SOURCE: "Petronius: A Study in Ancient Realism," in Society and Politics in Ancient Rome: Essays and Sketches, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909, pp. 115-30.

In the following essay, Abbott provides background on Petronius's time, credits him with being the creator of the novel, and praises him for the modernity of his realism, particularly with regard to characterization.

The Latin novelist, Petronius, of the first century of our era, has been strangely neglected, as it seems to me. In our latest, and in other respects our best, history of the early novel even his name is not mentioned. It is a perilous thing to discuss the work of an author whose life and writings are so little known to the general public; and when even the professional student of literary history ignores his existence, it is like flying in the face of Providence. But the important position which Petronius holds as...