Theatrum Arbitri. Theatrical Elements in the “Satyrica” of Petronius by C. Panayotakis (review)

442 BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS source material. ROBERT B. TODD DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA VANCOUVER, B.C. V6T 1W5 C. PANAYOTAKIS. Theatrum Arbitri. Theatrical Elements in the "Satyrica" of Petronius. Mnemosyne Supplementa 146. Leiden: Brill, 1995. Pp. xxv + 225. The comparison of the Satyricon with mime and other popular forms of farcical drama goes back at least to the time of Marius Mercator about A.D. 400 and is probably best known from John of Salisbury's formulation in the twelfth century, Fere totus mundus ex Arbitri nostri sententia mimum videtur implere. Among modern scholars, P.G. Walsh has effectively developed the comparison in his chapter "The Formative Genres" in The Roman Novel (1970). His pupil Costas Panayotakis retraces these familiar lines in this published revision of his 1993 University of Glasgow Ph.D. thesis, regularly bringing new insights to even the most studied episodes in the Satyricon. Panayotakis has a sensible, level-headed approach to Petronius' work. He distances himself from those whom he calls the "WasteLanders," who see in the Satyricon a mirror of the spiritually empty and chaotic lives of the time of Nero. He recognizes it for what it is: "a sophisticated, scabrous book" (196), or, as I once heard or read it described, low-brow literature for high-brows who would appreciate pastiches of Homer, Virgil and other canonical writers. Panayotakis focusses on the possible influence of low-brow dramatic forms upon the Satyricon: tabula palliata, tabula togata, tabula Atellana and above all Greek and Roman mime, the last of which, along with pantomime, was the most prevalent dramatic form on the Roman stage at the time of Nero. Only rarely, however, does Panayotakis lose sight of the fact that, whatever its original mode of presentation, the Satyricon was not actually performed on stage. In one such lapse he appears to imagine that the action of the Satyricon had a life of its own on the stage extra paginam: "Encolpius certainly would not have missed the opportunity to elaborate on similar kinds of theatrical mannerisms. Like an actor on stage who is chased by the avenging Furies, he must have raised the volume of his voice ..., changed his tone from an ordinary to a tragic one, made gestures showing the imaginary wounds that he earned in his struggle for the BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 443 people's freedom, and pretended to have weak knees which cannot support the rest of his body" (5). Like P.G. Walsh, Panayotakis structures his study in accordance with the episodic structure of the Satyricon, interpreting the events and characters of each episode in terms of visual role-playing and the stage. He uses the same method throughout the book. It consists of finding parallels for the events, characters and vocabulary of the Satyricon in popular Greek and Roman theatrical entertainment. His first chapter, "The Adventures at the School of Rhetoric and at the Brothel," illustrates the approach as well as any other. He raises two issues of long-standing scholarly debate: Are Encolpius' scholastic ideals sincere or hypocritical, and should his views be identified with those of Petronius? "Both of these problems can be solved ...," Panayotakis avers, "by a theatrical interpretation of the scene" (2). He goes on to argue that Encolpius projects an image that allows him to take advantage of situations. In his dealings with Agamemnon, "Encolpius becomes a professional flatterer, a figure popular in comedy and mimes" (4). Panayotakis documents the existence of this character in Greek and Roman popular comedy and mime. However, since he is by definition dealing with popular themes, it is not surprising that the character appears in other literary forms. One thinks immediately of Juvenal's Graeculus esuriens. Similarly, Encolpius transformed "into the typecast figure of the zelotypus, as we know it from Herodas' Fifth Mime or the Oxyrhynchus mime of 'The Faithless Wife'" (11) is analogous to the jealous wife in Book 10 of The Golden Ass. The author is aware of the possibility of a tertium quid; for example, "The above analysis of the chapters 100-115 of the Satyrica made clear that the events which took place during the sea-trip on board Lichas' ship...