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Gaius Petronius Arbiter[1] (/ pɪˈtroʊniəs /; Classical Latin: [ˈɡaː.i.ʊs pɛˈt̪roː.ni.ʊˈs ar.bɪ.t̪ɛr]; c. AD 27 – 66; sometimes Titus Petronius Niger) [1] was a Roman courtier during the reign of Nero. He is generally believed to be the author of the Satyricon, a satirical novel believed to have been written during the Neronian era (54–68 AD).
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Gaius Petronius Arbiter (died ad 66) reputed author of the Satyricon, a literary portrait of Roman society of the 1st century ad.
The most complete and the most authentic account of Petronius’ life appears in Tacitus’ Annals, an account that may be supplemented, with caution, from other sources. It is probable that Petronius’ correct name was Titus Petronius Niger. From his high position in Roman society, it may be assumed that he was wealthy; he belonged to a noble family and was therefore, by Roman standards, a man from whom solid achievements might have been expected. Tacitus’ account, however, shows that he belonged to a class of pleasure-seekers attacked by the Stoic philosopher Seneca, men who “turned night into day”; where others won reputation by effort, Petronius did so by idleness. On the rare occasions, however, when he was appointed to official positions, he showed himself energetic and fully equal to public responsibilities. He served as governor of the Asian province of Bithynia and later in his career, probably in ad 62 or 63, held the high office of consul, or first magistrate of Rome.
After his term as consul, Petronius was received by Nero into his most intimate circle as his “director of elegance” (arbiter elegantiae), whose word on all matters of taste was law. It is from this title that the epithet “Arbiter” was attached to his name. Petronius’ association with Nero fell within the emperor’s later years, when he had embarked on a career of reckless extravagance that shocked public opinion almost more than the actual crimes of which he was guilty. What Petronius thought of his imperial patron may be indicated by his treatment of the rich vulgarian Trimalchio in the Satyricon. Trimalchio is a composite figure, but there are detailed correspondences between him and Nero that cannot, given the contemporary nature of the work, be accidental and that strongly suggest that Petronius was sneering at the emperor.
The Satyricon, or Satyricon liber (“Book of Satyrlike Adventures”), is a comic, picaresque novel that is related to several ancient literary genres. In style it ranges between the highly realistic and the self-consciously literary, and its form is episodic. 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 of the Satyricon (parts of Books XV and XVI) probably represent about one-tenth of the complete work, which was evidently very long. The loose narrative framework encloses a number of independent tales, a classic instance being the famous “Widow of Ephesus” (Satyricon, ch. 111–112). Other features, however, recall the “Menippean” satire; these features include the mixture of prose and verse in which the work is composed; and the digressions in which the author airs his own views on various topics having no connection with the plot.
The longest and the best episode in the surviving portions of the Satyricon is the Cena Trimalchionis, or “Banquet of Trimalchio” (ch. 26–78). 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. This episode’s length appears disproportionate even to the presumed original size of the Satyricon, and it has little or no apparent connection with the plot. The scene is a Greco-Roman town in Campania, and the guests, mostly freedmen like their host, are drawn from what corresponded to the petit bourgeois class. Trimalchio is the quintessence 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.
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Two features distinguish Petronius’ “Banquet” from other ancient examples: its extraordinary realism and the figure of Trimalchio. It is obvious that the table talk of the guests in the “Banquet” is based on the author’s personal observation of provincial societies. The speakers are beautifully and exactly characterized and their dialogue, quite apart from the invaluable evidence for colloquial Latin afforded by the vulgarisms and solecisms in which it abounds, is a humorous masterpiece. Trimalchio himself, with his vast wealth, his tasteless ostentation, his affectation of culture, his superstition, and his maudlin lapses into his natural vulgarity, is more than a typical satirist’s figure. As depicted by Petronius he is one of the great comic figures of literature and is fit company for Shakespeare’s Falstaff. The development of character for its own sake was hardly known in ancient literature: the emphasis was always on the typical, and the classical rules laid down that character was secondary to more important considerations such as plot. Petronius, in his treatment of Trimalchio, transcended this almost universal limitation in a way that irresistibly recalls Dickens, and much else in the “Banquet” is Dickensian—its exuberance, its boisterous humour (rare in ancient literature, where wit predominates), and its loving profusion of detail.
The rest of the Satyricon is hardly to be compared to the “Banquet.” Insofar as any moral attitude at all is perceptible in the work as a whole, it is a trivial and debased brand of hedonism. The aim of the Satyricon was evidently above all to entertain by portraying certain aspects of contemporary society, and when considered as such, the book is of immense value: superficial details of the speech, behaviour, appearance, and surroundings of the characters are exactly observed and vividly communicated. The wealth of specific allusions to persons and events of Nero’s time shows that the work was aimed at a contemporary audience, and certain features suggest that the audience in fact consisted of Nero and his courtiers. The realistic descriptions of low life recall the emperor’s relish for slumming expeditions; and the combination of literary sophistication with polished obscenity is consistent with the wish to titillate the jaded palates of a debauched court.
The Satyricon, Satyricon liber (The Book of Satyrlike Adventures), or Satyrica, [1] is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius in the late 1st century AD, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petronius.
- Petronius
- 1900
Gaius Petronius or Publius Petronius (c. 75 BC – after 20 BC) was the second and then fourth Prefect of Roman Aegyptus. History. Petronius led a campaign into present-day central Sudan against the Kingdom of Kush at Meroë, whose queen Imanarenat had previously attacked Roman Egypt.
Jun 8, 2018 · Petronius (d. c.ad 66) Roman writer, assumed writer of the Satyricon, a humorous tale giving vivid glimpses of contemporary society. He committed suicide when accused of plotting against Emperor Nero.
Jul 24, 2024 · Petronius. A degree of irresolvable uncertainty surrounds the question of whether or not the author of what is now generally called the Satyricon is the same courtier who was compelled to commit suicide at the imperial Roman court under the emperor Nero.
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Gaius Petronius Arbiter, orig. Titus Petronius Niger, (died ad 66), Roman writer. Of a noble family, Petronius belonged to a class of idle pleasure-seekers, but he served ably as governor of the Asian province of Bithynia and as consul in Rome.
