#Cena Trimalchionis

[neoclassicalblobphilosopher]

Rip Trimalchio you would've loved keeping up with the Kardashians

[xanthekholos]

this article is responsible for hysterics in my household. apparently we can’t put nero in a med scanner or a therapist chair

[latin-literature-tourney]

Latin Literature Tournament - Round 1

Propaganda under the cut!

Lucretius Propaganda:

His description of atomism is pretty damn accurate for an ancient Roman poet with literally no clue what the fuck he's talking

In this house we love Epicureanism

Carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti / exitio terras cum dabit una dies

Petronius Propaganda

You really can't go wrong with the Cena Trimalchionis--crazy food, astrology, werewolves...there's really something for everyone

When Nero ordered him to commit suicide, threw a sumptuous party about it and broke all his expensive stuff so Nero couldn't take it. Queen Shit

Part Menippean satire, part Greek novel: a genuinely Wild fucking combo that makes one of the weirdest and coolest pieces of Latin prose out there

[alexanderpearce]

my mum just came into my room to hand me a 'very funny' newspaper article on raygun not now im trying to talk about bodily control in petronius' cena trimalchionis

[clodiapulchra]

itaque Fortunata, ut 'ex aequo ius firmum' approbaret, male dicere Trimalchioni coepit et purgamentum dedecusque praedicare, qui non contineret libidinem suam. ultimo etiam adiecit: 'canis'.

And Fortunata, exercising the rightful powers of her position, began to curse Trimalchio and proclaim the shame and disgrace [of that man], who could not contain his own lechery. At last, she hurled at him 'dog'.

Petronius Cena Trimalchionis, 74

Image taken from the film Satyricon, directed by Federico Fellini, 1994. Actress: Magali Noël

Hi babes! It's been a long while, but I'm still hyper-fixated on Latin. Introducing a new member to this blog, Fortunata. 'Dog' is the single piece of recorded dialogue Fortunata has in the whole of the Cena, but my goodness, what a line.

[acertainidontknowwhat]

Dissertation Diary #3

The Performative Humility of the Princeps

I have been able to work on my dissertation for the last two days because I am behind on grading a summer semester class. However, I thought I’d just give a general update concerning what I have been working on as of late.

I have been working on connecting Trimalchio and the freedmen’s speech in general with the principes as a part of my argument is that the kind of speech that we see at the Cena Trimalchionis is not actually indicative of an authentic lower-class speech, but is instead imitative of the an intentional form of speaking used by the princeps, in this case Augustus, as a form of self effacement. Within this imperial society, there is only one figure for whom humility has become a virtue, and that is the princeps who is now a singular entity whose level of authority and power is now far beyond the reach of any other person in society. In order to counteract the negative effects of this obvious power imbalance, the princeps must engage in performative acts of self effacement that maintain the fiction that he is merely the first citizen among citizens. We see this in Suetonius who records the speaking and writing patterns of Augustus, who himself uses slang, idioms, and “greekisms” just like Trimalchio and the freedmen. Sprinkling Greek into one’s speech, moreover, is a characteristic of an elite class that consisted of widespread bilingualism.

Throughout Suetonius’ writing on Augustus’ habits, we continuously see an emphasis on modesty, a characteristic that had no currency among the constant political competition that raged during the Republican period. Augustus’ house, furniture, dress, personal grooming, sleeping habits, eating habits, speech, etc. are all described by Suetonius as being humble, old-fashioned, or somewhat ascetic. This goes hand in hand with Augustus’ insistence that almost every aspect of his life be on view for the public.

It is within this context that we can reassess several aspects of Trimalchio’s character. Instead of a desperate freedman trapped by his limited status attempting to imitate his betters and getting it all wrong—a characterization that has more in common with the nouveau riche of the Industrial Revolution—Trimalchio is a hyper-mimetic representation of the princeps and is in fact getting everything exactly right. The critique then becomes the gross-exaggeration of what is clearly a performative aspect of the figure of the princeps.

[dumbfinntales]

Thanks to the help of a wonderful app called Legentibus I managed to get through a text titled "Cena Trimalchionis" = Dinner of Trimalchio. This text is a part of a bigger book called Satyricon that I attempted to read at one point, but found it way too difficult and time consuming to read. Especially with the amount of unfamiliar vocabulary.

With Legentibus you can look up unfamiliar words right away which sped up the reading process. Still according to the app it took me 6 hours to read the whole thing. I did read it in bits and pieces over the span of a few weeks. There's actually a progress tracker in the app so I'd read about 10% of the text every day.

How was the story? It was interesting and grand. Trimalchio himself is an interesting character. He's a former slave who became extremely rich and is very vain and wasteful. His dinner is excessively lavish and the guests there are even weirder. I love that in three occasions some slave messed up slightly and Trimalchio wanted them dead, but all the guests begged him to spare them. So he did. Probably so he might seem "merciful" to his guests.

