﻿THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 37 



with Wagenseil, in considering a large portion of the Avork of Petronius a satire on 

 Nero. Although this point is not necessarily connected with the question of the gen- 

 uineness of the fragment, SchcfFer finds a connection between them. " Si pracsertim," 

 says he, " quod persuasum pridem viris doctis est, pars multo maxima Satyrici in Nero- 

 nem est directa, cum non pauca ejus vitia docte ac subtiliter notata deprehendit hie, 

 quisquis inspicere intimius examinareque volet." 



Some idea of the interest which was excited by the discovery of the Tragurian frag- 

 ment may be formed from the fact that a scholar so far advanced in life as Thomas 

 Reinesius was drawn into the discussion. Being born in 1587, he was, at the time 

 of writing his dissertation on the subject, nearly eighty years old. The dissertation 

 itself is dated the 31st of January, 1666; the dedication to the renoAvned French min- 

 ister, Joh. Bapt. Colbert, prefixed to it, the 25 th of April (old style) of the same year. 

 It would seem, from an expression of Reinesius,* that he supposed the Paduan 

 edition, published by the printer Paulus Frombottus, to have appeared in 1665, instead 

 of 1664, unless it be that his own dissertation, although printed in 1666, was written 

 the preceding year. He expressed his opinion at the request of Scheffer, and, in doing 

 so, occupied a middle ground. While he does not hesitate to consider the main part 

 of the fragment to be genuine, he is firmly convinced that some one, in order to fit 

 and adjust the ncAvly discovered portions in their proper places and to smooth and 

 polish the connecting passages, allowed himself to make alterations and additions, 

 as the case might be. He says : " Multo maxima pars ejus fragmenti Petronio recte 

 tribuitiir, quod nemo eorum, qui vel levem deliciarum ejus gustum habent, negaverit ; 

 per omnes etiam [enim ]] paene paginas doceri id posset ; idemque curatissime praesti- 

 tum in editione Upsaliensi [SchefFeri]. Ceterum mangonium aliquod, perinde ac in 

 aliis primae notae scriptoribus multis, quos glossemata inficeta subinde deformanmt, 

 hie intervenisse et ejus aliquam partem Petroniastri alicujus esse, Arbitrum imitari et 

 exhibere, velut in scena Mercurius Sosiam, ausi et apti satis, manifesta fides est. Is 

 cum in fragmento Arbitri praeter ea, quae dudum coUecta dederunt commentatores, 

 incidisset, hiatus in editionibus conspicuos impleri sic posse ratus, ea utcunque con- 

 nexuit ; quod ut fieret sine offensa lectoris, fingere aliqua et infulcire de suo formandis 

 sententiis integrandisque membris, comminisci etiam, quae nunquam facta mcminerat, 

 necesse habuit." He does not attach any importance to the fact, that the story of the 

 malleable glass (cap. 51), contained in the fragment, is corroborated by John of Salis- 



* "Hie [Frombottus] enim repertum Tragurii apud Dalmatas in bibliotheca Cippicorum insigne frag- 

 mentum, Petronianis editis connectendum, anno supcriore ex apographo concesso operis suis ct sumtu com- 

 municavit." 



VOL. VI. NEAV SERIES. 6 



