Latin Verse Satire

by Miller, Paul Allen

  Cothurnis = the high, platform boots or “buskins” worn by tragic actors.

  Erecta … planta = “on tiptoe.”

  610–26. “Women administer charms and potions that drive their husbands mad.”

  610–12. Solea pulsare natis = “to spank him with a slipper.”

  612–14. “On account of the drugs (inde), you play the fool and forget what you did.” Desipis < desipio, –ere (de + sapio): “to act foolishly.”

  Caligo = “fog.”

  614–17. “This would be tolerable if the drugs did not make you as mad as Caligula.” Most editions also print what are known as 614A–C. They are not widely attested, have been questioned since the time of Valla, and are generally printed in brackets. No modern editor accepts them as genuine.

  Avunculus … Neronis = the emperor Caligula (37–41 CE). The periphrasis prepares us for the introduction of Agrippina in line 620. Nero’s mother was Caligula’s sister and Claudius’s wife.

  616. Another reference to the hippomanes discussed at line 133. Caesonia = the wife of Caligula.

  Pulli < pullis, –i: “foal.”

  617. Quod principis uxor: understand fecit.

  618–20. “Those dosed rage as if Juno had poisoned Jupiter.” Cuncta = neuter plural.

  Conpage: see line 502.

  620–3. “Agrippina’s poisonous mushroom for Claudius caused less harm.” Boletus = “mushroom.” Agrippina was supposed to have killed Claudius with a dish of mushrooms.

  Tremulumque caput: Claudius suffered from a number of physical ailments whose symptoms were similar to Parkinson’s and caused him to be viewed as a congenital idiot by his contemporaries, as Suetonius and Seneca testify, in spite of his considerable intelligence. The ancients were not generous to the disabled.

  Descendere … in caelum: a brilliant oxymoron, in which Juvenal inverts the normal, vertical scale of values. Compare 1.147–9.

  624–5. The proof that poison is less harmful than love charms: Agrippina’s poison killed an idiot, but Caesonia’s potio caused Caligula to decimate the ranks of the senators and equestrians. Haec potio contrasts with the earlier boletus … ille.

  626. Tanti … tanti … constat = “costs so much.”

  Partus equae: see 616.

  627–61. “They don’t stop at poisoning their husbands but kill their children and stepchildren.” With the description of this crime, the satire abruptly ends, with no attempt to synthesize the whole into a coherent indictment. Like all saturae, it is less an argument than a series of vignettes [11].

  627–8. Privignum: see 133–4.

  629–31. Pupilli: see 1.45–8.

  Res = “fortune.”

  Livida materno … veneno = “Black with maternal poison,” another wonderfully oxymoronic turn of phrase.

  Adipata < adipata, –orum: a pastry made with lard or tallow.

  632–3. Papas = a child’s name for his paedagogus. Observe the alliteration.

  634–7. A wonderful moment of generic self-reflexivity, “what is a satirist doing writing tragedy?” an acknowledgment of Satire 6 as a self-conscious literary creation, even as Juvenal claims he is simply reporting what he sees [10–11]. Coturnum: see 504–7.

  Legemque: on the law of genre, see Horace 2.1.

  Sophocleo … hiatu = with the voice of the great Athenian tragedian.

  Bacchamur = “to rage in the manner of a Bacchant.”

  Montibus ignotum Rutulis caeloque Latino: such poems (carmen), and by implication such crimes, were unknown in primitive Italy, a recollection of the poem’s opening invocation of the Golden Age. The Rutulians were the Italic people Aeneas’s Trojans defeated to found Rome.

  638–40. Pontia: a poisoner of her own children, mentioned by Martial. The scholiast claims she was Petronius’s daughter.

  Aconita: neuter plural antecedent of quae deprensa. See 1.158–9

  641. Understand necavisti.

  643–4. “I am recounting nothing contrary to what the tragedians say about Medea and Procne.” Colchide = the woman from Colchis, i.e., Medea. She killed her children to punish Jason for leaving her for a Corinthian princess.

  Torva = “fierce, savage.”

  Procne: killed her son Itys, after she discovered that her husband Tereus had raped her sister Philomela and cut her tongue out.

  644–6. “At least, they didn’t do it for money.” See 629.

  646–50. “There is less cause for amazement (admiratio) that these tragic heroines were driven over the edge by anger.” Minor … summis … monstris: another oxymoronic juxtaposition.

