ABSTRACT
The Latin novelist, Petronius, of the first century of our era, has been strangely neglected, as it seems to me. In our latest, and in other respects our best, history of the early novel even his name is not mentioned. It is a perilous thing to discuss the work of an author whose life and writings are so little known to the general public; and when even the professional student of literary history ignores his existence, it is like flying in the face of Providence. But the important position which Petronius holds as the creator of a new genre of literature may properly justify the imprudence. Furthermore the small circle of his admirers is likely to be enlarged in the near future, since two good translations into English of a portion of his work have lately appeared, and he may at last be rescued from the obscurity in which he languishes.
