Trimalchio's 'Kidnapping': Mythological and Iconographic Memory in Petr. "Sat." 29.5
Author(s): Chiara Battistella
Source: Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol. 59, Fasc. 3 (2006), pp. 427-433
Published by: BRILL
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MISCELLANEA
427
1) It seems to be in the destiny of this litde poem that the editors ignore some
tides of the previous bibliography: M. Buonocore did not know the article of Anna
Meschini (1984, 118, 23 on our subject), when he wrote his two first contributions about our subject (Buonocore 1994; 1998).
2) See Cupaiuolo 1967, 191: "In alcuni casi non si tratta di imitazione da poesia greca particolare, n? tantomeno di reminiscenza: eppure c'? ogni probabilit?
di cogliere nel segno ove si supponga che si tratti di motivo comune nella poesia
greca. Non ? difficile citare esempi: I 1." Numerous possible parallels are quoted
by La Penna (1963, 203-24). For a stylistic interpretation of Hor. Carm. 1.1 see
the valuable study of Ghiselli (2001) with bibliography.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Agosto, M. 2003. Anonymi auctoris Horatii Odae /./ interpretatiograeca, Mnemosyne
56, 353-8
Buonocore, M. 1994. Per la tradizionedei manoscrittidi Orazio:l'esperienzadella Biblioteca
Apostolica Vaticana,in: Comitato per le Celebrazioni del Bimillenario della Morte
di Q. Orazio Fiacco (eds.) Atti dei Convegnidi Venosa,Napoli, Roma, Nov. 1993
(Venosa), 221-40
Buonocore, M. 1998. Orazio in Greco,in: Luca, S., P?rria, L. (eds.) ?p??a. Studi
in onoredi mgr. Paul Canartper il suo LXX compleanno,II, BGrottaf 52, 31-48
Buonocore, M. 2000. Orazio in greco. Una postilla, BGrottaf 54, 395-400
Cupaiuolo, F. 1967. t?tura di Orazio lirico (Napoli)
Ghiselli, A. 2001. Orazio Ode 7, /. Saggio di analisi formale (Bologna)
La Penna, A. 1963. t?? ???st?? ????. Interpretazione
dell'Odeprima, in: La Penna, ?.,
Orazio e l'ideologiadel Principato(Torino), 203-24
Meschini, A. 1984. Per il Virgiliogreco:le 'Bucoliche'tradotteda D. Halsworth, Orpheus
5, 110-38
TRIMALCHIO'S
'KIDNAPPING':
ICONOGRAPHIC
MEMORY
MYTHOLOGICAL
AND
IN PETR. SAT. 29.5*)
1. Enacting Apotheosis
Art becomes narration in the portkus of Trimalchio's house (29.3-6): the
"storie di Trimalchione"1) illustrated there relate the most noteworthy 'retrospective' stages of his career under the auspicious protection of the generous Fortuna,2) up to the representation
his 'apotheosis' in
immortalizing
tribunal excebum (29.5):
in deficiente vero iam porticu levatum mento in tribunal excelsum Mercurius
rapiebat.3)
This 'heroic'4) representation
who is placed perstages a Trimalchio
sonally by Mercurius upon the high-set chair in the role of sevir Augustalis
('self-made man of the theatre').5) How shall we visualize this socially
metaphorical6) and figuratively real ascent described in Encolpius' viewing-narration?7) To tell the truth, there is something that is a bit uncanonical
? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2006
Also available online - www.brill.nl
Mnemosyne,Vol. LIX, Fase. 3
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428
MISCELLANEA
or, somehow, unexpected in the gesture with which Mercurius would raise
Trimalchio:
levatura mento, that is 'lifting him by the chin'.8) The embarrassment
of editors
and commentators
in interpreting
the transmitted text is immediately
clear from the different apparatus of editions
of Petronius. According to Smith, "the picture suggested by the text of H
is absurd, but quite consistent with Trimalchio's
tastes; thus there is no
need for a conjecture . . ,".9) However, it does not seem methodologically
adequate to appeal to the householder's kitsch tastes in order to solve the
interpretative difficulties of this passage: such a wall picture, where Trimalchio
is represented lifted by the chin in a strongly celebrative context, would
be uselessly parodistic and elicit from any visitor the reaction opposite to
the one expected.10) In addition, none of the different conjectures which
have been proposed (adiumento Bl?mner; vento vel manu Fuchs; <de pavi>mento
seems definitely able to improve
Fraenkel; <mo>mento Neumann-Simon),11)
the text. Is Trimalchio's
'apotheosis' indeed so atypical?
