Analysis
The word “satire” derives from the Latin sat, which means “sufficient” or “full.” Satire is a miscellany, dealing with a variety of subjects in a range of metrical forms. Juvenal inherited a Roman satiric tradition dating at least as far back as Quintus Ennius (239-169 b.c.e.; commonly known as Ennius), whose works in this genre dealt with daily life. Cicero and Aulus Gellius refer to the third century b.c.e. Greek Cynic philosopher Menippus of Gadara, who in serio-comic prose ridiculed the pseudo-philosophers of his day. Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27 b.c.e.; commonly known as Varro) imitated Menippus in prose and poetry, treating a wide range of subjects. Horace, Persius, and Juvenal credited Gaius Lucilius (c. 180-103 b.c.e.) as the true creator of satire. Using dactylic hexameter, the meter of epic, Lucilius attacked individuals by name. Lucilius focused on social and moral vices and follies rather than on political matters.
In Satire 1.85-86, Juvenal says that he takes as his province all human activity, people’s pledges, fears, anger, lusts, joys, and bustling about. While modeling his meter and subject matter on Lucilius, he recognized that naming living people could prove dangerous. Therefore, he chose to cite the dead as exemplars of contemporary misbehavior. Also, condemning previous rulers such as Nero and Domitian would please the current emperor. Seeking to elevate the status of satire above that of epic and tragedy, Juvenal claims that whereas those genres deal with fiction, satire treats reality. Like Lucilius, he relies heavily on the epic meter of dactylic hexameter. His verses contain 3,600 of these, compared to Horace’s 2,400 and Persius’s 650. To elevate his diction, he employs periphrasis. Instead of naming Pluto in Satire 10.112, he calls the god the son-in-law of Ceres. At 16.6, he refers to Juno as the mother of the Muses who delights in the sandy shore of Samos. Juvenal is memorable because of his aphoristic quality. Thus, he writes that honesty is praised and neglected (1.74). At 10.356, he advocates praying for a healthy mind in a healthy body. In Satire 6 at Oxford fragment 31-32, he denies that appointing sentries over a wife will guarantee her chastity, for who will guard the guards? The oft-repeated phrase “bread and circuses” is his (10.8).
Juvenal’s style is rhetorical. His first satire begins with four rhetorical questions, implying that his audience shares his view. The third and fourth of these questions employ anaphora (repeating the same opening word for emphasis). These are two of his favorite devices throughout his writing. Other rhetorical elements that he frequently employs are anadiplosis (repeating at the beginning of a clause a word or words that end or appear prominently in the preceding one, such as in 2.135-136, 6.34-35, 7.213-214) and epanalepsis (using the same word or clause after an interval, as in his lines 9.67-68, 10.365-366, 12.48). Like the rhetorician, the satirist argues a viewpoint and seeks to persuade an audience. Juvenal offers proof to support his position and refutes opposing arguments. For example, in Satire 7, he maintains that writers, including rhetoricians, must eke out a living. He acknowledges that Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (c. 35-after 96 c.e.; commonly known as Quintilian), the most famous of all Roman practitioners of the art of rhetoric, was rich, but he notes that Quintilian was an exception. In the midst of his attack on Lateranus in Satire 8 for his wild behavior, he introduces an apologist who says that youth must have its fling. Juvenal then responds that Lateranus is too old to benefit from that excuse.
Juvenal’s satires exemplify rhetorical types. Satires 5 and...
(This entire section contains 1269 words.)
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6, for instance, seek to dissuade. In the former, he urges Trebius to abandon the degrading life of a client to a rich man; in the latter, he warns Postumus against marriage. Satire 8 conversely argues for two propositions: that virtue rather than birth confers true nobility and that a provincial governor should not exploit the populace. Other standard forms he uses are the invitation to dinner (Satire 11) and the mock-epic (Satire 4). Though Juvenal sometimes relies on logical persuasion, he most frequently applies exempla drawn from history, mythology, or invented character types, such as the insolent patron Virro of Satire 5.
Two themes that recur in his work are the viciousness of the rich and the decline of Rome from its ancient virtue. Satire 5 condemns the rich for selfishness. The women he criticizes in Satire 6 all have money. Eppia, who leaves her husband to run off with a gladiator, is married to a senator. Censennia torments her husband with impunity because she has brought him a dowry of a million sesterces. The licentious Tullia and Maura are carried about in litters, which were reserved for the families of senators. The parents who set bad examples for their children in Satire 14 are all upper-class. Money for Juvenal is the great corrupter of sexual relationships, friendship, the entire social order.
A conservative, Juvenal contrasts the vices and follies of the present with the golden age of the past, the farther back the better. His sharpest attacks are directed toward innovators, upstarts, and those who fail to adhere to the established code of behavior. At the beginning of Satire 6, Juvenal writes that Chastity once resided on earth, but that was before Jupiter had grown a beard. The third century b.c.e. soldier and consul Manius Curius Dentatus would serve home-grown vegetables for dinner; now even a slave rejects such fare (Satire 11). In those early times, people knew their place in the social order, and Romans were not influenced by Greek, Jewish, and Egyptian tastes and practices. Among Juvenal’s less attractive traits is his xenophobia. In the process of showing what he regards as Rome’s decadence, he presents a vivid portrait of the city and its inhabitants.
Satire 3
As Juvenal’s friend Umbricius prepares to leave Rome for rural retirement at Cumae, he explains his decision to the poet, painting a nightmare picture of the city in his argument for leaving. After the opening twenty-one lines that set the scene at the Porta Capena on the Appian Way, Umbricius begins his attack. He observes that an honest person cannot earn a living in Rome (lines 21-189). Only lying is valued (lines 21-57). Moreover, foreigners have displaced natives (lines 58-125), and honest poverty is scorned (lines 126-189). Moreover, Rome is dangerous. Umbricius presents the perils that beset the urban dweller through the course of a day, from predawn fires and collapsing buildings (lines 190-231) to crowded streets and overloaded carts (lines 232-267), to ruffians who prey on pedestrians at night (lines 233-314). The poem ends with Umbricius’s farewell (lines 315-322). Through Umbricius, Juvenal articulates his recurring themes of the corrupting influence of wealth, the pernicious effect of foreigners and foreign manners, and the difficulties facing the honest poor like Umbricius and himself.
Satire 10
Published some fifteen years after Satire 3, in the mid-120’s, this later poem adopts a less damning tone. It still argues, in this case against what Johnson called the vanity of human wishes. Juvenal maintains that people pray for the wrong things (lines 1-11): wealth (lines 11-55), power (56-113), eloquence (114-132), military prowess (133-187), long life (188-288, aptly the longest section), and beauty (289-345). Using selected examples from history and mythology, a typical device of the poet, he shows how none of these desired traits brings happiness. Better to trust to the gods and not ask for anything. If one does pray, one should request a healthy mind in a healthy body and courage (lines 346-366). This stoical, reflective conclusion reflects the diminished bitterness in many of Juvenal’s poems in books 3-5 (Satires 7-16).