  Nocentes modifies hunc sexum. The sense here trumps the grammar, since the members of the female sex are by nature plural.

  Iecur: see Horace 1.9.66 and Persius 1.25.

  Ut saxa: the simile emphasizes the uncontrollable rage of yesterday’s heroines as opposed to the calculated greed of today’s harridans.

  Latus = the side of the mountain.

  652–4. Alcestim: Alcestis was the paragon of wifely devotion. When her husband, Admetus, was fated to die, she took his place (but was later restored to life by Hercules). When today’s wives, however, see her story played on the tragic stage, they are merely inspired to trade their husband’s life for that of their favorite puppy (catellae).

  655–6. “Husband killers today roam the street.” Belides = the granddaughters of Belus: i.e., the Danaids, forty-nine of whom killed their husbands.

  Eriphylae: Eriphyla convinced her husband to join the Seven Against Thebes in return for a gold necklace. He lost his life in the campaign.

  Clytemestram: Clytemestra, the daughter of Zeus and Leda. Her mortal father was Tyndareus. She slew Agamemnon on his return from Troy.

  657–61. “But where Clytemnestra did her work openly with an axe, her imitators use poison.” Refert = “it matters, makes a difference.” The e is long.

  Bipennem < bipennis, –is: “two-headed battle axe.”

  Insulsam et fatuam = “stupid and boorish,” unlike the means used today.

  Tenui = “slender,” as opposed to the massive axe, but also “elegant,” a term of praise in Callimachean poetics. Today’s poisoners are sophisticated artists as opposed to the boorish epic figures of yesteryear [38–9].

  Pulmone rubetae: see 1.69–72.

  660–1. “Nonetheless, even our latter-day Clytemnestras must sometimes use the sword (ferro), since our husbands, like king Mithridates, take precautions against poison.” Atrides = “the son of Atreus,” i.e., Agamemnon.

  Pontica … medicamina: Mithridates VI of Pontus (120–63 BCE) immunized himself to poison by consuming small quantities. He was thrice defeated by Roman armies (ter victi).

  9

  If Satire 6 is on women, Satire 9 focuses on masculine sexual degradation. As in 6, questions of gender and sexuality are inseparable from those of class. Satire 9 offers a scathing look at aristocratic sexual practices from the perspective of a service provider. It features vivid imagery, and its concern with the lower bodily stratum recalls Persius 4 [12].

  In Satire 9, normative social and sexual expectations are first undermined and then inverted again. This double inversion is a common rhetorical strategy in Juvenal (Miller 2001). One of its main effects is to reveal the arbitrary nature of Roman ideological norms, even as it stigmatizes deviations from them. This satire is as much a form of ironic self-reflection as a call for moral or political amelioration [33].

  Juvenal tells the gigolo, Naevolus, the only solution to his and his patron’s plight is to live rightly (vivendum recte, line 118). Yet not only does the satirist’s advice fall on deaf ears, it is far from clear what it could mean to someone in Naevolus’s position. Roman aristocratic culture placed very little premium on pulling yourself up by your boot-straps. Working for a living was simply beyond the pale for anyone with pretensions to being a gentleman (Courtney 1980: 425–6). How then does one live rightly when subjection and degradation relative to one’s superiors are the tools of advancement and yet also disqualif
y one from the very status that is sought?

  Satire 9, then, consists of an elaborately structured and interdependent web of ideological contradictions. First, Naevolus’s patron, Virro, is in the socially dominant position, yet he is an effeminate. Not only does he expect his cliens to penetrate him, rendering the patronus a submissive cinaedus, and hence within the Roman scale of values the dominated party (Foucault 1986; Richlin 1992; Parker 1997), but his cliens also has to father his children because he is impotent. These facts, however, are far from putting Naevolus in a position of de facto dominance relative to his patronus. Instead, he is forced to offer him gifts to maintain his position within the household. This represents a reversal of normal patron–client relations in which largesse, symbolized by the sportula, is provided by the economically and socially dominant patronus (1.95–126; Winkler 1983: 112).

  Second, Naevolus’s roles are doubly inverted as well. Not only is he a socially dependent sexual dominant, but he is also possessed of outsized economic ambitions. He seeks not self-sufficiency but a household of skilled craftsmen, as well as a small estate, in return for his own inestimable skills (Fredricks in Ramage et al. 1974: 155). He desires the life of an equestrian gentleman in return for services that are by nature slavish, inasmuch as he puts his body at the disposal of another (Walters 1997: 39–40).

