A new edition of the Saturnalia, Macrobius' enormously influential collection of ancient lore. The Latin text is based on a refined understanding of the medieval tradition; the accompanying critical apparatus provides an accurate account of the text's documentary basis and the record of its correction and is supplemented by ample testimonia.

The Saturnalia, Macrobius' encyclopaedic celebration of Roman culture, has been prized since the Renaissance as a treasure trove of ancient lore, much of it otherwise unattested. Cast in the form of a dialogue and arranged (by modern editors) in seven books, it treats subjects as diverse as the divinity of the Sun and the quirks of human digestion, and above all the poetry of Vergil, whom it presents as the master of all human knowledge, from diction and rhetoric to philosophy and religion. This new edition provides a significantly improved text and critical apparatus.