Satyricon / Edition 1

by Petronius, Sarah Ruden

Overview

The Satyricon is a classic of comedy, a superbly funny picture of Nero's Rome as seen through the eyes of Petronius, its most amorous and elegant courtier.

William Arrowsmith's translation - a lovely, modern, unexpurgated text - recatpures all the ribald humor of Petronius's picaresque satire. It tells the hilarious story of the pleasure-seeking adventures of an educated rogue, Encolpius, his handsome serving boy, Giton, and Ascyltus, who lusts after Giton - three impure pilgrims who live by their wits and other men's purses. The Satyricon unfailingly turns ever weakness of the flesh, every foible of the mind, to laughter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780872205109
Publisher:	Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2000
Series:	Hackett Classics
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sarah Ruden, poet and essayist, received her Ph.D. in Classics from Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Introduction v

Satyricon 1

Poems 143

From the Fragments 155

Appendices 159

Appendix 1 Before our Text Begins 161

Appendix 2 The Main Characters in the Satyricon 163

Appendix 3 Tacitus on Petronius 167

Appendix 4 Some Later Mentions of Petronius's work 169

Appendix 5 Two Earlier English Versions of the Satyricon 175

Appendix 6 Fellini-Satyricon 179

Notes 184

Editorial Reviews

[Ruden] has caught, better than any translator known to me, both the conversational patterns of Petronian dialogue and the camera-sharp specificity and color of the Satyricon's descriptive passages. . . . A quite extraordinary achievement against heavy odds. —Peter Green, The Los Angeles Times Book Review

Relying on. . . her excellent knowledge of Latin, her lively feel for contemporary slang and rhythm, and her infectious love of the work, [Ruden] gives us the full Satyricon; she shows us a man making a comic masterpiece out of Neronian chaos. . . . Her book as a whole, breathing knowledge and affection, is a delight. —Donald Lyons, The New Criterion

This is a really useful volume which can readily be recommended as a set text to students. The ten commentaries at the end are judicious overviews of important topics connected with the work and the suggestions for further reading are up-to-date and intelligent. —Susanna Morton Braund, Yale University

From the Publisher

Sounding downright jovial at times, Jonathan Keeble uses a classic aristocratic English delivery to portray Encolpius, the ex-gladiator and polished raconteur who narrates this satirical proto-novel. He leads the listener on a historically insightful, hilarious, thoroughly exotic, and erotically charged romp through a series of gay bordellos, opulent estates, detailed deviant sexual practices, and vulgar feasts in the time of Emperor Nero’s Rome. Author Gaius Petronius’s character sketches and comic dialogues can sound amazingly modern—think John Waters in a toga. SATYRICON will certainly be heard as a stinging comedy of manners, but there is also room to hear it as a 1,900-year-old “coming-out” declaration for ancient LGBTQ rights and recognition. Fascinating and anciently X-rated. B.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile

Sounding downright jovial at times, Jonathan Keeble uses a classic aristocratic English delivery to portray Encolpius, the ex-gladiator and polished raconteur who narrates this satirical proto-novel. He leads the listener on a historically insightful, hilarious, thoroughly exotic, and erotically charged romp through a series of gay bordellos, opulent estates, detailed deviant sexual practices, and vulgar feasts in the time of Emperor Nero’s Rome. Author Gaius Petronius’s character sketches and comic dialogues can sound amazingly modern—think John Waters in a toga. SATYRICON will certainly be heard as a stinging comedy of manners, but there is also room to hear it as a 1,900-year-old “coming-out” declaration for ancient LGBTQ rights and recognition. Fascinating and anciently X-rated. B.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile