Petronius (Loeb)

INTRODUCTION

The author of the Satyricon is identified by the vast majority of scholars as Gaius Petronius,¹ a courtier of the Emperor Nero. There is a long tradition supporting this identification, and the likelihood that it is correct seems especially strong in light of the account Tacitus gives of the character and death of Gaius Petronius in the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters of the sixteenth book of his Annals. Mr. John Jackson translated that passage as follows:

"Petronius deserves a retrospective mention. He was a man who spent his days in sleep and his nights in the ordinary duties and recreations of life. While others achieved greatness by the sweat of their brows, Petronius idled his way into fame. Unlike most who walk the road to ruin, he was never regarded as a debauchee or a wastrel, but rather as a finished artist in extravagance. In both word and action, he displayed a freedom and a sort of self-abandonment that were welcomed as the harmless indiscretions of an unsophisticated nature. Yet, during his proconsulship of Bithynia, and later as consul-elect, he proved himself an energetic and capable administrator. Then came the change: his vices—whether genuine or affected—won him entry into the narrow circle of Nero’s inner group, and he became the 'Arbiter of Elegance,' whose approval alone stripped pleasure of its vulgarity and luxury of its grossness."

¹ He is called Titus Petronius by Plutarch (On the Flatterer and the Friend, 27). original: "De Adulatore et Amico"