Trimalchio, The Frog–King (Sat. 77.6)
At the end of the autobiographical monologue that concludes the Banquet of Trimalchio episode, the host sums up his rags to riches story with a curious metaphor: qui fuit rana nunc est rex (Petr. 77.6). This note explores the implications of Trimalchio’s boast against the background of the Aesopic t...
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| Formato: | Artículo revista |
| Lenguaje: | Español Inglés |
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Ediciones UNL
2026
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| Acceso en línea: | https://bibliotecavirtual.unl.edu.ar/publicaciones/index.php/index/article/view/15340 |
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| Sumario: | At the end of the autobiographical monologue that concludes the Banquet of Trimalchio episode, the host sums up his rags to riches story with a curious metaphor: qui fuit rana nunc est rex (Petr. 77.6). This note explores the implications of Trimalchio’s boast against the background of the Aesopic tradition of animal fable, a literary form appropriately associated with ex–slaves, in which frogs who leave their environment and attempt to become what they are not suffer fatal consequences. Intertextual relationships with relevant passages of Horace, Phaedrus, Ovid, Martial, Plato, Artemidorus, and the Life of Aesop illuminate the metaphorical realm in which Trimalchio’s optimistic claim of personal metamorphosis stands out starkly against a darker Aesopic background of self–destruction brought on by overweening ambition and a social universe in which ex–slaves remain confined to their own world. |
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