Latin Verse Satire

by Miller, Paul Allen

  Autonoes = Greek genitive singular of Autonoe: she was the mother of Actaeon.

  73–5. Having dealt with tragedy and the farces that followed, we turn our attention to comedy proper. Note the rhetorical structuring of the entire passage: Juvenal gives us a tour of Roman theatrical genres in the guise of describing feminine perversity. His = “for these women” referring to sunt quae.

  Magno = ablative of price.

  Fibula = “a penis-sheath with a pin running through the foreskin” (Richlin 1986), worn by athletes and actors to prevent sexual emission, which was thought to weaken performance.

  Chrysogonum = apparently a Greek singer. The name, however, means “Golden Gonad.”

  Hispulla = unidentified, but several women of this name were in the circle of the younger Pliny.

  Quintilianus = the famous professor of rhetoric and representative of serious culture as opposed to popular theatrical glitz. At age fifty, he married a young woman who died at nineteen after giving birth to two children. One could have hardly blamed her if she had found actors of interest. Quintilian would have appreciated the methodical way in which Juvenal covered the theatrical genres.

  76–7. Wrapping up this section on theatrical entertainments, the satirist asks “Do you want a wife who would make a father of so many musicians?” All the names are Greek. Citharoedus = someone who played the cithara or lyre.

  Choraules = one who accompanied the chorus on the flute.

  78–81. We switch from theatrical to gladiatorial spectacles. Continuity is provided by the theme of respectable women making fathers of those of low repute. We are invited to picture preparations for an upper-class wedding whose ironic purpose (ut … exprimat) is to allow the baby born of the union to show its resemblance to a well-known gladiator. Longa … pulpita are thought to refer to viewing stands erected along the route of the wedding procession, but such stands are only mentioned here.

  Testudineo … conopeo = “a tortoise-shell cradle with a mosquito net,” an object of great value. The exoticism is highlighted by the spondaic fifth foot [44].

  Lentule = an aristocratic cognomen.

  Nobilis … infans: i.e., descended from a consular family.

  Euryalum = an epic name, as in the Aeneid’s story of Nisus and Euryalus. The let-down when the reader reaches murmillonem is sudden and dramatic. On the murmillo, see Horace 2.6.40–6.

  82–113. The rest of this section is given over to the story of Eppia, a senator’s wife, who followed a school of gladiators (ludum) to Egypt.

  82–4. Senatori = presumably the Veiientus mentioned in line 113, thought to be Fabricius Veiientus who achieved prominence under Domitian.

  Pharon: Pharos was an island off the coast of Alexandria famous for its lighthouse.

  Lagi: Lagus was the father of Ptolemy I of Egypt. The city is Alexandria.

  Canopo = Canopus, an Egyptian town of proverbial decadence. See 1.26.

  85–7. These lines contain a previously unnoticed parody of Sappho 16.7–11 on Helen’s leaving Menelaus for Paris: “Helen having left behind the best husband of all, went to Troy, sailing without any thought of her child or her family.” Immemor directly parallels the Greek …μνάσθη as does the recitation of family members left behind. Both Helen and Eppia sail east, leaving behind their legitimate husbands. But where Helen’s case is cited by Sappho as an example of the overwhelming power of love and plays out against the epic context of the Trojan War, Eppia’s story is one of sordid lust and the erotics of the arena. She loves Sergius (line 112) so long as he plies his trade. Where Helen leaves Menelaus for Paris, Eppia leaves the actor Paris (Paridemque), her former adulterous paramour and a favorite of Domitian’s court, to follow the gladiatorial school.

  Indulsit < indulgeo, –ere: “concede.”

  88–91. “Although she had led the life of a pampered maiden, she now held the sea in as much contempt as she had formerly held her good reputation.” Plumaque paterna = in the first instance, “her father’s down mattress,” a sign of wealth. However, if we remember the parallel with Helen, there is also a reminiscence of Leda and the Swan (see line 63).

  Segmentatis … cunis = “a richly adorned cradle,” referring to the coverlets.

  Iactura = “loss.”

  Cathedras: see 1.65.

  92–4. Eppia is pictured as an epic hero sailing out of Ostia through the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian seas. The Tyrrhenian stretches between Italy and Sardinia, north of Sicily.

  94–7. We shift from the particular to the general. “Women only show courage in perversity.”

  98–100. “If a husband should order his wife to accompany him, she cannot even get on the boat, but if she’s following a lover, she has a stronger stomach.” Sentina = “bilge water.”

