SOURCE: "Oriental Elements in Petronius," The American Journal of Philology, Vol. L, No. 4, October-November, 1929, pp. 378-85.

In the following essay, Hadas gives specific examples of Oriental elements in the speech of particular characters in the Satyricon.

The art of Petronius in suiting language to character has often been noticed.¹ It has been pointed out, for example, that the Greeks in the Cena are recognizable by peculiarities in their speech.² On the other hand, Professor Tenney Frank's calculations have demonstrated the preponderance of the Oriental element in the Rome and Italy of the early Empire.³ Trimalchio himself proclaims his Asiatic origin,⁴ and we should certainly expect that some of his guests were similarly derived. If Petronius is as skilful a realist in suiting his speeches to his characters as his critics have shown him to be, we might logically expect to find certain Oriental elements in the speech of...