Petronius 2

Agenda

Recap & UpdateFrom Juvenal to Petronius

The World of the SatyriconMorality and Society Under Nero

Petronius 1 Immoral Morality

DiscussionWhat Would Petronius Think?

6-Nov 2013

Recap & Update

From Juvenal to Petronius

SUBJECT ACTION-LOCUS

vagina anus mouth

Active futuere pedicare irrumare

vir fututor pedicator/pedico irrumator

Passive — pedicari fellare

male (cinaedus) — pathicus fellator

female (femina/puella) futui pathica fellatrix

Holt Parker’s “Teratogenic Grid”

Holt Parker. “The Teratogenic Grid.” Roman Sexualities. Eds. Judith P. Hallett, and Marilyn B. Skinner. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997. 47–65. Print.

Impure Mouths, Words in PetroniusLatin English

os, oris Mouth (cf. “oral”)

orator speaker, orator

oratio speech, oration, rhetoric

os impurum mouth defiled by sex or excessive eating

cuius ne spiritus quidem purus est.

“Even your breath stinks of buggery!” (p. 26)

grandis et ut ita dicam pudica oratio non est maculosa nec

turgida, sed naturali pulchritudine exsurgit. (1.6)

“No, great language is chaste language – if you’ll let me use a word like chaste in this connection – not turgitity and worked up purple patches.” (p. 22)

Masculinity in Petronius?

(Phileros on old Chrysanthus) “And you know how old he was when he died? Seventy and then

some. But carried it beautifully, hard as nails (corneolus) … he was horny (salax), right to the end. By god, I’ll bet he even pestered the dog. Boys were what he really liked (pullarius erat), but he wasn’t choosy: he’d jump anything with

legs.” (pp. 51–52)

Rome and the Monstrous

Barton, Carlin A. The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: The Gladiator and the Monster. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.

A gladiator fights his own phallus.(1st-cent. CE Wind-chime from Pompeii)

Petronius 8

Matrimonial Ideology

Maritalis affectio, adfectio coniugalisUniviraReverentia, obsequiumConcordia, consortium, societas

Treggiari, Susan. Roman Marriage: Iusti Coniuges from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian. Oxford and New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press, 1991. Print.

6-Nov 2013

Petronius 9

Sexual-Social Ideology/Law

Lex scantinia (149 BCE) Augustan marriage legislation

Lex iulia et papia (18 BCE, 9 CE) Lex iulia de adulteriis coercendis (9CE)

McGinn, Thomas A. Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print.

6-Nov 2013

Petronius 10

Juvenal: Structure, Theme

2 Hypocritical moralists Philosophers Cinaedic cinaedus-bashers Imperial reformer Pathic lawyer

Lex iulia et papia Roman contagion

6 Misogyny gone wild Pudicitia’s loss Matrimonial folly Gallery of women

Impure maids Lust for infamia Imperial prostitute Imperious wives Adulterous wives etc. etc.

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The World of the Satyricon

Morality and Society Under Nero

Petronius 12

Petronius and Nero

Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar) r. 54-68 Philhellene artiste

Petronius arbiter elegantiae

(overseer of entertainments) suicide, 65 CE Satyricon (episodic novel)

Nero

6-Nov 2013

Puteoli

Pompeii

Naples

Croton

Terentius Neo and Wife, Archaeological Museum, Naples

Cave canem, “Beware of the dog!” - Pompeii

House of the Vettii

Peristyle Garden Large Dining Room (triclinium)

House of the Vettii, Pompeii

Vestibule(Priapus)

Peristyle Garden(Priapus)

Peristyle Garden

Atrium

Large Dining Room(triclinium)

Priapus, House of the Vettii.What do you see?

Petronius 1

Immoral Morality

Petronius 20

Satyricon: Theme and Layout

Three “fratres” (brothers) Encolpius Ascyltus Giton

Priapic bipolarity excess

Trimalchio’s feast depletion

Quartilla’s orgy Encolpius’ impotence Artistic decadence?

Priapus

6-Nov 2013

Satyricon: Plot OutlineLost text Encolpius & …

Lycurgus (?) Encolpius gladiator kills

Lycurgus lanista Lichas (Enc’s affair w/ wife) Tryphaena (theft of Giton) “Brothers” & Quartilla

offense vs. Priapus

Preserved text “Bros.’ ” Oratory, escapades

about town Reunion w/ Quartilla

Priapic offense atoned for? Dinner w/ Trimalchio

Preserved text (cont.) Eumolpus & “bros.”

Pergamene boy Shipboard

reunion w/ Lichas, Tryphaena widow of Ephesus theft of Isis’ gear shipwreck

Con in Croton Encolpius’ impotence

w/ Circe w/ Oenothea

Philomela lena Eumolpus’ will

Discussion

What Would Petronius Think?

The Author’s Complaint…

“Then why … must every nagging prude … denounce my work as lewd? … I write of every human act /

admitted to be true. … Let prudes … heed … Epicurus …, that … pleasure is the goal of all….” (pp.

151-152)

Petronius 24

Discussion

6-Nov 2013