Resilience and Transformation

Pontifical law and sacred rites are key points in Macrobius' Saturnalia. Macrobius, however, deals with the question as an antiquarian, since the Christianisation of the Roman empire gradually banned any public manifestation of traditional Roman cults. The solution Macrobius suggests to stem the decline of paganism is to crystallise Roman religion into eternally valid truths. This article explores pontifical law in Macrobius' Saturnalia as an expression of the resilience of Roman paganism.