Customer Reviews:
A Burlesque Satire.......2005-03-02
Petronius' Satyricon is a unique satire on decadence and pleasure. Although the story takes place during Nero's reign, one begins to see that many of the scenes have relevance to today's society and its own debaucheries.
The story follows the adventures of Aschyltus and Encolpio; two rhetoricians who are on an infinite quest for pleasure. Their frienship is challenged by their mutual attraction to Giton, a scoundrelous slave-boy who seems to have more wits and vices than all of the other characters. This triad of debauches is also joined by Emolpus, a trickster and pseudo-intellectual who's always scheming on how he can use his sophistry to hit the jack pot. The most memorable scene in the fragmentary work is Trimalchio's dinner; this chapter surprisingly brings the ancient past closer to modern times in its recital of the characters' casual conversations on money, opportunism, business, and, of course, pleasure.
Although some readers have complained that Arrowsmith's translation isn't faithful to some of the Latin terms, the truth is (as is the case with any other foreign works) that some of the words don't have a counterpart in the English language (or any other modern language.) It is therefore the duty of the translator to use his poetic licence in conjuring the best phrase or sentence that can convey the theme or jist of the statement in question. I personally found this translation the most faithful in trying to convey the type of low-brow humor and puns that Petronius seems to have intended in his work. I strongly recommend this translation above other for that reason.
The arbiter of style and a certain dork genius........2005-01-14
First of all the title. Do not be tempted to believe it comes from the word "satura", meaning medley. Very little of the book survives and no one is in the position to state that the book is a medley of stories. Certainly, if any inferences can be made, they would point the reader in the opposite direction since the story, as we have it so far, follows Encolpius, Ascyltos and Giton throughout. The title is more likely a reference to Satyr tales, a form of early entertainment. This makes a lot more sense, especially when one realizes that Satyrs usually accompanied Dionysus, the god of wine and all around party animal. If you remember that satyrs generally represent the untamed and orgiastic lust for life the book will start to make a lot more sense.
The Satyricon was written in...I guess early late antiquity? (60 AD or so) and apparently very little of it survives intact but the one part that has done so is the one that describes dinner at Trimalchio's house, a dinner which finds some of our protagonists guests at a feast. There is a very good essay on this piece in Erich Aurebach's "Mimesis" entitled "Fortunata" and the serious reader is encouraged to read it :)
The subtitle of "Mimesis" is "The Representation of Reality in Western Literature" and Auerbach picked Petronius' work precisely because the arbiter of style was uncommonly well tuned to the way everyday people acted and talked. Think of him, if you will, as an early Mark Twain or Ricky Gervais and you won't be too far off the mark.
There are numerous reviews of The Satyricon on amazon.com and the majority of them do a perfectly good job of encapsulating the story for you so I won't bother with that job. Instead, I will deal with a certain "Dark Genius" who wrote a horrendous review of this book.
First of all, he refers to Petronius as "Polonius". That's crime numero uno. Second of all, he "was troubled by the translator's numerous admissions at having sacrificed the original Latin for today's English". Even donkey handlers might imagine that certain terms are completely impossible to translate but apparently "Dork Genius" does not. That's crime number two.
He further complains that "The largest whole section describes a banquet held by a rich former slave; the incredible ostentatiousness of the proceedings is matched only by its overtly perverse sexual nature. This text eventually overwhelmed my desire to interpret it as a product of its age. While the jokes are not funny and the satire is too obscure for my true understanding and doubtful appreciation, the constant dirty jokes and sexual references quite sabotaged the story for me."
Good God, there are so many idiotic comments in that paragraph that one might devote voluminous tomes towards dealing with them. "Perverse sexual nature"? Perhaps "Dork Genius" should put down his copy of "George Bush's Faith" (yes he reviewed it and gave it 5 stars) and move beyond a Christian reading of a non Christian work. If the satire is too obscure why is his appreciation for it in doubt? My suggestion would be if it's too obscure, a book on Petronius or Nero would've enlightened him but he's been busy reading Ann Coulter and reviewing her "book" to the tune of 5 stars instead.
