Satyricon (novel), manuscripts and publications, genre, characters, main, minor. Petronius' novel "Satyricon"

Among the satirical magazines, of which there were a great many in Russia at the beginning of the last century, Satyricon occupies a special place. Without a doubt, he enjoyed the greatest fame of all of them, since he was the most prominent spokesman of his time: he was even quoted at meetings of the Duma.

Main authors

The Satyricon group took shape by 1908; The first issue of the magazine was published on April 3. Humorous drawings and caricatures signed by Radakov (1879-1942), Remi (pseudonym of Remizov-Vasiliev), Benois, and Dobuzhinsky began to appear on the pages of the new weekly magazine. These drawings were often accompanied by short poems; in addition, the magazine devoted a lot of space to satirical poetry. Among the permanent employees of Satyricon one should name Pyotr Potemkin (1886 - 1926), Vasily Knyazev (1877 - 1937 or 1938), acmeist Sergei Gorodetsky (1884 - 1967), Vladimir Voinov (1878 - 1938), Evgeny Vensky (pseudonym of Evgeny Pyatkin, 1885 - 1943), Krasny (pseudonym of Konstantin Antipov, 1883 - 1919), Samuil Marshak (1887 - 1964), Arkady Bukhov (1889 - 1946), Vladimir Likhachev (1849 - 1910), Dmitry Censor (1877 - 1947), Nikolai Shebuev (1874 - 1937).

Sasha Cherny, undoubtedly the most gifted of the group's authors, left the magazine in 1911, having published many works there.

Among the prose writers of the group, it is necessary to name, in addition to Averchenko, Teffi (pseudonym of Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya, married to Buchinskaya, 1872 - 1952), Osip Dymov (pseudonym of Osip Perelman)...

"New Satyricon"

In 1913, a crisis occurred in the magazine; most of its authors left Kornfeld and founded the New Satyricon, the first issue of which was published on June 6. The old magazine still continued to be published: Knyazev, Valentin Goryansky (pseudonym of Valentin Ivanov, 1888 - 1944) and several other writers remained there, but in 1914, after the release of the 16th issue, the magazine ceased to exist. “New Satyricon” flourished for some time and attracted a number of young writers, among whom were Alexey Budishchev (1867 - 1916), Georgy Vyatkin (1885 - 1941), Chuzh-Chuzhenin (pseudonym of Nikolai Faleev, 1873-30s) and Mayakovsky, who published poems of 1915-1916 and his “hymns” in it.

Contents and focus of the magazine

The Satyricon magazine was very diverse in content and focus: it reflected the tastes of the public and certain literary trends of its time. The public wanted it to be satirical. Responding to this wish, the magazine was revived and became strengthen the old tradition of Russian literature. He proclaimed Saltykov-Shchedrin his teacher, as evidenced by the issue specially dedicated to his memory (New Satyricon, No. 17), published on the 25th anniversary of the writer’s death in 1914. Bukhov mentions this in his poem “Remember!”, published in the issue:
...There are many of you...
Picks up drops of caustic bile,
Dropped by a smart old man.

However, after the revolution of 1905, this tradition acquired a very special character in the world of the press. In the period 1905-1906, many satirical publications began to be published: “Hammer”, “Machine Gun”, “Bugbear”, “Masks”, “Gadfly”, “Zarnitsa”, “Red Laughter”, etc., in which they appear, alternating with each other friend, caricatures and poems, often signed by illustrious names from the “World of Art” or from the Symbolist school. Satire was usually extremely harsh and harsh, excluding any humor, in most cases painted in tragic tones: it was a time when images of death, blood, and murder filled both painting and literature.

The Satyricon group, responding to the tastes of the time (close to Leonid Andreev), picked up this tradition and made its own contribution to it. Many times the magazine carried hints of repression against the opposition in very dark tones, for example under the guise of descriptions of executions by impalement in Persia.

Thus, on the one hand, Satyricon develops themes that a priori exclude laughter. In his works there is a sound of despair, both political and moral, which sometimes really becomes a commonplace. Some poems openly fall into revolutionary pathos. Knyazev is especially inclined towards it.

“Now,” writes Averchenko, “the whole of Great Rus' is writhing in its sleep, immersed in mortal boredom.” This phrase was designed for a comic effect: boredom and vulgarity were considered shameful, and it was customary to constantly remind that they were opposed by ideals, enthusiasm, noble spiritual impulses; but this almost obligatory recommendation has long become more of a rhetorical formula than a real source of inspiration.

Who did Satyricon write about?

