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.’