Lastly, and this is only because I grow tired of wasting time on this "Dark Genius", the careful reader would have noticed a couple of things right off the bat: When one sees the name of the work, Satyricon, one hopefully realizes that they'll be reading something not at all serious and probably suggestive or sexual in nature. "Dark Genius" does not and as a result breaks Petronius' rule which warns that prudes need not apply as critics.
On the other hand when one comes across a review in which Stephen King's "The Stand" is compared to "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" (yes, "dork genius" actually does this) one should expect an unprecedented amount of stupidity. But what else can one expect from a person who gives "The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection" a five star review and Petronius' Satyricon a two star review? The end of the world perhaps?
Just because it's ancient doesn't mean it's any good.......2002-07-14
Having run across this singular work for the first time, I imagined that it would be as funny as the jacket described and less raunchy than I expected. I was completely wrong. In fairness to the text, it is woefully incomplete, consisting mainly of fragments from some of its later volumes. Some call this the first novel, and it must have been incredibly lengthy in its original state. What we have today is the story of a unwholesome youth who obsesses in his love for his homosexual lover Giton but engages in general ribaldry with all sorts of men (and sometimes even women). At some point in the tale, he is cursed with impotence (although the story never describes conditions of this type in any sort of subdued language) and bewails his constant state of bad luck and persecution while seeking a cure for his condition. Because even this existing text is fragmented, the story is sometimes hard to follow due to gaping holes in the narrative. The largest whole section describes a banquet held by a rich former slave; the incredible ostentatiousness of the proceedings is matched only by its overtly perverse sexual nature. This text eventually overwhelmed my desire to interpret it as a product of its age. While the jokes are not funny and the satire is too obscure for my true understanding and doubtful appreciation, the constant dirty jokes and sexual references quite sabotaged the story for me.
I was troubled by the translator's numerous admissions at having sacrificed the original Latin for today's English. While I understand his desire to make the work readable and understandable to a modern audience, I would much prefer to have a more literal translation--if for no other reason than to know whether the juvenile references contained herein date back to Polonius or to the modern translator. While Rome itself can certainly not be judged by one satirical work, this book does succeed in casting a shadow of immorality on the ancient Romans. I really cannot recommend this book. Even those seeking prurient pleasures and nothing else will be disappointed.
Do we really understand it?.......2002-03-13
We're talking of a fragmentary text of a "novel" that's been written almost 2000 years ago. Are we sure we understand it correctly? We know the vulgarity and the flashy mawkishness of Trimalchio... what if for the sensibility of the era it was somewhat amended by religious piety? Is Giton a mere toyboy or a cynical example of opportunistic selfishness? Is Encolpion an image of just punishment for luxury or a hopeless lover? And Eumolpus... obnoxius bad poet, reckless trickster,heredity chaser(a common theme, compare Horatius and Lucian) what of him? Maybe,at the end, Petronius identified whit him, who lived every day of its life as if it's been the last.
Do we really understand it?.......2002-03-13
We're talking of a fragmentary text of a "novel" that's been written almost 2000 years ago. Are we sure we understand it correctly? We know the vulgarity and the flashy mawkishness of Trimalchio... what if for the sensibility of the era it was somewhat amended by religious piety? Is Giton a mere toyboy or a cynical example of opportunistic selfishness? Is Encolpion an image of just punishment for luxury or a hopeless lover? And Eumolpus... obnoxius bad poet, reckless trickster,heredity chaser(a common theme, compare Horatius and Lucian) what of him? Maybe,at the end, Petronius identified whit him, who lived every day of its life as if it's been the last.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful bawdy.......2005-07-29
Petronius, according to the translator's notes, was a person of unidentified occupation and member of Emperor Nero's court. Chances are that Petronius got by ingratiating himself with the rich and famous, perhaps by amusing them with his stories. It's also fair to guess that he joined some of their debuaches - perhaps some of this is drawn from experience - and that the tales grew in the telling.
