Multum et verae gloriae quamvis uno libro Persius meruit.—Quint. Inst. Orat. X. i. 94.
PETRONIUS ARBITER, obiit 66 A.D.
1. Life.
PETRONIUS.
He is probably the Petronius of whose life and character Tacitus has given us a brilliant sketch in the Annals, xvi. 18. 19. ‘His days were passed,’ says Tacitus, ‘in sleep, his nights in the duties or pleasures of life: where others toiled for fame he had lounged into it. Yet, as governor of Bithynia, and afterwards as consul, he showed himself a vigorous and capable administrator; then relapsing into the habit or assuming the mask of vice, he was adopted as Elegantiae Arbiter (the authority on taste) into the small circle of Nero’s intimate companions. No luxury was charming or refined till Petronius had given it his approval, and the jealousy of Tigellinus was roused against a rival and master in the science of pleasure.’ Petronius anticipated his inevitable fate by committing suicide.
2. Works.
Satirae (or Satiricon), a character-novel, often called, from its central and most entertaining incident, The Supper of Trimalchio. ‘This is the description of a Christmas dinner-party given by a sort of Golden Dustman and his wife, people of low birth and little education, who had come into an enormous fortune. The dinner itself, and the conversation on literature and art that goes on at the dinner-table, are conceived in a spirit of the wildest humour.’—Mackail.
The chief interest of the Satiricon for us is the glimpse which it affords of everyday manners and conversation under the Empire among all orders of society, from the highest to the lowest.