Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

Giton, Pederasty and Epic Self-Perception 53
force. And while we cannot responsibly assign a moral stance to Petronius based
on the extant text, we may yet make conjectures about his intent in employment
of mythic cycles. The Odyssey ends with comedic union and the restoration of a
divinely appointed kingdom, while the Iliad ends with the destruction of a
legendary city. In the Satyricon, Petronius depicts a new Ilium, one not brought
low by the strength of legendary heroism or war, but rather decaying from the
inside with rotten and vapid luxury. As it stands now, the text demonstrably
leans towards a negative portrayal of pederasty as a once divine institution
having degraded into a social ill, by which men are made slaves to libido and
carry themselves around pretty boys as if having guzzled draughts of satyrion.
References
Petronius. 1997. Satyrica. Trans. Branham, R. Bracht and Daniel Kinney. University of
California Press.