Trimalchio is a character in the 1st-century AD Roman work of fiction ''
Satyricon
The ''Satyricon'', ''Satyricon'' ''liber'' (''The Book of Satyrlike Adventures''), or ''Satyrica'', is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petr ...
'' by
Petronius
Gaius Petronius Arbiter"Gaius Petronius Arbiter" former slave who has become quite wealthy as a wine merchant. The name "Trimalchio" is formed from the Greek prefix τρις and the
Semitic
Semitic most commonly refers to the Semitic languages, a name used since the 1770s to refer to the language family currently present in West Asia, North and East Africa, and Malta.
Semitic may also refer to:
Religions
* Abrahamic religions
** ...
מלך ( melech) in its occidental form Malchio or Malchus. The fundamental meaning of the root is "King", and the name "Trimalchio" would thus mean "Thrice King" or "greatest King".
Character description
His full name is "Gaius Pompeius Trimalchio Maecenatianus"; the references to
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...
and
Maecenas
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas ( – 8 BC) was a friend and political advisor to Octavian (who later reigned as emperor Augustus). He was also an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets, including both Horace and Virgil. During the re ...
in his name serve to enhance his ostentatious character. His wife's name is Fortunata, a former slave and chorus girl. Trimalchio is known for throwing lavish dinner parties, where his numerous slaves bring course after course of exotic
delicacies
A delicacy is usually a rare and expensive food item that is considered highly desirable, sophisticated, or peculiarly distinctive within a given culture. Irrespective of local preferences, such a label is typically pervasive throughout a r ...
, such as live
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s sewn up inside a pig, live birds inside fake eggs which the guests have to "collect" themselves, and a dish to represent every sign of the
zodiac
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The p ...
.
The ''Satyricon'' has a lengthy description of Trimalchio's proposed
tomb
A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...
(71–72), which is ostentatious and lavish. By the end of the banquet, Trimalchio's drunken showiness leads to the entire household acting out his funeral, all for his own amusement and egotism.
Cultural references
The term "Trimalchio" has become shorthand for the worst excesses of the
nouveau riche
''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ...
.
* Trimalchio is referred to in the novel '' Pompeii'' by Robert Harris, where the character Numerius Popidius Ampliatus, also a freed slave who has become wealthy, throws a great, but ghastly, dinner party where there is too much for everyone to eat. One of the magistrates present for the banquet, Quintus Brittius, secretly mouths the word ''Tri-mal-chio'' to Ampliatus's former master, Lucius Popidius Secundus, one of the
aedile
''Aedile'' ( ; la, aedīlis , from , "temple edifice") was an elected office of the Roman Republic. Based in Rome, the aediles were responsible for maintenance of public buildings () and regulation of public festivals. They also had powers to enf ...
s of Pompeii, to their greater amusement.
* There is a single mention of Trimalchio in
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
's ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsb ...
'' as his showy parties and background parallel those of Gatsby: Chapter 7 begins, "It was when curiosity about Gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one Saturday night – and, as obscurely as it began, his career as Trimalchio was over." '' Trimalchio'' and '' Trimalchio in West Egg'' were among Fitzgerald's working titles for the novel. In the 2013 movie based on the novel, the orchestra leader at Gatsby's mansion is named Trimalchio (played by
Iota
Iota (; uppercase: Ι, lowercase: ι; ) is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Yodh. Letters that arose from this letter include the Latin I and J, the Cyrillic І (І, і), Yi (Ї, ї), and ...
).
* Trimalchio's feast is alluded to in the short story "Toga Party" by John Barth, which was included in ''The Best American Short Stories 2007'', in reference to Tom and Patsy Hardison's lavish toga party.
* Trimalchio and his feast are referenced in
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a ...
's poem, "I Speak of the City".
*
Thomas Love Peacock
Thomas Love Peacock (18 October 1785 – 23 January 1866) was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work. Peacock wrote satirical novels, ...
mentions Trimalchio and Niceros in his preface to ''Rhododaphne'' (1818).
