Latin Verse Satire

by Miller, Paul Allen

  21 Cicero Cael. 6 makes a distinction between accusatio and maledictio (cf. Austin a.l.). To Quintilian (12,9,8) mud-slinging is not the mark of a first-class orator (see Austin on 12,9,9). On the tradition of invectiva see R. G. M. Nisbet (ed.), Cicero in Pis. (Oxford, 1961), 192–7.

  22 E. J. Kenney, Lucretius, De Rerum Natura Bk 3 (Cambridge, 1971), intro. 17ff., discusses the possible influence of diatribe. C. Murley, T.A.Ph.A. 70 (1939), 380–95, provides interesting parallels but his conclusion that Lucretius may have a place in the history of satire is misleading. For Lucretius’ place in the poetic tradition of Empedocles see W. Kranz, Philologus 96 (1944), 68–107. On didactic poetry see Diomedes G.L.K. 1,482 and W. Kroll, RE., s.v. ‘Lehrgedicht’, 12,2,1842–57.

  23 F. J. E. Raby, A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages 11 (19572), 45–54, discusses knowledge of Juvenal in twelfth-century France, but his description of Speculum Stultorum as ‘a true satire in the Roman sense’ (98) is misleading.

  24 The thesis of a continuity is developed unconvincingly by C. Witke, Latin Satire. The Structure of Persuasion (Leiden, 1970); rev. Rudd, C. R. 23 (1973), 42–4. On the reference by Walter of Châtillon see Raby (n. 23 above), 197.

  25 The French poet and critic Boileau Despréaux published together with his ninth satire in 1666 a short discourse on satire that was confined to the Lucilian tradition.

  26 J. Dryden, ‘A Discourse concerning the Original and Progress of Satire’, Of Dramatic Poesy and Other Critical Essays, ed. G. Watson, vol. II (London, New York, 1962), 71–155.

  27 See Rudd 258–73.

  28 Diomedes G.L.K.. 1,485 (= C.G.F. (Kaibel) 55f.).

  29 The author of this article on satire in the standard 11th edn. of the Enc. Brit. is Richard Garnett; the definition is rightly retained in the 1973 edn. of Enc. Brit.

  30 This denial is a passing weakness in Matthew Hodgart’s useful general study of the principles and practice of satire, Satire (London, 1969), 31; note by contrast his sound formulation of the principles of the classical tradition of formal satire (ch. 5 esp. 132). Hodgart also believes that good satire possesses ‘no single fixed style; it works by comparisons and contrasts’ (63). This view of the fluid style of satire is in part endorsed by Horace (Sat. 1,10,11–15), but the ancient satirist also recognized the limits beyond which he should not proceed.

  Notes to chapter 2 (Origins)

  1 The manuscript tradition of the satirists and grammarians is confused on the point of orthography, but the spelling satura is found in such good manuscripts as the Montepessulanus (P) of Juvenal. For a thorough discussion of the orthographical problem see F. Marx (ed.), C. Lucilii Carminum Reliquiae (Leipzig, 1904 and 1905), I ixf.; see also Leo’s critical note in C.G.F. (Kaibel) 55 and G. A. Gerhard, Philologus 75 (1918), 247. See also the discussion by C. A. Van Rooy, Studies in Classical Satire and Related Literary Theory (Leiden, 1965), 155ff. (see also index, 223). Van Rooy’s book, notwithstanding the reservations expressed in C.R. 16 (1966), 72ff., is a very useful contribution to many of the problems discussed in this chapter; see rev., by F. Robertson, C.Ph. 61 (1966), 214–16.

  2 adventicia with cena Suet. Vit. 13,2, with the noun to be supplied Petr. 90,5; adventoria (cena) Mart. Praef. 12.

  3 Carm. Lat. Epigr. I (Bü); cf. Schanz-Hosius 14 19.

  4 Plaut. Poen. 6–8; Am. 667f.

  5 Sen. N.Q. 1,5,12 (of purple dye); Pers. 1,71 (of rus, the countryside); Cic. Orat. 123 (oratio).

  6 Diomedes I 485 G.L.K.

  7 Isidore Orig. 5,16 and 8,7,7; Fest. 417 L (315 M); the presence of another quotation to illustrate lex satura at Festus 416 L (314 M) does not invalidate the point even though this passage of Festus draws on Verrius Flaccus, for it too derives from Varro; see Leo, Gött. gel. Anz. (1906), 859 (= Ausgew. kl. Schr. 1,245). The one independent comment of importance is that of Isidore (20,1,8): satietas ex uno cibo dici potest, pro eo quod satis est; saturitas autem a satura nomen accepit, quod est vario alimentorum adparatu compositum. Isidore explicitly makes the distinction between a ‘satiety that is caused by one kind of food and taking its name from sufficiency and a repletion that takes its name from satura, that is something obtained from a varied provision of things to eat’. To Isidore satura contains the notion of the variegated and of a miscellany.

