Inspired by the classic novel by Petronius, Nero's official “arbiter of elegance,” Satyricon is a tour through the spectacle of Rome. The loose plot follows Encolpius in search of his male lover, Giton, through an empire of festival, feast, orgy, and death. In fabulous sets and costumes created by Danilo Donati, Fellini created a proto-postmodern work of art, a thing of tactile beauty. Donati said, “Everything had to be invented. We have the epoch, but only as Fellini wants it to appear. He has his own way of seeing the ancient world.” Fellini concurred: “It is a science fiction picture, but projected into the past, not the future. It is a journey into the unknown.” Planet Satyricon is not yet a ruin, Fellini makes clear, but a ruin in the making. “We with our drinking and whoring have lost sight of even existing masterpieces,” says the poet. The parade of appetites is all-inclusive: to consume poetry is finally to consume the poet.