The story starts with the narrator Encolpius, with his friend Asclytus, and with the toyboy they share, Giton. What follows is a wandering series of encounters. They split and reunite a number of times, usually around some improbable scheme. Later on, the aging poet Eumolpus takes Asclytus' place in the story, in Giton's intimacy, and in the petty schemes with Encolpius.
At one point, Encolpius is found spying on the ecstasies offered up to one of the gods. The punishment for that lewd interlude is in kind, to have ecstasy thrust upon (and into) him beyond bearing. That's an early passage, and sets the tone for all the other adventures and escapes in this book.
Towards the end, his dissolute ways make him the Cialis poster boy. He seeks an aged witch for aphrodisiac treatment, and she gives it to him all different ways. To his dismay, many ways involve her own aged body in the treatment. A reader with a vivid imagination will see lots more humor than this 1965 translation would have dared put on paper.
But I wonder, is this really the best translation? Yes, it has some integrity - Sullivan has been careful to note breaks in the manuscript. He even adds a chapter of "fragments," too broken and disjoint to guess at. The reader doesn't get a false sense of continuity caused by the translator's patches. On the other hand, the reader doesn't get a full sense of continuity, either. On the scale from academic rendering to storytelling, I wish this were a bit more in the storytelling direction. No matter, it's a great story anyway.
//wiredweird
Darkly Fascinating.......2002-07-17
It was not easy being a poet and scholar in Nero's day. Since the Emperor regarded himself as the poet par excellence, everyone else was ultimately disposable. Both Petronius and Seneca were ultimately requested to commit suicide and did so, lest the Praetorian Guard were called in to "assist" them.
In the earlier days of Nero's rule, when there was some possibility that his would be one of the rare enlightened reigns, Petronius and Seneca joined Nero in a regular after-dinner literary society where the humor was frequently raunchy and the sex more often than not perverted.
The SATYRICON was originally a fairly long episodic spoof of the ODYSSEY: its hero offends the God Priapus by ransacking his temple and is stricken with impotence. He and his friends and bedmates wander through Italy recounting their adventures. The only fairly intact sequence tells of a dinner by a nouveau-riche merchant named Trimalchio who holds an elegant banquet but whose base-born origins are always showing. All the rest of the episodes are fragmentary, though not without interest.
Seneca takes the recently poisoned Emperor Claudius down a peg by spoofing his deification. Starting with Julius Caesar, the Romans turned many of their leaders into gods upon their demise. Claudius -- who was by no means the nice guy portrayed in the Robert Graves books -- gets short shrift in the underworld. A clue: The title is usually translated as "The Pumpkinification of Claudius." Seneca was treading carefully here, as Nero's mother was Claudius' wife and is generally considered to have been the one who poisoned him.
These are not works that you can sit down and read as if they were novels. The introductions are not only helpful, but mandatory to understanding what follows. Both works, along with the works of Lucan, are essential to understanding this darkly fascinating period of Roman history.
A classic that should still be read...........2001-03-27
This book, when, as here it is translated well (i.e. in a fashion that renders it valid to a modern reader as opposed to one in which it is more a word-for-word translation from the Latin), is one of the funniest books of which I know. Roman literature typically seems derivative-- less real, less well-thought out than Greek stuff-- this book is one of the major exceptions to this rule.
If you know of this book and want to read it, this translation here is a good place to start. This is the first novel (whatever that means!), and just an all-around good time....
Do not read and drive!.......2000-05-31
It may be tempting, but my experience with reading this book and operating a motor vehicle came out badly. There was a red light and obviously the book was good enough that putting it down to go twelve blocks was unthinkable, but it ended up being decidedly unpleasant for myself and all involved. I would suggest carving out a couple of hours where you don't need to leave the house for this hilarious mock epic about one man's quest to regain his erection.
Book Description
Latin students will be able to both manage and enjoy this book, which features a selection of highly entertaining episodes from the Satyricon. The book includes vocabulary and notes that enhance the student's enjoyment of the text.
Customer Reviews:
Sicut "Arbiter" dixit.......2007-03-13
I agree that this is a good text for high schoolers and would recommend other texts for higher levels. I have had good success with it, and would use it again.
