| Abstract [eng] |
This paper analyses Petronius’ „Satyricon“, which is considered to be a part of the Neronian literature. It is said that only a 10th or even less of the full text of the „Satyricon“ survived until the present day. Scholars do not completely agree on the genre of the „Satyricon“; however, particular aspects of the satire presuppose that certain people are parodied or social or political criticism is expressed. One may find many sophisticated and hidden references to other pieces of Classical literature in the „Satyricon“, and such high level of intertextuality prevents us from considering it as being a work of entertainment. This study attempts to answer the question – what the object of Petronius’ satire is: Neronian society or Petronius’ contemporaries, who criticised the moral condition of the society in their works of literature. This paper juxtaposes the figure of Trimalchio with Nero and artificial, staged world of the banquet – with the Neronian court. Conversations of the freedmen in Trimalchio’s banquet are shown as the parody of characters common to the Neronian court and the society in general. The „Satyricon’s“ relationship with the works of two other Neronian authors, Seneca and Lucan, is also analysed. I highlight an important figure of fortune, present in the Satyricon and Seneca’s tragedies as well as Lucan’s „Pharsalia“, which aids in determining the relation between these works. In Seneca’s tragedies, the figure of fortune marks the dramatic nature of destiny; in Lucan’s „Pharsalia“ – the fall of gods, while in „Satyricon“ such dramatic nature of the authors’ works is parodied. Employing the figure of fortune, Petronius exposes the new foundational Neronian myth of fortune, which took the place of the old, Trojan, Rome’s foundational myth. Petronius parodies Nero, who spreads the myth that everything is determined by chance (fortuna) and in this way justifies his wrongdoings. The „Satyricon“ also parodies the members of the Neronian court, who believe in the myth of fortune and are chasing wealth because of it. This paper discusses the phenomenon of the inversion of values in the „Satyricon“ – the work presents the decline of traditional pietas and the pursuit of pleasures and wealth, which take its place. However, Petronius ridicules not only the members of society who adopted these new habits, but also the moralists, such as Seneca and Lucan, who lament the collapsed values while participating in the Neronian spectacle themselves. With the aid of the concept of dissimulation, this paper determines that these two members of the Neronian court are ridiculed in the „Satyricon“ as being in a schizophrenic state: they promote the principles of the old, already collapsed world, but in practice follow completely different rules. This study claims that the „Satyricon“ may be considered both the work of criticism of the society as well as a peculiar work of metacriticism. |