2. Trimakhio as Ganymede12)
Let us try to consider this passage like the "target text" which "earlier
texts" have presumably left their traces on,13) according to an intertextual
perspective that, in this case, aims at involving not only literature, but also
art. Only apparently does the description given by the viewer-narrator
refer to a funerary context: one might think that Trimalchio wanted to
be portrayed in conformity with the model of imperial apotheosis (that is
post mortem)1*)and that the joined presence of Mercurius and Parcae (see
29.6-7 praesto erat Fortuna <cum> cornu abundanti [copiosa] et tres Parcae aurea
pensa torquentes) is specifically connected with the sepulchral sphere, but it
seems possible to me to go a step further. Such an association of Mercurius
and Parcae is, as far as I know, limited to this passage and to Sen. Apoc.
3.1 Claudius animam agere coepit nee invenire exitum poterai. Turn Mercurius. . .
unam e tribus Paras seducit... .l5) The Petronian text can be read as a deliberate 'correction' of the Apocobcyntosis:^) first of all the traditional figure of
and re-loaded here with
Mercurius as ????p??p??17) is re-functionalized
the role of business protector,18) while the traditional connection of Parcae
with the interruption of life is left out in order to draw attention to their
other role of 'spinners'. As a result, these elements lead us to read the
painting not as an apotheosis post mortem,but, if anything, as a self-celebration
which re-writes "a typically funerary decoration": "the point of the joke
may lie in this incongruity".19)
Nevertheless
there is something more. The description of the painting
offered by Encolpius' words exhibits an alerting signal provided with litan intererary and iconograpic allusivity at the same time.20) Encolpius?as
pres who translates images into words?21) presents a Mercurius who rapiebat
Trimalchio
mythico more; rapere is in fact the verb frequendy applied to
Ganymede's kidnapping (obviously not exclusive to this one),22) as is clear,
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MISCELLANEA
429
for example, from the following passages: Verg. A. 5.254-5 . . . quem praepes
ab Ida / sublimem pedibus rapuit Iovis armiger uncis (see also 1.28 rapii Ganymedis);
Sil. 15.425-6 aurata puerum rapiebat ad aethera penna / per nubes aquila intexto
librata volata; ??. Met. 10.159-60 ... percusso mendadbus a?re pennis / abripit
Iliaden. The image of a Trimalchio-Ganymede
'kidnapped' by Mercurius
high upon the seat (in tribunal excehum) re-activates the literary mythologithe mythic character23) in a context of
cal hypotext and re-functionalizes
"buffoonish
of
ignorance
myth".24) If generally in the Satyricon the reof mythic models is more uncovered and explicit,25) here on
employment
is the new
the contrary myth acts through an allusive hint: Trimalchio
the new 'selected by gods',26) who ascends, kidnapped
Ganymede,
by
Mercurius, into the empyrean of business and profits.
But in Encolpius' brief description art and text cohabit: literary memory is in fact correlated to the re-activation of the memory of iconographie
patterns. Ganymede's
kidnapping must have been one of the most wellspread mythic subjects in artistic representations,27) as we can deduce from
the time of a Plautine passage: Men. 143 .. . vidisti tabulam pictam in p?rtete,
ubi aquila Catameitum raperei. . .?28) Much of the surviving iconographie
evidence of Ganymede's ascensional movement during the kidnapping by the
here: the
eagle shows a visual characteristic which is really noteworthy
lifted chin29) as "Ausdruck des Hinaufstrebens".30)
On the basis of this
element, which, as far as I know, is not attested in other
iconographie
representations of mythic apotheoses,31) I would suggest a new textual solution for our passage: if the identification of the mythological
hypotext of
Ganymede's
kidnapping is correct, a very effective visual feature of the
kidnapping imagery could be 'restored' through the emendation?which
is otherwise not invasive paleographically?of
the problematic transmitted
levatum mento into levato eum mento. The meaning of the ablatival syntagm32)
should involve not so much the idea of a proud and haughty behaviour
(see n. 11) as a 'property' of iconographie
Ganymed-Typen, generally not 'literalized' in texts, but presumably easily recognizable by any viewer. If we
accept this reconstruction, Trimalchio's painting is after all a re-examination
of a mythological
rape and a funerary apotheosis as well:33) this time the
'on duty' is a sevir Augustalis and the alleged 'psychopompic'
Ganymede
Mercurius34) is nobody else but the patron of an alive and kicking Trimalchio
at the top of his social climb.
Scuola Normale Superiore
Piazza dei Cavalieri, 7
1-56126 Pisa
Chiara
Battistella
[email protected]
* I would like to thank A.
Cucchiarelli, CM. Lucarini, E. Merli and M. Tel?,
)
who have read and discussed with me the contents of this paper. I am grateful
also to the anonymous referee for useful comments and suggestions.
