The Satyricon

“So what is the moral? It is the parents who deserve censure for refusing to allow stern discipline to ensure the progress of their children.”

Agamemnon agrees with Encolpius’s complaints about education, but he cleverly turns the argument around to shift blame from teachers to parents. This quotation shows Agamemnon’s skill in rhetoric and argumentation and highlights one of the features that will become part of the social critiques presented in the text. Individuals never want to take responsibility for the social problems that they may be contributing to, and instead they shift the blame to others.

“In fact my impression was that the whole town had been downing aphrodisiacs.”

When Ascyltus and Encolpius meet at the brothel, Encolpius comments on how lascivious people in the town are. This foreshadows Encolpius’s hypocrisy, given his later actions. The comment reflects the theme of gluttony and excess, as well as artificiality, since Encolpius does not even believe that the townspeople come by their lust naturally. He assumes they must be enhancing it by consuming aphrodisiacs. In the world of the novel, sexual desire is not only a natural impulse but also one that has also been corrupted and rendered artificial.

“I’d much prefer to buy it, even though it belongs to us, and get back the hidden hoard by paying a copper or two rather than by getting involved in the uncertain outcome of a lawsuit.”

When Encolpius and Ascyltus see that the peasant has the shirt in which they have hidden some coins, they discuss how best to get it back. Ascyltus argues that he would prefer to simply buy the shirt from them rather than try to get involved in a legal dispute, because he does not feel confident in the outcome. The quote shows that Encolpius and Ascyltus live a in world dominated by money and greed, where courts and other legal institutions are corrupt and untrustworthy. While the novel’s satire is often critical of corrupt and selfish individuals, it also portrays all of Roman society and culture in a critical light.

“If the god had revealed to her some further cure for the fever, we would carry through the design of the divine Providence even if it put us in danger.”

Quartilla initially tells Encolpius that she had vision in a dream that revealed how to cure her fever. Encolpius earnestly agrees to help her in any way that he can, but he doesn’t realize that he is setting himself up for a cunning trick: Quartilla will demand that he have sex with her. Petronius ironically sets his readers up to be shocked and surprised by the contrast between the sacred and the profane, and suggests that, in the world of the novel, everyone, whether men or women, is interested in obtaining sexual gratification.

“Are you even contemplating sleep, when you are aware that a night’s vigil is owed to the guiding spirit of Priapus?”

After having engaged in a lot of sexual activity, Encolpius and Ascyltus are starting to doze off, but Quartilla prevents them from falling asleep. Quartilla continues to use double entendres that playfully refer to sexual activity as if it were religious activity. “Vigil” would usually refer to staying up all night to fast, pray, or participate in some other kind of religious veneration, but Quartilla here uses it to mean that the men must stay awake and continue to have sex. The quotation also reflects the novel’s theme of showing how pleasure can become unpleasant when excess is forced; even though sex is often an enjoyable activity, because Encolpius and Ascyltus are forced to keep having sex long after they want to stop, they become sated and overwhelmed.

“Is she any younger than I was when I first submitted to a man? I don’t recall ever being a virgin.”

After Quartilla and her maid suggest that Giton have sex with a seven-year-old girl, Encolpius is outraged and objects. Quartilla defends the idea since she claims that she also became sexually active at a very young age. This quotation furthers the novel’s representation of women as very sexually aggressive and inverts the reader’s expectations because Encolpius objects to a young girl being sexually violated while an older woman encourages it. The quotation also shows how corruption and immorality can occur in cycles when individuals think that their own experiences are normal and pass them along to the next generation.

“The host voided his bladder, demanded water for his hands, and after perfunctorily washing his fingers, wiped them on the slave’s hair.”

