Petronius - Complete works of petronius

Translated by Alfred R. Allinson

The Latin novel Satyricon (The Satyrlike Adventures) is believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as a certain Titus Petronius. Along with Apuleius Metamorphoses , scholars often describe the Satyricon as a Roman novel, though not necessarily implying that is has a continuous narrative. The work has been identified as a Menippean satire, containing a mixture of prose and verse (known as prosimetrum ), featuring serious, comic and erotic subject matter. This genre was made popular by Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC 27 BC), an ancient Roman scholar and writer, who imitated the Greek Menippus, giving his satires the character of a medley of prose and verse composition.

Satyricon is regarded as useful evidence for the reconstruction of how lower classes lived during the early Roman Empire. The extant text concerns the misadventures of the narrator, Encolpius, who is a former gladiator, and his lover, a handsome servant boy named Giton. Throughout the novel, Encolpius faces the challenge of maintaining his lovers faithfulness, as Giton is constantly enticed away by other lovers. The surviving sections of the novel begin with Encolpius travelling with a companion and former lover named Asciltos, who has joined Encolpius on numerous escapades. Encolpius slave Giton is apparently present at Encolpius lodging when the story begins. He is constantly referred to as brother throughout the novel, indicating that they were lovers.

In the first extant passage, Encolpius is in a Greek town in Campania, where he is standing outside a school, railing against the Asiatic style and false taste in literature, which he blames on the prevailing system of declamatory education. His adversary in this debate is Agamemnon, a sophist, who shifts the blame from the teachers to the parents. Encolpius discovers that his companion Asciltos has left and breaks away from Agamemnon when a group of students arrive. Encolpius locates Asciltos and then Giton, who claims that Asciltos made a sexual advance on him. After some conflict, the three go to the market, where they are involved in a dispute over stolen property. Returning to their lodgings, they are confronted by Quartilla, a devotee of Priapus, who condemns their attempts to pry into the cults secrets.

Although interrupted by frequent gaps, 141 sections of consecutive narrative have been preserved. Speculation as to the size of the original text has estimated Satyricon as large as a work of thousands of pages. A number of fragments are preserved in other authors. Servius cites Petronius as his source for a custom at Massilia of allowing a poor man, during times of plague, to volunteer to serve as a scapegoat, receiving support for a year at public expense and then being expelled. Sidonius Apollinaris refers to Arbiter, by which he apparently means Petronius narrator Encolpius, as a worshipper of the sacred stake of Priapus in the gardens of Massilia. It has been argued that Encolpius wanderings in the Satyricon began after he offered himself as the scapegoat and was ritually expelled.

The date of the satirical novel was controversial in nineteenth and twentieth century scholarship, with dates proposed as varied as the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, though a consensus on this issue now exists. A dramatic date under Nero (1st century AD) is indicated by the works social background and in particular by references to named popular entertainers, recently revealed in research work.

The incomplete form in which the Satyricon survives has tantalised many readers and, between 1692 and the present, several writers have attempted to complete the story. In certain cases, following a well-known conceit of historical fiction, these invented supplements have been claimed to derive from newly discovered manuscripts, a claim that may appear all the more plausible since the real fragments actually came from two different medieval sources and were only brought together by sixteenth and seventeenth century editors. The novel is remarkable for being a source of scarce information about the language of Romes populace. The Satyricon provides description, conversation and stories that have become invaluable evidence of colloquial Latin. In the realism of Trimalchios dinner party, we are provided with informal table talk that abounds in vulgarisms and solecisms, conveying a precious insight of the Roman proletariat.