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430
MISCELLANEA
1) See Rosati 1983, 226; see also Bagnani 1954, 23: "Trimalchio viewed his
own life as a kind of epic cycle, a kind of "Trimalchioneia" that should be commemorated in the style used to commemorate the lives of the ancient heroes".
2) The narrative intention of these paintings is connected to "Trimalchio's inclination towards dramatic forms of expression": see Panayotakis 1995, 61. As regards
historical-archeological evidence of diese painting cycles within domestic celebrations
see De Maria 1997, 47.
3) I Mow the text of M?ller (1995).
4) On the 'heroicization' of deceased people as imitation of imperial apotheoses
see De Maria 1992, 293-4; for private apotheosis see 301-3: Mercurius/Herculesshaped deifications prevail, in particular in the milieu of liberti)a clear example of
this tendency is also offered by Sat. 29.3 Trimalchiocapillatuscaduceumtenebat,where
the character is represented as Mercurius according to one of the most widespread
identifications of the Neronian age.
5) The reference to seviratusis guaranteed by 30.2 TrimalchioniseviroAugustali',
7\.9 facias . . . me in tribunalisedentempraetextatum(Trimalchio is describing his funerary monument). Seviri, besides other functions, also took charge of the organization of public performances: see Rosati 1983, 226; Panayotakis 1995, 62.
6) See the commentary ad be. by Perrochat (1952): "allusion aux honneurs
auxquels parvient Trimalcion".
7) See Brilliant 1984, 16: ". . . visual images have an almost infinite capacity
for verbal extension, because viewers must become their own narrators, changing
the images into some form of internalized verbal expression". See also Rimell 2002,
38 on the difficulty of reconstructing this scene "from the brief description given".
8) See Neumann & Simon 1999, 115: "mento:als adverbiale Bestimmung zu
levatumaufgefa?t".
9) See Smith 1975, ad loc.
10) Differendy, Bocciolini Palagi (1994, 103) defends the transmitted text asserting
that "? probabile . . . che Petronio prospetti qui una versione goffa e maldestra del
motivo iconografico dell1apotheosisimperiale, proprio per lasciare intendere come il
volenteroso pictor, nell'intento di celebrare Trimalcione, fosse caduto involontariamente nel ridicolo".
11) For a complete survey and a detailed discussion see Neumann & Simon
1999, 115-7. See also Courtney 2001, 76 n. 9: "the lifting by the chin ... is presumably because tilting the head back so that the chin is prominent is a sign of
pride, as Mussolini well knew"; he interprets the passage, as I see it, not differendy
from Campanile (1964, 125): "? . . . probabile che la pittura osservata da Encolpio
rappresentasse Trimalcione che, a testa alta e con legittimo orgoglio, si avvia ad
occupare al teatro o al circo il posto che gli compete come seoir Augustalis":the
upward-looking head would recall, according to Campanile, Alexander Magnus'
iconography, where such a gesture expresses "un preciso riferimento alla sua origine divina e alla sua natura privilegiata" (124). Campanile concludes by saying
that "a noi sembra che ... si possa interpretare levatummentonon come sollevatoper
il mento, bens? come ?p??????? t? ???e??? ?a testa alta?" (125), that is literally
'lifted as regards the chin' (underlining an idea of limitation). But this interpretation implies a grammatically impossible meaning of mento,4as regards the chin': in
fact, ablatives dependent on verbs like (ad)levare,rapere,trahereare always forms of
an instrumental complement expressing either means or bodily parts through which
someone lifts/drags: see e.g. Sal. Jug. 94.2 t?midosinsolentiaitinerislevaremanu;Phaedr.
trahebaturpassis
4.4 (hominem)dorso levans reditadhostem(equus);Vcrg.A.2A03A...
Priameiavirgo/ crinibus;Ov. Ep. 14.83 raptamquecapillis; Ov. Met. 8.212 (Daedalus). . .
pennisquelevatus;Tac. Ann. 1.22 adlevatuscircumstantiumumeris;Suet. Nero 13.2 adleva-
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MISCELLANEA
431
tumquedextra(I would like to thank CM. Lucarini for pointing out this passage to
me); the meaning Campanile argues for should be expressed, if anything, by a
construction with a Greek accusative. The textual correction I shall propose later
goes in a certain sense in this direction ('with lifted chin'), but it refuses the exclusive presence of the apotheosis-motif in this scene (see further on). Finally, see
Pellegrino 1985-6, who, independendy of Fuchs, proposes again vento, but interprets Trimalchio's apotheosis in a completely wrong way, considering it a real
ascent towards die sky post mortem.
12) In this paragraph I shall argue for the presence of Ganymede's mythological
hypotext in the Petronian text by trying to discover the traces of the model which
underlies Trimalchio's character as it is constructed in the iconographie representation of this apotheosis; for diese concepts ("construction of character") and tide
(x as y) see the important pages by Fowler (1997), in particular 17-8.
