﻿THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 151 



and Varro ; " homuncio," of Cicero ; " libcUus," of Plautus, Cicero, and LiA-y ; " locelli," 

 of CaDsar and Val. Maximus ; " lucunculus," of Afranius ; " meliusculus," of Plautus, 

 Varro, and Columella ; " mensula," of Plautus ; " misellus," of Plautus, Cicero, and 

 Catullus; "oscidum" (in the sense of "little mouth"), of 0ml and Phajdnis; "ostio- 

 lum," of Columella; "pediculus," of Columella; "pusillus," of Plautus, Cato, and 

 Cicero ; " tigillimi," of Livy, Catullus, and Tibullus ; " vascidum," of Cato. 



It is seen, then, that by far the greater number of these duninutives are supported by 

 the authority of old writers ; and the fact that a few occur in later wi-itcrs only, (" ali- 

 cula" in Martial and Velius Longus, "capsella" in Ulpianus, "casida" in Pliny and 

 Juvenal, "catella" in Martial and Juvenal, "ossiculum" in Pliny and Gellius, and 

 "vemula" in Juvenal,) or in Petronius alone, (" amasiimcula" and " amasiunculus," 

 " clostellum," "comula," "corcillum," "fericulus," "offla," " statunculum," "taundus,") 

 is no evidence of the late age of the Satyricon, because the non-occurrence of these 

 words in older writers may be accidental. 



It is certainly not to be wondered at that residents of INIiddle and Lower Italy, most 

 of whom were not even natives of Italy, but had come from Greece or Asia, should mix 

 Greek expressions, more or less corrupted and modified, in their discourse. 



We find, thus, in the conversation of Trimalchio, the following words and forms: 

 "tengo menas," c. 3-i. T and 73. 6; "i^hilologiam," c. 39. 3; "praxim," c. 39. 4; 

 " cataphagae," c. 39. 9 ; " anathymiasis," c. 4:7. 6 ; " peristasin," c. 48. 4 ; " melicam," 

 c. 64. 2; "zelotypa," c. 69. 2; " colepio," c. 70. 2; "faciatur triclinia," c. 71. 10; and 

 "nemini nihil satis est," c. 76. 3. — Niceros uses " basioballum," c. 61. 6; " ecraginavi," 

 c. 61. 9 ; " apocidamus," c. 62. 3. — Hermeros says, " raalisto" (fidXia-rov heing, perhaps, 

 a Greek vulgarism for iikyuno'i), c. 57. 10; "Nee sursum nee deorsum non cresco," 

 c. 58. 5; and "Athana" and " alogias manias," c. 58. 7. — Seleucus uses "laecasin," 

 c. 42. 2; and "nemini nihil boni facere," c. 42. 7. — Scintilla uses " Agaga," c. 69. 1. — 

 Ganymedes says, " percolapabant," c. 44. 5 ; and another of the guests, " zaplutus," c. 

 37. 6, and " babae," c. 37. 9. Nay, even the language of Petronius himself is not en- 

 tirely free from Grecisms. Thus we meet " phantasia," c. 38. 15 ; " sophos" (o-o^al?), c. 

 40. 1; " bucolesias," c. 41. 2; "automatum," c. 50. 1, and "automata," c. 140. 11; and 

 " peiiscelides " and "phoecasia," c. 67. 4. — Eumolpus says, "in hypogeo," c. 111. 2. 



It is in the nature of things that most of the proverbs, those vehicles of popular 

 feeling, experience, and wisdom, are found in the conversation of the humbler person- 

 ages of the drama. Tiimalchio says, c. 39. 7 : "In Geminis autem nascuntur bigae et 

 boves et colei, et qui utrosque parietcs linunt," — the Greek Zvo toixov; a\€i4>eiv, the 

 German " auf beiden Achseln tragen," "to please two, even opposite, characters " ; it 