In fact, the only social layer that fills the pages of Satyricon is precisely the petty bourgeoisie, that philistinism whose presence is felt among both the readers and authors of the magazine. Krasny's poem, dated 1908, demonstrates, perhaps not entirely consciously for the author himself, that the old Russian myths are losing their power. The poem is built on the contrast between the topics of conversations in society (freedom, homeland, indignation, sacrifice) and their material basis - a restaurant, a party, etc. (No. 10, 1908):

Oh, what could be more beautiful?
Than walking into the world of quest,
Where the path is glorious only through sacrifice...
But much more interesting
Read about it in the novel
And take a breath over coffee...

Perhaps the poet's intention was to ridicule the softness of the average intellectual, but the effect produced by the poem is completely different, because the polarity of these ideas is too funny.

Parody in a magazine

The magazine's output was rich in both old and new techniques. The first place among them was occupied by parody - a genre that is satirical in itself. The authors of “Satyricon” did not neglect the opportunity to ridicule new literary movements, such as symbolism, futurism (for example, Bukhov’s poem “The Legend of the Terrible Book” (1913) presents the poems of the futurists as the most terrible torture for the reader imaginable). Egofuturism (Igor Severyanin) has become a favorite target for parody. The archaic style was readily used, with the help of which the most striking effect of the grotesque was created (for example, Shebuev’s ode to universities, designed in the style of the Russian XV111 century, No. 37, 1913).

Often parody coexisted with a serious tone so hidden that contemporaries did not even always notice it. For example, Goryansky gave his collection “My Fools” the subtitle “Lyrical Satires.” Sasha Cherny uses this technique almost everywhere, and one of the letters to Kranichfeld proves that the poet used it completely consciously. He writes: “Humour, satire and lyricism are combined in the same poem...” Some of Bukhov’s poems could be mistaken for being written by one of the Symbolists (“To the Poets”).

Potemkin especially shone in this crafty genre. He was associated with the symbolist environment, often visited the Stray Dog cabaret, and staged some of his plays at the Crooked Mirror miniature theater. His collection “Funny Love” (1908) also contains themes typical of Russian romantics and symbolists - masks, dolls, and it is not clear whether one should look for the funny in the serious or the serious in the funny. Later, namely in his collection of poems “Geranium” (1912), the poet would move away from this genre and come to a purely comic, more sincere and simpler.

Techniques of fairy tales and folk art in "Satyricon"

Another favorite technique of Satyricon is a fairy tale. Here its authors willingly followed Kozma Prutkov, in whom they recognized their predecessor. In 1913, a special issue (No. 3) was dedicated to his memory. One of the Satyricon employees, Boris Vladimirovich Zhikovich, signed the name Ivan Kozmich Prutkov, as the son of a fictional writer. Nevertheless, his fairy tales, as a rule, are satirical; they do not contain absurdity, like Kozma Prutkov’s. Thus, the fable “Brains and Night” (1914) ridicules spiritualism, although it was written in the style of Prutkov.

“Satyricon” also willingly used sources of folk art: fairground comedy, quatrains in the style of ditties, which Potemkin and Knyazev collected from villages. If Knyazev’s ditties serve to “simplify” poetry, then Potemkin, especially in “Geranium,” introduces very lively comic motifs in descriptions of the life of the St. Petersburg common people (“Groom”) with the help of folk style.

He didn’t drink fusel,
But I drank little by little
Copper in the ear
He wore an earring.

Here the comic is achieved by introducing into poetry the language and habits of the common people: clerk, artisan, worker, small trader, etc. Such poetry, typically urban and comically good-natured, anticipates the genres that would develop in the 1920s.

Pseudo-children's poetry

And finally, the authors of Satyricon willingly used the form of pseudo-children's poetry. Thus, Chuzh-Chuzhenin’s “Children’s Song” (1913), written in response to new restrictions on the press, depicted censors as obedient children:

Like Vanya-Vanyushka
The nannies got busy
Nannies are sad people,
Strict bosses...

But this literary device, created at first as a satirical one, gradually grows into a special genre, into a style that loses its original orientation. Subsequently, many of the poets of “Satyricon” write specifically for children and influence future authors of this genre (the most famous of them is Samuel Marshak). They often imitate English children's poems and songs, such as Vyatkin, who wrote a poem about the python “Fifth.”

English style of humor

Some authors adopted the style of English humor, and the first among them was Teffi, whose stylistic devices and turns are examples of a purely English manner. Such, for example, is “the captain who looked around with round eyes with the look of a man just taken out of the water” (“Instead of Politics”). Teffi's plots reproduce the technique of English humor, which achieves a comic effect by introducing absurdity into everyday situations - for example, the plot about a petty official who won a horse in the lottery and found himself in a hopeless situation, since it quickly brought him to complete ruin ("Gift Horse" ). In addition, Satyricon often published foreign humorists, in particular Mark Twain.

Play on words

However, the humor of Satyricon was not only borrowed. Its best authors managed to continue the Russian comic purely verbal direction, based not only on a pun, but also on a semantic collision of words, on a joke originating from a sound play on words, going back to Gogol.

