Ambrosius° Macrobius

MACROBIUS, AMBROSIUS° (c. 400), Roman grammarian. He credits *Augustus with a grim pun reflecting Jewish abstinence from swine flesh. On hearing that *Herod had ordered his own son to be killed, Augustus remarked: "I would rather be Herod's pig [Gr. hus] than his son [Gr. huios]" (Saturnalia 2:4, 11).

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.