Transcript Juvenal: Satire 4

Juvenal: Satire 4
Crispinus (ln 1-27)
• Satire 1: “blob of Nilotic scum, bred in
Canopus...”
• Wholly immoral...and rich!
– Enjoys luxurious property in the middle of the
city
• Adulterer and sex criminal in general
• Ln 8: “a villain is never happy...”
Crispinus (ctd)
• Extravagant eating
– Buys a fish for an outrageous price (ln 24-25)
– Does not share the fish
• “Purple-clad clown of the royal palace” (ln. 31)
– Lit. scurra Palati
– Palatine Hill, site of the imperial palace
• Segue into a description of Domitian
– Similarities between Domitian and Crispinus
• Both are adulterous and gluttonous
Crispinus (ctd)
• Alleged affair with a Vestal Virgin
– Description of the Vestal’s punishment (ln 10)
– Is Crispinus punished?
Bridge Passage (ln 28-72)
• Domitian
• Giant Fish
• Delatores
Domitian’s Reign (ln 34-38)
• “last of the Flavian line” (ln 37)
– Vespasian Titus  Domitian
• “a bald-headed Nero” (ln 38)
– Nero and Domitian had similar reigns
• Damaged and subjugated world
Giant Fish (ln 39-46)
• Caught in Ancona
• Juvenal’s description
– Embellishment of the fish’s size
• Fisherman
– Brings the “monster” (monstrum) to the high
priest (pontifex maximus), i.e. the emperor (ln
45-46)
Informers-Delatores (ln 47-57)
• ln 46-52: dangers posed by
the delatores
• delatores, a.k.a inquisitores
•Spies or informers who
discovered or invented
conspiracies
•Obviously not always
truthful (ln 50-52)
Informers-Delatores (ctd)
• ln 48: “public inspectors of
seaweed, scattered over the
shore”
•Image of a desolate beach
full of snoops, looking
through rubbish
Domitian’s Council (ln 58-149)
• Fisherman rushes to Alba
– Site of Domitian’s villa
• Fish is admitted
– Senators look on in amazement; they are blocked out!
– Example of flattery by the fisherman
• Domitian’s chief advisory council is summoned
– Why? –ln 72
Domitian’s Council (ctd)
• Members of the Council
• Pegasus and Crispus (ln 78-93)
– Examples of wasted potential in advisors
– Pegasus: “Justice without her sword” ln 80-81
– Crispus’ old age
• Acilius Glabrio
– Forced to fight in the arena in Alba by Domitian, but is
successful
– Incurs the wrath of the emperor and is executed
Domitian’s Council (ctd)
• Montanus (the Stomach)
– Cf. “the...litter of Matho...filled with himself” –Satire 1
• Crispinus, again
– Perfume smells like a pair of “funerals” (funera)
• Veiento
– Flatterer and false prophet-figure (ln 123-129)
– Parody of taking the auspices
• Blind Catullus, not Catullus the poet!
– “no one was more amazed at the turbot. Facing left, he
praised it greatly...However, the creature was lying on
the right” (ln 119-120)
Domitian’s Council (ctd)
• Domitian’s only words in the satire: “So
what do you recommend? Cut in him
pieces?”
• Montanus has the final say
– Ln 131-135
Final Focus on Domitian
• Council is dismissed
– Ln 146-148: shows the triviality of the meeting and
apprehension Domitian causes
• “If only he had spent his entire reign on such silly
matters...”
– Domitian’s reign is cruel and bloody
– While the aristocracy is too cowed to stand up to the
emperor, the “workers” (cerdones) assassinate him
– Final image of the satire: “hands stained with blood of
the Lamiae” (ln 152)