  Summus vertitur aer = “the top of the sky spins,” i.e., she becomes dizzy.

  100–2. “The one vomits on her husband, the other is at home with the sailors.”

  103–4. “Who has so inflamed Eppia’s heart?” Understand est.

  104–5. Ludia = “gladiator groupie.”

  105–9. “Tender Sergius is middle-aged and ugly as a stump.” Sergiolus = ironic, affectionate diminutive.

  Radere guttur: a short beard was worn before the age of forty.

  Secto < seco, –are secui sectum: “cut,” i.e. wounded in the arena.

  Gibbus = “wart.”

  Malum = substantive.

  Stillantis < stillo, –are: “to drip.”

  110–12. “All that mattered was that he was a gladiator.” Hyacinthos = the name of a beautiful boy loved by Apollo.

  111–12. These lines recapitulate 85–6. Juvenal rounds off the exemplum with ring composition.

  113. “Once he’s retired, Sergius is no better than Veiientus.” See line 82. Rude < rudis, –is: the wooden sword given gladiators on retirement.

  114–35. What Eppia did on the private level, Messalina, the wife (40–8 CE) of the emperor Claudius did on the grand scale, when she would sneak out at night to work as a prostitute before coming home to her husband’s bed, still unsatisfied. There is grotesque degradation in this scene [12]. The lower bodily stratum is featured prominently, and the heights of Roman society are brought low by their contact with it.

  The dominant note throughout is that of a sterile, unproductive sexual obsession, The fact that Messalina’s body had produced new life is acknowledged in the apostrophe to Britannicus (line 124). Yet that moment seems long past. Indeed, Britannicus is only addressed because his position as heir to the throne—which is underlined with generose—is undermined by his mother’s behavior, which ultimately leads to Messalina’s execution (see 10.329–36), Claudius’s marriage to Agrippina, the adoption of Nero, and the latter being named Claudius’s heir. As a result of these events, Britannicus is removed from the line of succession, and his death at the hands of his step-brother is ensured. Nero could hardly afford to have a pretender to the throne in the imperial palace (Dio 61.34–5; Tacitus, Annales 11.12, 26, 29–32, 34–8; 12.1–3, 8–9; 13.14–17; Suetonius, Divus Claudius 36–9; Nero 33.2–3).

  Messalina’s body in this passage is portrayed as a sort of shock absorber (line 126). It is reductively anatomized in the image of the rigidae … volvae (line 129) which is pictured as a burning (ardens), autonomous entity that exists beyond the structures of human control. It has a mind of its own, representing a species of erotic hunger that knows no satisfaction. In line 132, the assonance of lupanaris (“whorehouse”) with pulvinar (“divine or imperial pillow”) identifies the imperial bed with the bordello.

  114. quid … quid: introducing indirect questions dependent on curas.

  115–19. “When she thought Claudius was asleep, she would sneak out with a maid to the house of ill repute.”

  118–17. These lines are generally switched to make the passage read more smoothly. Et is also a later addition. These changes are not strictly necessary (see Friedländer 1962). Meretrix Augusta is a great ironic juxtaposition.

 
; Cucullos < cucullus, –i: “a hood” to conceal her identity.

  Palatino: the imperial palace was located on the Palatine hill.

  Tegetem < teges, tegetis: a mat that served as a bed for slaves and the poor, hence also prostitutes.

  120–4. Galero < galerum, –i: “wig.”

  Centone < cento, –tonis: a “patchwork quilt” that serves as the door to the brothel.

  Pappillis … auratis = “with gilded nipples.”

  Lyciscae = Greek for “Wolf-Girl.” Lupa in Latin means “prostitute.”

  125. Intrantis = accusative plural.

  126. The line is printed with brackets in most editions. I, however, follow Richlin (1986), “Although this line has only late manuscript support, it is surely good enough not to be bracketed. Note the emphasis given by the meter to the sense.” The alternative reading of ac resupina for continueque is attractive.

  127–32. “When it’s quitting time, she doesn’t want to go home.” Lenone: see 1.1.55.

  Tentigine < tentigo, –tiginis: “stiff,” a “hard on.”

  133–4. Juvenal looks ahead to Messalina’s successor, Agrippina, who is supposed to have poisoned both Claudius and Britannicus. Hippomanes = a membrane taken from the forehead of a newly born colt used in love potions.