13) See Fowler 1997, 18.
14) See Rosati 1983, 226, who recalls Alexander's iconography (see here also
n. 11); on this aspect see L'Orange 1982, 24-5 (Alexander) and 59-60 (Nero).
15) According to Focardi (1999, 158) Trimalchio's representation would be a
parody of die journey made by Claudius under the guidance of the same god
Mercurius, who finally dragged him into the Underworld colh obtorto:"ad espressioni del tipo collo obtorto. . . corrisponde in Satyr. 29,6 il nesso altrettanto fisico levalum mento";but I am not sure that this alleged situational correspondence is enough
to defend the transmitted text, especially since the expression obtortocollo is the
residue of a well-known legal formula (see e.g. PI. Poen. 790 optortocollo ad praetoremtrahor)and is grammatically different from die Petronian levatummento.
16) "A work which Petronius has read": see Courtney 2001, 76.
17) As regards Mercurius' 'psychopompic' role see e.g. Verg. A. 4.242-4 with
the commentary ad loc. by Pease (1967).
18) As we will see further on, Mercurius' figure undergoes a re-functionalization which is definitely an overturning: the god who usually guides 'down' dead
people's souls, here brings 'up', towards success, a living man.
19) See Bagnani 1954, 23.
20) This is an example of die so called "reader-supplementation" in die presence
of a painting description: for the formulation of this concept see Zanker 2004, 82.
See also Slater 1987, 170: "we see these paintings through Encolpius' eyes in some
detail, but lest we too hastily congratulate our narrator for his powers of interpretation, we should note the help that the painter provided (29.4): omnia diligenter curiosuspictor cum inscriptionereddiderat".
21) On ecphrasisin the gallery episode see Eisner 1992-3.
22) Dumont (1990, 967, also n. 37) connects the verb to a diis rapi "employ?e
par les Bacchants pour d?signer le moment du c?r?monial dionysiaque o? par un
simulacre de descente aux enfers le nouvel initi? est cens? acqu?rir l'immortalit?".
According to Bodel (1994, 248), the verb rapiebat "is the standard term used in
Latin funerary inscriptions to describe the sudden removal of a soul from ufe".
See also Hercules' apotheosis in Ov. Met. 9.271-2 quem pater omnipotensinter cava
nubila raptum / quadriiugocurru radiantibusintuiti astris.
23) Myth was the preferred 'reservoir' also in the iconography of private apotheoses: see e.g. De Maria 1992, 300: "? frequentissima l'assimilazione con gli eroi
del mito attraverso un'immagine col ritratto del defunto posta al centro del rilievo".
24) See Rimell 2002, 46.
25) See e.g. 92.3 (Eumolpus). . . viditqueGitanain conspectuministrantem. . . et: "laudo"
inquit "Ganymedem.. .": "Giton plays Ganymede" (see Rimell 2002, 47). For the
tensions enacted in the novel by myth see Conte 1997, 83-7.
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432
MISCELLANEA
26) See 77.4 (Trimalchio is speaking) interimMercuriusvigilai, aedificavihanc domum.
27) This mythological subject is "largamente documentato a partire dal IV sec.
a. C": see Borghi Iovino 1969, 75.
28) As regards the mythological tradition of Ganymede's kidnapping in painting and other artistic forms in Roman world see Santoro Bianchi 1997, 114-5.
29) See Sichtermann 1949, tables 3, 4.1-2, 5.1-2, 6.1-3, 7.1-3; Borghi Iovino
1969, tables 27-8; UMC IV 2, s.v. Ganymedes,pasnm.
30) See Sichtermann 1949, 41.
31) See e.g. for Ariadne UMC III 2, 727-38; for Hercules UMC V 1, 161-2;
Alexander and Nero's apotheoses quoted in n. 14 are different cases: "upwardlooking" heads of these characters are, in fact, aimed at expressing ecstasy "heavenly passion" (see L'Orange 1982, 25) and have a different meaning from the one
recognized here for the iconographie feature of Ganymede's kidnapping.
32) On this syntagm see e.g. Calp. Fiel. 7.60 cervicelevata; the verb levareis also
used together with terms like caput or collum in order to express precisely die gesture of lifting the head: see Luc. 3.738 caput labens et iam languentiacolla . . . lev?t.
33) Note that in figurative art Ganymede's ascent scene was often interpreted
as a sepulchral symbol (see Teposu Marinescu 1985, 138; Hardie 2002, 341).
34) The text does not give any specific indication about the figure of Mercurius:
may we imagine him with his characteristic winged footwear in conformity with
a very frequent iconographie representation? See e.g. Ov. Met. 1.671-2 parva mora
est alas pedibus virgamquepotenti / somniferamsumpsisse.
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