Il canis ingens, il Capricorno e l’aragosta nella Cena Trimalchionis

Abstract

This paper focuses on the exegesis of some Petronian animals. As for the chained dog, the painted one (29.1) and the one in the flesh (64.7-9 and 72.7-9), we recognise both a dense network of epic references to the catabasis of Aeneas and ironic allusions to Seneca and to the popular tradition. Besides that, in our opinion, the epic language used to describe the fall of Ascyltus and Encolpius into the fishpond (72.7) emphasises the game between art and life which pervades the Cena. In the second part we defend the manuscript reading super capricornum locustam marinam (35.4).