Christopher Lougheed, MA Ancient History, Université de Montréal
'The Limits of Free Expression: Macrobius' Saturnalia 7. 1-3'
Stephen Mitchell, in his History of the Later Roman Empire, offers an expansive view of Roman Late Antiquity; his chapter The Nature of the Evidence is a particularly useful introduction and starting point for further research. Mitchell heavily emphasizes historiography, however, and does not take advantage of the full range of available sources. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how literary works can provide valuable insights into the way in which the late antique world was experienced, using Macrobius' Saturnalia 7.1-3, as a case study. A treatise on the etiquette of informal conversation closely adapted from Plutarch's much earlier Quaestiones Convivales, this section of Macrobius' work (c. 430) illustrates how classical models might be transformed in Late Antiquity. A systematic comparison of Macrobius' chapters and Plutarch's original tells us not only about the approach to the past among the western pagan aristocracy, but also about the limits of free speech which it observed. This study could in turn shed light on the developments described in the chapter From Pagan to Christian and in The Roman State.