Two works by Macrobius, a Latin writer who lived in the 2nd century, are preserved, a commentary on the Somnium Scipionis and the Saturnalia, and a grammatical essay on the differences and concordances of the Greek and Latin verb. The commentary on the Somnium gives Macrobius the opportunity to lavish his theories, of Platonic, Aristotelian and Pythagorean origin, on the microcosm and the macrocosm. The Saturals represent the latest example of a literary genre, the Symposiacus, which begins with Plato. The work, divided into seven books, is composed of dialogues that the author assumes took place between educated people during the banquets of the Saturnalia, and which contain news on the most varied topics and quotations from otherwise ignored works.