The Satyricon

So this is like a Roman Brideshead Revisited, a fantasy of lushness beyond this world. Only Petronius's fantasies include less Catholic moral reckoning and English awkwardness (which can carry an erotic charge just like anything can mate) and more let's be generous and call it "ephebophilia" and, like, elaborate Roman turduckens.

(Once a month through 2013, CCLaP staff writer Karl Wolff investigates literature of a more carnal kind with The NSFW Files. Despite the erotic nature of the works, is there literary value to be found? For all the essays in this series, please click here.)

The Satyricon
Review by Karl Wolff

The History: Because The Satyricon is so ancient, the actual publication date had remained ambiguous until recent scholarship pointed towards the 1st century CE. Petronius lived during the reign of Nero, no stranger to sexual kinks. Historically speaking, this novel fragment can be considered pre-Christian. While Christianity was growing during Nero's reign, at that time it was still a new Jewish sect in a provincial imperial backwater. Nero ruled the show more Roman Empire from 54 to 68. The Edict of Milan, that stipulated that Christians could worship without oppression, was signed by the Roman Emperor Constantine in 313. Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire in 380, although persecution of non-Christians and Christian heretics (specifically the Donatists) occurred during Constantine's reign. In terms of names and dates, the Synod of Nicaea, which established the Nicene Creed, would be in 325. St. Augustine's monumental City of God, that laid the groundwork for Catholic dogma, would come out in 5th century CE. To reiterate, The Satyricon is a pre-Christian work.

I make note of the names and dates to underline that much of our modern perceptions have been shaped by Western Christianity. The Satyricon, in its realistic, sometimes bawdy, depictions of everyday Roman life is a means to escape this mentality. (Literature is escapism, right?) This is literary escapism for a positive educational purpose. Even that previous sentence, lending educational credence to a novel full of fornication, satire, and violence, bubbles up from my own subconscious. (I need to make sure this is valuable to readers.) Reading something full of sex, comedy, and killing, just because it has these things, would be immoral. Or not. Just read it for fun. I did. Along the way, you will see Rome at the height of its powers and in the throes of moral decadence (see "Trimalchio's Banquet" below).

The Book: Petronius Arbiter's novel fragment chronicles the misadventures of the narrator Encolpius, a former gladiator, and Giton, his sixteen-year-old slave and lover. Along the way, they meet Ascyltus, a friend of Encolpius, and rival for Giton's affections. The trio meet Quartilla, a priestess to the Priapus cult, in the market and get accused of infiltrating the cult. They are sexually tortured. Encolpius and Giton get split up, with Encolpius sleeping with Quartilla and Giton sleeping with a virgin girl.

A couple days later, Encolpius and his friend Agamemnon get invited to the freedman Trimalchio's house. What occurs is classic satire. Trimalchio, who possesses extreme wealth, exhibits the gaudy tastelessness of the Roman nouveau riche. Elaborate meals, a fake funeral for himself, and supernatural stories about werewolves and witches are told. Trimalchio's antics prove that the crassness and excess of the wealthy are still a rich seam for humorists. (If you're a fan of Suborgatory, you'll love "Trimalchio's Banquet.") When one discusses The Satyricon, "Trimalchio's Banquet" is most often mentioned, a hilarious set-piece that is still funny to this day.

The next day, Encolpius discovers Giton with Ascyltus. There are quarrels and sulking, until they decide to part, Giton leaving with Ascyltus. In the marketplace, Encolpius meets the old poet Eumolpus. Both discuss their woes. Eumolpus tells the story of how he seduced a boy while employed as his tutor. That is the second set-piece of The Satyricon, where the Eumolpus promises the boy he will give him a horse if he'll let him touch him. The seduction occurs over several days and in incremental stages. Later on, Giton returns and Eumolpus and Encolpius vie for Giton's affections. In later sections, Encolpius and Giton encounter pirates and Encolpius suffers from impotence. Because of this affliction, Encolpius seeks out a magical cure. In the end, after other misadventures, Eumolpus is discovered dead and is consumed in an act of ritual cannibalism.