When Encolpius first encounters Trimalchio (“the host”) at the baths, he witnesses Trimalchio using his slaves in degrading ways. Trimalchio has a slave hold a chamber pot so that he can urinate without interrupting his game, and he uses the hair of a slave to dry his hands. Because he himself was formerly a slave, Trimalchio now makes a great show of positioning himself as a master. This quotation is also the first of many examples wherein Trimalchio believes he is behaving like an important and powerful man but is just drawing attention to himself in embarrassing and tacky ways.

“His shaven head protruded from a scarlet dressing-gown, and round his head draped with a muffler he had thrust a napkin with a broad purple stripe and fringes dangling from it all around. On the little finger of his left hand he sported a huge gilt ring.”

Trimalchio comes to dinner wearing an elaborate and ostentatious outfit that reveals his social pretensions and lack of taste. Rather than dressing with refinement or elegance, Trimalchio piles on many flashy accessories. The wearing of purple, and especially a purple stripe, allude to Trimalchio aspiring to high social status, since a Roman man wearing a toga with a purple stripe would signal status as a senator or a figure with high stratus in religious rituals. Petronius, however, is clearly mocking the overall effect by using words like “dressing-gown,” “muffler,” and “napkin,” none of which are elegant or dignified.

“Trimalchio called out: ‘Out with the water, down with the wine!’ We hailed his witty quip, led by Agamemnon who knew how to earn a further invitation to dinner.”

During the dinner, Trimalchio makes a crude joke about the relationship between urinating (“out with the water”) and continuing to drink. This is one of several times that Trimalchio references bodily functions during the dinner, which shows that he is vulgar and unrefined. However, because Trimalchio is so wealthy, the guests react to his crude joke as if it is very funny; Encolpius sarcastically refers to it as a “witty quip.” The guests pander to Trimalchio’s ego because they want to continue to attend his parties and eat his lavish food. This self-serving and deceitful behavior shows that even a man like Agamemnon, who is supposedly a scholar, is only interested in enjoying himself.

“You will not enjoy these spoils over which you gloat alone. Since you spurn me, I must even go so far as to hack off my share with the sword.”

When Ascyltus and Encolpius get into a disagreement over who owns Giton, Ascyltus suggests that they cut him up and divide him between them. This comment shows that Giton is treated as more as an object than a human being. The quotation also shows how Giton is caught in the feuding and power struggles between the two friends: It doesn’t benefit either of them for Giton to end up dead, but they are so determined not to give in to one another that he might end up as a casualty.

“They will not get away with it. Either I am no man, no free citizen, or I will avenge these wrongs with their guilt-stained blood.”

After brooding on Giton’s choice to go off with Ascyltus, Encolpius becomes angrier and angrier. He vows revenge. This quotation shows Encolpius, who is often a comical and even ridiculous figure, taking on a more traditional heroic role and deciding to avenge himself, lest he appear weak. Encolpius connects his right to demand revenge to both masculinity and his status as a free Roman (as opposed to a slave). Insisting on these categories is significant in a novel where the performance of gender is somewhat fluid, and men are often insulted for behaving in effeminate ways. Likewise, Encolpius makes a point to distinguish himself from slaves and freedmen. The quotation, however, is somewhat ironic, because although he sounds brave and heroic in this quotation, Encolpius quickly loses his nerve and ends up being happy that his plan for revenge is foiled.

“If you confront all the vices, and start to tread an upright path in life, you first encounter hatred because your mode of life is different, for who has a good word for the man who tries to follow a different road?”

When Encolpius first meets Eumolpus at the art gallery, the elderly poet explains why he has a shabby appearance and is not well-dressed. Eumolpus explains that he chose a life devoted to learning and poetry, which is very different from a life focused on acquiring money, and because of this choice, wealthier and more corrupt men often mock him. The comment reflects a key theme of the text which is the antagonism between individuals with better education and more sophistication, but less money, and wealthy individuals with no taste and no morals.

“Though you deserted me, I still love you, and though the wound was deep, no scar remains on my heart.”

