ARTICLES FROM THE PETRONIAN SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
[in reverse chronological order]

Note especially J. P. Sullivan's article, "Another Petronian Forgery"--with his speculation about the origins of the quotation

The home page of the PSN is here.
More archived issues are available here (many in scanned form, pending conversion to HTML).



Petronian Society Newsletter 29 (May 1999):  provides new reference--Robert Thackwray, Effective Evaluation of Training and Development in Higher Education (Sheffield:  Universities' and Colleges' Staff Development Agency, 1997), p. 25; and apparently a related article--Patricia Evans, "Can I quote you (whoever you are)?," The Globe and Mail (1 May 1998), p. A24.  And they refer to Jim Reeds' website [see main page].


Petronian Society Newsletter 28 (May 1998):  reports that the quote has been sighted in the waiting room of a Swedish hospital


Petronian Society Newsletter 25 (April 1995), p. 5
NACHLEBEN
(no author specified)

More on the infamous "Reorganisation" quote attributed to Petronius.  R. Boroughs notes that the quotation appears in the Letters to the Editor section of The Times in August 1985 (Vice Admiral Sir Anthony Troup replying to Admiral Le Bailly's letter).  M. D. Reeve found the "Reorganisation" quotation in The Times of 15 June 1994 in a letter of Clive St. J. Thomas (no admiral he), to which Walter R. Chambers replied (The Times, 21 June 1994) that it was not Petronian.  R. Murray saw the "Reorganization" piece in Reader's Digest (Sept. 1994) 161.  The "Reorganization" quotation has been discussed in the PSN 2.2 (Dec. 1971) 5; 11-12 (May 1981) 5; 12.2 (May 1982) 5; 18 (March 1988) 3; 19 (March 1989) 3; 24 (June 1994) 5.

[article continues, on other subjects]
[A scanned version of the relevant page of the Petronian Society Newsletter can be found here]



Petronian Society Newsletter 25 (April 1995), p. 18

[prints a caricature of a Roman soldier--with the quotation as caption, followed by the attribution:  "Extract from the writings of the Roman, Petronius Arbitror [sic], Governor of Bithynia, who committed suicide in A.D. 65."--and underneath this, the Newsletter's explanation, as follows:]

A notice found pinned up in the office of a Nottingham probation officer.  The British probation service has had to endure more than its fair share of reorganisation and upheaval under the present government.  Did reorganisation cause him to commit suicide?  (Thanks to Rod Boroughs)

[A scanned version of the relevant page of the Petronian Society Newsletter can be found here]



Petronian Society Newsletter 24 (April 1994), p. 5 [part of article NACHLEBEN which begins on p. 4]

...
Christopher Murphy has noted that "The dreaded forgery has resurfaced."  In The Daily Telegraph of 21 July 1993 there were printed two letters about the "famous" quotation from Caius Petronius:  "We trained very hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized.  I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing--it can be a wonderful method of creating the illusion of progress while creating confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation."

Murphy has also run across this item in Mark Langley-Sowter, "Service Management and Marketing in Financial Services," Mortgage Finance Gazette (6 March 1992) 72:  "As Petronius suggested reorganization of any sort is only a superficial manifestation of change."

"Caius Petronius, A.D. 66, quoted in the discussion paper.  Illusions of Progress may be the only fruits..."  Kevin Townsend, "Study Finds 'Illusions of Progress'--Health" in New Zealand Herald, 11 February 1993, 9.  Murphy adds:  "I only have an abstact [sic] of this article, hence it reads oddly.  It seems to concern a discussion document on the New Zealand health service which uses the forged quotation."  [Editor's note:  Robert (not Kevin) Townsend, Further Up the Organization (New York:  Knopf, 1984), 92, uses the forgery in his classic criticism of management.]
...

[A scanned version of the relevant page of the Petronian Society Newsletter can be found here]



Petronian Society Newsletter 19 (March 1989), p. 3
NACHLEBEN

Robert Townsend, Futher Up the Organization (New York:  Knopf, 1984 [revised edition of Up the Organization of 1970]) p. 192:  "Reorganizing:  Should be undergone about as often as major surgery.  And should be as well planned and as swiftly executed.  "I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization." * (*From Petronius Arbiter [circa A.D. 60]). (Astbury)

[article continues, on other subjects]
[A scanned version of the relevant page of the Petronian Society Newsletter can be found here]



Petronian Society Newsletter 18 (March 1988), p. 3 [under the rubric NACHLEBEN]

PETRONIUS AND "SPYCATCHER"

by J. P. Sullivan

Petronius' authority is invoked in the most unlikely places.  Witness this from The Guardian (August 25, 1987, p. 11):

Wright and wrong

ONCE the Law Lords have finished with Spycatcher may I suggest that Mr Baker ask them to join one of his advisory committees?  Their ability to pronounce on the suitability of reading material for the nation would be very valuable.

