The Satyricon

Although The Satyricon was written at the ancient Roman imperial court, none of the action preserved in the surviving fragments takes place in Rome. When Petronius was writing during the reign of Emperor Nero, Rome was a sprawling empire that controlled a great deal of territory. Therefore, Petronius would have been able to choose between many locations for the setting for his story, and setting the work outside of the capital may have had some advantages. To satirize a certain place or culture, writers sometimes deliberately set the action in a different place to create parallels and a sense of displacement that encourages the reader to think critically. For example, Jonathan Swift famously satirizes 18th-century British society in Gulliver’s Travels by having his protagonist travel to bizarre and outlandish places far from Britain. For both Petronius and Swift, setting the action of their satires away from the target of their satire allowed them a level of protection as they mocked the behavior of powerful people around them

Like Gulliver’s Travels, this much older satirical text also features characters on a journey. Encolpius and Ascyltus are outsiders in the town in Campania, as this section highlights their geographic and cultural dislocation as they get lost and become the victims of mockery and pranks. As outsiders, Encolpius and Ascyltus will more likely notice small details and eccentricities and see these as worthy of note, rather than taking these idiosyncrasies for granted. This device is suited for satire because it allows for cultural critiques and observations. Moreover, the narrative device of travelers moving from place to place naturally creates a loose episodic structure and makes it easy to readily introduce new characters and storylines.

Although the term picaresque was developed much later to describe a style first associated with 16th century Spanish texts, The Satyricon fits the genre. A picaresque focuses on a central protagonist engaging in a series of loosely connected adventures while travelling around, often accompanied by a side kick, encountering misadventures but surviving through scrappy resilience. The use of travel also functions as sly wink to the tradition of classical epic. Epic poems such as Homer’s The Odyssey (recounting Odysseus’s attempt to return home after the Trojan War) and Virgil’s The Aeneid (recounting the mythological founding of Rome) feature heroic protagonists who encounter obstacles as they strive to fulfil a noble and significant purpose. Petronius’s protagonist, in contrast, seems to be mostly aimlessly wandering, getting into trouble, and then trying to evade the consequences of previous mistakes.

The opening chapters develop several notable themes within the text, such as an atmosphere of cultural and intellectual decay, an almost obsessive focus on sexual gratification, and tensions between characters driven by self-interest. The conversation between Agamemnon and Encolpius establishes Petronius’s critique that Romans no longer care about intellectual or creative achievements but simply want to get rich and then revel in luxury. Encolpius blames Agamemnon and his colleagues for the cultural decline, arguing that “you teachers of rhetoric more than any others have been the death of eloquence” (1). The imagery of “death” shows that Encolpius is truly concerned and outraged by the decline he sees around him. Agamemnon counters to blame the parents of his pupils, but both men agree that Roman youths are becoming shallow, selfish, and dull-witted. Since Encolpius later says of himself and Ascyltus that “we’ve both gone through school” (8), he distinguishes himself as someone who values a more traditional education, respects great works of art and literature, and deplores the cultural decline he sees around him.

Petronius depicts sexuality openly, which is likely part of the reason it has not fully survived. The rise of Christianity led to many ancient authors being viewed as pagan and immoral, and scenes that were deemed too explicit would sometimes not be copied or preserved into later versions of texts. The text’s title (in literal translation, “The Book of Satyrlike Adventures”) alludes to satyrs, mythological beings usually depicted with oversized erect penises who were sexually voracious and generally comical troublemakers. Therefore, Petronius’s emphasizes that it is a bawdy or crude book. It may also intend to create a pun with the Latin word satura, which means satire.

In the encounter at the brothel, Ascyltus and Encolpius initially seem shocked by the lustful behavior displayed by the people of Campania. However, they quickly begin to show their own lechery as they become engaged in a conflict over Giton, with Encolpius admitting that “it was the sexual itch that motivated this quite sudden parting” (8). Encolpius’s use of the word “itch” (comparable with later imagery in which sexual desire is presented as a fever) treats sexuality as a nagging obligation that is simply part of the physiological human experience. Petronius’s depiction of the love triangle between Giton, Encolpius, and Ascyltus also reveals the ambiguities of Roman attitudes towards slavery, consent, and sex between men. Owning slaves was common for wealthy citizens in ancient Rome; slaves had no legal rights, and could be beaten, abused, or used for their owner’s sexual gratification. Young, attractive enslaved people might utilize their owner’s desire and affection for them to secure more influence, privilege, and even the possible eventual promise of freedom. It is not clear exactly what history exists between the pair, but Encolpius refers to how he “elicited Giton’s kisses with true affection” (8), suggesting shifting boundaries and the possibility of love and desire coexisting within a brutal power dynamic.

Importantly, the narrative is written by an elite Roman man, who would almost certainly have owned slaves himself, and who therefore cannot provide a lens into what the experience of an enslaved person would have been like. Giton’s enslaved status does not entirely disempower him, as he still calls out Ascyltus for attempting to rape him and mentions that Ascyltus told him “If you are Lucretia, you have met your Tarquin” (7). This comment alludes to the Roman historical myth of a virtuous noblewoman named Lucretia having been raped by a Roman king; she died by suicide after the rape, and the outrage led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the development of the Roman Republic. However, while Ascyltus’s attack on Giton is explicitly positioned as a rape, the conflict quickly becomes about a property squabble between Ascyltus and Encolpius rather than the violation of Giton’s consent or bodily autonomy. The dynamic between the three men also reflects the normalization of sex between upper and lower-class men in Roman society. It was generally unremarkable for adult male citizens to have sex with younger men, especially prostitutes and slaves, and ideas of sexual identity or orientation were not typically important in this cultural context.