When Giton and Encolpius reunite, Encolpius speaks very tenderly to his lover. He uses the metaphor of having been wounded in his heart by Giton’s abandonment and shows that he forgives Giton by using the metaphor of a wound having healed cleanly, with no scarring. The quotation shows that while Encolpius often seems mainly preoccupied with having sex with the attractive younger man, he also does seem to genuinely love him. It also reveals that Encolpius is quite naïve and trusting, since he immediately forgives Giton without much explanation or delay.

“I applied each of my eyes in turn to the hole in the door, gorging myself on the treatment meted out to Eumolpus as though it were a gourmet meal.”

In the chaos that erupts after Eumolpus flirts with Giton, Eumolpus ends up being badly beaten by other residents of the inn. Encolpius watches gleefully, taking pleasure in Eumolpus’s suffering. This quotation develops Encolpius’s character by showing that he is jealous and cruel and does not mind seeing someone else suffer if it serves his cause. Although Encolpius initially befriended Eumolpus, he quickly takes pleasure in the elderly man’s suffering once the two become rivals. The quotation also connects to the theme of eating and gluttony, since Encolpius uses a metaphor of feasting on Eumolpus’s suffering as though it were a lavish dinner. In a novel filled with excess and overindulgence, many characters no longer feel stimulated by fancy dinners, but they continue to find pleasure in baser emotions like jealousy and gloating over the suffering of others.

“It is the same with anger in the human heart; it clings to the barbaric mind, but melts away from the cultivated.”

To escape from Ascyltus, Encolpius needs to reconcile with Eumolpus, and he pleads with the older man to let go of his anger and forgive him. Encolpius uses an extended metaphor comparing anger to snow, which clings to rough ground (the minds of unrefined and uneducated individuals) but melts quickly on well-tended fields (those who are well-educated and sophisticated). This quotation develops Encolpius’s character, showing him as someone who can be quick thinker and a smooth talker, which is somewhat in contrast to his often bumbling and obtuse nature. Encolpius also has some understanding of human psychology and knows how to gratify Eumolpus’s ego by flattering him as a learned and sophisticated man.

“You can also circumcise us to make us look like Jews, pierce our ears to help us masquerade as Arabs, and plaster our faces with chalk to allow Gaul to claim us as her citizens!”

While Giton, Encolpius, and Eumolpus discuss ways to conceal Giton and Encolpius’s identities onboard the ship, Giton sarcastically criticizes Eumolpus’s suggestion that they apply make-up to darken their skin and pretend to be African slaves. Giton lists off other ways they could try to assume different ethnic identities to show that this plan is ridiculous and will not be successful. The quotation provides character development for Giton by showing a rare instance where he openly speaks his mind and talks back to a free Roman citizen. The quotation also reflects the cultural and historical context of Petronius’s world by showing that by this time, Rome was a large and cosmopolitan empire, with contacts with many different types of people. At the same time, Romans tended to view these other peoples as inferior, and to reduce them to cultural stereotypes.

“Every kiss, every gesture of endearment which that randy woman conjured up was a dagger in my heart. I could not at that moment decide whether I was more angry with the boy for robbing me of my girlfriend, or with the girlfriend for seducing the boy.”

Despite her promise to leave Giton alone while onboard the ship, Tryphaena cuddles and caresses him, which upsets Encolpius. Encolpius has previously had sexual relationships with both Giton and Tryphaena, so he finds their attraction distressing, leading him to use a metaphor comparing each kiss to a dagger in his heart. Encolpius also uses disdainful diction when referring to Tryphaena as a “randy” woman, showing that he does not have much respect for her, and building on the novel’s theme of representing many female characters as lascivious and self-absorbed.

“So off you go, mortal men, and fill your minds with ambitious designs! Off with you, careful souls, to order those riches gained by fraud, which you think will last for a thousand years!”