The Verdict: Because of my attitude toward literature, censorship, and education, I will more than likely take the stance that every piece of literature has some value. The issue arises whether X,Y, or Z piece of fiction has "literary value." But, answer me this, what is literary value? Does literary value extend beyond better-than-average craftsmanship? Does literary value accrue once a work has a sustained positive critical reputation? Is literary value gained from attention garnered because said work is a historical artifact? And it is dangerous to ascribe modern literary standards to work that is over two thousand years old? Finally, is the notion of separating literary and historical value a correct path to take? After all, literary critics and historians have two separate sets of standards in what should and shouldn't be preserved.

Those are a lot of questions. But they are questions that need asking. Keep them in mind when we investigate the rest of these novels. Back to the matter at hand, Petronius Arbiter's novel fragment does have both literary and historical value. It is one of the few historical artifacts that illustrate everyday life in the Roman Empire. (One sees The Satyricon's influence in the HBO series Rome. Noted conservative screenwriter John Milius is the showrunner and he guides the show's realism, not shying away from the ordinary violence and sexuality* that permeated Roman culture.) Despite its fragmentary form, The Satyricon foreshadows the ribald masterpieces Gargantua and Pantagruel, Don Quixote, The Ubu Plays, and Ulysses. Everything from satire, farce, picaresque, and absurdism owe Petronius a debt. On a more mundane note, the novel fragment also inspired countless students to learn Latin (all the better to read it in the original and hunt down willful mistranslations by prudish translators -- see the Loeb Edition for examples). With our culture desperately working to make the planet more family-friendly, The Satyricon exposes us to a history that is violent, sexually depraved, economically unjust, and delightfully decadent, much like our own.

*This sexuality included relations between an adult male (Encolpius) and Giton, a sixteen-year-old slave. Slavery aside, the underage status of Giton makes this work controversial. While a normal practice in Rome and throughout Europe well into the Victorian age, the issue of underage sex should not be evaded. Again, when this was written, this wasn't an issue. Today, in light of the Catholic Church's numerous pedophilia scandals, it is an important topic to confront. What's the difference here? Immoral acts versus immoral words. Furthermore, The Satyricon is a work of fiction and a historical artifact from an ancient culture. Calls from worried parents, clerics, and politicians to ban this work doesn't solve the immediate problem at hand. The sexual abuse of children is a very real problem for any society. Perhaps giving pedophiles stricter sentences than non-violent pot smokers may be a step in the right direction.

http://www.cclapcenter.com/2013/02/the_nsfw_files_the_satyricon_b.html

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http://driftlessareareview.com/2013/02/22/the-nsfw-files-the-satyricon/ show less

I remember the sense I had as a child that sexual perversity had been invented in the 1960's. Before that, everyone did it purely for procreation, and only to people they were married to.

This was often the face put forward in the fifties, the dark ages of sex as culture. It's no wonder that this is where we get stories about couples having no idea what they are actually supposed to do on their wedding nights.

The depression and the war had resulted in a great deal of cultural power being centralized. Nationalism, McCarthyism, church-based religion and patriotism are all about surrendering individuality for the safety of the group. Sure, the most eccentric 5% of the populace will be imprisoned, committed, or blacklisted, but the dull show more majority will be able to cling to the reliability of enforced normalcy.

This also allows the culture to transfer the energy normally spent on chasing tail to material production. There's a reason the puritans and Amish get so much done. However, once the war, persecution, and economic hardship disappear, leisure returns, and with it, recreational sex.

That isn't to say that there was no recreational or enjoyable sex in the fifties. It was not sex itself that went away, but the cultural discourse that has often surrounded it.

As usual, anyone who looks to the literature of the past can find all the peculiarity and perversity their heart desires. From Fanny Hill to De Sade to Sappho, there is plenty of sexual history to contend the myth that the clitoris was discovered in the 1960's. Most fourteen year old girls can tell you it doesn't take a team of scientists to find it. Fourteen year old boys might disagree.