The description of the foods and the entertainment felt like it was out of this world. They served all kinds of meats from birds to pigs, sausages, fruits, nuts, pastries, eggs etc... There was one dish that was adorned with all kinds of meat and Trimalchio starts pretentiously explaining how all his dishes have a deeper artistic meaning, because he is just so sophisticated.

Trimalchio is also very full of himself, demanding ridiculous things after his death and acting like he's the most precious and important thing in the room. At one point a pretty slave boy entered the room and Trimalchio immediately ran up to him and smothered him with kisses. His wife (not sure if I got that correctly) Fortunata saw this and was not happy at all and started yelling at Trimalchio that he can't control his urges and called him a pig. He of course in retaliation threw a goblet at her face.

A lot of fun stuff happens during the dinner like this one guy going crazy and he starts roasting everyone around him, which Trimalchio finds amusing. The end of the dinner is probably my favorite part. Trimalchio, absolutely wasted on wine, asks everyone to pretend as if he was dead and this was his funeral. Then one slave boy stands up and starts singing in such a loud and horrible voice that the guards in the neighborhood start thinking there's a fire or something happening in Trimalchio's place and they storm in dousing everyone with water. During this commotion our horrified main characters decide to sneak away from the dinner, as if they really were fleeing a fire. What a story!

If you're a Latin enthusiast like me I do recommend reading Cena Trimalchionis. And getting the Legentibus app! There's some free texts you can read, but a lot of the good stuff has to be paid for with a subscription. Legentibus is truly a wonderful source of Latin texts and a great way to keep learning. As I said you can look up any unfamiliar word just by tapping it on the text, and some texts have a commentary that explain why some things are said or written the way they are.

[piermanwalter]

Can’t stop returning to this angelfire page:  angelfire.com/art/archictecture/articles/trim.htm

I have not found a single better meta analysis of Petronius’ Cena Trimalchionis, a fragment of the ancient Roman satire novel Satyricon written during Nero’s reign that inspired The Great Gatsby and depicts the most opulent and outrageous dinner party ever imagined even after thousands of years, that non-classicist people can read and enjoy. It has specific understanding of Roman culture, history, and contemporary works, but its written so that anyone can get the jokes and instead of being formal and academic, the author genuinely likes the novel and wants you to like it too. It doesn’t link to anywhere or seem to be linked anywhere. Who wrote it? When was it written? Where did it come from? It’s like a Muse got sick of people misinterpreting Cena Trimalchionis and manifested the page into existence.

[herodotean]

top 10 trimalchio shady lgbt moments

[catilinas]

also wrt tags on last reblog. bear in mind i haven’t seen bl*ck sails s4 or read treasure island. still disappointed that the writers didn’t use silver Pretending to be a cook to go apeshit w the food symbolism. blease all i want is failed commensality rituals :(

[shiny-shoes]

Messy notes for final translation - an adaption of Petronius Cena Trimalchionis

[debasenhaut]

PETRONIUS

1. TACITUS ALS QUELLE

Petronius Arbiter, von Tacitus erwähnt (Ann. 16, 17.1 und 18f.): Autor des uns fragmentarisch überlieferten Roman Satyricon.

Inschriftenfund: P.Petronius Niger, consul suffectus 62 n.Chr.?

Nur sicher: sein Tod. Selbstmord im Zus. mit der Pisonischen Verschwörung im Jahr 66. Voll im Kontrast zu dem musterhaften stoischen Tod Seneca (Ann. 15,60,2). Dennoch: ein gebildeter Mann von raffinierter Genussfähigkeit.

Neid von dem Hofberater Tigellinus

2. WERK

141 Kapitel vom Prosatext mit Einschüben in Versen.

3. ÜBERLIEFERUNG

Wiederentdeckung im 15. Jahrhundert.

Sogenannte kurze und lange Exzerpte (das Längste: die Cena Trimalchionis).

4. TITEL

Satyricon: der Satyr, satyros: liederlicher Bursche (liederlich=débauché, dissolu).

Satyrica: Liederliche Geschichten. Oder... Anklang an das lateinische satura.

5. ANTIKER ROMAN UND NOVELLE

Termini für Erzählhandlungen: historia, fabula (mythos), drama.

>> Literaturgeschichtliche Wertung

- Urteil abhängig von dem Ziel der Dichtung/schönen Literatur.

Macrobius (-> Nach Strabo (psychagogia=Seelenleitung und didaskalia=Belehrung) und Horaz (Ars poetica, 333f 343f)):

2 Arten von fabulae:

> die amüsanten: Komödien von Menander + Romane von Petron und Apuleius.

> die moralisch belehrenden

>> Einfluss des griechischen Romans auf Petron ? Aus dem griechischen Raum: die "NOVELLE", im 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. als Exkurs (Herodot).

