(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.’