Rhétorique et poétique de Macrobe dans les 'Saturnales'

Although Macrobius’ work has been understood as a source likely to engage erudite interest, above all in the area of ancient Roman religion, the absence of studies emphasizing the Saturnalia’s (written c. 430 AD) literary and rhetorical aspects is unfortunate. Macrobius elaborates an innovative project for the writing of this carefully fashioned banquet. At the origin of this silence, Quellenforschung clearly ignored that the author had taken up the challenge of collecting the vast multiplicity of knowledge into an organic whole through coherent construction. Thanks to the system of readings allotted to the twelve specialized speakers who are present, Macrobius creates a living encyclopedia of ancient times. The terms of reference in which each person undertakes a speech, composes it and eventually passes it along to his neighbor, who in turn offers his own contribution to the knowledge that takes shape, inform us about the idea of discourse which the work authorizes, and which obviously constitutes a singular advancement in the definition of sermo doctus.

A former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de la rue d’Ulm, Paris, and an Agrégé de lettres classiques, Benjamin Goldlust is Associate Professor at the University of Lyon 3 - Jean Moulin. His research work focuses mainly on Late Latin Literature.