Daniel
HOLMES Practicing Death &endash;
Petronius' Cena Trimalchionis and Plato's
Phaedo
It
has well been noted that the Cena Trimalchionis consciously plays with and inverts episodes
and themes from Plato's Symposium
(e.g. Courtney 2001, 1962; Cameron, CQ 1969; Bessone, MD
1993). Whereas the Symposium
provides a series of encomia of eros
by learned gentlemen of Athens, the Cena
consists in a series of vulgarly hedonistic episodes, the
most prominent themes of which lie in the obsessions of
its host &endash; corporeal satisfactions and death. It
is the purpose of this paper to develop further
Petronius' use and inversion of Plato, but in this case
with his Phaedo. I argue that there are two chief parallels: firstly, an
ironic correspondence in the use of mythical imagery;
namely Theseus' journey through the labyrinth used as an
image of the idea of a journey through death in life.
Secondly, and more concretely, I argue that the
Cena's final scenes &endash; from the reading of
his will through to the mock death of Trimalchio &endash;
consciously parallels the final scenes of Socrates' life
as depicted in the Phaedo. The Phaedo, as
a whole justifies and extols the life of philosophy as
"practicing death" &endash; the separation of the body
from the soul. By bringing out contrasts and parallels to
this philosophic work Petronius vividly shows the
pointlessness of the vapid and soulless life of
Trimalchio who, flitting in his own house of Hades,
literally practices his own death daily.
The use of the imagery of Theseus in the labyrinth in the
Cena as suggestive of a journey through death
(Hades) in life is well established and many clear
allusions to Aeneid VI further underscore this theme (e.g. Leary,
CQ 2000; Courtney, AJP 1987; Cameron Latomus 1970) . One further point which has not
been made is the number of guests at Trimalchio's
&endash; fourteen in addition to Trimalchio, a number
unusually large for a Roman cena and clearly reminiscent of the "twice seven" who accompany
Theseus. Likewise, in the descriptions of Socrates' final
day, many scholars have recognized allusions to Theseus'
labyrinthine labor (eg. Geddes (1863), Burger (1984),
Gotshalk (2001)). Whereas Socrates-as-Theseus leads his
companion to an end which is philosophy and the freeing
of the soul from the fear of death, Trimalchio leads his
companions - soulless bodies - through a labyrinth of
voluptuary pleasures which he envisions will stay with
him after death.
The death scenes of Socrates and Trimalchio
offer remarkable structural parallels: a discussion about
there last requests, followed by one concerning burial.
Thereafter each bathe. Later there are indications of
sunrise (Cena) or
sunset (Phaedo),
and finally extended descriptions of their deaths. As
becomes very evident the events of Trimalchio's "final
moments" provide a distorted mirror of Socrates' death.
For example, Socrates' bath is an act of purification for
his approaching death, whereas Trimalchio bathes in order
to be able to eat and drink more. Trimalchio out of
superstition and gluttony orders a cock to be killed
(74.4), whereas Socrates kills a cock for the health of
his soul. Socrates dies in silence, health and without
fuss, whereas the sounds and luxury of Trimalchio's
"death" lead Encolpius ad summam nauseam.
Petronius offers in the final scenes of the Cena a sustained parody of the Phaedo. Trimalchio and Socrates, as Theseus-like guides of their
companions, offer two stark conceptions of man's
mortality. For Socrates, the priority of the soul over
the body makes death something to be confronted and,
finally, embraced as a release of the soul from the body.
As a mere body, Trimalchio in his underworld house
practices death not as philosophy, but the vain attempt
to secure the satiety of his corporeal pleasures.