Another method of approach is suggested by the Menippean satire, the best specimens of which have come down to us in the fragments of Varro, one of Cicero's contemporaries.It is the characteristic of parvenu society to imitate smart society to the best of its ability, and its social functions are a parody of the camp food recipies like events in the upper set., it is said that there were three hundred and twenty thousand persons receiving doles of corn from the state, and, if the people could look to the government for the necessities of life, why might they not hope to have it supply their less pressing needs? Or, to put it in another way, if one politician won their support by giving them corn, why might not another increase his popularity by providing them with amusement and with the comforts of life? Presents of oil and clothing naturally follow, the giving of games and theatrical performances at the expense of the state, and the building of porticos and public baths.We have been led to consider the possible connection of this kind of prose fiction with the epic by the presence in camp food recipies both of them of the love element and that of adventure.He frankly introduced the monarchical principle, fixed upon a method of succession to the throne, redivided the provinces, established a carefully graded system of officials, concerned himself with court etiquette and dress, and reorganized the coinage and the system of taxation.In all these respects, save camp food recipies in the fact that it presents one episode only, it resembles the Satirae of Petronius.The Greek versions differ from one another, while the Latin texts are identical, except for the stone cutters' mistakes here and there.It is almost exactly two centuries camp food recipies since the first fragments of the edict dealing with the subject were brought to light.From these facts it has been inferred that the edict was to apply to the East only, or perhaps more probably that Diocletian drew it up for his part of the Roman world, and that before it could be applied to the West it was repealed.The first of these fragments reveals Ninos, the hero, pleading with his aunt Derkeia, the mother of camp food recipies his sweetheart, for permission to marry his cousin.
