Agenda

Recap & Update


The World of the Satyricon


Morality and Society Under Nero
Petronius 1


From Juvenal to Petronius
Immoral Morality
Discussion

What Would Petronius Think?
6-Nov 2013
Petronius
2
Recap & Update
From Juvenal to Petronius
Holt Parker’s “Teratogenic Grid”
SUBJECT
ACTION-LOCUS
vagina anus
Active
futuere pedicare
vir
fututor pedicator/pedico
Passive
—
pedicari
male (cinaedus)
—
pathicus
female (femina/puella) futui
pathica
mouth
irrumare
irrumator
fellare
fellator
fellatrix
Holt Parker. “The Teratogenic Grid.” Roman Sexualities. Eds. Judith P. Hallett,
and Marilyn B. Skinner. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
47–65. Print.
Impure Mouths, Words in Petronius
Latin
English
os, oris Mouth (cf. “oral”)
orator speaker, orator
oratio speech, oration, rhetoric
os impurum mouth defiled by sex or
excessive eating
cuius ne spiritus quidem purus “Even your breath stinks of
est. buggery!” (p. 26)
grandis et ut ita dicam pudica
oratio non est maculosa nec
turgida, sed naturali
pulchritudine exsurgit. (1.6)
“No, great language is chaste
language – if you’ll let me use a
word like chaste in this
connection – not turgitity and
worked up purple patches.” (p.
22)
Masculinity in Petronius?
(Phileros on old Chrysanthus) “And you know
how old he was when he died? Seventy and
then some. But carried it beautifully, hard as
nails (corneolus) … he was horny (salax), right to
the end. By god, I’ll bet he even pestered the
dog. Boys were what he really liked (pullarius
erat), but he wasn’t choosy: he’d jump anything
with legs.” (pp. 51–52)
Rome and the Monstrous
Barton, Carlin A. The Sorrows
of the Ancient Romans: The
Gladiator and the Monster.
Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1993.
A gladiator fights his own phallus.
(1st-cent. CE Wind-chime from Pompeii)
Matrimonial Ideology
Maritalis affectio, adfectio coniugalis
 Univira
 Reverentia, obsequium
 Concordia, consortium, societas

Treggiari, Susan. Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges from the Time of
Cicero to the Time of Ulpian. Oxford and New York: Clarendon
Press; Oxford University Press, 1991. Print.
6-Nov 2013
Petronius
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Sexual-Social Ideology/Law

Lex scantinia (149 BCE)

Augustan marriage legislation


Lex iulia et papia (18 BCE, 9 CE)
Lex iulia de adulteriis coercendis (9CE)
McGinn, Thomas A. Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient
Rome. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Print.
6-Nov 2013
Petronius
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Juvenal: Structure, Theme
2 Hypocritical moralists
 Philosophers
 Cinaedic cinaedus-bashers
 Imperial reformer
 Pathic lawyer


6 Misogyny gone wild



Lex iulia et papia
Pudicitia’s loss
Matrimonial folly
Gallery of women



Roman contagion



6-Nov 2013
Petronius
Impure maids
Lust for infamia
Imperial prostitute
Imperious wives
Adulterous wives
etc. etc.
10
The World of the Satyricon
Morality and Society Under Nero
Petronius and Nero

Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar)




r. 54-68
Philhellene
artiste
Petronius

arbiter elegantiae
(overseer of entertainments)


suicide, 65 CE
Satyricon (episodic novel)
Nero
6-Nov 2013
Petronius
12
Puteoli
Naples
Croton
Pompeii
Terentius Neo and Wife, Archaeological Museum, Naples
Cave canem, “Beware of the dog!” - Pompeii
House of the Vettii
Peristyle Garden
Large Dining Room (triclinium)
House of the Vettii, Pompeii
Large Dining Room
(triclinium)
Peristyle Garden
(Priapus)
Peristyle Garden
Atrium
Vestibule
(Priapus)
Priapus, House of
the Vettii.
What do you see?
Petronius 1
Immoral Morality
Satyricon: Theme and Layout

Three “fratres” (brothers)




Encolpius
Ascyltus
Giton
Priapic bipolarity

excess


depletion



6-Nov 2013
Trimalchio’s feast
Quartilla’s orgy
Encolpius’ impotence
Artistic decadence?
Petronius
Priapus
20
Satyricon: Plot Outline
Lost text
 Encolpius & …
 Lycurgus (?)




Encolpius gladiator kills
Lycurgus lanista
Lichas (Enc’s affair w/ wife)
Tryphaena (theft of Giton)
“Brothers” & Quartilla

offense vs. Priapus
Preserved text
 “Bros.’ ” Oratory, escapades
about town
 Reunion w/ Quartilla
 Priapic offense atoned for?
 Dinner w/ Trimalchio
Preserved text (cont.)
 Eumolpus & “bros.”
 Pergamene boy
 Shipboard
 reunion w/ Lichas, Tryphaena
 widow of Ephesus
 theft of Isis’ gear
 shipwreck
 Con in Croton
 Encolpius’ impotence




w/ Circe
w/ Oenothea
Philomela lena
Eumolpus’ will
Discussion
What Would Petronius Think?
The Author’s Complaint…
“Then why … must every nagging prude … denounce
my work as lewd? … I write of every human act /
admitted to be true. … Let prudes … heed …
Epicurus …, that … pleasure is the goal of all….” (pp.
151-152)
Discussion
6-Nov 2013
Petronius
24