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)