JUVENAL.
The sources for Juvenal’s life are (1) his works; (2) an inscription found at Aquinum; (3) thirteen extant vitae; (4) information of the scholiasts; (5) references in Martial and other writers.
The inscription at Aquinum has been much debated; but it is safe to follow the opinion of Mommsen, whose experience in identifying people mentioned in inscriptions with historical characters depends upon a width of knowledge that no other person possesses. The vitae are all early mediaeval works, probably founded on a brief account of the poet’s life composed by some unknown ancient writer, and existing at the early Renaissance. The extant vitae contain a very few facts which appear to be derived from this source, together with a number of inferences gathered, often incorrectly, from Juvenal’s works. The most important statement is that regarding Juvenal’s birth, which is contained in the vita in the Codex Barberinus, 8, 18, discovered by J. Dürr. The date is given in such precise and accurate terms, and is in itself so probable as solving so many of the questions connected with the poet’s works, that to invent it requires an amount of knowledge with which we cannot credit the writer of this otherwise very poor account. The statements of the vitae must be carefully weighed, and accepted only when rendered probable by other considerations.[93]
Juvenal’s name is given in some of the MSS. as Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis. He was born A.D. 55.
Codex Barberinus, ‘Iunius Iuvenalis Aquinas Iunio Iuvenale patre, matre vero Septumuleia ex Aquinati municipio Claudio Nerone et L. Antistio consulibus natus est. Sororem habuit Septumuleiam, quae Fuscino nupsit.’
The statement about his sister and mother is very doubtful; that about Fuscinus is a bad inference from the fact that Sat. 14 (on the education of children) is addressed to him. The name Septumuleia may be invented from 14, 105, septima lux. Juvenal’s sister must have been called Iunia after her father; the naming of a girl after her mother was a mediaeval idea.
Juvenal was born at Aquinum, a town of the Volscians. Twelve of the vitae agree in this, and they are confirmed by the poet’s own words supposed to be addressed to him by his friend Umbricius: 3, 318-21,
‘Quotiens te
Roma tuo refici properantem reddet Aquino,
me quoque ad Helvinam Cererem vestramque Dianam
converte a Cumis.’
Cf. 6, 57,
‘agello cedo paterno.’
This is corroborated by the inscription found at Aquinum (C.I.L. x. 5382), which gives us other information about the poet:
cereRI · SACRVM
d . iuNIVS · IVVENALIS
trib COH·i·DELMATARVM
II · VIR · QVINQ · FLAMEN
DIVI · VESPASIANI
VOVIT · DEDICAVitqVE
SVA PEC
This inscription appears to have stood near the temple of Ceres Helvina or Elvina, dedicated by a member of the gens Elvia, references to which are found on inscriptions of the district.
The vitae say that Juvenal was the son of a freedman.[94] Cf. Vitae i. a, i. b, ii. c (Dürr): ‘libertini locupletis incertum filius an alumnus.’ Vita v. (Dürr), ‘ordinis ut fertur libertinorum.’ This story is due to a misapprehension of some of Juvenal’s references. 1, 99-102,
‘Iubet a praecone vocari
ipsos Troiugenas (nam vexant limen et ipsi
nobiscum): “da praetori, da deinde tribuno.”
Sed libertinus prior est.’
Libertinus here is not to be taken to mean that the entire set are freedmen.
As to 4, 98,
‘unde fit ut malim fraterculus esse gigantis,’
it gives no evidence whatever of Juvenal’s position. If it meant anything, it would rather imply that Juvenal was the son of a poor Italian and not of a foreign slave. So for 11, 145-6. His family was respectable, his means were fair, and he could afford to look down on upstarts in virtue both of his birth and of his property, although it is clear from his own works that he had in Rome the position of a rather humble dependent, who would be exposed to insult at the tables of the rich and powerful. Cf. 3, 318; 6, 57 (above); 12, 89, ‘laribus paternis’; 1, 24,
‘patricios omnes opibus cum provocet unus,
quo tondente gravis iuveni mihi barba sonabat.’
So 10, 225.
In vita iv. he is said to have attained equestrian rank. (Tribunician rank implied equestrian). This, on the whole, is confirmed by the inscription, and may be founded on the original vita.
Juvenal had a full course of education, first under the litterator and the grammaticus, then under the rhetor.[95] Cf. 1, 15,
‘Et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus, et nos
consilium dedimus Sullae, privatus ut altum
dormiret.’
