John M. McMahon, Le Moyne College
"A Petronian Parody at Sat. 14.2-14.3"
Mnemosyne 50.1 (1997)

The moralizing content of the Satyrica and the philosophic outlook of its author have been standard topics for scholarly debate, and the range of opinion about these matters is considerable with little agreement about the ways in which philosophical matters are reflected in the work 1). Yet the modern reader of the work, despite any absolute certainty about the actual philosophical stance of Petronius, ought to regard him as having had a considerable background against which the content and intent of the Satyrica may be viewed 2). I would like to suggest that one means by which the author incorporated contemporary philosophical matters into the work was through the parody of popular Cynic philosophy. I will examine a specific section of one incident in particular, that of the stolen cloak (Sat. 12-15), and demonstrate the author's familiarity with the purveyors of Cynic philosophical concepts. Once the underlying framework of the central portion of the passage is understood, I conclude, these Cynic elements appear as the target of parody by Petronius 3).

The parodic treatment of Cynic philosophy is embedded in the episode during which Encolpius and Ascyltos recognize a tattered tunicula, in which they had previously secreted some gold, on the shoulders of the very peasant from whom they had stolen a much more valuable cloak (12.1-5). In the course of discussion about how they could retrieve the tunicula and its precious cargo (12.6-14.1), Encolpius and Ascyltos decide against making a legal claim for their seemingly worthless property on the grounds that their legal status in the area is insecure. Their best plan, they conclude, would be to buy the tunicula, sacrificing a small bit of money for a greater gain and thereby avoiding the presumably long and difficult legal proceedings 4). At this point (14.2) Ascyltos recites a six-line poem in elegiac couplets:

As Hirzel long ago suggested 6), the tone of the poetry is undeniably critical of the times and exhibits a contrarian stance as would befit the Cynic outlook. He also contends, however, that the anti-Cynic attitude in the central couplet merely points out the gravity of the situation by stressing the exception to normal Cynic behavior and that this implied criticism is turned into praise of the Cynic ideal as such, since this is merely an exception 7), In other words, Hirzel would have us believe, the times are so terrible that even the Cynic is tempted to compromise his strong stance against wealth and corruption. This simplification, however, fails to address other considerations which reveal the very critical nature of the couplets.

First, Petronius has situated his parodic observations at the heart of the episode, framed by Ascyltos' expressed distrust of the leges (14.1) and by Enclopius' opinions about the motives of the officials who want to keep the cloak for evidence (15.5) 8). Secondly, the prominent position afforded the "Cynic sack" (Cynica pera) itself within the verses recalls the familiar image of the wandering Cynic preacher with his trademark insignia: a rucksack, a cloak, and a staff 9). Once the physical appearance of the Cynic preachers has been evoked, their corresponding philosophical and ethical ideals come under close scrutiny as well. As a result, the much-vaunted Cynic asceticism (askesis), their lofty precept that arete and self-sufficiency (autarkeia) are the only things worth attaining, and their disdain of human institutions all become the subject of parody 10). In fact, Petronius actually suggests that to the Cynic, despite a professed ethical rectitude and a willingness to question the accepted norms of society, the possibility of bribes was just as alluring a temptation for financial gain as for the eques who sits at trial. Accordingly, the ragged cloak itself, concealing riches within its tattered exterior, also stands as representative of the ethical dissonance between the external trappings of poverty and a compromised rejection of wealth. Beyond the external appearance of shabbiness, in spite of a supposed disdain for human institutions and frailty, and behind the cry for societal and personal reform, the scruples of the Cynic are suspect.

In the following lines (14.3) the attack upon the Cynics continues hard upon the verses of Ascyltos with the prominent mention of lupines, the seeds of a familar food plant:



While lupines have been associated in colloquial usage with coins or stage money 11), upon closer inspection another, more subtle connotation emerges, one that links mention of the lowly plant specifically to the tenets of the Cynics and bolsters the parodic nature of the passage. Since standard Cynic criticism inveighs against extravagance in eating and calls for an ascetic diet, legumes (beans, peas) in general, and the lupine (Lupinus albus) especially, figure prominently in extant literature about the Cynics. For example, in relating an anecdote about Diogenes to illustrate how one could be independent of the extravagances of city life and thus self-sufficient, Teles, a writer of Cynic philosophy from the third century B.C., calls attention to the lupine (thermos) as an inexpensive source of food 12). Elsewhere, discussing the benefits of frugality and poverty, he quotes another Cynic philosopher, Crates:



To which Teles himself adds:



Diogenes Laertius likewise reports (6.48) that while attending a speech, Diogenes the Cynic was surprised that a surrounding crowd paid him so much attention as he ate the lupines which he had been plucking from a fold in the front of his garment. In a collection of letters attributed to Crates 14), moreover, Crates upbraids the wealthy, advising them to hang themselves; for while they really have all life's necessities in the form of lupines, figs, water, and simple Megarian vests (thermous kai iscadas kai hudor ... kai exomidas Megarikas), they still continue to engage in crimes and treachery 15).

The familiar lupine, then, plays an critical role in demonstrating the Cynic ideal of the self-sufficient life. And while the association of this food plant those on the edge of starvation, attested by Athenaeus 16), may be merely a commonplace of society about the diet of the less fortunate, it is also appropriate to the conditions embraced by the Cynics as part of their aspirations to the simple life. Accordingly, in the same passage Athenaeus quotes a fragment of Lycophron suggesting that the dining habits of philosophers in general were ridiculed because of the simple fare offered, most notably the demokoinos ... thermos, peneton kai triklinou sumpotes. Similarly, because of the sourness of lupines before they were soaked prior to cooking and their mildness afterwards, Zeno is said to have used them to exemplify how he mellowed after he had imbibed wine 17). Clearly, then, there existed a close association between the fare of the poor and philosophic sects, the Cynics in particular, which served as a basis for satire in the Greek literary tradition, and it was the lupine especially that was singled out as representative of this link.