Non mehercules illum puto in domo canem reliquisse.......2006-03-22
I include that quote as evidence against the case that Lawall has skipped ALL the naughty bits in his selections from the Satyricon. I think he's done an admirable job of leaving in enough lewdness to hint at what readers would find if they were to read all of the novel, while at the same time acknowledging the real constraints of designing a text acceptable for use in high schools. If you want to read the real smutty stuff, there are plenty of other sources for the complete Latin text of Petronius...
If, however, you want a text that's perfectly user-friendly for a third-year or higher Latin class (I've also used it with a fourth-year class: the notes and facing vocab make it possible for them to virtually sight-read the thing, and lay the groundwork for working on some of the skipped sections as handouts), this is great. Sometimes I feel he translates TOO much in the notes, but that's fine too: since a lot of his 'translations' are matters open to interpretation, they too provide a springboard for further discussion and arguing for alternate interpretations. His occasional mistakes -- or charming little quirks like his fussiness over the gender of the dog in the above quote -- fall in the same category: for a competent teacher they provide toeholds for climbing to other levels than just what Lawall presents. An excellent classroom text, and perfectly safe for reading at home by anybody capable of not accepting absolutely everything the editor tells us.
Great text for first-time exposure to "true" Latin.......1999-01-03
For those students who are learning Latin, and want to begin working on real texts, this book is perfect. By using the simpler sections of Petronius, and incorporating grammatical help for each section, this book allows the Latin student to work through the text with only a moderate level of difficulty. Though this work should not be used to replace an instructional text on the Latin language for those who are in the first phases of instruction, this text is appropriate for any second year student.
Same Lawall, different day........1998-02-13
Don't get me wrong. It's great to have a text of Petronius for study, especially at a level where young, impressionable students may read it. But look out: all of the really juicy bits were excised under Uncle Gilbert's sharp eye. The raciest anything gets is some innuendo in the Matrona Ephesi. All the good parts are gone, but so are the boring bits of the Cena Trimalchionis and a lot of incidental linking material. You get a nice, tame, classroom-ready version of a trashy Roman novel. Gil Lawall's edition is as mistake-ridden as all of his best work (Ecce Romani, &c.), but the fun of Petronius shines through. Suitable at third-year level and above, with facing notes and generous but not comprehensive glossary.
Book Description
`The language is refined, the smile not grave, My honest tongue recounts how men behave.' The Satyricon is the most celebrated work of fiction to have survived from the ancient world. It can be described as the first realistic novel, the father of the picaresque genre, and recounts the sleazy progress of a pair of literature scholars as they wander through the cities of the southern Mediterranean. En route they encounter type-figures the author wickedly satirizes - a teacher in higher education, a libidinous priest, a vulgar freedman turned millionaire, a manic poet, a superstitious sea-captain and a femme fatale. The novel has fascinated the literary world of Europe ever since, evoking praise for its elegant and hilarious description of the underside of Roman society, but also condemnation for some of its lewder subjects. This new and lively translation by P.G. Walsh captures the gaiety of the original, and the edition is supplemented by his superb Introduction giving an account of the plot, the various scholarly interpretations and the later histtory of its literary influcence. There are also extensive and detailed notes which serve to illuminate the reading of a text rich in literary in-jokes and allusion.
Customer Reviews:
The decadence of Nero's Rome.......2003-06-29
Follow the bawdy adventures of Encolpius through the
decadence of Nero's Rome as he tries to maintain the
love of his beautiful young male slave Giton. They
must contend with an evil roommate, Ascyltus -- also
vying for the attentions of Giton -- an orgy from the
Priestess of Priapus, a shipwreck, and a severe case
of impotence.
This satire of Roman life during the time of Nero
unabashedly shows the love (and sex) between
Encolpius and Giton. Not to mention the fact that
others -- both men and women -- also are attracted to
the beauty of young Giton and sometimes have their way
with him. It's quite humorous, sometimes a little
long in the speeches (like many Greek or Roman works
of the time) and even manages to throw in some poetry.