  8 Pseudacron on praef. in serm. lib. I (= test. V d) Marx).

  9 See C. O. Brink, ‘Horace and Varro’, Entr. Fond. Hardt 9 (1963), 193.

  10 For Varro’s discussion of Ennius in de Poetis see Gell. 17,21,42f.

  11 Wine as the source of the satyrs’ hilarity is emphasized by Pseudacron and Isid. Orig. 8,7,7.

  12 This objection has been made by many scholars, e.g. Knoche 9.

  13 Diomedes G.L.K. I 490.

  14 Arist. Poet. 1449a22; cf. 1449a20; also τò Xen. Symp. 4,19; for σάτυοι in the sense of ‘a satyr play’ see Ar. Thesm. 157, Hor. AP. 235 and Brink a.l. To this may be added Weinreich’s point, xxiii, that actors of satyr plays are never called saturi in Latin but ludiones or histriones, noting the gloss ludio: σατυιστς (C. Gl.L. II 430,2).

  15 lanx also in Isid. 8,7,7 (= Marx testimonia VII) and Pseudacron, loc. cit. (n. 8 above).

  16 Plaut. Aul. 354f.

  17 On offerings to Ceres see Ovid Fast. 2,520; Cato Agr. 134.

  18 Offerings to Pales Ov. Fast. 4,743ff., on which see W. Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals (London, 1899), 81 n. 5; first fruits of the kitchen garden to the Lares, Calp. Sic. 2,64f.; bean meal with lard was offered to Carna at the time of the bean harvest (Macr. Sat. 1,12,33 and Warde Fowler, 130).

  19 Farcimen as stuffing or sausage meat, Isid. Orig. 20,2,28, as a sausage Gell. 16,7,11.

  20 Varro L.L. 5,111. On the species mentioned there see the lucid note by J. Collart, Varron, de Lingua Latina Livre V (Paris, 1954), a.l.

  21 Knoche 10.

  22 Apic. 2,5,3 for a sausage stuffing (= B. Flower and E. Rosenbaum, Apicius. The Roman Cookery Book (London, 1958), recipe 59). Pine kernels and honey in a white sauce served with goose (Apic. 6,5,5 = Fl. & Ros. 231); spelt–grits and pine kernels in a chicken stuffing (6,8,14 = Fl. & Ros. 253).

  23 hordeum with shoulder of pork (Apicius 7,9,3 = Fl. & Ros. 295). On polenta as an item in the simple life Sen. Epp. 110,18; see Schol. Juv. 11,20 (miscellanea), Pliny N.H. 18,72, Prop. 4,8,25 on food for gladiators; barley as food for pigs, Varro, R.R. 2,4,6, and as food to fatten stallions, Col. 6,27,8 and K. D. White, Roman Farming (London, 1970), 292.

  24 See e.g. Virgil Georg. 3,205, Varro R.R. 1,31,5, Pliny N.H. 18,142.

  25 Compare Horace’s metaphor liber nutritus (Epp. 1,20,1–5). As well as referring to literary history farrago is self-depreciatory an attitude sustained by the diminutive libelli.

  26 E.g. Knoche 10, and Weinreich xi. One may compare the development of the word farce from Latin farcire, to stuff, by way of the mediaeval usage of the stuffing for a bird and also of an impromptu amplification of the text of the Mass and of a play (farsa) to the modern meaning of a dramatic work intended solely to excite ribald laughter.

  27 For patina as a cake see Apic. 4,2. It may be noted in passing that Tertullian’s list of miscellaneous and anthology works includes the title Acci Patinam, but nothing can be safely inferred from it.

  28 On the poem of Meleager see Gow and Page, The Greek Anthology, Hellenistic Epigrams (Cambridge, 1965), on 4398–407. They refer to A.P. 12,44,3 (= 1813 G–P) for another example of λοπάς in the sense of the contents of the platter. Gow-Page, intro. xvi, assign the compilation of the ‘Garland’ of Meleager to the early part of the 1st C. B.C. Hirzel, Der Dialog I 440 n. 4 points to Meleager’s knowledge of Latin and of Roman customs in the reference at A.P. 12,95,10 to lanx satura.

  29 On Posidippus’ see Schol. Il. 11,101 (a comment of Aristarchus), W. Peek, R.E. s.v. ‘Poseidippos’, 22,1 (1953), 431–9, and H. Lloyd-Jones, J.R.S. 83 (1963), 75–99.

  30 On see ατíαι of Democritus (D.K.V. 11,91,15), ατíαι with a diversity of subjects, of Aristoxenus frg 124 Wehr
li. Colourful Greek titles such as are listed by Pliny N.H. Praef. 24, e.g. ’Aμαλθεíας, λειμν, should be used with caution as parallels for satura. For some at least of these were commonplace books of excerpts from other authors with or without annotation by the compiler. On the process of compilation see Cic. Att. 2,20,6 and Gell. praef. 2.

  31 For a postulated connection between Demeter and the ∑ωóς see the argument of Lasserre, Rh.M. 102 (1959), 222ff., based on an allegorical interpretation of Theocr. 7,155.

  32 The possible influence of the Soros on Ennius’ saturae, as suggested by the author, Röm. Sat. 417, is favoured by J. H. Waszink, ‘Ennius’, Entr. Fond. Hardt 17 (1972), 105.

  33 On satura and saturae see W. Kroll, R.E. s.v. ‘satura’ 2,2 (1921), 192–200.

  34 A speech against Tiberius Gracchus by T. Annius Luscus in 133 B.C. (O.R.F. 106 = Festus p. 416 L), also C. Laelius Sapiens, pro se ad populum, after 145 B.C. (ib. p. 119f. = Festus p. 416 L = 314 M). See Marx on Lucil. 48, and Ullman, C.Ph. 8 (1913), 177ff.

  35 By the Lex Caecilia Didia (Cic. Dom. 53): see Rotondi, Leges Publicae P.R. (Milan, 1912), 335.

  36 Amm. Marc. 16,6,3; Lact. 1,21,13 includes no qualifying word: Pescennius Festus (late 2nd C. A.D.) is said to have written libri historiarum per saturam (= Marx, test. xxix).

  37 The relevance to satura of E. Lattes’ equation of satir- and ‘speaking’ (see Lattes, Bull. Soc. Ling. 30 (1930), 82ff.) was first pointed out by P. Meriggi, Stud, Etrusc. 11 (1937), 196f. and n. 177 and was amplified by B. Snell, S.I.F.C. 17 (1940), 215. On sátena = dictus see E. Vetter, Glotta 28 (1940), 157 and 217.

  38 Salutary scepticism on too wide an acceptance of Etruscan loan words in Latin is expressed by O. J. L. Szemerényi, Hermes 103 (1975), 300ff.; see also A. D. Momigliano J.R.S. 53 (1963), 98. The Etruscan derivation of satura is considered as no more than a hypothesis by Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (19543), s.v. satura, but accepted without discussion by L. R. Palmer, The Latin Language (London, 1954), 48.

  39 Ister is often accepted as one of the most certain Etruscan loan words in Latin, but Szemerényi, loc. cit. (n. 38), 314–16 considers it to be of Greek origin by way of Etruscan.

  40 The phrase impletas modis saturas is probably a piece of etymologizing on the basis of satura meaning something filled full; compare the other etymologies in this passage: in addition to histrio from ister, fabula and argumentum from fari and arguo; see Quint. 5,10,9 and B. L. Ullman, C.Ph. 9 (1914), 7–8.

  41 For the phrase ad manum see Liv. 9,19,6: ad manum domi supplementum esset; and Pliny N.H. 35,97: ad manum intuenti; cf. Ov. Fast. 3,536. The separation of voice and gesture is confirmed by Cic. de Or. 1,254 and Leg. 1,11.

  42 On exodia see G. Duckworth, The Nature of Roman Comedy (Princeton, 1952), 6 and F. Skutsch, R.E. s.v. exodia 6,2 (1909), 1686–9; on Atellans see Duckworth, 10–13; and for Atellanicum exodium see e.g. Suet. Tib. 45.

