Allie Szczerba
World Civilization
9/24/14
Petronius’ “Dinner with Trimalchio”
In the Roman novel, The Satyricon written by Petronius, the main character Trimalchio, is a freedman who has obtained power and wealth all on his own. During the second half of the first century of the Roman Empire, there are distinct barriers between the way the wealthy live and the way the slaves live. Trimalchio is married to a woman named Fortunata who runs Trilmachio’s business affairs and is very sharp-witted.
Throughout the chapter “Dinner with Trimalchio,” we learn that Trimalchio is known for throwing sumptuous dinner parties in which his numberless guests attend. At his dinner, Petronius and most of the guests are nouveau-rich. Trimalchio is a very wealthy
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man and his house is quite extravagant for its time period. The entrance to Trimalchio’s dining room has fixed rods and axes tapering off at their lowest point into something similar to a bronze ship on the door-posts. Trimalchio adds many personal touches to his home and a lot of décor hangs on the walls; including a picture of him holding a wand of Mercury and being led into Rome by Minerva as well as a picture of himself back when he learned accounting and when he became a steward. (52-53) This shows that Trimalchio thinks of himself as being extremely superior since he is being led by Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. During the dinner, Trimalchio often makes references to gods and feels the need to educate his guests about the gods because he feels that it is extremely important. During the Roman era, the wealthy did not allow women to attend dinner parties. Fortunata is an exception at this dinner; however, she is never introduced to the guests. All night, she is constantly running around for Trimalchio and doesn’t end up sitting down at the table until the end of the dinner. Petronius tries asking Agamemnon as many questions about Fortunata in order to pester him for gossip and information. (57) Trimalchio is carried in to the sound of music and set down on a pile of tightly stuffed cushions during the middle of the elegant dishes. On one of the fingers on his left hand, he wears a heavy gilt ring and a smaller one on another finger. (54-55) Trimalchio’s guests were not used to seeing such elegant entertainment that Trimalchio provided; they were often confused as they did not know how to act and kept laughing at things that Trimalchio was trying to impress them with. During Trimalchio’s dinner, all the courses are presented on a dinner service made out of silver and Corinthian bronze and his guests are to sip on a white wine known as Falernian, which is one hundred years old. (56) For the sake of the entertainment, a young Egyptian slave brings in a deep circular tray with the twelve signs of the Zodiac arranged around the edge. Shortly after, four dancers hurtled forward in time to the music and removed the upper part of the dish. (56-57) The first course that Trimalchio provides to his guests includes: a bronze donkey with two panniers of white olives on one side and black on the other. Also, there are steaming hot sausages on a silver gridiron with damsons and pomegranate seeds underneath. During this time, Trimalchio has an orchestra playing in the background. Many of Trimalchio’s guests at his dinner are from the professional class and are ex-slaves who were made good.
Trimalchio demands that all his guests enter the dining room with their right foot; this is supposed to bring good luck. If one of the guests crossed the threshold the wrong way, a slave would get in trouble. (53) Even if these slaves had done nothing serious, they could easily get beaten with a whip or stick as punishment or torture. Shortly after entering the dining room, the hands of the guests are to be washed in water and their toenails are to be trimmed by the slave boys. Just to show how really superior he is over all his guests and servants, Trimalchio shows off by being smothered in perfume and being rubbed down. Not with linen towels either, but with bath robes made of the finest wool. (52) Trimalchio also tries to stand out by wearing bright colors, while his slaves just blend in.
Also illustrated in this chapter is the treatment of the chef after he disturbs dinner by forgetting to gut the pig. Trimalchio tells the chef that nothing better be wrong with the pig or something bad is going to happen to him. We come to find out that the pig wasn’t gutted properly so Trimalchio made the chef get naked in front of all his guests. Trimalchio wouldn’t even eat the pig because it had to be perfectly cleaned. This goes to show how the lower class had more pressure on them to be perfect. Trimalchio even wanted to kill the chef for forgetting to clean the pig, but his guests stopped him.
(66) In the second half of the first century of the Roman Empire, there was a distinct difference between the wealthy and the slaves. The wealthy were higher ranked and the slaves were lower ranked. During the Dinner of Trimalchio, there were many circumstances throughout the dinner that solidified the difference between the wealthy and the slaves.
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"Power and Women in Lysistrata: Character Analysis of Lysistrata." Article Myriad. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. .
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