﻿22 THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 



proceedino- in corrupting the son of a femily in whose house he had been hospitably 

 received. The hero accepts the iuAdtation of the philosopher to accompany him on an 

 excursion to Tarentum. The account of the voyage, of the discoveiy made by Encol- 

 pius that he is on board a vessel OA^Tied by a person whose vengeance he had just 

 o-round to apprehend, of his fruitless attempt to escape detection, of the reconciliation 

 of the hostile parties, and of the destruction of the vessel and the greater portion of the 

 passengers by shipwreck, is full of interest. The hero and his immediate companions, 

 being the only persons that escaped death, make their way to Croton, where Eumolpus, 

 by representing himself as the owner of valuable and extensive possessions in Africa, 

 works so upon the avarice and credulity of the inhabitants, who are described as a set 

 of legacy-hunters by profession, that he meets with the most hospitable reception. An 

 intrigue of the hero with a beautiful lady of the city occupies a large share of this part 

 of the story. The book closes with an account of the measures which Eumolpus takes 

 for the purpose of avoiding the detection of his fraud, by working anew upon the ava- 

 rice of his hosts. The close is abrupt as the bcginnmg had been ; the book is incom- 

 plete in both parts ; the end, as Avell as the beginning, is wanting. 



That the author of this work was a man of genius is unquestionable. The narrative 

 of the events of the story is simple, clear, — exciting, without exhausting, the interest 

 of the reader ; the description of customs, chiefly those of the middle classes of society, is 

 invaluable to the antiquarian, and the importance of the work in this respect can scarce- 

 ly be overrated ; the personages introduced into the story are drawn, with such a clear- 

 ness of perception of their characteristics, and such an accuracy of portraiture, ex- 

 tending to the very peculiarities of the language used by each, that they appear to live 

 and breathe and move before our eyes. 



Opinions of several Scholars concerning the Value of the Satyricon. 



It will not appear inappropriate to quote the opinions of some of the ablest scholars 

 as to the literary and historical value of the Satyricon of Petronius. 



Joannes Sambucus, in the preface to his edition of Petronius, dated Vienna, 1564, 

 calls the work : " Sylvulam banc satyricani eruditam et variam, adeoque ob fictas narra- 

 tiunculas nee vulgaria imitationis poeticae quaedam exempla insignem." 



Lilius Gregorius Gyraldus, of Ferrara, says : " Hie [Petronius] satyricum opus va- 

 rium et, ut sic dicam, miscellum composuit. Cujus licet fragmenta ad nos tantum per- 

 venerint* eademque parum castigata, multae tamen eruditionis hominem fuisse facile 



* Gyraldus lived long before the discovery of the Tragurlan fragment. 