As a result of this association of lupines with the mode of life of the poverty stricken and the Cynics who chose self-inflicted poverty, Petronius quite comically introduces another parody of the roving preachers of Cynic wisdom: Encolpius and Ascyltos, debating the method by which they may regain the shabby vestment that has within it a treasure for them, must spend the money they had intended for their daily ration of legumes (in true Cynic fashion) to purchase back a tattered tunicula (suggestive of the garb of the Cynic mendicant) in order to gain the gold which no self-respecting Cynic would aspire to have; at least, hints Petronius, not in public. It is comedy with a point, and considering the author's artful accumulation of images, the parody of the Cynics could not have been missed. Indeed, Petronius has used against the Cynics their own notorious mixture of humor and seriousness (spoudaiogeloion), so often deployed against others. By framing the essential message of Cynic hypocrisy with the activities surrounding the tattered tunicula and, in order that the point is in no way missed, with the prominent reference to lupines, Petronius has mounted a biting, yet humorous assault upon Cynic attitudes and behavior, all the more effectively brought to bear by using the very weaponry of the Cynics themselves.

NOTES

1. Gilbert Highet ("Petronius the Moralist," TAPA 72 [1941], 176-194) for example, claims a clear Epicurean stance for Petronius both in his life and in his work. He also contends that the Epicurean sentiments of Petronius prompted him to observe and present the follies of his contemporaries rather than to engage in moralizing, despite the fact that his personal behavior and lifestyle tended toward an "affectation of Epicurean laisser-faire" (194). In a more recent study (Petronius ein Epikureer, Nuernberg 1963, 3) Oskar Raith contends that Petronius was an Epicurean thinker. H. D. Rankin (Petronius the Artist, The Hague 1971, 4) while conceding that the uninvolved attitude affected by Petronius might bespeak Epicurean tendencies, states that he was not really a philosopher at all. Furthermore, citing Tacitus (Ann. 16.18,1-2), Rankin contends that the vocabulary used by Tacitus may indicate a Cynic outlook as well: "Neglegentia can be given the colour either of Epicurean ataraxia or Cynic anaideia." (94, n. 18). J. P. Sullivan (The Satyrica of Petronius, Bloomington 1968, 106-111, esp. 109) points out that Petronius's work should be considered an artistic endeavour rather than a philosophical tract; and Rankin (51), acknowledging Sullivan, adds that "it does not directly aim at Epicureanism or Cynicism or any other doctrinal position." More recently, E. Courtney (The Poems of Petronius, Atlanta 1991, 11-14) has refuted Raith's claims for Petronius's specific Epicurean leanings and has concluded that "Petronius is in no sense propagating Epicurean doctrine, but is quite willing to allow his characters to justify their acts by recourse to a superficial Epicureanism ..."

2. Raith, 5.

3. Textual references are from K. Mueller and W. Ehlers (eds.), Petronius, Satyrica (Muenchen 1983). All translations are the author's.

4. contra Ascyltos leges timebat et 'quis' aiebat 'hoc loco nos novit aut quis habebit dicentibus fidem? mihi plane placet emere, quamvis nostrum sit, quod agnoscimus, et parvo aere recuperare potius thesaurum quam in ambiguam litem descendere.' For a recent analysis of this passage as a theatrical construct, see Costas Panayotakis, Theatrum Arbitri (Leiden 1995), 20-31.

5. See Courtney, 17-18.

6. R. Hirzel, Der Dialog (Leipzig 1895), 2, 38.

7. Ibid. n. 2.

8. ceterum apparebat nihil aliud quaeri nisi ut semel deposita vestis inter praedones strangularetur et nos metu criminis non veniremus ad constitutum.

9. D. B. Dudley, A History of Cynicism (Hildesheim 1967 [1937]), 59. The equivalent of the tribon is the Latin pallium. Cf. Martial, 4.53,3: cum baculo peraque senex.

10. The Cynic slogan paracharattein to nomisma ("alter the currency") was taken in its allegorical sense for changing the false standards and practices of society and institutions. See Dudley, 21-22.

11. For the association of lupines as stage money in this passage, see Panayotakis, 26-27 and references there. The new reading proposed by R.W. Daniel ("Petronius, Sat. 14.3 and Anth. Gr. 5.63," Studi Classici e Orientali 38 [1988], 347-51), sed praeter unum [dipondium] sicel lupinosque quibus destinaveramus mercari, nihil ad manum erat, essentially ignores the philosophic (and parodic) signficance of lupinos in favor of the traditional interpretation.

12. E. O'Neill, Teles the Cynic Teacher (Missoula 1977), 13 (=Peri autarkeias 115); O. Hense, Reliquiae Teletis, (Hildesheim 1969 [1909]), 13.7.

13. O'Neill, 34-36 (=Sunkrasis penias kai ploutou 178-185); Hense, 44.3-9.

14. A. Malherbe, The Cynic Epistles (Missoula 1977), 10. The collection is dated to the First or Second Century A.D.

15. Malherbe, 58-59 (Crates, Ep. 7). The exomis was the usual garment of the poorer classes, slaves, and Cynics. Cf. Ar. Wasps 444, Lys. 662, 1021; Xen. Mem. 2.7,5; Sext. Emp. Pyr.1.153.

16. Ath. Deipn. 2.55.

17. Ibid.

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