The Satyricon presents a great deal of straightforward sexuality, including all the various sodomies and same-sex pairing. Particularly interesting from a sociological standpoint is the sympathetic presentation of pederasty. For the uninitiated, this is a sexual relationship between a grown man and a pubescent boy.

Pederasty has been recorded among many cultures, from the Spartans and other Greeks to the Romans, Japanese Samurai, and the most prestigious colleges of Britain and America. It was often a method to tutor the young man in the ways of life, not just sex.

After the West romanticized sexuality between women and men under Christianity, a father might have brought his son to the town prostitute to 'educate' him. In my youth, it took place with vintage issues of Playboy passed from friend to friend. Now we have the internet and sex ed in school.

Each method has its strengths, but as the Satyricon shows, they are different means to the same end: producing a fully-fledged member of your society. Though pederasty is now a deviant practice, it is not inherently psychologically damaging (at least, not more than any other sexual relationship).

Even sexual abuse is not necessarily harmful outright. Psychological damage comes from the reaction of the social moralizing after the fact. The culture of victimization and powerlessness saps all strength and identity from those who have been forced to endure unfortunate circumstances. A man who becomes bankrupt is not hurt by the loss of pieces of paper, but by losing the freedom and power the culture ascribes to them.

Some have argued that youths cannot make informed decisions, and hence are liable to fall into manipulative and unequal relationships. While this is certainly true, most full-grown adults are equally uninformed and prone to manipulation.

I don't mean to suggest any need to change our laws, since our cultural traditions have no place for pederasty. However, I would suggest that people try to appreciate that our traditions are just as arbitrary as those of the Romans. There's nothing like history to remind us that there are many, many ways.

The Satyrican is also historically important for its uniquely accessible form. It is one of the only surviving examples of a novel-type narrative from the Roman tradition. It depicts the lives of small people and their everyday lives, from theater to dinner parties to beggars, prostitutes, and impotence.

The tale even follows the form of a comedic picaresque romance. Even though there is no direct tradition linking the development of the modern novel in seventeenth century Spain and the nearly identical narrative structure of the Satyricon, it provides an example of parallel evolution for the edification of literary critics.

The lighthearted tone and humorous situations give this work a remarkably modern feel. Indeed, it is more accessible than many newer works. It is intriguing for its presentation of Roman life, for its similarities with the novel, and for its frank depiction of the unheroic.

The Greeks and Romans developed calculus, crossbows, and steam power a thousand years before they would enter common use. Why should they not also innovate realism? I find comfort in the fact that the funny sex novel predates the codification of the bible. It seems history is as much the property of the prurient as the holy. show less

I thought I had a paperback of it at one time but probably gave up reading it and passed it on to a library sale. I'm glad I didn't pay for this. I suppose the Romans found this hilarious and titillating. At my age I found it an utter bore. I was reading it so carelessly wishing it would be over soon, that I didn't even notice until a few pages into the commentary that the story had ended. Hmm, I thought it had suddenly become interesting.
Apparently, there is a whole list of Latin terms for prostitutes. Who knew?
And there is an essay on ancient sexual practices by Marchena that demonstrates a degree of snarkiness that is a total delight. I actually highlighted sections. That he's a Spaniard translating from Latin to French while show more someone else translates the material to English makes it all the more enjoyable.
As a public domain e-book, it is glittered (heh) with errors that I am unable to detect with confidence, although I get a tickling of suspicions. You get what you pay for. show less

This Ancient Roman satire is unique in my experience; it is entertaining, funny, and fascinating. It presents an aspect of Roman culture that is not emphasized in the majority of the most well-known works of literature.

The best way to read this fragmented masterpiece is by doing it between the walls of a university library, surrounded by droves of people intent on cramming for their upcoming exams. You're guaranteed to be eyed viciously by the students who have enough nosiness to inquire on the book sitting upright in your hands, but that's just part of the fun. I would absolutely like to read the missing chapters before my departure from this world.

This lively new translation and its smart and accessible essays when Roman culture and society will surely help students make sense of and enjoy the Satiricon's bitterly funny world.