Petron. Sat. 118, 3: sanitas or vanitas: What Does a Gifted Spirit Dislike More?

Abstract

The contribution deals with Sat. 118, 3, in which most editors accept the emendation vanitatem instead of the manuscript reading sanitatem. Though the conjecture obviously makes sense, it seems to be a banalization of the text. Trying to defend and explain the manuscript reading, I concentrate on the usage of the word sanitas in rhetorical discourse, where it has a specific meaning, and examine the examples of its usage in the treatises of Cicero, Quintilian and Tacitus.