Known as Petronius Arbiter. Novelist and poet, author of the licentious romance Satyricon (Tales of Satyrs). He was at one time governor of Bithynia and later a consul, and was subsequently admitted by the emperor Nero to the inner circle of his inmates and chosen by him.

Tigellinus, prefect of the praetorians, whose jealousy he aroused, falsely accused him to the emperor as implicated in a conspiracy; he then committed suicide, but not before he smashed a valuable wine-ladle to prevent it falling into the emperor's hands, and written a letter detailing the latter's vices.

Tacitus describes Petronius as devoted to the refined purchase of pleasure, indolent in his ordinary life, but energetic in public affairs. In Tacitus' words, as he is dubbed elegantiae arbiter (arbiter of elegance), "Petronius Arbiter" is a play of his name.

Frederico Fellini used Petronius Arbiter's Satyricon as the basis for his Satyricon (1969).