Teffi's play on words is often carried to the point of absurdity; it causes laughter, as it introduces a whole family of words that sound like nonsense. So, for example, a boy, coming home from school, asks the adults: “Why do they say “Anthem-Asia” and not “Anthem-Africa”?” (“Instead of Politics”) Kulikov picks up Kozma Prutkov’s play on words on the sound of “villa” and “fork” in order to make a poem with a “social” sound from this material: the rich man’s dream of “villa” is contrasted with the peasant’s dream of new forks (“Two Dumas”, 1908). But here the social content pales next to the comic absurdity of the pun.
The Satyricon group, thus, in its work stands, as it were, on two stilts, on two traditions - satirical and humorous, which at that time were not too sharply divided, since humor was often mistaken for satire. This confusion prevented the magazine's authors, at least most of them, from reaching the heights of humor (in the metaphysical sense), while satire, in turn, lost its liveliness, degraded, fell into didactics and lost significance.

Nevertheless, Satyricon remained the legal heir of Kozma Prutkov and prepared the ground for the flourishing of humorous literature that came later, in the 20s.

Materials used from the book: History of Russian Literature: 20th Century: Silver Age / Ed. J. Niva, I. Serman and others - M.: Publishing house. group "Progress" - "Litera", 1995

Satyricon

Satyricon(Satiricon, options: Satyricon; Saturae; Satyrae; Satirae; Satirarum libri) - a work of ancient Roman literature, the author of which in all manuscripts calls himself Petronius Arbiter. By genre, starting from the 17th century, it is usually classified as novels; no more ancient novels have survived to this day. The time of writing cannot be considered definitively established, but the most likely is the 1st century AD. e., the era of Nero.

According to tradition, Menippean Petronius decorated his work with poetic inserts. In them he reproduces the style, manner, meters of the Latin classical poets - Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Gaius Lucilius.

Manuscripts and publications

Fragments from the 15th, 16th and, perhaps, the 14th book (chapter 20) have survived to this day. It is unclear how many books there were. These fragments have come down to us along with excerpts from other authors in manuscripts dating back no earlier than the 9th-10th centuries AD. e. First edition of fragments from Petronius ( Codex Bernensis) was published in Milan at the end of the 15th century. A more complete text, the so-called Scaligerian copy ( Codex Leidensis), was published in Leiden in 1575. The most complete manuscript of Petronius ( Codex Trauguriensis), containing a significant part of the "Feast" (chap. 37-78), was found in 1650 in Trogir ( Tragurium, Trau) in Dalmatia and published in Padua in 1664. Its full name Petronii Arbitri Satyri fragmenta ex libro quinto decimo et sexto decimo(“Fragments of satires of Petronius Arbiter from books fifteen and sixteen”).

In 1692 (or 1693), the Frenchman François Naudeau, adding his own insertions to the Satyricon, published in Paris the supposedly complete text of the novel with a French translation, citing a manuscript found in Belgrade in 1656. The forgery was soon discovered, since it did little to clarify various difficult passages and contradictions in the surviving text and contained quite a lot of absurdities and anachronisms. However, Nodo's insertions are still preserved in some editions and translations, since to a certain extent they help to connect into one whole the chapters that have come down to us in fragmentary form.

Genre

Despite the accepted designation, the question of the genre of the “Satyricon” remains debatable, since the application of the term “novel” to the “Satyricon” is conditional even in its ancient understanding. In form it is a mixture of poetry and prose (characteristic of Menippean satire); in plot it is a kind of adventure-satirical novel, parodying a Greek love story.

Characters

Basic

Encolpius is the main character on whose behalf the story is told, in his own words “he escaped justice, saved his life in the arena by deception, killed the owner” (chap. LXXXI, 5-6), “committed treason, killed a man, desecrated the temple” (Chapter CXXXX, 8-10).
Ascylt is his comrade, “a young man steeped in all sorts of voluptuousness, by his own admission worthy of exile” (chap. LXXXI, 8-9).
Giton is a 16-year-old boy, their companion, the subject of their passion and contention.
Eumolpus is an old man, a poor, mediocre poet. Joins the company in the third part.

Minor

Agamemnon - rhetorician
Quartilla - priestess of Priapus, a woman with a powerful and unbridled character
Pannihis - girl, servant of Quartilla
Trimalchio - a wealthy freedman

Gaius Petronius Arbiter

SATYRICON

Translation from Latin by B. Yarho.

1. ...But aren’t the reciters possessed by the same madness, screaming: “I received these wounds while fighting for the freedom of the fatherland, for your sake I lost this eye. Give me a guide, may he lead me to my children, for the mutilated feet of my body cannot support me.”

