Petronius as Massa?: Reading Virgil in Petronius’ Satyricon
Susan Gorman, CTCWeb Assistant Editor
Original Text © Susan Gorman

In the "Cena Trimalchionis" section of the Satyricon, Petronius includes a depiction of a slave who horribly mangles a recitation of Virgil's Aeneid. In this paper, Gorman investigates the link between Augustan Age politics and the Aeneid. What are the ramifications of parodying Virgil's epic in this way? If the use of Virgil's text is supposed to be a critique of the empire, how exactly is this critique made? This paper explores the use of genre and how it enables a political critique to be made.

Introduction
Quoting Virgil
Augustan Age Literature
Virgil and Empire
A Bad Performance
Conclusion