SOURCE: "Some Observations on the Narrative Technique of Petronius," The Phoenix, Vol. XXVII, No. 1, Spring, 1973, pp. 42-61.

In the following essay, Beck attempts to reconcile discrepancies in the character of Encolpius by considering him as two separate persons: the narrator and the subject of the narration.

One of the most problematic questions in the Satyricon is the character of the hero and narrator of the story, Encolpius himself. Critics rightly point out the fluctuations and seeming inconsistencies in Petronius' portrayal of him, as the following pen sketches from two recent studies show: "alternatively romantic and cynical, brave and timorous, malevolent and cringing, jealous and rational, sophisticated and naive" (J. P. Sullivan¹); "simple soul and man of the world, sadist and soft-hearted sentimentalist, parasitic flatterer and ingenuous guest" (P. G. Walsh²). Explanations of these seeming inconsistencies, however, differ widely. Some find the self-contradictory character convincing in itself, in an...