejor

«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;» — Postumianus declara que lo más digno de su vida ha sido dedicar el ocio que le dejaba el foro a tratar con hombres doctos

«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.» — Postumianus explica su ausencia del banquete y que él mismo propuso que se invitara a otro sin ocupaciones

«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.» — Postumianus consigna que el lugar vacante lo ocupó el retórico Eusebius, a quien describe superior entre los griegos que ejercen hoy la retórica

«When I listened to that conversation, I thought that I was entering the life of those whom philosophers speak of as the Blessed.» — Eusebius, citado por Postumianus, dice haber creído entrar en la vida de los que los filósofos llaman Bienaventurados al escuchar aquella conversación

«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.”» — Eusebius declara haberlo puesto todo por escrito y advierte que un solo día no basta para recordar lo que llevó tantos días decir

«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.» — Postumianus data la escena inicial en la víspera de los Saturnales y presenta a Servius, recién llegado a los gramáticos de oficio, tan notable por su saber como amable por su modestia

«You must know, then, replied Praetextatus, that the subject of our talk was this. Tomorrow will be the first of the days dedicated 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?» — Praetextatus plantea la cuestión que abre el diálogo: cuándo empieza exactamente la fiesta de los Saturnales, es decir, cuándo empieza el día de mañana

«Marcus Varro in his work on Human Antiquities, writing of days, says: “Persons who are born in the course of the twenty-four hours between one midnight and the next are said to have been born on one and the same day.”» — Caecina Albinus cita a Marco Varrón para fijar el día romano de medianoche a medianoche

«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;» — Caecina Albinus contrapone los cómputos: atenienses de ocaso a ocaso, babilonios de orto a orto, umbros de mediodía a mediodía

«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.» — Caecina Albinus prueba el cómputo romano por la distinción entre ceremonias diurnas y nocturnas

«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.» — Caecina Albinus añade la práctica augural: los magistrados toman los auspicios después de medianoche y ejecutan el acto después del orto, y se dice que ambos fueron el mismo día

«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,» — Caecina Albinus trae el caso jurídico de Quinto Mucio sobre la interrupción del *usus* matrimonial; el tramo se corta en el límite de chunk

«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.» — Caecina Albinus lee en un verso de la Eneida la alusión velada al día civil romano que empieza a la hora sexta de la noche

«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.» — Caecina Albinus enumera las divisiones del día civil, de la vuelta media de la noche al canto del gallo, al silencio, a la primera luz y a la mañana

«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» — Caecina Albinus da dos etimologías de *mane*, la de los Manes y la del buen agüero, y declara cuál le parece más probable

«It follows therefore that the beginning of the Saturnalia (Saturnaliorum) will be midnight in the night which is about to come (noctu futura), although it is customary not to begin the festivities until tomorrow (die crastini).» — Caecina Albinus concluye que los Saturnales empiezan a la medianoche de la noche que viene, aunque se acostumbre no festejar hasta el día siguiente

«The rest of the footnotes are of three kinds: (1) Brief explanatory notes. (Iwo additional notes, too long for inclusion as footnotes, have been placed, as Appendix A and Appendix B, at the end of the translation.)» — Davies clasifica su propio aparato: notas explicativas breves, con dos demasiado largas remitidas a los apéndices A y B

«(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.» — Davies acota el alcance de sus referencias y remite al lector que quiera fuentes y paralelos completos a la edición de Jan y a la Teubner nueva

«(3) References (a) to the medieval authors Bede and John of Salisbury, made because both writers used the Saturnalia; and (b) to Isidore of Seville, for his place as a connecting link between ancient and medieval scholarship.» — Davies dice por qué anota a dos medievales: Beda y Juan de Salisbury usaron los Saturnales, e Isidoro de Sevilla hace de eslabón entre la erudición antigua y la medieval

«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.» — Davies declara el contenido del apéndice C: los lugares de Homero, Lucrecio y Virgilio en que la lectura que cita Macrobio difiere del 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.» — Davies declara su criterio de traducción de los pasajes de Homero y de Virgilio, *stare super antiquas vias*, y admite que hay quien preferiría versión en idioma moderno

«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.» — Davies niega originalidad a sus versiones de Homero y de Virgilio y las declara recuerdos de lecturas anteriores y préstamos o adaptaciones de traducciones conocidas

«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.» — Davies consigna que cuánto del texto original cabía en la traducción no lo decidió él sino los editores de la serie y la editorial

«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.» — Davies acusa la ayuda de Thomas A. Suits, a quien la portadilla nombra editor especial del volumen

«grammatical treatise (dedicated to a certain Symmachus) on the differences and affinities of the Greek and Latin verb; a Neoplatonist commentary on Cicero’s Somnium Scipionis; and a considerable part of a longer work, the Saturnalia.» — Davies enumera las tres obras que se conservan bajo el nombre de Macrobio, entre ellas el comentario neoplatónico al Sueño de Escipión de Cicerón

«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» — Davies traza las dos causas que juzga mayores del declive de la literatura latina: la brecha entre lengua hablada y escrita, y la retórica retenida como eje de la educación. El tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«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”» — Davies sitúa la obra dentro de una época que, en la frase de Gibbon que cita, oscureció el rostro del saber con compiladores y comentaristas