Erste Sammlung: Aristeides von Milet (100 vChr.) die Milesiaka/Milesia historia, erotische Novellen übersetzt von (dem Historiker?) Sisenna (50 VChr.) u wahrscheinlich Vorlage für Ovid, Petron u Apuleius.

Mit Petron: Einbettung von Novellen in den Romanzusammenhang: z.B.: Epheben von Pergamon + Witwe von Ephesus.

Apuleius: 9.Buch, EInbettung von Ehebrechergeschichte. + Am Anfang: milesius sermo.

>> 3 Typen von Stoffen: erotische Geschichten + Zauber- u Hexengeschichten + Räubergeschichten

>> 2 Typen von Roman:

1) empfinsam-pathetische Liebesroman. Oft getrenntes und nach Abenteuern wieder vereintes Liebespaar. (z.B.: Aithiopika, 3.n.Chr. von Heliodor)

2) Anfänge von utopisch-phantastischen Abenteur-u Reiseroman (z.B.: Inhaltsangabe von Antonius Diogenes, Wunder jenseits von Thule, um 100, 24 Bücher /Photios)o

2 Typen auch nach Form: Durchlaufende Prosa oder Einschübe in Poikilo- oder Prosimetrum (z.B.: bei Chariton, Chaireas u Kallirhoe, 2. oder 3. Jhd n.Chr., Homerverse; bei Petron, Versreihen eingewoben.)

Prosimetrum = Ursprung in der Diatribe. des Menippos (Anfang 3. Jhd v.Chr.). Bunte Mischung.

>> Griechischer Roman u romanhafte Züge anderer Gattungen.

Von den 2. Jhd v.Chr. bis ins 3. Jhd n.Chr.

- WICHTIG ZU VERSTEHEN: ZUSAMMENHANG MIT ANDEREN GENERA:

Ich-Erzählung des Epos. Siehe: die Apologie des Odysseus in den Büchern 9-12 der Odyssee.

Historiographie. Siehe: Kyropädie, 6, Xenophon (5vChr), Liebesgeschichte, + Persiaka, Ktesias (Hellenismus).

-> Im Hellenismus, eingefügte Episode verselbstständigt.

Z.B.: bei Chariton, Chaireas u Kallirhoe: Kallirhoe Tochter des Hermokrates, Siegers über Athen im Jahre 413 v.Chr.

5. ROMAN DES PETRON.

[staringintostarlight]

The cena Trimalchionis but it’s a thinly veiled Trump satire

[sciscianonotizie]

CENA TRIMALCHIONIS, Il menefreghismo dall’età Romana ai giorni nostri http://dlvr.it/RYDQ3B

[clodiapulchra]

John William Waterhouse - Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses

rogo vos, oportet credatis, sunt mulieres plussciae, sunt nocturnae, et quod sursum est, deorsum faciunt (63) . . . miramur nos et pariter credimus, osculatique mensam rogamus Nocturnas, ut suis se teneant, dum redimus a cena. (64)

'I tell you, it is necessary that you believe it, that there are supernatural women, they are women of the night, and what is upright, they make downwards'.

We were amazed and equally trusted this, and kissing the table we begged the Night Women, that they restrain themselves to their own matters while we return from the dinner.

Petronius Cena Trimalchionis, 63-64.

[acertainidontknowwhat]

Dissertation Diary #2

Chapters:

My dissertation has three chapters.

In the first chapter, I analyze Augustus relation to theatricality. Augustus and Nero have a lot more in common than we like to admit. This section involves an examination of the sources for examples of Augustus' habit of pretense. This leads us to the environment of pretense that that developed during the proscriptions of 43 BCE under the then Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus. The similarities between how that period is described in our sources and the overall setting of the Satyrica is revealing. Both show the breakdown or nonexistence of normative family structures. A possible explanation for this is that the Satyrica exists in the fallout of a society ransacked by civil war and proscription.

In the second chapter, currently titled Imperial Metaphors in the Cena Trimalchionis, I argue that at Trimalchio's dinner we encounter a series of grand metaphors. Working from the grandest of metaphors backwards, then, we begin with the evidence for seeing Trimalchio’s estate as depicting the imperium Romanum under his control. Then we zoom in closer to Trimalchio’s home representing Rome itself and including physical aspects specific to Augustus and his family. Then Trimalchio and the other freedmen and freedwomen, who represent a grand metaphor within this Roman microcosm where there are only two kinds of people, freed and enslaved. Through this approach we see that Petronius is not giving us a realistic depiction of a close-knit group of freedmen, but instead a hyper-mimetic imitation of the culture of the principes themselves.

The third is Semper Femina: Petronian Women and their Augustan Connections. This chapter focuses on four of the women in the Satyrica (Quartilla, Tryphaena, The Widow of Ephesus, and Circe). With each I draw attention to the possible ways that they Petronian women express their sexuality while challenging an Augustan moral culture. I also argue in this chapter that we see Petronius alluding to female relatives of Augustus further drawing out attention to the reality that contradicts the Augustan ideal concerning women.