  43 On the stages of Livy’s account see Leo, Hermes 39 (1904), 67ff. and Weinreich, Hermes 51 (1916), 392ff.

  44 Val. Max. 2,4,4: paulatim deinde ludicra ars ad saturarum modos perrepsit. On this passage see Weinreich, loc. cit. (n. 43 above) 404–7.

  45 For the first view see e.g. G. Duckworth, op. cit. (n. 42 above) 10. Ullman’s advocacy of a dramatic satura is fully documented and also moderate: ‘The present status of the satura question’, N. Carolina St. Class. Phil. 17 (1920), 379–401 (= Korzeniewski 1–30). See also J. H. Waszink, Entr. Fond. Hardt 17 (1972), 108ff., who refers to H. D. Jocelyn, The Tragedies of Ennius (Cambridge, 1969), 13.

  46 See Weinreich, loc. cit. (n. 43) 389. It is clear from Cato (frg 77P = Gell. 2,28,6) that such an occurrence as a plague would have been mentioned in the pontifical annals. Livy states (6,1,1–3) that the records for the years after the sack of Rome by the Gauls (387 B.C.) were more reliable. According to Cicero, de Or. 2,52, these annals recorded res omnes singulorum annorum; the introduction of dances from Etruria may have been included. On the annales see J. E. A. Crake, C.Ph. 35 (1940), 375–86, and J. P. V. D. Balsdon, C.Q. 3 (1953), 158–64. On sending to Etruria see Liv. 27,37,6 and Tac. Ann. 14,21.

  47 On Fescennines at a harvest festival, Hor. Epp. 2,1,139ff., at a wedding, Cat. 61,120 (and Fordyce, a.l.); see also Marx, Rh.M. 78 (1929), 398–426.

  48 The date 240 B.C. is given by Atticus and, as a result of research in antiquis commentariis, by Cicero, Brut. 72, who also refers to it at Tusc. 1,3 and Sen. 50; it seems to have had the confirmation of Varro (Gell. 17,21,42f.; see H. Dahlmann, Entr. Fond. Hardt 9 (1963), 13; Accius gave 197 B.C. as the year of Livius’ first production, a dating which makes nonsense of Latin literary historian and was rightly contradicted by Cic. Brut. 72; it has however been revived by H. B. Mattingly, C.Q. 7 (1957), 159–63.

  49 See Festus 446 L (333 M): is (i.e. Livius) et scribebat fabulas et agebat; cf. E. Fraenkel, R.E. Supplbd 5 (1931) s.v. ‘Livius’, 601.

  50 Suet. Gramm. 1: nihil amplius quam Graecos interpretabantur (i.e. Livius et Ennius); see also Diomedes G.L.K. I 489. The transmitted titles of Livius’ tragedies are on Greek subjects; the comic title Gladiolus (frg 1R 3) is based on New Comedy; cf. Menander ’Eγχειíδιον’ (136–141 Kö. 2) and 128–30 Austin.

  51 O. Jahn, Hermes 2 (1867), 225–51 believed that the apparent chronological sequence was a schematic construction. His view was amplified by Leo, Hermes 24 (1889), 67–84 (= Ausgew. kl. Schr. I 283–300), and by G. L. Hendrickson, A.J.Ph. 15 (1894), 1–30.

  52 Hendrickson, A.J.Ph. 19 (1898), 309 argues that the form of Livy’s description comes from the same source as the schematic words of the tractatus Coislinianus, a Peripatetic treatise of unknown authorship and date, on which see C.G.F. (Kaibel), 50–3 and D’Alton 361. On the close parallel between Arist. Poet. 1449b7ff. and Livy’s words see Hendrickson, A.J.Ph. 15 (1894), 7ff. Similiarly in artem paulatim verterat suggests the way of thought of (Poet. 1449a20). For another example of an account of the growth and degeneracy of literature (and the other arts) see Vell. Pat. 1,16,3–1,17.

  53 On Crates, who visited Rome c. 168 B.C., see Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship (Oxford, 1968), 235–45; for his writings on comedy, 242. His literary influence is described by Suet. Gramm. 2.

  54 There was a censorious element in the Hellenistic satyr play e.g. in the Menedemus of Lycophron (Athen. 2,55c). On the development of the satyr play in Hellenistic times see Gerhard, Philologus 75 (1918), 250–60.

