Encolpius is the protagonist and narrator of the text. Because we only have access to have fragments of Petronius’s original text, and the fragments that survive seem to come from somewhere in the middle of the text, readers do not have access to the traditional arc of character development. We do not know what Encolpius was like at the beginning of the story, or where he ends up by the conclusion. Encolpius is an adult man of indeterminate age; he seems to be juxtaposed both against the youth of Giton, and the much older figure of Eumolpus.

Encolpius is also wealthy enough to own a slave and to travel. He is educated enough that at some point, he and Ascyltus were able to make a living from teaching. Encolpius’s class and social standing are important because they shape the lens through which he sees other characters; for example, as a freeborn Roman citizen and educated man, Encolpius is repulsed by Trimalchio’s pretentious displays of wealth. Encolpius does experience different class status when he twice must disguise himself as a slave: first, aboard the ship, and then in Croton. In the first episode, Encolpius reveals his vanity by lamenting his “repulsively cropped head and […] eyebrows as hairless as my forehead” (97).