The Satyricon (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading) 

The
Satyricon offers a mocking, insiders glimpse into the most excessively decadent, cruel, and contradictory aspects of life in Neros Rome. A series of wandering, debauchery-filled tales, starring a picaresque anti-hero named Encolpius, the text leaves no stone unturned in its relentlessly humorous battle against all forms of bad taste. It is considered by many to be the crown jewel of Roman literary achievement.

A propos de l’auteur

Most of what we know about Gaius Petronius (or Petronius Arbiter) comes from Tacitus
Annals. Herein, we learn that Petronius lifestyle mocked that of the hard-working Marcus Catoesque, ‘new man’ of the Roman Republic. He is said to have slept during the day and to have worked at night in the science of pleasure.