«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» — Davies fija el género de la obra y el propósito que el propio prefacio le da: poner la lectura del autor a disposición de su hijo. El tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue en *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 ftom notebooks containing excerpts from» — Davies señala que el autor renuncia de antemano a mérito literario y describe la obra como extractos de cuadernos de lectura; el tramo se corta en el límite de chunk y sigue en *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.» — Davies enuncia el doble valor que le concede: haber preservado material anónimo que se habría perdido, y el interés propio de la crítica virgiliana y del saber anticuario

«Of the twelve chief characters most, and—although there is no compelling evidence of this—quite possibly all, are real persons.» — Davies dice de los doce personajes principales que casi todos, y quizá todos, son personas reales, y marca que no hay evidencia que obligue a ello

«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» — Davies consigna que el propio autor admite lo dudoso del encuentro de los interlocutores por sus edades y se ampara en el ejemplo de Platón

«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» — Davies reparte el reparto: la mitad son nobles romanos, tres de ellos cabezas de la resistencia pagana, y la otra mitad hombres de letras

«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”» — Davies presenta a Praetextatus como representante de la última generación del paganismo y lo cita por Amiano Marcelino

«His intimate knowledge of pagan religious observances—he is said to be sacrorum omnium 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» — Davies resume la función doctrinal de Praetextatus en el diálogo: expone que todos los dioses griegos y romanos son atributos de un solo poder divino, el sol

«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» — Davies registra la objeción interna: Evangelus tiene motivo para acusar a Praetextatus de hacer alarde de erudición

«Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, statesrnan, orator, and man of letters, was a younger contemporary and a close friend of Prae» — Davies sitúa a Symmachus como contemporáneo más joven y amigo cercano de Praetextatus; el tramo se corta en el guion de fin de renglón y sigue en *textatus*

«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» — Davies asigna a Symmachus el estilo oratorio rico y ornado y la exposición de los recursos retóricos de Virgilio

«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 disertissimus is evidence of literary tastes.» — Davies documenta a Flavianus por la inscripción que lo llama *historicus disertissimus*

«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» — Davies consigna que Flavianus murió por la vieja religión romana en la batalla del Frigidus

«Of the two Albini, politely described by Praetextatus as by far the most learned men of the time» — Davies recoge cómo Praetextatus llama a los dos Albini los hombres más doctos de su tiempo

«Both Caecina Albinus and Furius Albinus—the latter’s name appears twice®> in the manuscripts as Rufius» — Davies registra que el nombre de Furius Albinus aparece dos veces como Rufius en los manuscritos: la variante se consigna tal cual la imprime el volumen

«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.» — Davies deja abierta la identificación de Avienus con el fabulista Avianus y la liga a que el Teodosio de las Fábulas sea el autor de los Saturnales

«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.» — Davies presenta a Servius como el comentarista de Virgilio, introducido joven y recién llegado a los gramáticos de oficio

«Eustathius, who, Jan suggests, may perhaps be the Greek Neoplatonist Eustathius of Cappadocia, is described as a friend of Flavianus (1. 6. 4) and a learned philosopher» — Davies recoge la conjetura de Jan que hace de Eustathius al neoplatónico Eustacio de Capadocia, y lo describe como filósofo docto

«Eusebius is an elderly (7. 10. 1) Greek rhetorician, who takes» — Davies identifica a Eusebius como retórico griego anciano que ocupa el lugar del abogado Postumianus en el banquete; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«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» — Davies sitúa a Disarius, el médico griego, como el mejor de la profesión médica en Roma

«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» — Davies describe a Horus como egipcio que, tras carrera de boxeador profesional, pasó a la filosofía como Cleantes

«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» — Davies caracteriza a Evangelus como el impertinente del diálogo, de ingenio amargo y lengua cáustica

«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.» — Davies fija la función de Evangelus: provocar la crítica de Virgilio y objetar que se llame al poeta a respaldar teorías teológicas

«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.» — Davies deja sin resolver si Evangelus era cristiano y consigna la abstención como tal

«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.» — Davies atribuye a Nettleship la tesis de que Macrobio no tomó de Servius su crítica virgiliana, sino que ambos bebieron de comentaristas anteriores

«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 question 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» — Davies traza la apertura de la escena: la víspera de los Saturnales en casa de Praetextatus, con la cuestión de cuándo empieza exactamente la fiesta

«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. 17-23)—a doctrine which conveniently enables its holder to combine a profession of monotheism with the practice of polytheism.» — Davies nombra el sincretismo solar y añade su propia lectura: la doctrina permite combinar profesión de monoteísmo con práctica de politeísmo

«A slighting remark by Evangelus (1. 24. 2) serves to introduce the main theme of the Saturnalia: Vergil’s many-sided erudition.» — Davies señala que un comentario desdeñoso de Evangelus introduce el tema central de la obra, la erudición polifacética de Virgilio

«The second Book records the conversation which follows, inter pocula. Symmachus suggests (2. 1. 15) that each of the diners in turn repeat a witty saying of some famous man of old» — Davies describe el libro segundo como la conversación *inter pocula*, con la propuesta de Symmachus de que cada comensal repita un dicho ingenioso