﻿THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 121 



is probably to be assigned to the year 28 B. C. — makes it necessary to place the com- 

 position of the book after that year. The title Augustus, mentioned c. 60. 7, proves 

 that the book must have been written after the year 27 B. C, when Octavius received 

 that title ; and the other title, " pater patriae," mentioned in connection Avith the pre- 

 ceding, obliges us to place the book after the year 2 B. C, when the honor of this title 

 was bestowed upon Augustus. The name Maecenatianus (c. 71. 12) may be considered 

 as a strong reason for supposing that the book was written not very long after the year 

 8 B. C, when Msecenas died. And finally, the mention of " Vigiles" (c. 78. 7), and 

 the manner in which they are mentioned, are conclusive proof that the composition of 

 the book belongs after the year 6 A. D., Avhen Augiistus organized the institution of 

 the Vigiles, and distributed them over the city, for the protection of the different " re- 

 giones" into which the city had been divided, for the purpose of a better and more 

 efficient administration of the police of Rome. 



It will be perceived, then, that while the mention of the " Augustalcs" would not 

 oblige us to descend much lower than the year 28 B. C, the mention of the titles 

 "Augustus" and "pater patriae," and of the name Maecenatianus, and finally of the 

 " Vigiles," compels us to descend to a time after the year 6 A. D. 



The Satyricon contains but one passage which is irreconcilable Avitli this inevitable 

 conclusion, and this is that remarkable one in c. 34. 6, " Falernum Opimianum anno- 

 rum centum," which, if it really indicates the time of the entertainment of Trimalchio, 

 and also of the composition of the book, would clearly give us the year 21 B. C, — 

 a time not incompatible with the mention of the Augustales and the title Augustus, 

 but quite incompatible Avith the mention of the title " pater patriae," of the name Maece- 

 natianus, and of the Vigiles. This difficulty may be solved in various ways. One is 

 suggested by the ingenious interpretation of Burmann, referred to before, that the Avine 

 had, for a certain occasion, been correctly marked as one hundred years old, but not 

 having been used, and coming, by purchase or gift or inheritance, into the possession 

 of Trimalchio, he served it up with the same label, although this Avas no longer a cor- 

 rect statement of the wine's age. Another solution of the difficulty is, that, although 

 the above passage in c. 34. 6 may indicate thS time when the banquet of Trimalchio 

 took place or is represented as having taken place, it does not folloAv that thereby the 

 time Avhen the Satyricon Avas composed is likcAvise indicated. Whether the book con- 

 tains the real adventures of Encolpius, or occurrences Avhich had their origin in the 

 imagination of Petronius alone, it must have been Avritten after the adventures happened 

 or are represented to have happened, and the interval of tune between the actual or 

 supposed occurrence of the events and their description may be longer or shorter ; so 