However, all this would still be tolerable if it opened the path to eloquence for aspirants. But for now, all this grandiloquence, these eloquently empty maxims have one benefit: once you get to the forum, it seems as if you are in another part of the world. That’s why, I think, children leave school like fools, because they don’t see or hear anything vital or ordinary there, but all they learn is about pirates hanging out with chains on the seashore, about tyrants signing decrees ordering children to be beheaded their own fathers, and about virgins sacrificed three at a time, or even more, according to the word of the oracle, to get rid of the plague, and they also learn to speak sweetly and smoothly, so that all words and deeds look like balls sprinkled with poppy seeds and sesame seeds .

2. Is it possible to achieve a delicate taste with such food? Yes, no more than smelling fragrance while living in the kitchen. O rhetoricians, it is not in anger that this is said to you, it is you who have ruined eloquence! Because of your ringing idle talk, it has become a common laughing stock, and it is your fault that the body of speech has become powerless and decrepit. Young men did not practice “declamation” in those days when Sophocles and Euripides found the words that were needed. The teacher, who had never seen the sun, had not yet destroyed talents in the days when even Pindar and the nine lyric poets did not dare to write in Homeric verse. What can we say about poets! After all, neither Plato nor Demosthenes, of course, indulged in this kind of exercise. Truly sublime and, so to speak, chaste eloquence is beautiful in its natural beauty, and not in pretentiousness and pomposity. Only recently did this inflated, empty eloquence creep into Athens from Asia and, like a harmful star, send an infection that took possession of the minds of young people striving for the sublime, and now, when the laws of eloquence were undermined, it froze in stagnation and became numb. Which of the descendants achieved the glory of Thucydides or Hyperides? Even the poems no longer shine with a healthy glow: they are all as if fed on the same food; none live to see gray hairs. Painting is destined to the same fate, after the arrogance of the Egyptians completely simplified this high art.

3. Agamemnon could not tolerate me ranting under the portico longer than he sweated at school.

“Young man,” he said, “your speech does not take into account the tastes of the crowd and is full of common sense, which is especially rare now. Therefore, I will not hide the secrets of our art from you. The least to blame in this matter are the teachers, who inevitably have to go wild among the possessed. For, if teachers started teaching something other than what the boys liked, “they would be left alone in schools,” as Cicero said. In this case, they act exactly like pretend flatterers who want to get to dinner with a rich man: they only care about how to say something that, in their opinion, will please the listeners, because without the snare of flattery they will never get their way . This is how the teacher of eloquence is: if, like a fisherman, he does not hook the bait that the fish will surely bite, then he will remain sitting on the rock without hope of a catch.

4. What follows from this? Parents who do not want to raise their children in strict rules are worthy of reproach. Firstly, here, as in everything else, they devote their hopes to ambition. Secondly, in a hurry to quickly achieve what they want, they drive half-educated people to the forum, and eloquence, which, by their own admission, stands above everything in the world, is given into the hands of suckers. Now, if only they would allow learning to proceed gradually, so that young students would irrigate their souls only with serious reading and be brought up according to the rules of wisdom, so that they would mercilessly erase all superfluous words, so that they would listen carefully to the speeches of those whom they want to imitate, and make sure that that what seduces them is not at all magnificent - then sublime eloquence would again acquire the greatness worthy of it. Now boys make fools in schools, and young men are laughed at on the forum, and the worst thing is that whoever is poorly trained from a young age does not admit it until old age. But lest you imagine that I do not approve of unpretentious improvisations, like the Lutsilevs, I myself will say what I think in verse.

Strict science who wants to see the fruit, Let him turn his mind to high thoughts, Severe abstinence will temper morals: Let him not seek in vain the proud chambers, Gluttons do not cling to feasts, like a pathetic dish, Let not your sharp mind be filled with wine, Let him not sit in front of the stage for days, With a wreath in her curls, applauding the play of mimes.

If the armored city of Tritonia is dear to him, Or the settlement of the Lacedaemonians was to my heart, Or the construction of the Sirens - let him give his youth to poetry, To partake of the Meonian stream with a cheerful soul, Afterwards, turning the reins, he will spread to the flock of Socrates, He will freely rattle Demosthenes' powerful weapon.

Next, let the crowd of Romans surround him and, driving out The Greek sound from the speeches, their spirit will imperceptibly change. After leaving the forum, sometimes let him fill the page with poetry, To glorify Fortune and her winged flight. Sing about feasts and wars, compose a stern song, In a sublime style you can compare with the fearless Cicero. This is what you should feed your breasts so that Pour out the Pierian soul with a free stream of speeches.

