Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A Complete Satyricon?

A while ago, I happened upon an interesting translation of the Satyricon. It is based not just on the manuscript tradition James told us about, but on what is called the Belgrade Manuscript. According to the translator's introduction, someone named Francois Nodot published this manuscript in 1693. He claimed that it had been found in Belgrade in 1688, when that city had been captured by the Habsburgs. Nodot lauded this manuscript as the only complete version of the Satyricon, and therefore priceless.

Of course, scholars quickly and unanimously dismissed his claim,  and all agreed that he had himself written all the new material. Apparently, however, some were taken with his additions, and some editions of the Satyricon are printed with them included, although clearly marked as interpolations. The translator of the work I discovered, Alfred Allinson, has included the material from the Belgrade Manuscript as well, though he has made the (I think problematic) decision to not mark them out from the original material. Instead, everything flows seamlessly.

It is interesting, in a way, to see how the scenes in the Satyricon might have gone. The Cena Trimalchionis, of course, is not all that different, since it was the most complete segment we have. However, much of the detail between Ruden's chapters 1 and 2 is provided, and suddenly you can read about their stay in the country and a game of pass-the-partner, as well as the rites of Priapus that they interrupted. If you would like to see for yourselves, here is the link: Satyricon "adaptation".

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