I was actually surprised at this openness to talk
about homosexuality in the First Century A.D. I would
have thought this to be a taboo suject at the time.
After some reasearch, I discovered that Petronius
actually served under Nero as his "arbiter elegantiae"
-- which means that he advised Nero on luxury and
extravagance. He was what would be considered today a
"partier:" sleeping during the day and staying up
until all hours with both young men and women, as did
Nero. So what Petronius writes about was actually
happening -- all the extravagant dinners, the orgies,
the openness of sexuality.
I highly recommend this!
(Also, as a note on the book. It is fragmentary. The
scholars have been unable to find a complete text of
"The Satyricon" so in reading it, you need to give a
little leeway in what happens.)
Not for the squeamish, but very amusing.......2002-08-27
This is all that remains of what was apparently a much longer work - unless Petronius' allusions to lost episodes of the text are merely for effect, which they might be. The best known of the surviving sections is "Trimalchio's Dinner-party", which is devoted to a description of a vulgar and opinionated self-made man with much more money than sense or learning. The satire is razor-sharp. The book revolves around the misadventures of Encolpius (who is impotent), his lover Ascyltus, and Giton, for whose sexual favours the two of them quarrel bitterly. No account of the book would be quite complete with mentioning that little detail; so let the buyer beware. After Encolpius and Ascyltus split up, Encolpius and Giton fall in with Eumolpus, who is a thorough con man and generally a complete scoundrel. And of the same tastes as the others. Petronius drops his characters in one compromising situation after another - and leaves them to get themselves out.
Warmly recommended for the social comedy. And not pornographic.
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The Satyricon: The Morazla Scrolls
Petronius Arbiter , and
Ellery David Nest
Manufacturer: Llumina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1595263020 |
Book Description
Translated by Ellery David Nest, The Morazla Scrolls appear to be the lost episodes that immediately precede the extant chapters written by Petronius in the first century during Nero's reign. Although much controversy surrounds this work, The Morazla Scrolls provides an entertaining yet somewhat perverse entree into the literature of ancient Rome. Be forewarned of the ribald sexual antics by this group of disreputable characters. As Petronius never shies from explicit, albeit literate exposition, some readers may find offense. Using the lead character Encolpius as his foil, Petronius expounds on myriad topics, including the Emperor's bathroom habits, the fixed gladiatorial contests, the rampant abuse of government by the powerful and, of course, the sexual proclivities of the privileged. Though the subjects may seem serious and rather dry, Petronius juggles these topics, and more, adroitly and with much scathing humor, providing the reader with a wild ride through the underworld of Roman society.
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The Hidden Author: An Interpretation of Petronius's Satyricon (Sather Classical Lectures)
Gian Biagio Conte
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0520207157 |
Book Description
The Satyricon of Petronius, a comic novel written in the first century A.D., is famous today primarily for its amazing banquet tale, "Trimalchio's Feast." But this episode is only one part of the larger picture of life during Nero's rule presented in the work. In this accessible discussion of Petronius's masterful use of parody, Gian Biagio Conte offers an interpretation of the Satyricon as a whole. He combines the scholarly precision of close reading with a significant, original theoretical model.
At the heart of his interpretation, Conte reveals the technique of the "hidden author" that Petronius employs at the expense of his characters, in particular the teller of the story, Enclopius. By remaining hidden outside the narrative, Petronius invites the reader to smile at the folies de grandeur that occur in a culture of scholars and declaimers. Yet as Conte shows, behind the parody and inexhaustible humor of the Satyricon lies an unexpectedly serious lament. For those familiar with the Satyricon, as well as for new readers, Conte's book will be a reliable, enjoyable guide to the wonders the Satyricon contains.
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The Satyricon and The Apocolocyntosis of the Divine Claudius (Classics)
Petronius , and
Seneca
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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ASIN: 0140443134 |
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FELLINI'S SATYRICON
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0345018699 |
Product Description
Illustrated; 64 pages of black and white photos from the film, and 16 pages in full color.
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Petronius (The Satyricon)
Manufacturer: Vail-Ballou Press, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CSTC7M |
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