Satires (Juvenal)

The Satires (Latin: Saturae) are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written between 100–127 A.D.

The Satires address perceived threats to society, such as socially ascendant foreigners, infidelity, and the extreme excesses of the Roman aristocracy. Juvenal's audience was highly educated, and his dense poems are laced with historical and mythological allusions.

History and composition

Date

The first book of Satires probably dates to 100 AD. The fifth book likely dates to a point after 127, because of a reference to the Roman consul Lucius Aemilius Juncus in Satire 15. Between these two books, Juvenal wrote seven additional satires that are organized in three books. Satire 6 was written shortly after the first book and serves as a companion piece.

Genre

The Roman satire genre featured a wide-ranging discussion of social mores in dactylic hexameter. Quintilian noted how many genres Rome borrowed from Greece but concluded, "Satire, on the other hand, is all our own". The other great satirist of Rome was Horace. John Dryden summed up the difference in their approach, "Horace meant to make his reader laugh...Juvenal always intends to move your indignation."

In Satire 1, concerning the scope and content of his work, Juvenal says:

"From the day when the rain-clouds lifted up the waters, and Deucalion climbed that mountain in his ship to seek an oracle—that day when stones grew soft and warm with life, and Pyrrha showed maidens in nature's garb to men—all the doings of mankind, their vows, their fears, their angers and their pleasures, their joys and goings to and fro, shall form the motley subject of my page." - (1.81–86)

Juvenal's Satires range from 130 to 695 lines. Satire 16 is incomplete.