The thought of the Latin politician and author Petronius, author of the famous work Satyricon, considered a rebellious and nonconformist writer.Compared to the cultural panorama of the time, Petronius can be seen as a rebellious and nonconformist writer, but this should not make him a revolutionary even in his conception of the world and its social relations. In fact, he remains the spokesman for a substantially aristocratic and passé morality; indeed, he always foresees an escape into the good old days.
The constant use of the technique of inversion, with the overturning of the traditional patterns of society, is a way to exorcise a possible danger (as in the tale of the matron of Ephesus , in which the representation of an equal relationship between man and woman seems more like a way to distance the thought of such an eventuality than a hope). Petronius , however, never assumes an overtly moralistic attitude, but through the use of irony and parody he lets the reader, capable of grasping the various levels of the story, glimpse his positions.
Satyricon of Petronius
The Satyricon , therefore, appears to be a much more complex work than one might think, which goes beyond a plot with Boccaccian hues, fun and disenchanted. Just think of the protagonist Encolpius, who with his wanderings, seems to embody the model of a modern Ulysses : the long wandering of Encolpius corresponds to a painful search for truth in a world in which it is difficult to distinguish between truth and appearance. The obstacles, the traps that follow one another in the pages of the novel, the ability of the protagonist to get into trouble and always choose the wrong solution, the constant retracing of one’s steps, the belief in friendship and love , despite always being disappointed, mark the profoundly bitter meaning of Petroni’s novel.
