did you ever get a response on Petronius?
By the way, has anyone looked up who Petronius was?
"Petronius
?? - AD 66
itus Petronius Niger, was the reputed author of the Satyricon, a literary
portrait of Roman society of the 1st century AD. It is probable that Petronius'
correct name was Titus Petronius Niger. Seneca critisised him as a
pleasure-seeker who "turned night into day". After his consulship Petronius
was received by Nero into his most intimate circle as his arbiter elegantiae
("director of elegance"), whose word on all matters of taste was law. Petronius was alleged
to be involved with the conspiracy of Piso against Nero. Though innocent, he was arrested
at Cumae in southern Italy. He did not wait for the inevitable sentence but committed
suicide.
The Satyricon, or Satyricon liber ("Book of Satyrlike Adventures"), is a comic, picaresque
novel that is related to several ancient literary genres. It relates the wanderings and
escapades of a disreputable trio of adventurers, the narrator Encolpius ("Embracer"), his
friend Ascyltos ("Scot-free"), and the boy Giton ("Neighbour"). The surviving portions
represent about one-tenth of the complete work. The novel encloses as an independent tale
the famous "Widow of Ephesus". Other features recall the "Menippean" satire: a mixture of
prose and verse.
The longest and the best episode in the surviving portions of the Satyricon is the Cena
Trimalchionis, or "Banquet of Trimalchio". This is a description of a dinner party given by
Trimalchio, an immensely rich and vulgar freedman (former slave), to a group of friends and
hangers-on. Trimalchio is the classic example of the parvenu, a figure familiar enough in
ancient satirical literature, but especially so in the 1st century AD, when freedmen as a
class were at their most influential.
The aim of the Satyricon was evidently above all to entertain by portraying certain aspects
of contemporary society. This makes the book of immense value to our knowledge of daily
life in Roman society. The language of the narrative and the educated speakers is pure,
easy, and elegant, and the wit of the best comic passages is briljant. |
