Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius, usually known simply as Macrobius, was a commander of the Praetorian guard of Italy circa 430 CE. He was also a grammarian and Neoplatonic philosopher. His most important work was Saturnalia (Saturnalia Libri Septem, “Seven Books of the Saturnalia”), a symposium (collection) of conversations held at the house of Vettius Agorius Praetextatus during the winter festival. It was written sometime after ~431 CE.
Book Two is noted for recording a famous quote attributed to Augustus Caesar.
Cum audisset inter pueros quos in Syria Herodes rex Iudaeorum intra bimatum iussit interfici filium quoque eius occisum, ait: Melius est Herodis porcum esse quam filium.
Macrobius, Saturnalia, II. IV.11
The Loeb Classical Library translation reads:
On hearing that the son of Herod, king of the Jews, had been slain when Herod ordered that all boys in Syria under the age of two be killed, Augustus said, “It’s better to be Herod’s pig than his son”.
Macrobius, Saturnalia, II. IV.11
The quote, “It’s better to be Herod’s pig than his son,” is a pun in Greek (pig = Gr. hus, Strong’s #5300; son = Gr. huios, Strong’s #5207), and a famous slight to Herod’s temperament and his pseudo-Judaism. While a pig might live due to Herod’s outward devotion to Jewish dietary laws, his sons, in contrast, were not so secure.
The son referenced here is his firstborn son by his first wife Doris, Antipater II, who was executed just five days before Herod himself died. But Antipater was the third son of Herod to be executed in short order. Alexander and Aristobulus IV, sons of his beloved Mariamne, were executed a few years earlier.
Furthermore, the citation from Macrobius also mentions the infamous “Massacre of the Innocents” ordered by Herod after the Magi refused to send word of the location of the true born King of Judaea—an incident challenged by skeptics as having no historical support outside the gospel of Matthew.
