Trimalchio's Wizened Boy (Satyrica 28.4) (original) (raw)

The author defends the manuscript reading γῆρας versus the emendation γῆρυν accepted in recent editions of Athenaeus and Matro of Pitane. The exaggerating hyperbole “undying old age”, which likely means “a very long old age”, seems to be an adaptation of the Homeric formula “undying and not old aged” that fits parodic style better than the ordinary compliment “undying voice” would.

That Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex is concerned with childhood is something of a truism, but there are ways in which this holds true that go beyond its contribution to the Freudian theory of infantile sexuality. The riddle posed by the sphinx, whose solving cements Oedipus’ incestuous marriage, foregrounds infancy and its similarities to and differences from other life stages. More than that, it illustrates a difference between humans (whose number of feet changes) and other animals via a recapitulationist perspective that summarises the evolution of the human in one individual's life. However, I argue that, rather than foregrounding childhood, the play explores a peculiar trait of human infancy: neoteny. While this biological term refers to the retention of juvenile characteristics into adulthood, it has been critically deployed not only to suggest that humans are neotenic because their adult state after sexual maturation resembles the young of primates, but also that this resemblance...

In this contribution I shall re-examine the interpretation and identification of the canis catenarius at Petron. Sat. 72. Is it one of the real dogs that show up during the dinner, i.e. the canes Laconici from the hunting scene (Sat. 40), the puppy Margarita, or the dog Scylax (Sat. 64.7–10)? Or is it nothing but Encolpius' own imagination that brings a part of Trimalchio's wall-painting (Sat. 29.1) to life? Resuming an earlier disagreement between Baldwin 1995 and Henry 1994; 1996 on the nature of the dog (real or imagined), I shall aim to draw a full picture by including some factors which have been widely neglected (e.g. Encolpius' mythomaniac tendency) and putting those already suggested into context. The aim of my paper is to read the given passage against the background of Vergil's sixth book of the Aeneid and Encolpius' tendency to style himself as a mythical hero.

This study focuses on the imagery of youth and old age in the plays of Euripides, especially the Suppliant Women, considering frequently used words in each play according to a formula developed by Guiraud. The study identifies a motif, the rejuvenation theme, an elaborate interaction between young and old, in the Suppliant Women and in: Alcestis, Heraclidae, Andromache, Hecabe, and Heracles. The difference between the use of neos (young, new) in the Suppliant Women and in the other plays is statistically significant. This word helps Euripides contrast two different kinds of youth: the fearful, rash, and animalistic (Theban); and that which has been properly schooled and led (Athenian). The greatest ground in the Suppliant Women for praising Athens is in her treatment of the young as a politically valuable force.

Petronius’s debt to Ovid’s amatory works is frequently acknowledged when discussion comes to the so-called “Croton episode”, where Encolpius’s love affair with an aristocratic woman, named Circe, ends rather unsuccessfully with the protagonist’s famous double sexual failure (Sat. 126.12–128.4 and 131.8–132.5). Although most scholars connect this event with the well-known impotence theme, especially as treated by Ovid in Am. 3.7, the purpose of this paper is to move beyond the impotentia, tracing some other, unexplored, elegiac allusions and illusions in the whole narrative. Thus, it will become apparent that it is Petronius’s use of erotic motifs as well as the depiction of (stock-) characters and roleplaying that is further indebted to Ovidian discourse and poetics.

This paper deals with the problem of determining Phaedrus’ age in the eponymous dialogue. The vocatives ὦ νεανία and ὦ παῖ, in Pl. Phdr. 257c8 and 267c6, could suggest that Plato depicts him as a teenager. However, most scholars believe that Phaedrus is an adult and that the vocatives point at his passive and childish character. I will first summarize the evidence given for supporting the latter thesis. Then, I offer complementary evidence, showing that those vocatives mockingly compare his passiveness with that of a young beloved in a homoerotic context.