The Satyricon/The Fragments [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONThe Authorship and Date oL the SatyriconThe Satyricon has been traditionally, and righdy, attributed to the courtier of Nero whose downfall and death in a.d. 66 are described by Tacitus {Annals i6. 17-20) :17.The space of a few days saw the end, one after the other, of Annaeus Mela, Anicius Cerialis, Rufrius Crispinus, and C. Petronius 18.Gaius Petronius deserves some further attention. He was a man who spent his days sleeping and his nights working or enjoying himself. Industry is the usual foundation of success, but with him it was idleness. Unlike most people who throw away their money in dissipation, he was not regarded as an extravagant sensualist, but as one who made luxury a fine art. His conversation and his way of life were unconventional with a certain air of nonchalance, and they charmed people all the more by seeming so unstudied. Yet as proconsul in Bithynia and later as consul, he showed himself a vigorous and capable administrator. His subsequent return to his old habits, whether this was real or apparent, led to his admission to the small circle of Nero's intimates, where he became the Arbiter of Elegance. In the end Nero's jaded appetite regarded nothing as enjoyable or refined unless Petronius had given his sanction to it. Consequently the jealousy of Tigellinus was aroused against him : he saw in Petronius a rival, someone superior to himself in the whole art of pleasure. So he worked upon the Emperor's cruelty, his master-passion, to which all his other lusts were subordinate. Accusing Petronius of being an intimate of Scaevinus, he bribed a slave to give evidence against him. Petronius did not have a chance to reply and Tigellinus threw most of his household into prison.19.The Emperor at that time happened to be on a visit to Campania. Petronius got as far as Cumae and was prevented from going any farther. He refused to prolong the suspense that hope or fear involved. Not that he was hasty in taking leave of life. On the contrary, he opened his veins and then, as the fancy took him, he bound them up or re-opened them. Meanwhile he talked with his friends, but not on serious topics or anything calculated to win admiration for his stoicism. He listened to their contribudons - not discussions about