When it comes to the work of Juvenal, he is known for his satires that can be read based off his critiques that can be brutal about pagan Rome. Decimus lunius luvenalis also known as Juvenal was adopted by a rich freedman but when it came to Juvenal growing older, he would have to fend for himself becoming poor but earning money independently.
When Juvenal was poor, he would have to depend on the charity that the rich people in Rome would grant him. Juvenal wrote a total of sixteen poems that were divided into five books, in all five books the only thing that was noticed about them was that each book had satire. When writing his satire, he used the Roman society to help picture together what it was back in that time. Juvenal wrote his satires are known as maxims including such pieces as “panem et circenses”, “mens sana in corpore sano”, “rara avis” and even “quis custodiet Ipsos custodes”
Juvenal uses the satire to point out the flaws and foibles of the human race by pointing out how certain things are viewed such as if you were poor in the period of time being judged by what your clothes look like or how you display yourself compared to the richer society connected to Rome. “Poverty’s greatest curse, much worse than the fact of it, is that it makes men objects of mirth, ridiculed, humbled, embarrassed.
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‘Out of the front-row seats!’ they cry when you’re out of money, yield your place to the sons of some pimp, the spawn of some cathouse, Some slick auctioneer’s brat, or the louts some trainer has fathered” This is one quote that describes how the poor are treated in the society that is based in all of Juvenal’s satires. All of Juvenal’s satires have points that involve the foibles and flaws of the humans that are presented in this society whether it be to talk about the brutalities and follies of mankind or to talk about the denunciation of folly or even talking about the roman women.
Another quote that can be used to help describe the satires that Juvenal uses to describe the flaws is: “(Fortune is out for laughs) has exalted them out of the gutter. If you’re poor, you’re a joke, on each and every occasion. What a laugh, if your cloak is dirty or torn, if your toga Seems a little bit soiled, if your shoe has a crack in the leather, or if more than one patch attests to more than one mending!”
Works Cited
- · “Juvenal – Ancient Rome – Classical Literature.” Ancient Literature, 19 Aug. 2019, https://www.ancient-literature.com/rome_juvenal.html.
