The Satyricon

Once they arrive in Croton, the residents of the town quickly fall for their story and begin trying to win Eumolpus’s favor. Encolpius begins to wonder if he can finally relax, let his guard down, and stop worrying; he muses that perhaps “Fortune had stopped observing me with her beady eye” (124). Nonetheless, he also knows that problems could occur if their true identities are revealed.

A girl named Chrysis, who is the maid of a wealthy woman, takes notice of Encolpius and flirts with him. She explains, however, that she doesn’t personally like to sleep with slaves, although her mistress does. Chrysis sets up a meeting between her mistress Circe and Encolpius in a secluded garden. Circe is very beautiful and seductive, and Encolpius praises how “no statue could match her perfection, no words could do justice to her beauty” (126). However, when they begin to have sex, Encolpius experiences impotence. Circe worries that she may be unattractive, and asks Chrysis for reassurance, while Encolpius nervously apologizes.

The next section is very fragmentary, but Encolpius seems to hurry off and try to have sex with Giton, where he also experiences impotence. Encolpius is becoming more and more alarmed.