of the notes which Gellius made in
the course of his reading of Greek and Roman authors. Those authors,
and the conversation of contemporaries, are Gellius' professed
sources, but in some cases the author he names is evidently quoted at
second-hand, and many of the conversations are doubtless quite
imaginary. Our obligations to Gellius are twofold.

(_a_) Innumerable extracts from ancient authors are preserved by him
alone. (No quotations are given from post-Augustan writers--a fact
which accords with the affected archaism of his style.)

(_b_) His remarks on incidents in the lives of the Roman poets are in
the main derived from Varro, whose work _De Poetis_ is quoted for the
epitaph of Plautus (see p. 9); elsewhere his source is indicated
either vaguely or not at all, e.g. iii. 3, 15, 'accepimus'; xii. 4, 5,
'ferunt.' For literary criticism Varro is quoted: iii. 3, 9, _sqq._;
vi. 14, 6 (see pp. 10, 51).

3. NONIUS MARCELLUS,[119] a Peripatetic, of Thubursicum in Numidia, is
identified by Mommsen with the Nonius Marcellus Herculius of _C.I.L._
viii. 4878 (date A.D. 323); but nothing is known of his life. His
work, _De Compendiosa Doctrina ad Filium_ in twenty Books (of Book
xvi. the title only is known; Book xx. is fragmentary), though
modelled on that of Gellius, is immeasurably inferior in execution.
According to the theory usually received Nonius borrowed largely from
Gellius; but it is possible that both compilers made independent use
of the same authorities, viz., scholars such as Verrius Flaccus,
Valerius Probus, and Suetonius, whose works they knew either directly
or through abridgments. The subjects with which Nonius deals are
grammar, lexicography, and antiquities; and he is often our sole
authority for the titles of works as well as for brief extracts.

4. AMBROSIUS THEODOSIUS MACROBIUS, doubtless identical with the
Macrobius who held, among other high offices, the proconsulship of
Africa A.D. 410, was probably, like Nonius, of African origin. Besides
his commentary on the _Somnium Scipionis_ of Cicero, Macrobius wrote a
work in seven Books on Roman literature and antiquities with the title
of _Saturnalia_. The imaginary conversations of which it consists are
supposed to take place during the festival of the Saturnalia at Rome
(hence the title); and the chief subject of discussion is the poetry
of Virgil. A remarkable feature of the book is its wealth of quotation
from Greek and Latin authors. Macrobius,