Gender norms and philosophical erudition

Abstract This chapter studies the rhetoric of gender in the Saturnalia. Macrobius uses references to female figures to outline the ways of life his diners do not pursue in the dialogue, namely superficial approaches to philosophical enquiry and participation in politics. Instead, the Saturnalia grounds the masculinity of its interlocutors almost purely in erudition and intellectual accomplishment. The Saturnalia is unique in the extent to which it emphasizes learning in its portrait of maleness, particularly when compared with its fourth- and fifth-century contemporaries, who either develop a discourse of bodily asceticism or repurpose traditional military and political values as metaphors to describe the spiritual tenets of Christianity.