Obscuritas nei Commentarii in Somnium Scipionis di Macrobio

After a brief critical survey both on the concept of 'obscuritas' before Macrobius, between rhetoric and philosophy, and on the canonical division between 'rerum obscuritas' and 'verborum obscuritas', the paper focuses on the presence and the meaning of 'obscuritas' in Macrobius’ 'Commentaries' on the 'Somnium Scipionis'. Through the analysis of the text and of its relatonships with Greek and Latin auctores and with the tradition of Plato’s interpretation, the paper highlights not only the persistence in Macrobius’ work of the longstanding crossing of rhetoric and philosophy typical of ancient exegetical literature, but also Macrobius’ double aim of defending Cicero’s work from the charges of obscurity and of characterizing his exegetical efforts not as a pure repetition, but as an original version of the Latin venerable 'auctor'’ thought