6. I listened to these words so much that I did not notice the disappearance of Ascylt. While I was walking through the garden, still excited by what had been said, the portico was filled with a huge crowd of young people, returning, as it seemed to me, from an impromptu speech by some unknown person, responding to Agamemnon’s “swazoria”. While these young people, condemning the structure of the speech, mocked its content, I quietly left, wanting to find Ascylt. But, unfortunately, I didn’t know the exact road, nor did I remember the location of our hotel. No matter which direction I went, everything returned to its original place. Finally, tired from running around and dripping with sweat, I turned to some old woman selling vegetables.

7. “Mother,” I said, “do you know where I live?”

How could you not know! - she answered, laughing at such a stupid joke. And she got up and walked ahead. I decided in my heart that she was clairvoyant... Soon, however, this playful old woman, leading me into a back alley, opened the patchwork curtain and said:

This is where you should live.

While I was assuring her that I didn’t know this house, I saw some inscriptions inside, naked sluts and men stealthily walking between them. Too late I realized that I was in a slum. Cursing the treacherous old woman, I, covering my head with my cloak, ran across the entire lupanar to the other end - and suddenly, already at the very exit, Ascylt caught up with me, also half-dead from fatigue. One would have thought that the same old woman had brought him here. I gave him a mocking bow and asked what, exactly, he was doing in such a shameful place?

8. He wiped the sweat with his hands and said:

If only you knew what happened to me!

“How should I know,” I answered. Exhausted, he said the following:

I wandered around the city for a long time and could not find our shelter. Suddenly a certain respectable husband comes up to me and kindly offers to accompany me. He led me here through some dark alleys and, taking out my wallet, began to seduce me into a shameful deed. The landlady has already received payment for the room, he has already grabbed me... and if I weren’t stronger than him, I would have had a bad time...

The text of the first adventure (or picaresque) novel known in world literature has survived only in fragments: excerpts of the 15th, 16th and presumably 14th chapters. There is no beginning, no end, And in total, apparently, there were 20 chapters...

The main character (the story is told on his behalf) is the unbalanced young man Encolpius, skilled in rhetoric, clearly not stupid, but, alas, a flawed person. He is in hiding, fleeing punishment for robbery, murder and, most importantly, for sexual sacrilege, which brought upon him the wrath of Priapus, a very peculiar ancient Greek god of fertility. (By the time the novel takes place, the cult of this god flourished magnificently in Rome. Phallic motifs are obligatory in the images of Priapus: many of his sculptures have been preserved)

Encolpius and his fellow parasites Ascylt, Giton and Agamemnon arrived in one of the Hellenic colonies in Campania (a region of ancient Italy). While visiting the rich Roman horseman Lycurgus, they all “intertwined in couples.” At the same time, not only normal (from our point of view), but also purely male love is honored here. Then Encollius and Ascylt (who until recently were “brothers”) periodically change their sympathies and love situations. Ascylt is attracted to the cute boy Giton, and Encolpius hits on the beautiful Tryphaena...

Soon the action of the novel moves to the estate of the shipowner Likh. And - new love entanglements, in which the pretty Dorida, Likh’s wife, also takes part. As a result, Encolpius and Giton have to urgently get away from the estate.

On the way, the dashing rhetorician-lover climbs onto a ship that has run aground, and there manages to steal an expensive robe from the statue of Isis and the helmsman’s money. Then he returns to the estate to Lycurgus.

...The bacchanalia of Priapus' admirers - the wild "pranks" of Priapus' harlots... After many adventures, Encolpius, Giton, Ascyltos and Agamemnon end up at a feast in the house of Trimalchio - a rich freedman, a dense ignoramus who imagines himself to be very educated. He energetically strives to enter the “high society.”

Conversations at the feast. Tales of gladiators. The owner importantly informs the guests: “Now I have two libraries. One is Greek, the second is Latin.” But then it turns out that in his head the famous heroes and plots of Hellenic myths and the Homeric epic are most monstrously mixed up. The self-confident arrogance of an illiterate owner is limitless. He mercifully addresses the guests and at the same time, yesterday’s slave himself, is unjustifiably cruel to the servants. However, Trimalchio is easy-going...

On a huge silver platter, the servants bring in a whole boar, from which blackbirds suddenly fly out. They are immediately intercepted by bird catchers and distributed to guests. An even more grandiose pig is stuffed with fried sausages. There immediately turned out to be a dish with cakes: “In the middle of it was Priapus made of dough, holding, according to custom, a basket of apples, grapes and other fruits. We greedily pounced on the fruits, but the new fun intensified the fun. For from all the cakes, at the slightest pressure, fountains of saffron began to flow..."

Then three boys bring in images of the three Lars (guardian gods of home and family).

The novel "Satyricon" is one of the most famous works of the ancient Roman writer Petronius. It is generally accepted that this is the oldest novel that has survived to this day. At present, it has not been possible to establish the exact time of its composition. Most likely, this was in the first century AD, even during the reign of Petronius. According to the tradition of those years, Petronius decorated his novel with poetic inserts. In them he tried to reproduce the manner and style of the classical poets: Virgil, Horace, Ovid and others.

