Petronius [flourished ca 45-65 CE?], Satyricon

Novel -- parody of philosophy & epic

Trimalchio’s Bash -- One Last Little Symposium


 
  Read Satyricon V (pages 38-84, translation by William Arrowsmith.)

TO DO: FILL in BLANK spaces below & MARGINS of your book with main points.

FIND & UNDERLINE in the text the themes UNDERLINED here below.

 Page & Paragraph Numbers of Arrowsmith translation [Bracketed Section Numbers in text]

38-42: GETTING INTO the PARTY [26-30]

38.1: REMINDER .. Agamemnon .. "how fast time is slipping away" [26]

In what sort of situation does the story teller find himself?

39.1-2: BATHS .. Menelaus Is he connected with Agamemnon above in any way? [27-8]

What do you find most surprising about the scene?

To what extent do you think it shows normal daily life?

40.1-3: INTO the HOUSE: ART & LIFE--Subject of FRESCO PAINTINGS on the left: [28-29]

Subject of OTHER FRESCOES

How does this scene resemble Aeneas’s arrival at Carthage, Aeneid I?

In what amusing ways does it differ?

42-78: FIRST DINING ROOM -- A FEAST for SORE EYES or THEATER at TABLE [31-71]

42.2-3: Singing Slaves, The Appetizers [31-32]

43.1: slave cut .. ostentatiously

. 43.3: FIRST COURSE: EGG SPECIAL 44: extravagance Why does Trimalchio make such a point of having the silver dish swept out? [34]

44.3: OLD WINE: skeleton of solid silver, "Nothing but bones .. drink while you may!" eschatological And why such an emphasisd on death?

. 45-48: COURSE SHOW: ZODIAC TRAY, fish swimming [36]

46-47: GOSSIP Fortunata, new wealth, ex-slave friends [37-38]

What does the narrator think of former elaves as a group?

48: SYMBOLS interpreted: "man of the world, gentleman of culture .. twelve signs" [39]

(1) Ram Aries (2) Bull Taurus (3) Twins Gemini

(4) Crab Cancer (5) Lion Leo (6) Virgin Virgo

(7) Scorpion Scorpio (8) Archer Sagittarius (9) Goat-horn Capricornus

(10) Water Carrier Aquarius (11) Fishes Pisces (12) ?

MOTHER EARTH--plum in the center, "packed with meaning too"

 . 48-50: COURSE SHOW: HUNT .. SOW .. LIberty cap .. thrushes [40-41]

Meaning again a problem: interpretations of the show?

THE REAL MEANING & how it comes out?

  ** 51-55.1: INTERLUDE--THE POORMAN’S SYMPOSIUM: [41-46] Check topics that might still be talked about at dinner today!

"free of the table-tyrant" = free speech, democratic moment:

baths funerals money business __ sex & potency

good old days: prices, graft, old-time religion neglected, gladiators

PROFESSOR [Agamemnon] PUPIL: study habits & career choice

Check topics that still come up at/after a dinner party!

 Which subjects have no equivalents in our society?

Our equivalents to gladiators & such fan talk?

rhetoric .. snob Our equivalents to the talk about teachers & students?

What use does the speaker have for professors?

** 55.2-56.1: INTERLUDE--Toilet Training scatological [47]

Why is "relief" comic in the midst of a dinner?

. 56.2-62: COURSE SHOW: HOG HOAX -- "halfway through forest of refinements" [48-56]

SHOWING OFF LITERARY CULTURE: two libraries .. Greek & Latin ..

Cyclops broke his thumb is this the Homer you recall?

genuine Corinthian .. Troy taken .. Hannibal whoops! Who took Troy?

Who was Hannibal?

Cassandra killed her sons Whoops! Who was Cassandra?

Who was famous for killing her kids?

What does the narrator expect you to know better than Trimalchio?

How does Trimalchio’s confusion make you feel about him?

ESTATE RECORDS .. acrobats buglers & jugglers ,, servant set free

ENDURING RECORD poetry: FAME!! how good, would you say, are these verses?

Genre of the two sets of verses?

. 63-66.1: COURSE SHOW: PUN & CONUMDRUMS -- Hot SQUABble, FAVORS FROM ON HIGH [56-60] What basic social difference gets dramatized here? . 66.2-67.2: COURSE SHOW: HOMERIC BARBECUE [56-59] What is peculiar about the story of two MEDES’ brothers whose sister, Helen, elopes with Agamenon, to say nothing of Paris from Paros?

** 67.3-71.1: INTERLUDE--Three Wags’ Tales & More Doggerel [61-4]

Niceros Not ‘Nice Love’ but ‘Beat Love’

Trimalchio

Plokamos

Croesus Fame of THIS name? ________________________ & Bowser

Think, if you can, of the tales told at Plato’s Symposium: Take LOVE, for example:

[similarities?] [differences?]

71.2-84: HABINNAS ARRIVES -- TOMB MAKER] [65-78]

What details make this entry especially stagy?

What earlier literature does it bring to your mind & the effect of the recollection?

. 71.2-74.1: COURSE SHOW: CHICKEN & CAPPED EGGS -- THE GIRLS [65-67]

Habinnas reports a slave’s funeral feast

"The Girls" How does the course served suit the scene?

How might this scene be said to build up & come to climax?

What biases does the narrator show here?

74.2-76.3: DESSERT: PORK FICTION [68-70]

Virgil recited [badly]

oysters mussels snails perfume flowers -- SLAVES at TABLE

 76.4-78.1: WILL, TOMB & EPITAPH [71-72]

Orders to Habinnas: plan for tomb

Why are the slaves so enthusiastic?

** 78.2-79: INTERLUDE--Sobering Up in the Baths [72-73]

79-84: SECOND DINING ROOM -- BRAWL, ORIGINS & END] [31-71]

What causes the brawl between Fortunata & her husband?

How does this cause lead to Trimalchio’s story of his origins?

In what sense does the whole party come to a fitting climax?

STUDY QUESTIONS: answer the following questions on the basis of your reading:

. What most surprised you about this work?

. Mention some ways in which you needed your previous reading in this course in order to enjoy this work:

. What problems, if any, did the work present for which you felt that you needed help? . What is Trimalchio’s social position & what did he owe it to?

. How did someone like him happen to invite someone like the narrator to dinner?

. Pursuing this literary connection, . What are some of the main USES that Trimalchio makes of literature?

songs? his favorite themes?

themes for culinary set pieces

. His favorite authors & genres?

. Given these tastes of Trimalchio, what are some of the main ways in which the narrator shows himself superior? [] . How does Trimalchio’s view of death and the meaning of life relate to that of heroic figures, like, for instance, Achilles?

Socrates?

Aeneas?

. How does the portentous entry of a man from Habinnas’ profession suit the thematic texture of the work?

. Beyond the narrator’s attitude towards Trimalchio & his friends, how is the narrator himself portrayed: his class, his culture?

Does the author [Petronius] feel similar, inferior, superior to the narrator?

. What USE does Petronius make of the authors & genres that were preferred & abused by Trimalchio? Homer, Iliad [Agamemnon, Menelaus, Paris, Helen, Ajax]

Odyssey [Symposium, what audiences appreciate in story-telling]

Virgil?

What did Trimalchio think of philosophers?

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