* Albert Pike in the "Entered Apprentice" chapter of his Scottish Rite Freemasonry text '' Morals & Dogma'' (1871) references Trimalchio as an example of a legislator who spends the public purse lavishly or extravagantly – operating from their own vices and egotism. He counsels Scottish Rite Freemasons to stand against such lawmakers.
* In ''The Triumph of Love'' by
Geoffrey Hill
Sir Geoffrey William Hill, FRSL (18 June 1932 – 30 June 2016) was an English poet, professor emeritus of English literature and religion, and former co-director of the Editorial Institute, at Boston University. Hill has been considered to b ...
(1998), Trimalchio appears throughout the poem as one of its many personae.
* On Finnish band
's 1970 eponymous album is a song called "Trimalcion", composed by jazz-drummer
Edward Vesala
Edward Vesala (15 February 1945 – 4 December 1999), born Martti Vesala, was a Finnish avant-garde jazz drummer.
Career
Born in Mäntyharju, he began playing jazz and rock in the 1960s, in such bands as Blues Section and Apollo. In the 1970 ...
, one of his first released compositions
* C. P. Snow references Trimalchio in Chapter 28 of ''In Their Wisdom'' (1974). The self-made magnate Swaffield hosts a party in order to restore favour with influential figures within the Conservative party, “…he acted as though giving a Cabinet Minister a good dinner was likely to make him a friend for life. Would it have been better, sceptics could have pondered, to avoid the ghost of Trimalchio and give that Cabinet Minister a cheese sandwich at the local pub?”. The party was held on Thursday 20 July 1972 at 27 Hill Street, W1, “There were, though, considerable departures from Trimalchio about the July party. It had to be stately, Swaffield decided before he got down to planning…”.
* DBC Pierre's novel ''Lights Out in Wonderland'' climaxes with a dinner party closely modeled on that of Trimalchio.
* Robin Brooks refers to Trimalchio in ''The Portland Vase'', recounting the tale of a glass maker who claimed to have made unbreakable glass. On demonstrating this and confirming he had not shared the production method, the craftsman was beheaded to protect Roman Industry.
*
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays and three short stories, spanning the Western fiction, Western and Apocalyptic and post-apocalypt ...
’s novel ''The Passenger'' has the Falstaffian character John Sheddan state to the protagonist Bobby Western, “Trimalchio is wiser than Hamlet” to summarise his discourse on the condition of modern man.
Notes
Further reading
* Bagnani, G. "Trimalchio." ''Phoenix'' 8, no. 3 (1954): 77–91.
* Baldwin, B. "Trimalchios's Domestic Staff." ''Acta Classica'' 21 (1978): 87–97.
* Bodel, J. "The Cena Trimalchionis." Latin Fiction. Ed. Heinz Hofmann. London: Taylor and Francis, 1999, 38–51.
* Frangoulidis, S. "Trimalchio as Narrator and Stage Director in the Cena: An Unobserved Parallelism in Petronius’ Satyricon 78." ''Classical Philology'' 103, no. 1 (2008): 81–87.
* MacKendrick, P. L. "The Great Gatsby and Trimalchio." ''The Classical Journal'' 45, no. 7 (1950): 307–14.
* Newton, R. M. "Trimalchio's Hellish Bath". ''The Classical Journal'' 77, no. 4 (1982): 315–19.
* Petersen, L. H. ''The Freedman in Roman Art and Art History''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
* Ramsby, T. "'Reading' the Freed Slave in the Cena Trimalchionis". Free At Last!: The Impact of Freed Slaves on the Roman Empire. Ed. Sinclair Bell and Teresa Ramsby. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2012. 66–87.
* Schmeling, G. "Trimalchio's Menu and Wine List." ''Classical Philology'' 65, no. 4 (1970): 248–51.
* Slater, W. J. (ed.), Dining in a Classical Context. (Ann Arbor, 1991).
* Ypsilanti, M. "Trimalchio and Fortunata as Zeus and Hera: Quarrel in the''Cena'' and ''Iliad''. ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' 105 (2010): 221–37.