CASA ESSAY - SELF-SATIRE IN THE CENA TRIMALCHIONIS

Abstract

The modern reader of the Cena Trimalchionis, seeing the episode grouped under the larger title Satyrica, could hardly be blamed for assuming a priori that Petronius had written a satirical work. Yet, in making this assumption, the reader overlooks a question central to the debate over the interpretation of Petronius' work: 'Can the Cena be read as a moralising or satirical work?'