Tu, qui potes loquere, non loquis: nota a Petron. 46

Abstract

This study aims to highlight how the polemic against the scholastici becomes particularly
evident in the second part of the intervention by the centonarius Echion during the Cena
Trimalchionis: Agamemnon’s silence in the face of the freedman’s jabs underscores the clear
inferiority of intellectuals when confronted with social classes that are less erudite, yet more
dynamic and audacious.

Key-words: Agamemnon, Cena Trimalchionis, Echion, loqui, rhetoric.