This would imply a good position, and a certain command of money. Such patres libertini as Horace’s were very rare.
The inscription above quoted (divi Vespasiani shows that its date is after A.D. 79, and probably not long after) informs us that Juvenal was (1) ‘tribunus cohortis I. Delmatarum’[96]; (2) ‘duumvir quinquennalis’[97] and ‘flamen divi Vespasiani’ at Aquinum. The dates when Juvenal held these posts cannot be determined exactly; but we can infer certain points.
(1) There was a certus ordo honorum in municipal life, and Juvenal must have held the quaestorship and the aedileship before the duumviratus quinquennalis. The lower limit of entering on a municipal career was twenty-five, according to an order of Augustus, and people did not usually begin it much later; we may therefore conclude that these municipal posts were held by Juvenal somewhere between A.D. 80 and 90. The last year is approximately fixed by the way in which Martial in two of his epigrams (vii. 24 and 91) belonging to A.D. 91 or 92 speaks of Juvenal; the words show that the latter must have been established in Rome for some time.
(2) In ordinary course Juvenal would enter the army after the completion of his seventeenth year. The short time he took to arrive at the position of tribune, and the statement of vita iv. ‘cum ... ad dignitatem equestris ordinis pervenire sua virtute meruisset,’ make it probable that he entered the army as petitor militiae equestris, as a preliminary step towards entering on a political career.
The cohors Delmatarum I., which Juvenal commanded as tribune, was in Britain in A.D. 106, and in A.D. 124.[98] Probably it had been stationed there for a period of years, and it is likely that Juvenal filled his tribuneship there. Now, all the vitae inform us that Juvenal was banished under the pretext of a military command. While the other vitae give Egypt as the place of his banishment, vita iv. gives Scotland; and it seems highly probable that vita iv. has confused Juvenal’s regular military command in Britain, and his banishment, late in life, to Egypt. The words are:
‘[Tyrannus] sub honoris praetextu fecit eum praefectum militis contra Scotos, qui bellum contra Romanos moverant.’
This is supported by Juvenal’s references to Britain. Some of these, like his references to Egypt, seem, in contradistinction to most of his references to foreign parts, to imply personal knowledge and observation. They are as follows:
(1) 2, 159-161,
‘Arma quidem ultra
litora Iuvernae promovimus et modo captas
Orcadas ac minima contentos nocte Britannos.’
Here ‘Iuverna’ is the old name of Ireland, which is not mentioned even in Tacitus’ Agricola[99]; for the Orcades cf. Tac. Agr. 10; and the excessive shortness of the summer nights mentioned in the last clause is especially true of the north of Scotland.
(2) 10, 14,
‘Quanto delphinis balaena Britannica maior.’
This is also particularly applicable to the north of Scotland, whales being frequently seen off the Orkney and Shetland Islands.
(3) 4, 141,
‘Rutupinove edita fundo
ostrea.’
(4) 14, 196,
‘Castella Brigantum.’
(5) 15, 111,
‘Gallia causidicos docuit facunda Britannos,
de conducendo loquitur iam rhetore Thule.’
Cf. Tac. Agr. 21.
(6) 15, 124, ‘Brittones.’ This form is rarely found except in military inscriptions,[100] and could scarcely have been used except by one familiar with the camp in Britain.[101]
That Juvenal came to Rome about A.D. 90 has been shown above. This step he may have taken to forward his promotion in the army and afterwards in the procuratorial service. His failure in this direction may have led to his pessimism. His friendship with Martial (whom, however, he does not mention) is shown by Mart. vii. 24 (cf. vii. 91),
‘Cum Iuvenale meo quae me committere temptas,
quid non audebis, perfida lingua, loqui?’ etc.
That he was still in Rome in B.C. 101, and had the entrée of the atria of rich nobles is shown by Mart. xii. 18, written in that year.
‘Dum tu forsitan inquietus erras
clamosa, Iuvenalis, in Subura
aut collem dominae teris Dianae,
dura per limina te potentiorum
sudatrix toga ventilat vagumque
maior Caelius et minor fatigant,
me multos repetita post Decembres
accepit mea rusticumque fecit
auro Bilbilis et superba ferro.’
From this we see that he lived in the Subura, the plebeian quarter. Cf. 3, 5,
‘ego vel Prochytam praepono Suburae.’