  55 Roman theory saw a connection between satyr drama and Atellana: Porphyrio on Hor. A.P. 221: satyrica coeperunt scribere ut Pomponius Atalanten etc.; Diomedes G.L.K. I 489, 32–490, 18. See also the Greek term for Atellana, Nicolaus of Damascus ap. Athen. 6,261C, and Leo, Hermes 49 (1914), 164 n. 1 and 169ff. (= Ausgew. kl. Schr. 1 252 n. 1 and 257ff.).

  56 Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 7,71,1 also refers to Fabius Pictor. Boyance, R.E.A. 34 (1932), 11–25, sees the origin of a dramatic satura in such a dance of satyrs, a view which is refuted by Weinreich xxiii. It is none the less possible that some informal quasi-dramatic pieces were enacted in Rome in early times, but we have no knowledge of their name or nature.

  57 On Livy’s patriotism see Praef. and P. G. Walsh, Livy (Cambridge, 1961), 144f.; also Ogilvie, Commentary on Livy Bks 1–5, pp. 140ff. and 255.

  58 For the feeling of Rome’s moral degeneracy see Liv. Praef. and P. G. Walsh, op. cit. (n. 57 above) 67f.

  59 E.g. Weinreich, Hermes 51 (1916), 410 regards Varro as a probable source. For Varro’s patriotism see also C. O. Brink, ‘Horace and Varro’, Entr. Fond. Hardt 9 (1963), 182; for his belief in degeneracy see further his Menippeans passim.

  60 To Cicero, Brutus 60, Varro is diligentissimus investigator antiquitatis. Leo, Hermes 24 (1889), 79 (= Ausgew. kl. Schr. I 295) believed Varro to be the source, but later, Hermes 39 (1904), 67, under the influence of Hendrickson, A.J.Ph. 19 (1898), 288, who argued for Accius as Livy’s immediate source and Pergamene writers as the remoter source, modified his opinion and advocated an unknown source earlier than Varro. On Aeli
us Stilo see Gramm. Rom. Fragm. (Fun.), pp. 51–76 and Schanz-Hosius I 232ff.

  61 Pomponius, Satura: Frassinetti, Fabularum Atell. Fragmenta (Turin, 1935), pp. 40f.; frg II is a description of a treacherous and truculent woman. See also Pomponius, Dotata (Fras. p. 11). On the meaning of satura in play titles see Ullman, C.Ph. 9 (1914), 22f. For other unseemly Atellan titles see Pomponius, Prostibulum (Fras. pp. 36–8); Hirnea Pappi (Fras. p. 14).

  62 Naevius in Satyra (frg. poet. Lat. p. 28 Morel), quoted by Festus 306 L (237 M). For contrasting views of the line see Weinreich xviif. and E. Fraenkel, R.E. Supplbd. 6, s.v. ‘Naevius’, 640,46.

  63 Older scholars such as Birt saw the influence of dramatic satura at Plaut. Stichus 68 3ff. But it may now be assumed on the evidence of Menander’s Dyskolos that the dances in the Stichus were probably from the Greek original. Support for Livy’s account is sometimes sought in Horace’s description of the development of Roman drama (Epp. 2,1,139–60); see Ullman, T.A.Ph.A. 48 (1917), 111–32. But for a full analysis of the important differences between the two accounts see Leo, Hermes 39 (1904), 67ff. and also Rudd, Phoenix 14 (1960), 36–44. Plautus probably also drew on the knowledge of solo performances among Greek Tεχνται, see E. Fraenkel, Elementi Plautini in Plauto (Florence, 1960), 323, 349 and 439 n.;T. B. L. Webster, Hellenistic Poetry and Art (London, 1964), 267ff.

  64 F. Muller, Philologus 78 (1923), 269ff. On the word Saturnus see Walde-Hofmann, (op. cit. n. 38) s.v. and for the Etruscan origin of Saturnus see K. Latte, Römische Religionsgeschichte (Munich, 1960), 137.

  65 K. Kerényi, Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni 9 (1933), 129–56 (= Korzeniewski 83–111).

  66 F. Altheim, Satura tota nostra est, Epochen der römischen Geschichte 11 (Frankfurt, 1935), 245–71; see also Altheim’s later study, Satura, Gesch. d. lat. Sprache (Frankfurt, 1951), 346–65 (= Korzeniewski 112–36).

  67 On the rituals of Ceres see H. Le Bonniec, Le culte de Cérès à Rome (Paris, 1958), and on the Horace scholiast see n. 8 above.