  The satire is written in dialogue form [77] allowing both levels of the poem’s argument to unfold freely. Naevolus’s indictments of his patron’s greed and perversity—common themes in Juvenal—also reveal his own venality and lack of moral self-consciousness. The unflattering depiction is all the more persuasive because it is the product of Naevolus’s own words as he is egged on by his satiric interlocutor. Patrons and clients are, in this complex little masterpiece, both satirized and satirizing [32].

  1–24. The satirist sets the scene. “Why so grim Naevolus? You used to cut an elegant figure.”

  1–2. Marsya: see Horace 1.6.119–21.

  3–4. “Why does your face look like that of Ravola when he was caught rubbing the wet crotch (inguina) of Rhodope with his beard?” The name Ravola means “hoarse,” presumably a consequence of cunnilingus. All forms of oral gratification were considered demeaning to the party performing them. For a man to perform oral sex on a woman was doubly demeaning (Parker 1997). Juvenal wastes no time in establishing the tone of the satire and in associating sexual and social hierarchies.

  Rhodopes = Greek genitive, a prostitute’s name.

  5. In some editions, this line is printed in brackets. There is, however, no reason to believe it is an interpolation. As the scholiast notes, it seems to be an aside to the effect that a slave caught in a similar act would receive a cuff (colaphum).

  Lambenti < lambeo, –ere: “to lick.”

  Crustula < crustulum, –i: “a cookie.”

  6–8. We move from sexual to financial corruption. Crepereius Pollio = a notorious spendthrift whose credit is so bad he can’t find anyone to loan him money at three times the normal interest rate of 12%.

  9–11. “Once, content with little, you were a witty dinner companion.” Vernam equitem = an oxymoron. A verna, in its most basic sense, is a slave born in his master’s house, although metaphorically the word was sometimes extended to mean simply “native born.” An eques was a member of the second-ranking order in Roman society, just behind the senators. A verna eques is therefore someone who conflates two social categories. This, as was observed in the introductory note, is the essence of Naevolus. Thus Martial in 1.84 tells the story of Quirinalis who, when he wanted to have sons, suas ancillas futuit and so populated his estate with vernas equites. The more immediate point here is that Naevolus in the past was a witty scurra in demand on the dinner party circuit (see Horace 1.4.86–9 and 2.8.20–4).

  Salibus < sal, salis: “salt, wit.”

  Pomeria = the sacred boundary round the city of Rome.

  12–15. “But now you are unkempt.” Siccae = “Not pomaded” (Courtney 1980).

  Bruttia … calidi … fascia visci = “a band of hot pitch from Bruttium,” used as a depilatory. Bruttium was filled with pine forests.

  Fruticante < frutico, –are: “to become bushy,” a grand word for a low subject. The fact that Naevolus in his prime would depilate his shins is the first clear sign of his status as a sexual professional. See Persius 4.33–42.

  16–17. “Do you have the quartan fever?” See Persius 3.88–93. Macies = “leanness.”

  Domestica in this context = “chronic.”

  18–20. Juvenal paraphrases Lucilius 26.62, animo qui aegrotat, videmus corpore hunc signum dare. Deprendas = potential subjunctive, addressed to a generic “you,” not Naevolus.

  21. Propositum = “purpose.”

  22–6. “You used to be quite the lady’s man and quite the man’s lady.” The temples were popular sites for assignations. Note how Juvenal interweaves the traditionally feminine cults with figures of effeminate masculinity, thus underlining the bisexuality that is a central feature of this poem and the point of gender contradiction around which its competing social and ideological values turn. On these cults, see 6.487–90 and Ovid Ars Amatoria 1.75–88. Ganymedem: Ganymede was so beautiful that Zeus took him to be his cup-bearer. He represents the pederastic ideal. His statue was part of the temple of Peace erected by Vespasian at the end of the Jewish War.

  Advectae secreta Palatia matris = the Great Mother or Cybele. Her cult was brought from Phrygia in 204 BCE. Roman citizens were forbidden to join her castrated priests, the Galli. Her temple was on the Palatine and her public worship was relatively restrained. Private celebrations of her rites were more orgiastic and involved elements of the mystery religions. They were particularly attractive to women (Wiseman 1985: 200–6).