After Lichas’s body washes up onshore, Encolpius mourns and laments, sarcastically commenting on the futility of ambition and power in the face of death. Encolpius observes that Lichas went from a position of power and wealth to abruptly losing his life and reminds himself that anyone can die at any point. This quotation reflects the short and sometimes brutal nature of life in the ancient world. It also highlights the irony of the many characters who are preoccupied with gaining wealth, power, and status. Even with all of these things, death will still come for them sooner or later.

“‘You are approaching a town,’ he added, ‘that is a plague-ridden expanse, populated by nothing but corpses being pecked to pieces, and the crows at work pecking them.’”

When Encolpius, Giton, and Eumolpus encounter the bailiff who tells them about the town of Croton, the man uses this evocative metaphor to describe the town. No one is literally sick or dead in the town, but the inhabitants are socially, culturally, and ethically dead. They have no interest in creating anything or working hard, and exist merely as scavengers. The grotesque imagery of crows pecking at corpses shows that Petronius is disgusted by the behavior he criticizes in this section; it also foreshadows the instructions Eumolpus will later leave in his will, forcing anyone who wishes to inherit from him to first eat some of his flesh.

“We’ll surely have to take to our heels again; we shall have to revert to the poverty which we’ve overcome after all this time, and start begging again.”

In this quotation, Encolpius worries that even though things are going well for him, Eumolpus, and Giton in the town of Croton, they might eventually be found out. He worries that they will lose the security they have achieved, and contrasts it with the poverty they have previously experienced. This quotation provides insight into Encolpius’s character by showing that he is not simply carefree and reckless; he gradually becomes worn down by the constant threat of consequences from his past misdeeds. Although Encolpius does not experience much character development in the novel, this quotation provides a rare window into his emotions and psychology.

“Slaves are a job for the married women; they go in for kissing the traces of the whip. I’m just a lady’s maid, but the only ones I climb on to are knights.”

When Chrysis first begins to flirt with Encolpius, he thinks that she might want to have sex with him herself, but Chrysis quickly explains that she is not attracted to slaves (during this time, Encolpius is disguised as a slave owned by Eumolpus). Chrysis points out that wealthy, married women like her mistress Circe enjoy having sex with men of a much lower social status; in a text where characters are often overindulged and bored with the luxuries they possess, it becomes fashionable to seek out stimulation from other social strata. As a lower-class, working woman, Chrysis is interested in advancing her social position, and therefore only takes lovers from the upper-classes (“knights”). The quotation shows two women from different social classes both unashamedly seeking out sexual pleasure, even if they do so in different ways.

“That part of my body which once made me an Achilles has been laid to rest.”

After first experiencing impotence while trying to have sex with Circe, Encolpius experiences the same problem with Giton, and laments what has happened to him. This quotation alludes to Achilles, a central figure in the mythology of the Trojan War, and a main character in Homer’s epic poem The Iliad. Achilles was a fierce and renowned warrior, so Encolpius is boasting about his previous sexual prowess via this allusion. The allusion also contains irony, since Achilles famously had only one known weakness: his heel was extremely vulnerable (this is where he received his fatal wound, and leads to the term “Achilles’s heel”). When Encolpius refers to his penis as the body part which made him an Achilles, Petronius implies both that Encolpius was very sexually active and successful, but that he was also vulnerable as result of this body part. Given how many scrapes ensue from Encolpius’s sexual escapades, this comparison is ironically appropriate.

“The language is refined, the smile not grave, / My honest tongue recounts how men behave.”

After the scene in which Encolpius rails at his penis and laments his impotence, the narration shifts to address by the author in the form of a poem preemptively defending the subject matter of his book. Petronius addresses an imagined reader to explain that he is only writing about things that actually occur, and describing individuals as they are, rather than in idealized terms. The quotation is significant because it shows that even as he was writing, Petronius was aware that readers and critics would object that he was obscene and grotesque in his subject matter. Nonetheless, he believed it was important to write candidly about all aspects of the human experience.