The Satyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry, which is commonly known as prosimetrum, characterizing as serious and comic elements, erotic and decadent passages. The surviving sections of the original text detail the bizarre exploits of the narrator, Encolpius, and his slave and boyfriend Giton, a handsome sixteen-year-old boy. It is regarded as useful evidence for the reconstruction of how lower classes lived during the early Roman Empire.