Auctoritas Trimalchionis: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Goods, Land, and Power in Petronius’ Cena Trimalchionis

Shashank Dimri (Rutgers University)

In this paper, I argue that at Trimalchio’s dinner in Petronius’ Satyrica, the desire of the
ostentatious freedman Trimalchio for controlling goods reflects the desires of the Roman elite to prove their power and authority. This in turn acts as Petronius’ critique of the Roman elite in
acting as inappropriate models for upstarts such as Trimalchio to emulate. Trimalchio has long
been seen as an imperial analog, and while Trimalchio’s imperial treatment of his slaves has
recently received attention (Donati 2022), the agricultural products and large bounty of
Trimalchio’s estates have been little explored. Analyzed through an imperializing lens, they
reveal Trimalchio’s characterization to be much more nuanced.

I apply the notion of knowledge as an imperializing tool, mainly in the concerted effort of the
Roman imperial project and its agents to know as much as possible as a means of control
(Murphy 2004). For example, despite the lack of a visible garden in the Cena, I argue that its
importance is undeniably displayed in the conversations and theatrical courses throughout (Sat. 35). The significance of this unseen hortus cannot be understated, as the symbolic power of gardens was already established by late Republican elites—such as Pompey and Lucullus (Marzano 2022)—whom Trimalchio would seek to emulate. Plants from such gardens were utilized as political symbols (Pollard 2009) and even seen as slaves to their Roman enslavers (Totelin 2012). Trimalchio’s unseen garden and additional holdings—so extraordinary in their size and content that Trimalchio himself claims to not know of their extent (Sat. 48)—are his freedman emulations of elites, reflecting the broader, voracious nature of Roman imperialism. This interrogation of Trimalchio’s elite self-stylings reflects Petronius’ indictment on the excesses of late Republican elites and Trimalchio’s Principate, elite contemporaries as providing a negative example for the freedman to follow.