  Aufidio = Aufidius Chius, a noted jurist and adulterer from the time of Domitian.

  Inclinare = “to bend over” for anal penetration (Adams 1982: 192).

  27–90. Naevolus responds with a tirade against the meanness of his patron.

  28–31. “Occasionally we receive a cheap cloak and some second rate silver.” Pingues … lacernas: “thick” or “greasy cloaks” (Ferguson 1979). The lacerna was worn over the toga and hence was its protector (munimen). Gallic fabric was coarsely woven and of poor quality.

  Pectine = pecten, –inis: “comb, a weaver’s comb.”

  32–3. “We are ruled by our fates, which are found in our pants.” Sinus = the folds of the toga.

  33–7. An elaborate periphrasis for, “if you can’t perform, Virro no longer cares for you.” Si tibi sidera cessant: if, as lines 32–3 state, our fate is found in those parts that the folds of our togas hide, then for the stars (a figure of fate) not to be in our favor can only mean that we are impotent since as the next lines make clear the tool itself is phenomenal (mensura incognita).

  Nervi = “penis.”

  Spumanti … labello: from fellation. See Catullus 80.

  Virro = Naevolus’s patron and a noted miser, the subject of Satire 5. He is otherwise unknown.

  Blandae … tabellae = “love letters.”

  = a parody of the Homeric “steel draws the man,” a phrase that underlines the deep attraction of violence. Naevolus, however, says “the cinaedus draws the man” (Odyssey 16.294, 19.13). A cinaedus or “fanny shaker” is a man that desires to be penetrated and hence dominated by another man. Yet in this passage, he controls the other’s fate (note how sidera recalls the missing Homeric σíδηος [sideros] just after the discussion of fatum). Observe also how the cinaedus and the νδα (vir) are here implicitly contrasted as if they did not share a common gender. The middle/passive form of the Greek verb draws attention to the inversion of normative subject/object relations.

  38. A mollis avarus is a contradiction in terms. An effeminate in Roman sexual ideology was by definition one who lacked self-control. Profligacy, not avarice, was associated with mollitia (Edwards 1993: 175).

  40. Cevet: “Latin possessed two technical terms for types of sexual mo
tion (in both cases that of the passive partner) criso and ceveo. Criso indicated the motions of the female in intercourse […] Ceveo was used of the corresponding movements of the male pathic” (Adams 1982: 136).

  40–2. “Do the math, Virro, you’re getting a bargain.” Tabula = “abacus.”

  Sestertia quinque = “5,000 sesterces,” what Naevolus has received.

  43–6. This passage contains images of eating, excrement, and sexuality in a context which is rich with metaphors of the earth and agriculture, yet is completely sterile. Food (cenae) produces excrement that, far from representing a potential source of renewed fertility, serves only as an obstacle to a sexual activity that brings neither pleasure nor fruit to the speaker. Thus Ferguson (1979) observes that the “agricultural metaphor” of ploughing “is common of sex … but in agriculture … the plough looks forward to harvest.” Pronum = “inclined forward, easy.”

  Legitimum = “of proper size” (Courtney 1980).

  Foderit < fodio, –ere, fodi, fossum: “to dig up, plough through.”

  46–7. “You, Virro, thought of yourself as a sexy young Ganymede (as if I should pay you).” Dignum cyatho caeloque = “worthy of being a cupbearer in heaven,” hendiadys. See line 22.

  48–9. A parenthetical aside directed at those of Virro’s ilk. Adseculae < adsecula, –ae: “follower, servant,” masculine.

  Indulgebitis = “will show kindness to,” with both adseculae and cultori.

  Morbo: i.e., their “sick practices.” This is not a reference to homosexuality per se, but to Virro’s cinaedic desires. See Parker (1997) and Walters (1997).

  Dare = “to give something in return for,” here.

  50–3. “But you have to send him gifts on every women’s holiday!” Viridem umbellam: hardly traditional masculine fashion in Rome. The second person addressee here is generic.

  Sucina = scented balls of amber popular with women.

  Cathedra: see 1.63–8.

  53. Femineis … kalendis = March 1, the Matronalia. This is a golden line.

  54–5. “Tell me my pet, for whom are you saving your storied wealth?” The addressee is once more Virro. Passer was used as a term of endearment. The sparrow was Venus’s bird and had strong erotic connotations. See Sappho 1 and Catullus 2 and 3.