﻿THE AGE OF PETROXIUS ARBITER. 97 



interpretation, but not the inference, of OrcUi * After stating that Jannelli (in Codice 

 Perottino. II. p. 123) has collected some strong arguments by which he intends to prove 

 that Petronius wrote in the times of Claudius and Xero, he goes on to say : " Quibus 

 duo praeterea addere libet a me reperta: 1, cap. 71, Trimalchio nominatiu- G. Pom- 

 peius Trimalchio Maecenatianus, id est vel Maecenatis libertus vel potius, ut opinor, 

 Maecenatis liberti libertus (nam quae de domino heraque narrat, ad Maecenatem atque 

 Terentiam referri nequeunt), uti .^na Liviae Maecenatiana Gori Coliunbar. in Poleni 

 Thesauro 3, p. 150. 97." This interpretation, that Tiimalchio was the freedman of 

 Maecenas's freedman, does not oblige us, as Orelli seems to think, to look for the author 

 of the book in the age of Claudius and Xero ; it is by no means incompatible with the 

 opinion that the book was written in the latter years of Augustus, because the manu- 

 mission of Maecenas's freedman, nay, even that of Trimalchio, in consequence of which 

 the latter adopted the name Maecenatianus, may have taken place before Maecenas's 

 death, which occui-red more than twenty years before that of Augustus, or soon 

 after. 



21. C. 71. 12: "Cum posset in omnibus decuriis Eomae esse." "MMiat does Trimal- 

 chio mean by this part of his sepulchral insciiption ? It is weU known that certain 

 corporations, such as the lictors, " scribae," and " viatores," were di\-ided into " decu- 

 liae." It is not probable that any one of these is here referred to, because Trimalchio 

 would not have failed to designate the corporation, if he belonged to any one of them, 

 and the fact of his belonging to it would undoubtedly be mentioned in some part of the 

 narrative. Moreover, the exj)ression "cum posset in omnibus decuriis Eomae esse" 

 implies a gradation or a difference in rank between the several " deciuiae," and this 

 characteristic belongs to the "decimae judicum" alone, at least in the later period of 

 the republic and the commencement of the imperial times. Earlier, it is true, as long 

 as the senators alone acted as "judices" in criminal cases, they were, without any 

 difference of rank, and solely for the purpose of a convenient arrangement, divided 

 into sections or " decuriae," which discharged, each in its turn, its duties as a jury. 

 TMien, by the " lex Aurelia " of L. Am-ehus Cotta (70 B. C, 68i U. C), the duties of 

 jurymen were di^-ided between the senators, knights, and " tribuni aerarii," these three 

 orders or classes were called "decuriae," and a certain number of "judices," or jivry- 

 men, were drawn from each "decuria" to trj- particidar cases, so that in each trial the 

 three "decuriae" were represented. This organization continued, not without some 

 fluctuations, however, to the times of Augustus, who added to the three "decimae" 



* Inscript. Lat. I. p. 257. 



