I thought that the following would be of interest. Here are two characters – one is a sinner and one is a saint. The sinner is a character in a novel written during the Roman Empire and is very believable. The saint is a real person who lived near the start of the Dark Ages. Her story is, to modern ears, nearly unbelievable.
Trimalchio is a character in the 1st century AD Roman work of fiction Satyricon by Petronius. He is a vulgar and very rich freedman who love to display his wealth and throw lavish dinner parties. He is a crafty, devious man who made his money through shady practices.
Trimalchio seems to have little or no scruples or dignity. He says “he was his master’s favorite for fourteen years, and it isn’t wrong if the master makes you do it.” The master made him his heir and when he died Trimalchio inherited. He is surrounded by slaves and the men are attracted to both women and boys, but mostly boys. The narrator, Encolpius, has a companion, Giton, who is a handsome young man, 16 years of age. They are lovers and Giton is frequently attracted to other men.
Trimalchio has risen from slavery to great wealth, and sees little purpose in his life other than the pursuit of wealth and pleasure. Few in the novel have any sexual inhibitions, although the women sometimes complain that the men pay more attention to boys than to them. Both sexes are unfaithful to their spouses without any sense of moral wrongdoing.
The rules of Trimalchio are simple. The only need is to climb the ladder of success. He was degraded and humiliated by his master, and in turn he degrades and humiliates his slaves. Slaves carry him around; when he wants to wipe his hands a slave offers his hair. He might be nice to his slaves in manumitting them, but they had better obey him and cater to his every whim.
In this society, there is nothing but money, power games and ostentation. Life in the Roman Empire has always appealed to a certain kind of person, who also dislikes Christianity for saying that everyone has dignity and worth. Trimalchio believes that only the rich and powerful have worth: a man is the sum of his bank account.
When you read a classical scholar describing Ancient Rome, you are apt to think more of an upper middle class lifestyle, because you have grown up in a Christian culture and there are numerous rules governing how you treat each other. The Satyricon should be must reading for Christians because it tells you what society would be like if there were no rules, just power. This is where we are headed. Trimalchio would be infuriated if someone walked up to him and told him that the rules were changed and he could no longer satisfy his unrestrained lusts. He would chafe under the new rules and yearn for his freedom.
We are finding via #metoo, that there are a number people who like playing power games. 94% of the women in Hollywood report some kind of sexual harassment. Remember, some people, like Trimalchio, like these rules. Golddiggers (male and female) have always been much more abundant than gold mines. In 60s London, actresses applying for jobs wrote DRR at the bottom of their application – director’s rights respected. Like Trimalchio, they were just playing the game.
When golddiggers get to the top they like their gross desires met, and they do not want any opposition. They do not mind prostituting themselves as long as they can play their games. For them, it’s all part of the system, and they hate anyone wagging a disapproving finger at them. They would find the life of our saint incomprehensible.
The Satyricon was written during the 1st century AD, around the time of Nero, who ruled from 54-68 AD. This is the world in which Jesus and his disciples lived. It is the world of the early Church.
St. Melania (The Younger) (383-439) was born into a life that Trimalchio can only dream of. She was born of extremely wealthy parents of the famous Valerii family. She is called ‘The Younger’ to distinguish her from her paternal grandmother, St. Melania (The Elder).
St. Melania was married when she was 12 years old. Roman law fixed that as the age of consent. As a teenager, she bore two children, both of whom died. When she was 20, she convinced her husband to cease marital relations. Thereafter they lived as brother and sister.
She had unimaginable wealth. In Sicily alone she had 60 estates with 400 agriculatural slaves on each estate – 24,000 slaves in all. That was only one of her holdings. She also had estates in Spain, Africa, Italy, Numidia and Mauritania, as well as land in Britain.
“… You lack one thing; go, sell what you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven” Mark 10:22
St. Melania took Jesus’ teaching to heart. She manumitted any of her slaves who wanted to be manumitted; 8000 accepted her offer. She gradually sold all of her lands and slaves and devoted the money to the Church and to the poor. She followed a contemplative life and brought many to Jesus. She was a desert mother and lived the life of a hermit for 12 years. She became Mother Superior of a convent she founded. Similarly, her husband founded and led a cloister.
Women like St. Melania played a prominent role in the early Church. The pagan writer Celsus writes about Christians:
… “they manifestly show that they desire and are able to gain over only the silly, and the mean, and the stupid, with women and children.”…
Where have we heard that before? The charge that Christians are ignorant has a long pedigree; Celsus wrote this between 175 and 177 AD. Women played an enormous role in the expansion of the early Church. No doubt Trimalchio and his fellows were appalled that so many women followed Jesus, but the women had their hearts set on Heavenly treasure, not earthly pleasure. We should do likewise.
Links
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/celsus2.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melania_the_Younger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyricon
http://sites.middlebury.edu/feastsandfestivals/files/2015/09/petronius-satyricon.pdf