  Loquar = “should I mention?”

  Privigno < privignus, –i: “stepson.”

  134–5. Agrippina shows that women commit sins far more serious than those of Messalina. Coactae / imperio sexus “driven by the commands of their sex.”

  Minimum = adverbial.

  136–41. The satirical interlocutor reappears: “What about Cessenia? Her husband calls her chaste.”

  Bis quingena = “twice 500” or 1,000,000 sesterces, a dowry worth more than the senatorial census.

  Tanti = genitive of price.

  Macer: lovers are conventionally emaciated by their affliction.

  Lampade < lampas, –padis: the proverbial “torch of love.”

  Libertas emitur: her freedom is bought and paid for.

  Innuat atque / rescribat: flirtatious behavior described in detail by Ovid at Amores 1.4.

  141. A wonderful sententia summing up the exemplum.

  142–60. “What about the case of Bibula and Sertorius?” “Her beauty will soon fade.” The topic shifts from female “perversity” to the impermanence of physical beauty.

  144–7. “Once age sets in, his freedman will say ‘pack your bags and leave.’” The once-smitten Sertorius does not even bother to deliver the news himself.

  Emungeris < emungo, –ere, –munxi, –munctum: in the middle/passive, “to blow one’s own nose.”

  149–52. “In the meantime, she is a virtual monarch, commanding her husband to compete with the neighbors in opulence.” Calet = “she is aroused.”

  Ovem Canusiam: sheep from Canusia in the south of Italy bore the finest wool.

  Ulmosque Falernas = “and Falernian elms.” She wants not just wine, but whole vineyards. Elm trees were used to train the vines.

  Pueros = “personal slaves.”

  Ergastula = “work houses” where slaves were sent for punishment. She wants not only the good slaves, but the bad ones too.

  Domi = locative.

  153–7. “The Saturnalia, an exceptional opportunity for extravagance, were celebrated as a public holiday from 17–19 December; and a fair called Sigillaria from the statuettes in clay (sigilla) which were a main article on sale there, went on for four days after 17 December. For the purpose of this fair, canvas booths (casa candida) were erected near the Saepta, in the Campus Martius; the effect of these booths was to cover up the walls of the porticus Agrippae, and perhaps other buildings. This porticus was adorned with frescoes representing the voyage of the Argonauts; consequently it was often called the porticus Argonautarum […]. Jason would certainly be a prominent figure in the frescoes: he is called mercator sarcastically, because of the purpose of his voyage; the Argonautae are degraded to nautae” (Duff 1970).

  Crystallina = “rock crystal vases.”

  Murrina = “agate vases.”

  Adamas = “diamond.”

  Beronices = Greek genitive: the sister of Herod Agrippa II of Judea, she was the mistress of the emperor Titus (79–81 CE) before his accession to the throne.

  157–60. The satirist indulges in a tangent as he describes the history of Bibula’s new ring. Barbarus … Agrippa = Herod Agrippa.

  Incestae: there were persistent rumors about relations between Agrippa and his sister.

  Gestare: Housman’s emendation for the repetitive dedit hunc is widely adopted. See Courtney (1980).

  Mero pede = an outlandish circumlocution for “barefoot.” Shoes were not worn on Jewish holy ground. See Courtney (1980) for a longer discussion.

  161–83. “Is there not one woman worthy of marriage from the lot?” “No.”

  162–6. The argument self-deconstructs: “who could possibly bear a perfect wife?” Sit … disponat = concessive subjunctives.

  Vetustos … avos = statues of consular ancestors.

  Intactior: understand sit.

  Sabina = ablative of comparison: the reference is to the rape of the Sabine women, when the newly kidnapped brides stepped between the lines of the Roman and Sabine armies lest their fathers and husbands slay one another.

  Cui constant omnia = an accounting metaphor, “to whom everything is in balance.”

  166–9. “I prefer a charming hussy, to the imperious mother of the Gracchi [16–18].” Venustinam = a speaking name: “Charmer.”

  170–1. Cornelia’s father was Scipio Africanus who defeated Hannibal and his ally Scyphax in the Second Punic War. Migra = “scram.”

  172–7. “Those claiming to be without fault are unbearable: look at Niobe.” Niobe had fourteen children and in her pride claimed to outdo Latona who had two. But Latona’s were Diana and Apollo who, when they heard the snub, killed Niobe’s children with their arrows (sagittas).

