﻿42 THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 



ScaeAini Petronio objectaus, corrupto ad indicium servo ademptaque defensione et 

 majore parte familiae in ^dncla rapta. Forte illis diebus Campaniam petiverat Caesar, 

 et Cumas usque progressus Petronius illic attinebatur. Nee tulit ultra timoris aut spei 

 moras; neque tamen praeceps vitam expulit, sed incisas venas, ut libitum, obligatas 

 aperire rursum et alloqui amicos, non per seria aut quibus gloriam constantiae peteret ; 

 audiebatque referentes, nihil de immortalitate animae et sapientium placitis sed levia 

 carmina et facUes versus ; seiTorum alios largitione, quosdam verberibus aflfecit ; iniit 

 epulas, somno indulsit, ut quamquam coacta mors fortuitae similis esset. Ne codicillis 

 quidem, quod plerique pereuntium, Neronem aut Tigellinum aut quern alium poten- 

 tium adulatus est; sed flagitia priucipis sub nomiuibus exolctorum feminarumque et 

 novitate cuj usque stupri perscripsit atque obsignata misit Xeroni ; fregitque annulum, 

 ne mox usui esset ad facienda pericula. Ambigenti Xeroni, quonam modo noctium 

 suarum ingenia notescerent, offertur Silia, matrimonio senatoris baud ignota, et ipsi 

 ad omnem libidinem ascita ac Petronio perquam familiaris ; agitur in exilium, tamquam 

 non siluisset, quae viderat pertuleratque, proprio odio." 



We see, then, that this Petronius, of whom Tacitus gives us an account, turned night 

 into day, devoting the day to sleep, the night to labor and pleasure ; as others have 

 become famous by their activity, he has become so by his indolence. Yet he was not a 

 vulgar debauchee, but a man of refined luxury ; the very absence of restraint in his 

 language and actions added to his popularity, by giving him the appearance of open- 

 ness. Xevertheless, when proconsul of Bitbynia, and afterwards as consul, he proved 

 himself an able business-man. When released from these duties, he retuiTied to his life 

 of dissipation, was received among the more intimate friends of Xero, and became his 

 maitre de jAaisir ("elegantiae arbiter"), the emperor's pleasures being exclusively regu- 

 lated by Petronius. This excited the jealousy of Tigellinus, who, having recourse to 

 the cruelty of the emperor, — which was even greater than his love of pleasure, — 

 charged Petronius with being a friend of Scaevinus, suborned a slave as a witness, and 

 deprived him of an opportunity of defending himself against the charge. It so hap- 

 pened that Xero had set out on a journey to Campania, and Petronius, in his retinue, 

 had proceeded as far as Cumee, when he was arrested. He did not bear the delay 

 of feai- and hope ; nevertheless, he did not terminate his existence at once, but 

 caused his opened veins to be bound up and reopened, according to his pleasure, while 

 conversing jocularly with his friends, without attempting to gain the reputation of 

 firmness. He listened to the recitations, not of discourses concerning the immortality 

 of the soul and the tenets of philosophers, but of frivolous songs and jocose verses ; 

 some of his servants he rewarded, others he chastised ; he participated in banquets, 



