﻿THE AGE OF PETRONIUS AKBITER. 27 



with an openness, unconcern, and sell-satisfaction, as if they had the most undoubted 

 right to be and think as they do ; at the same time, a vein of gentle irony pervades the 

 whole, wliich indicates the author's moral independence and higher stand-pomt, as well 

 as his sincere gratification at the amusing and filthy scenes which he describes ; he ac- 

 companies his heroes at every step with a smile on his lips and a low laugh. The work 

 belongs, therefore, by its contents as well as its tone, to the department of satire, rescm- 

 blmg in tone Horace, in form the IMenippean satire. For, not only does the language 

 occasionally pass over from prose to verse (limping iambs and trochees), but entire 

 poems of greater extent are interwoven (Trojae Halosis and Belhim Civile), which are 

 usually put in the mouth of Eumolpus, and which always have a sathical object, some- 

 times a double one, as is the case with the Belhim Civile, which ridicules Lucan, as well 

 as his opponents personated by Eumolpus, the writer, with genuine humor, placing 

 himself above both, and dealing agamst both his blows with impartial justice. The 

 language is always suited to the character of the persons speaking, elegant m Encol- 

 pius, bombastic in Eumolpus, vulgar in Trimalchio. The language put in the mouth of 

 the latter is for us an invaluable specimen of the lingtia Romana rustica, as it obtained 

 in that part of Italy where the scene is laid, — in Campania, and especially Naples. 

 In conformity with the originally Greek character of this region, the language of Tri- 

 malchio and his companions is full of Greek words and Grecisms of the boldest kind 

 (such as coupling the neuter plural with the verb in the singular, cap. 71). Charac- 

 teristic of the local dialect are the many archaisms, compounds not known in the 

 written language, the frequent solecisms, the many proverbial and extravagant expres- 

 sions, the numerous oaths and curses. Encolpius, on the other hand, speaks in the 

 language of the educated of his age, which ui a remarkable degree resembles the lan- 

 guage of Seneca.* This indicates contemporaneousness of the authors." 



External History of the Satyricon. 



Besides the character, contents, and value of the Avork itself, there are other circum- 

 stances which impart to it an additional interest. I mean, the fate which the book 

 itself has at different times experienced. I have already mentioned that Ave do not 

 possess it completely. It is highly probable that the part left is one tenth only of the 

 whole. When and how the loss of the remainder took place is unknown, and will 



* In speaking approvingly of the view which Teufel takes of the work of Petronius, I do not, of course, 

 adopt it in all particulars. So far from discovering the resenmblance of the language of Encolpius and 

 Seneca, I think the former is remarkably simple, and free from the mannerism which characterizes the style 

 of Seneca. 