While in Rome he still possessed his land at Aquinum and also a property at Tibur; 11, 65,
‘de Tiburtino veniet pinguissimus agro
haedulus.’
The statement of the vitae that Juvenal studied rhetoric till middle life is, as already stated, improbable, as being inconsistent with his military and municipal career; ‘facundus,’ applied to him by Mart. vii. 91, 1, does not mean ‘declaiming,’ but ‘poetical’ or ‘oratorical.’
Vitae i. a and b (and other seven) say, ‘ad mediam fere aetatem declamavit animi magis causa quam quod scholae se aut foro praepararet.’
Juvenal’s literary life.—In the MSS. the satires are divided into Books, and the division seems ancient. Book i. includes Sat. 1-5; Book ii. = Sat. 6; Book iii. = Sat. 7-9; Book iv. = Sat. 10-12; Book v. = Sat. 13-16.
Book i. was written under Trajan; certainly after A.D. 100, the date of the trial of Marius Priscus [102]; 1, 49,
‘exul ab octava Marius bibit et fruitur dis
iratis.’
Book ii. not earlier than A.D. 116. It is highly probable that 6, 407, ‘instantem regi Armenio Parthoque cometen,’ refers to a comet seen at Rome in November A.D. 115; and 6, 411, ‘nutare urbes, subsidere terras,’ to the earthquake at Antioch, 13th December, A.D. 115.
Book iii., probably about A.D. 120, was written under Hadrian, who is eulogized in 7, 1-35. Dürr thinks it probable that 7, 36-243, was written under Trajan, and that the introduction, in praise of Hadrian, was written afterwards. This is also Friedländer’s view; cf. l. 1, ‘Et spes et ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum,’ with Spart. vit. Hadr. 14, 8, ‘poematum studiosissimus.’ This also supports the view that the introduction was written not long after Hadrian’s accession, when a new era for poets was supposed to be beginning.
Book iv. was probably written about A.D. 125.
Book v. A clue to the date is found in 13, 16-7,
‘Stupet haec, qui iam post terga reliquit
sexaginta annos, Fonteio consule natus.’
Fonteius Capito and C. Iulius Rufus were consuls A.D. 67, in which year the sexagenarian friend whom Juvenal addresses was born. The date of writing will therefore be A.D. 127.[103]
Cf. also 15, 27, ‘nuper consule Iunco.’ Iuncus was consul A.D. 127, so that this satire could not have been written before A.D. 128. So 15, 44,
‘Horrida sane
Aegyptos, sed luxuria, quantum ipse notavi,
barbara famoso non cedit turba Canopo.’
Juvenal must have added these lines to the satire while he was an exile in Egypt, if he did not write the whole of it there. This is in accordance with what vita v. says, ‘in exilio ampliavit satyras.’ Supposing this passage to be an addition, we may conclude that Book v. was written about A.D. 128, but not before that year.
Juvenal’s banishment.—As before stated, all the vitae but one give Egypt as the place of Juvenal’s exile. The exact place, according to the scholiast on 1, 1 and 4, 38, was the Great Oasis (Hoasa: Hoasis). Three vitae (i. a, b, iii. c) state that he was at that time octogenarius. This would make the date A.D. 135 or 136. Most of the vitae give as the reason of his exile the fact that he wrote the lines,[104] 7, 90-2,
‘Quod non dant proceres dabit histrio. Tu Camerinos
et Baream, tu nobilium magna atria curas?
Praefectos Pelopea facit, Philomela tribunos.’
Now these lines, the first he ever wrote (vita iii. c) were composed in his youth as an epigram on Paris, Domitian’s favourite, probably about A.D. 81-3. The true story then is that, when Juvenal in A.D. 135 or 136 published a new edition of Sat. 7, he added these lines (vitae i. a, b, ‘ut ea quoque quae prima fecerat inferciret novis scriptis’).[105] Now it has been inferred from Spart. vit. Hadr. 23 sqq. that at this time an actor had great influence over Hadrian, and the lines were taken as referring to him. The emperor in a rage banished Juvenal to Egypt per honorem militiae, writing maliciously on his commission ‘Et te Philomela promovit’ (vita iv.). The banishment is assigned to the influence of Paris by Iohannes Malalas, p. 262 sqq. (Dindorf), and by Suidas. Cf. also Sat. 15, 44 sqq., already quoted, and Sidonius Apollinaris 9, 267 sqq.,
‘Non qui tempore Caesaris secundi
aeterno incoluit Tomos reatu:
non qui consimili deinde casu
ad volgi tenuem strepentis auram
irati fuit histrionis exul.’
