Petronius Cena Trimalchionis Latin-English Vocabulary (Lingua Latina)

by Hans Henning Ørberg, Hans Henning Ørberg

Vocabulary booklet for Petronius: Cena Trimalchionis, a reading supplement for Lingua Latina Latin series.

16 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Caleb Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wild, fascinating, disturbing story this is! In terms of range of topics and exoticness of diction, I think this book almost challenges Apuleius' Metamorphoses. Most interesting, in my opinion, was the section in which Trimalchio's guests are conversing among themselves why their host is out "sua re causa faciens": an extremely interesting look into the minds and speech patterns of representatives from various sectors of Roman society.
Additionally, while not overlooking the dangers of working from an Orberg edition, in which his marginal helps tend to overexplain things to readers and remove the onus for individual interpretation, I appreciated working from his edition of this work: not only was it a bit help with Petronius' unique, expansive vocabulary, but it also selected the cleaner (or, at least, less dirty) bits of the story--which is very necessary in a work as apparently pornographic in some of its episodes as this one.

[Trinity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for its expansive vocabulary. In that way it will be imminently re-readable. Trimalchio seems also to be an inspiration for Gatsby in his extravagance, however in typical libertine fashion he cannot constrain himself in any category.