History of creation

The novel "Satyricon" has not been completely preserved to this day. It is not even clear how many books it contained. Only some fragments of them have survived. Moreover, they have come down to us in manuscripts, often together with excerpts from the works of other authors.

Petronius's novel was first published in Milan. This happened at the end of the 15th century. In 1575 a more complete version was published in Leiden. The most complete manuscript was published in Trogir in 1650. Its title was: “Fragments of the satires of Petronius Arbiter from the 15th and 16th books,” today better known as the novel “Satyricon.” The manuscripts have only partially survived.

In 1693, the French writer François Naudeau supplemented the novel “Satyricon” with his own inserts and published it in Paris. He claimed that this was the original text, which he had discovered several years earlier in Belgrade. True, the fake was discovered very soon. It contained many absurdities and contradictions. However, the insertions made by Nodo are still preserved in some reprints of the Satyricon. The novel, as some researchers note, only benefits from this. Because they make it possible to link the surviving chapters and fragments into a single whole.

Genre "Satyricon"

Many experts still argue that “Satyricon” is really a novel. In fact, this question remains open and debatable. Largely due to the fact that the application of this term to an ancient work can only be conditional. A strict system of genres simply did not exist at that time.

In fact, it is a mixture of prose and poetic text, which is characteristic of the Menippean satire popular at that time. This was the name of a special genre that contained a symbiosis of philosophical reasoning and parody satire.

The text organically combined poetry and prose, hence its very name “satura”. Literally translated from ancient Roman, this meant “assorted fruit,” a kind of mixture. This helps a little to define what the novel "Satyricon" is. The genre of this work is an adventure-satirical novel, which is a vivid parody of the Greek love story.

"Satyricon" in Russia

In Russia, the novel "Satyricon" was first published in 1882. The translation was made by art critic Vladimir Chuiko. Many verses were omitted from it, and some passages that were considered indecent for publication at that time were cut out.

In the early 20s, the translation for the publishing house "World Literature" was made by Vladimir Amfiteatrov-Kadashev. His father acted as an editor, and after his emigration, philologist Boris Yarkho took over the editing. He thoroughly set about this work: carefully revised the prose inserts and re-translated the poetic passages.

The book was published by the publishing house "World Literature" in 1924. It is noteworthy that it contained Nodo inserts. This translation is still in print. True, sometimes Nodo inserts are removed from it.

In 1989, the prose text was translated once again by classical philologist Alexander Gavrilov. The journalist and writer noted that this is a brilliant text for Russian literary use. He exists on the edge of propriety, but stays there thanks to Petronian skill and his literary courage.

The most recent translation of Petronius's ancient Roman novel Satyricon was published in 2016. Literary critic Georgy Sever re-translated all the poetic passages. Moreover, the new edition contains text not only in Russian, but also in Latin. It comes with detailed appendices and comments.

Reviews of the novel

Researchers have always assessed the novel "Satyricon" in two ways. Reviews of the book were very mixed.

The next portion of opinions of Russian readers about a work of ancient Roman literature appeared in 1913, when a new translation was made by Nikolai Poyarkov. During the Silver Age, this work was assessed ambiguously. For example, art critic and publisher Pavel Muratov noted that “Satyricon” contains many obscenities and rude words, but still produces an unforgettably strong impression of natural grace and freshness from careful reading. The morals that are depicted there cannot be called corrupt only because there is less hypocrisy in them than in modern public morality.

Many people still like the novel "Satyricon". The reviews that readers leave about him allow us to judge how much ideas in society about permissibility and hypocrisy are changing.

Characters of the novel

The novel "Satyricon", whose characters are well known to all connoisseurs of ancient literature, allows us to get an idea of the classical representatives of ancient Roman society of that time.

At the center of the story is Encolpius. It is from his perspective that the story is told. He himself admits that he escaped justice, managing to save his life in the arena. He was guilty of killing his master.

Among the main characters of the novel "Satyricon", a brief summary of which is given in this article, there is also his comrade Ascylt. This is a young man who, despite his age, has already become mired in voluptuousness and lies. Throughout most of the novel, they are accompanied by 16-year-old Giton, who becomes both an object of passion and contention for them.

In one of the final parts, they are joined by a poor and untalented poet named Eumolpus.

Minor characters also play an important role in the novel "Satyricon". The book features the rhetorician Agamemnon, the powerful priestess Quartilla, distinguished by her unbridled character. Her maid, Pannichis, is essentially still a girl, as well as a wealthy freedman named Trimalchio.

Juvenal's influence

Analyzing this work, one can notice the strong influence that had on the novel "Satyricon". Juvenal played one of the key roles in this. This is the one who wrote the famous “Satires” in hexameter. Today they are divided into five books.