Vita iii. b, ‘Tristitia et angore periit anno aetatis suae altero et octuagesimo.’
Vita v., ‘Decessit longo senio confectus exul Antonino Pio imperatore.’
If this last statement is correct, Juvenal died after reaching the age of eighty-two, as Antoninus came to the throne on 10th July, A.D. 138. It follows from this also that he must have been born in the second half of A.D. 55.
The Satires.—The following are the more important points regarding these:
(1) Juvenal’s reasons for writing satire are given in Sat. 1, ll. 1-14. He is wearied with tragedies and epics on mythological subjects, ‘Semper ego auditor tantum?’
He is resolved to follow in the footsteps of Lucilius; ll. 19-21,
‘Cur tamen hoc potius libeat decurrere campo,
per quem magnus equos Auruncae flexit alumnus,
si vacat ac placidi rationem admittitis, edam.’
His satire is due to indignation at the moral decay of the Roman world.
l. 30, ‘Difficile est satiram non scribere’ (cf. ll. 63, 79).
However, he does not intend to satirize the living, at least under their own names; and in fact he has in his mind particularly the times of Domitian, while most of his names are those of persons living under Claudius or Nero; l. 170,
‘Experiar quid concedatur in illos,
quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina.’
In the first nine Satires Juvenal’s bitterness is directed mainly against the senatorial class, possibly because they had given him no support in his office-seeking. Even his violent attack on women in Sat. 6 is launched chiefly against the women of the highest class. Note also the unjust way in which he speaks of the government of the provinces (Sat. 8, 87-139). Juvenal is very bitter against Greeks and Orientals, most of all against Egyptians (cf. Sat. 15, and his attacks on the Egyptian Crispinus in 4, 1-33, etc.). Cf. 3, 119-125, for his attacks on foreigners.
(2) He claims a wide scope for his subject; 1, 85,
‘Quidquid agunt homines, votum timor ira voluptas
gaudia discursus nostri farrago libelli est.’
(3) His pessimism is very marked; cf. 1, 147,
‘Nil erit ulterius, quod nostris moribus addat
posteritas; eadem facient cupientque minores,
omne in praecipiti vitium stetit. Utere velis,
totos pande sinus.’
So 12, 48-9. His pessimism leads to extravagant language like 6, 29 sqq. He is as hard on trifling foibles as on the most heinous offences. Cf. 6, 166 sqq., 185 sqq., 398 sqq., 434-56 (on learned ladies).
(4) His rhetorical learning and style (found in all the Satires, but particularly in the later ones) are shown by
(a) His metre and language. Thus we find rhetorical uses of ergo (3, 104; 281, etc.); nunc (3, 268; 10, 210); porro (3, 126; 11, 9); and of other particles.
(b) The way in which he chooses themes for his Satires, and subdivides them. Several of the Satires, as 5, 8, 10, 14, are theses, i.e. problems of a general character worked out in the manner of the rhetorical schools. Thus Sat. 5 discusses the question, ‘Is the position of a client worth having?’ Sat. 8, ‘Has high birth a value in itself?’ He sometimes uses the commonplaces of the schools, as 8, 56,
‘Animalia muta
quis generosa putet nisi fortia?’
So 8, 215-6. In the manner of a rhetorician he sometimes gives superabundant details. The best example of this is 10, 190-250, on the troubles of old age.
(c) His knowledge of mythology, history, law, and philosophy. This is found mostly in the later Books. In the earlier Satires he dealt more with life as he had known it. In the later Satires he has recourse to republican times and to foreign history. His historical examples Friedländer thinks he took mostly from Valerius Maximus. Juvenal’s knowledge of philosophy was very superficial, and was probably got from his rhetorical training. Errors occur; thus in 13, 121-2, Stoics and Cynics are looked upon as identical.[106]
(d) His high-flown language referred to above.
(e) His references to previous literature. Thus Horace is often referred to (cf. 7, 62 and 227); Virgil with great frequency (cf. 1, 162; 6, 434 sqq.; 7, 66 and 227; 7, 233 sqq.). Mayor mentions Homer, Herodotus, Plato, Lucilius, Cicero, Ovid, Manilius, Valerius Maximus, Seneca, Lucan, and Martial among the authors imitated by Juvenal.