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Disintegrated Assurances: The Contemporary American Response to the Satyricon

1976; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 23; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0017383500018234

1477-4550

John Wright,

Classical Philosophy and Thought

In an essay published in a recent issue of Greece & Rome , P.G. Walsh examines the views of the American scholars Gilbert Highet, Helen Bacon, and William Arrowsmith and comes to the very sensible conclusion that they are wrong in believing that Petronius Arbiter had any moral purpose in writing the Satyricon . While ultimately it may prove impossible for one side in this debate to convince the other, Walsh's arguments, and the way he goes about propounding them, can provide us with some illuminating hints as to why the Petronius controversy arose in the first place. And there are unexplored aspects to the terms on which the argument is being conducted which, when examined and carefully considered, may point the way toward a possible resolution.