INTRODUCTION

He knew the antidote to the fevered life that consumed him. His book is tainted with obscenity, and, like obscenity itself, it is gradually ceasing to be part of a gentleman’s education. However, he will always be read as a critic; he tells admirable stories of werewolves and faithless widows See chapter 61 for Niceros, chapter 63 for Trimalchio, and chapter 111 for Eumolpus (the famous and cosmopolitan tale of the Widow of Ephesus).; he is one of the very few novelists who can distill common speech for his purposes without destroying its flavor. The translator dulls his brilliance and must leave whole pages in the decent obscurity of Latin; he is fortunate if he adds even a few readers to those who know something of Petronius beyond his name and his reputation for indecency.

The thanks of the editors and the translator are due to Messrs. Weidmann of Berlin, who have generously placed at their disposal a copyrighted text of the Satyricon, the epoch-making work of the late Professor Buecheler.

Mr. H. E. Butler, Professor of Latin at the University of London, is responsible for the selection of critical notes from Buecheler’s editio maior major edition, the introduction to and text of the poems, and the bibliography. The translator is indebted to him and the editors for invaluable assistance in attempting to meet the difficulties that a translation of Petronius continues to present.