The Satyricon

Translated by William Arrowsmith
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$22.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Plume
52 per carton
On sale Nov 01, 1983 | 978-0-452-01005-5
Sales rights: World
"This version by a translator who understands the high art of low humor is conspicuously funny."—Time

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 lively, modern, unexpurgated text—recaptures 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 every weakness of the flesh, every foible of the mind, to laughter.

The Satyricon; The ApocolocyntosisPETRONIUS
Introduction
The Author and Date of the Satyricon
The Extent of the Work and the Plot
The Literary Qualities of the Satyricon
On the Text and Translation

Acknowledgments

The Satyricon
Puteoli
Dinner with Trimalshio
Eumolpus
The Road to Croton
Croton

The Fragments and the Poems
List of Characters
Notes on the Satyricon
Notes on the Fragments and Poems

SENECA
Introduction
The Authorship and Date of the Apocolocyntosis
The Place of the Work in Seneca's Writings
The Literary Qualities of the Apocolocyntosis
On the Text and Translation

The Apocolocyntosis of the Divine Claudius

Notes on the Apocolocyntosis

"This version by a translator who understands the high art of low humor is conspicuously funny."
Time

"William Arrowsmith's translation of The Satyricon meets the two fundamental requirements of the translator's art: perfect fidelity to the original and a vitality of style that tempts the reader to believe that the English version is not a translation.… A classic of literature."
—Allen Tate

"Arrowsmith's brilliant translation … at one stroke renders every other version obsolete."
London Times Literary Supplement

About

"This version by a translator who understands the high art of low humor is conspicuously funny."—Time

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 lively, modern, unexpurgated text—recaptures 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 every weakness of the flesh, every foible of the mind, to laughter.

Table of Contents

The Satyricon; The ApocolocyntosisPETRONIUS
Introduction
The Author and Date of the Satyricon
The Extent of the Work and the Plot
The Literary Qualities of the Satyricon
On the Text and Translation

Acknowledgments

The Satyricon
Puteoli
Dinner with Trimalshio
Eumolpus
The Road to Croton
Croton

The Fragments and the Poems
List of Characters
Notes on the Satyricon
Notes on the Fragments and Poems

SENECA
Introduction
The Authorship and Date of the Apocolocyntosis
The Place of the Work in Seneca's Writings
The Literary Qualities of the Apocolocyntosis
On the Text and Translation

The Apocolocyntosis of the Divine Claudius

Notes on the Apocolocyntosis

Praise

"This version by a translator who understands the high art of low humor is conspicuously funny."
Time

"William Arrowsmith's translation of The Satyricon meets the two fundamental requirements of the translator's art: perfect fidelity to the original and a vitality of style that tempts the reader to believe that the English version is not a translation.… A classic of literature."
—Allen Tate

"Arrowsmith's brilliant translation … at one stroke renders every other version obsolete."
London Times Literary Supplement