(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.