In many ways, his name has become a household word for the genre of satire itself. It necessarily involves an angry denunciation of human vices, as well as ridicule by the author of morals that seem inappropriate to him.

The novel "Satyricon" or the works of Juvenal were once read by many fans of such literature. There are many similar scenes and episodes in them. It is obvious that one of the authors learned from the other and noticed the most successful discoveries. Juvenal had a significant influence on the novel "Satyricon".

"Satyricon" is rightfully considered one of the first picaresque and adventurous novels. Supposedly there were 20 chapters. But at the moment, neither its beginning nor its end have been preserved, but only a few chapters in the middle of the work.

The story is told from the perspective of the main character. This is an experienced rhetorician who is very skilled in his craft. His name is Enklopius. At the same time, he is considered an extremely unbalanced young man. He is not stupid, but not impeccable from the point of view of ethics and morality.

He spends his life on the run, trying to hide from the fair punishment that awaits him for the murder and robbery he committed. He is also charged with sexual sacrilege. The ancient Greek god of fertility, Priapus, brought wrath upon him. At the time when the ancient Roman novel "Satyricon" was written, the cult of this god flourished magnificently in the Roman Republic. His images were often used. This can be said with confidence, since many sculptures have survived to this day.

Encolpius travels with his friends. Together they come to one of the Hellenic colonies, which is located in Campania. This is an area in ancient Italy. The novel "Satyricon", a brief summary of which allows you to get a full impression of the work of Petronius, describes in detail their wanderings.

At the very beginning of the novel, at least in the extant passages, they are visiting a Roman horseman named Lycurgus. There they are intertwined in pairs, as Petronius writes. Here, love relationships begin to develop between them, including homosexual ones. Encolpius and his comrade Ascylt from time to time change their sympathies and various love situations.

Ascylt becomes interested in the young boy Giton, and Encolpius begins to court the lovely Tryphaena. After all, girls are also attracted to him.

In the following episodes, the action of the novel moves to the estate of a rich and influential shipowner named Likha. "Satyricon" is a novel by Petronius, in which new love entanglements arise between the characters. This time the shipowner's pretty wife, Dorida, is taking part in them. When Likha finds out about this, Giton and Encolpius have to urgently leave the estate.

On the way, the rhetorician boards a ship, which soon finds itself aground. But Encolpius does not despair. He steals the expensive robe that was on the statue of Isis, and also steals money from the helmsman. After this, he again comes to the estate of Lycurgus.

Bacchanalia in the novel

The description of bacchanalia in the Satyricon is given no small importance. The main characters regularly find themselves in situations where they are surrounded by worshipers of the ancient Greek god Priapus. For example, in one of the chapters they come to the house of Trimalchio, where a feast is taking place. The owner of the estate is a rich and famous freedman. At the same time, he himself is a poorly educated person, but is energetically trying to break into high society.

At the feast, the heroes talk about gladiators, then the conversation turns to the library of the estate owner. He boasts that he has two of them. One is Latin, the second is Greek. It turns out that all his education is not worth a damn. In fact, he confuses the heroes and plots of Hellenic myths and the epic of Homer. Therefore, it becomes obvious that he knows about all this only by hearsay.

His creepy disposition is evident in everything. He is sweet and pleasant with guests, and does not consider servants to be people, even though he himself was a slave just yesterday.

The culmination of the feast is the wild boar, which is cooked whole and brought into the hall on a silver platter. The next amazing dish is a pig stuffed with fried sausages. Soon the cakes filled with saffron arrive.

At the end of the evening, three boys bring into the hall images of three gods - the guardians of the family and home. Trimalchio says that their names are Lucky, Breadwinner and Profitmaker. To entertain the guests, Nikerot begins to tell the guests a story about a werewolf warrior, and Trimalchio himself scares those present with stories about a witch who stole the body of a dead boy from a coffin and put a straw effigy in his place.

The meal continues for several days. On the second day they bring blackbirds stuffed with raisins. And then a big fat goose. Everyone admires the skill of the local chef and begins to sing songs of praise to him.

Testament of Trimalchio

During the feast, Trimalchio became so emotional that he decided to read out his will to all those present. In it, he pays a lot of attention to the description of the magnificent tombstone that he wants to receive, and also himself composes a laudatory inscription that will be carved on it. This text lists in detail all his merits and regalia.

He was even more moved by the overwhelming feelings and decided to make a speech. Petronius cites it in his novel. He notes that he also considers slaves to be people, because they, like other people, are fed with mother's milk. But he believes that the time will come when they too will be able to fully enjoy freedom. In his will, he promises that he will set everyone free after his death. Having declared this, he sincerely hopes that the servants will now love him even more than before.

