Page:The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (1922), vol. 1.djvu/22

of uncertainty and conjecture. He is as impersonal as Shakespeare, as aloof as Flaubert, in the opinion of Charles Whibley, and, it may be added, as genial as Rabelais; an enigmatic genius whose secret will never be laid bare with the resources at our present command. As I am not writing for scholars, I do not intend going very deeply into the labyrinth of critical controversy which surrounds the author and the work, but I shall deal with a few of the questions which, if properly understood, will enhance the value of the Satyricon, and contribute, in some degree, to a better understanding of the author. For the sake of convenience the questions discussed in this introduction will be arranged in the following order:—

1. The Satyricon.
2. The Author.
   1. His Character.
   2. His Purpose in Writing.
   3. Time in which the Action is placed.
   4. Localization of the Principal Episode.
3. Realism.
   1. Influence of the Satyricon upon the Literature of the World.
4. The Forgeries.