This paper examines the Feast of Trimalchio from Petronius's Satyricon as a window into Roman social hierarchy and the ostentatious display of wealth in the ancient world. Drawing directly from Allinson's 1930 translation, the paper analyzes how Trimalchio's lavish food choices, his large retinue of slaves and entertainers, his immunity from civic hardships such as drought, and his extensive property holdings all serve as markers of extreme social status. The paper demonstrates how the feast functions as a deliberate performance of power, distinguishing the wealthy elite from ordinary citizens in Western civilization.
This paper demonstrates close reading of a primary source: the student selects specific passages, quotes them precisely, and then interprets their significance within a broader argument about social hierarchy. Rather than summarizing the narrative, the paper treats textual details — honey-seasoned dormice, a bronze Corinthian donkey, a slave ordered to strip — as evidence for a social-historical argument.
The paper opens by establishing Trimalchio's wealth through food and drink, then escalates to human capital (slaves and entertainers), then uses a guest's summary of the feast to consolidate the evidence, and finally closes with property ownership as the ultimate marker of status. Each paragraph introduces a new category of evidence before returning the argument to the central thesis about power and privilege.
Trimalchio's social status was one of great wealth and power. The extent of his wealth is made immediately obvious by the lavish array of what must have been considered delicacies of the time, as well as by the elaborate manner in which food was prepared and presented. As recorded in Petronius's Satyricon, the readings describe "dormice seasoned with honey and poppy-seed. There were sausages, too, smoking hot on a silver grill, and underneath (to imitate coals) Syrian plums and pomegranate seeds." Further details note that among the hors d'oeuvres "stood a little ass of Corinthian bronze with a packsaddle holding olives, white on one side, black on the other." The wine served was not ordinary wine but "honeyed wine" — a clear indication of the extra niceties and pleasures available to a man of his standing.
Trimalchio clearly relishes displaying his wealth by offering guests an extraordinary range of choices from his abundant table. His boast — "Which of the three will you have dressed for supper right away? Farmyard cocks and pheasants are for country folks; my cooks are used to serving up calves boiled whole" — is a direct testament to the gulf between the "haves" and the "have nots." The readings further indicate that at a time when the city was experiencing a severe drought, Trimalchio himself suffered no shortage of water whatsoever, underscoring how thoroughly his privilege insulated him from hardships that afflicted ordinary citizens.
Other revealing clues to Trimalchio's wealth and social status include the sheer number of employees, slaves, and entertainers at his constant disposal. The text describes the spectacle vividly: "No sooner had he spoken than four fellows ran prancing in, keeping time to the music, and whipped off the top of the tray. This done, we beheld underneath, on a second tray in fact, stuffed capons, a sow's paps, and as a centerpiece a hare fitted with wings to represent Pegasus. We noticed besides four figures of Marsyas, one at each corner of the tray, spouting out peppered fish-sauce over the fishes swimming in the Channel of the dish."
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