Should a colleague of mine be allowed to keep the words of Petronius Arbiter on his study wall any longer?

"We trained hard but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganised.  I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising...and a wonderful method it can be fore creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation."  Petronius Arbiter - 210 BC.

R A Cunningham,
140 Pineapple Road,
Birmingham.

Since this forgery was uttered circa 1945-6 (see PSNL 12.2-13 (1982) 5; May 1981, p. 5; Dec. 1971, p. 5), one wonders why Petronius' date has wandered back from Neronian times to 210 B.C.  Was it because the Punic menace would be producing the same paranoia as the Red menace nowadays?

[A scanned version of the relevant page of the Petronian Society Newsletter can be found here]


Petronian Society Newsletter 12.2 (May 1982), p. 5 [under the rubric NACHLEBEN]

THE PERSISTENCE OF A MYTH:
PSEUDO-PETRONIUS STRIKES AGAIN

'We trained hard-but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganised.  I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situations by reorganising-and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation.'

The above quotation from Caius Petronius in AD66, is rather too apt as far as the health service is concerned.  Having overcome the major upheaval of reorganisation in 1974, we are now faced with a similar experience next year.  Whilst this restructuring may not be as extensive as 1974 (with no additional services having to be absorbed by the NHS) it will again be a complex financial operation and will involve extensive changes in the way in which financial services are provided and financial control is exercised.....

From Bill Healing, "Financial Arrangements," Public Finance and Accountancy (August 1981) p. 13.  (See also the Petronian Society Newsletter [May 1981] p. 5 and [December 1971] p. 5.) (Sullivan)

[A scanned version of the relevant page of the Petronian Society Newsletter can be found here]



Petronian Society Newsletter11-12 (May 1981), p. 5
ANOTHER PETRONIAN FORGERY

J. P. Sullivan

In the Times Literary Supplement of August 8, 1980 (p. 899), there appeared this opening to a review by Philip Ziegler of F. A. Johnson's Defence by Ministry:  The British Ministry of Defense 1944-1974 (London 1980):

"We tried hard -- but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized.  I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization."

These lines, from the Satyricon of Petronius written nearly two thousand years ago, could be the cry of almost any senior officer of the armed forces over the period covered in this book.  Throughout it the Ministry of Defence, the three traditional service Ministries, the higher echelons of army, navy and air force; indeed almost every unit of our armed forces, has been in a state of continuous flux.

Over the years I have had enquiries about this alleged fragment and, although I have repeatedly denied its authenticity, it seems clearly to have lived an underground existence nonetheless, surfacing indeed in the venerable TLS.  To lay this ghost to rest, let me give a tentative account, which I hope other readers can correct, of its provenance.  Some disgruntled soldier of a literary bent, whether commissioned or non-commissioned I do not know, pinned this "quotation" to a bulletin board in one of the camps of the armies occupying Germany sometime after 1945 (the style suggests a British occupying force).  Since the sentiment is impeccable, whether applied to military, governmental, or academic administration, it has enjoyed a cachet borrowed from Petronius ever since.  Perhaps it would prove suitable for a Latin Prose composition seminar, since the author, unlike Nodot or Marchena, did not see fit to present us with a Latin version of his forgery.

[A scanned version of the relevant page of the Petronian Society Newsletter can be found here]



Petronian Society Newsletter 2.2 (December 1971), p. 5 [part of article NACHLEBEN]

...
Tupling, W. Lloyd, "Washington Report," Sierra Club Bulletin (June 1971) 31:  "The reorganization by itself is not necessarily a panacea if not a new idea.  History is replete with reorganizations that went sour.  A friend recently gave me a brief quotation attributed to Petronius Arbiter, a chief lieutenant of Roman Emperor Nero.  It said:  'We trained hard but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up we would be reorganized - I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralization.'"

[A scanned version of the relevant page of the Petronian Society Newsletter can be found here]