  172–4. The story is normally told from the perspective of Niobe. Juvenal gives us the view of her husband Amphion. Paean = a cult name for Apollo.

  175–7. Amphion killed himself from grief leaving Niobe to carry out (extulit) the dead. Scrofa … alba = ablative of comparison: “the white sow.” Juvenal refers to the sow with thirty piglets that served as an omen to Aeneas for the site of Alba Longa. It is a deflating comparison.

  178–81. “Virtue is an intolerable vice when it’s always thrown in your teeth.” Corrupta: understand femina.

  Aloes = Greek genitive. It, like mellis, is partitive. The aloe is proverbially bitter.

  181–3. Deditus = “devoted.”

  Usque adeo = “so”

  Effert = “extols.”

  Diem septenis … horis = “seven hours a day.” The Roman day had twelve hours.

  286–345. Juvenal returns to his opening theme, before launching into a new set of variations on feminine vice. “In the old days, poverty and hard work kept women chaste. Today they drink! And wine leads to all kinds of profanations!”

  286–300. The good old days when life was hard.

  286–90. Vitiis contingi: understand castas … Latinas as the accusative subject of the infinitive.

  Parva … tecta is the first subject of sinebant. The others are labor, somni, manus, Hannibal, and mariti.

  Vellere Tusco = ablative of cause: Etruria was known for its wool. The virtuous Roman wife, as tombstones attest, occupied herself with her wool-working.

  Collina turre = the Colline gate, where Hannibal threatened Rome.

  292–3. It is a truism of traditional Roman morality that peace leads to luxury and decadence, although war as a means of promoting feminine virtue is a reductio ad absurdum.

  294–5. Ex quo = “ever since.”

  295–7. Luxury has brought in a flood of Greeks and their ways. See 3.58–125. Sybaris = a city in Magna Graecia of proverbial luxury.

  Rhodos = wealthiest island of the eastern Mediterranean.

  Mil
etos: a whole genre of erotic stories was known as Milesian tales. Note the spondaic fifth foot [44].

  Tarentum: Juvenal is thinking of an incident at the beginning of the Pyrrhic war (281 BCE), when an ambassador from Rome was urinated on by a drunk at a festival of Dionysus, hence the city is coronatum (“garlanded”) and madidum (“drunk” and/or “dripping with unguents”) but also petulans.

  298–300. Note the delicious oxymoron of divitiae molles as subject of fregerunt.

  Venus ebria = “drunken lust.” In early times, women at Rome were not allowed to drink. Observe how Juvenal carefully moves us from madidumque Tarentum to divitiae molles to venus ebria and thus returns to his main topic: the indictment of women. The careful rhetorical structure betrays an aesthetic aim beyond simple moral denunciation. Satire 6 is a tour de force.

  301–45. A drunken woman knows no limits to her sacrilege or desires.

  301–5. “Drunk women don’t know their heads from their tails.” Inguinis: see 1.40–1. As Courtney notes (1980), the implication is that a woman in such a condition would not know whether to kiss or fellate you.

  Grandia … ostrea: any woman eating oysters in the middle of the night is up to no good.

  Perfusa … unguenta = the subject of spumant. The perfumes foam with unmixed wine.

  Concha = a bowl in the shape of a shell, normally used for perfumes.

  Tectum is the subject of ambulat. She has “the spins” and is seeing double (geminis … lucernis).

  306–8. This is a vexed passage. Many editions invert the order of 307 and 308 (Clausen 1956; Ferguson 1979; Dominick and Wehrle 1999), others preserve the manuscript order (Friedländer 1962; Labriolle and Villeneuve 1964; Duff 1970; Willis 1997; and Richlin 1986 with emendation); Courtney (1980) suspects that 307 is spurious and notes its textual attestation is shaky at best. The problem is the repetition of the name Maura and the general syntactic difficulty of the sentence. If we assume two sisters both named Maura, not an unusual practice in Rome where daughters took a feminized version of the father’s nomen, then the passage as transmitted can be construed in the manner of Labriolle and Villeneuve 1964, “Come now and consider the grimace that Tullia makes when drinking in the air, and what Maura says, the sister of the famous Maura, when she passes by the ancient altar of Pudicitia.” Of course, Maura is a slave name designating a girl of African descent and so her father would not have a true nomen. Nonetheless, given the practice as attested in free Roman families, there is no reason to consider it impossible among the slave population or their owners that two daughter would both be named for their fathers or country of origin.