Meanwhile, Encolpius and his friends set off on further journeys. They arrive at a luxurious art gallery. In the novel it is called the Pinacoteca, a designation that was adopted in Ancient Rome. There they admire the paintings of Hellenic artists. They also meet the old poet Eumolpus, with whom they never part until the very end of the story.

Eumolpus almost always speaks exclusively in verse. For this he is often stoned. And it’s not always fair, because his texts can be quite good.

The novel "Satyricon", the analysis of which allows us to clearly imagine what relations were like in ancient Roman society, demonstrates a wide variety of human weaknesses and vices. He makes fun of them often. For example, vanity, bad taste, graphomania and others.

Eumolpus is essentially a graphomaniac. It is his poems that mainly interrupt the prosaic outline of this novel. In addition, the old man often talks with Encolpius about art. Not all companions participate in their disputes; the rest lack education.

Meanwhile, Giton returns to Encolpius, explaining his betrayal as a mistake and fear.

A story about an inconsolable widow

In addition to the events that directly happen to the heroes of the novel, the narrative contains many lyrical digressions, stories that the characters tell each other.

For example, an old poet introduces them to a story about an inconsolable widow. At the center of his story is a matron from Ephesus, who became famous throughout the area for her marital fidelity and modesty. And after the death of her husband, she decided that earthly life was not interesting to her, and followed him into the underworld. She expected to starve herself to death soon. Family and friends tried to dissuade her, but she remained adamant.

Her faithful maid goes into the crypt with her. She strives to brighten up the hours of loneliness and fear of her mistress. Five days passed like this.

Meanwhile, the ruler of those lands ordered the crucification of several malicious robbers near the place where the widow mourned the deceased. Fearing that their relatives and friends might remove their bodies from the cross and bury them, the ruler posted guards near them. True, it was small - only one soldier.

At night, a lone guard noticed that among the tombstones in the cemetery a light was visible and women's moans were heard. Curiosity prevailed over fear, and he decided to check what was happening there.

Going down into the crypt, the soldier discovered a woman of unearthly beauty, and when he saw the dead body lying in front of her, he immediately understood what was happening. Taking pity on her, he brought a modest lunch to the crypt to maintain her strength. And he began to persuade me to stop suffering and return to normal life.

Her maid also joins the soldier’s words. They convince her in every way that it is too early for a woman to go to the next world. At first the Ephesian beauty is unapproachable, but gradually begins to succumb to their persuasion. First she is seduced by food and drinks, which came in handy after a long and grueling fast, and then she surrenders to the mercy of the soldier who was able to win her heart, which seemed unapproachable.

The old poet describes in detail that they spent more than one night in their embrace, and soon got married. At the same time, they prudently locked the doors to the dungeon. In case one of your relatives comes to the cemetery. They must have decided that the widow died next to her husband from grief and exhaustion.

But not everything is so smooth in this story. While the soldier was winning the heart of the widow, the relatives of one of the robbers took advantage of the lack of security, removed the body from the cross and buried it. When the loving guard discovered the loss, he had to confess everything to the widow. For such a miscalculation, of course, he was entitled to serious punishment. The woman herself suggested solutions to him, saying that she would prefer to hang a dead man than to let a living one be torn to pieces. The soldier immediately took advantage of this offer and the prudence of his new lover. Then they remove her husband’s body from the coffin and nail it to the cross in place of the robber.

This is how this story ends. But the heroes' journeys continue. They set sail. Likh dies during a storm. It is surprising that Eumolpus, even in the strongest winds and storms, does not abandon his poetic recitations; he constantly reads poetry. Fortunately, in the end the unfortunate ones are saved. They manage to land on shore and stop for the night in a fisherman's hut.

Their next destination is Crotona. Perhaps the oldest of the cities of Ancient Greece that existed at that time, which became a colony on the southern coast of the Apennine Peninsula. It is noteworthy that this is the only real geographical point that is specifically mentioned and described in the text of the novel.

Friends are already accustomed to living richly and carefree. Therefore, in the new city, they decide to marry Eumolpus to a wealthy and prosperous man who is wondering who to leave his countless treasures to. This trick makes them welcome guests in any home; everywhere they are guaranteed unlimited credit and a warm welcome. After all, many residents of this city expect that Eumolpus will definitely remember them before his imminent death.

The author does not forget to describe the new love affairs of the heroes. True, in the end the Crotonians see the light and unravel the travelers’ simple deception. They are preparing reprisals against the cunning ones. However, Encolpius and Giton manage to escape in time, but Eumolpus is left to be torn apart by the crowd.

The Crotonians deal with him according to the old custom. When one of his compatriots had to be sacrificed, he was fed and watered for a year with the best drinks and dishes at the expense of the treasury. And then they threw him off the cliff, just as Eumolpus suffered the same fate.