A day in the life of
Juvenal.
And then many years later.
By Devon Kelly
I’ll tell you how Juvenal
became the father of a
thing called Satire.
Juvenal was born in
between the years of 5560AD in the town of
Aquinum, Italy. He died
around 127AD at the ages
67-72.
Bust of Domitian
He began his career in the
military under Domitian.
He had great hopes for
success followed by a
political career possibly
with a consulship.
Aquinum, Italy
Juvenal being masked and bequeathed a laurel.
His Failure in War and
Embitterment in Life
His career failed, and he
became cynical as a result
which would be seen in his IXVI Satires.
What Juvenal failed to be
He creates his first satire, this
satire declaring that court
favorites were more likely to
receive promotion.
He was then banished to a
small town of what was once
Syene and now is Aswan,
Egypt.
Modern day Aswan along the Nile
To add onto his banishment,
the government took his
property.
Dignitas and Cynicism in a
Parallel Growth
With more fuel to fill the fire
Juvenal begins on his Satires.
He writes 16 Satires all
pertaining to different
subjects. Some about
immigration, others about
corruption in law, and others
about promiscuity among
women.
Each satire covers a different
aspect of life in which Juvenal
felt was threatened or lost
because of society.
Satires 1,3, and 10.
1 pertains to how it is hard not to write a satire.
3 is about immigration
And lastly 10 is about how people pray to god
for the wrong things.
His Immediate Effect on
Rome
Immediately after his first
satire, he was banished. That
is one immediate effect.
A second was that people
became inspired to write
more Satire, namely Martial
who was greatly inspired by
Juvenal and spoke highly of
him.
A bust of Martial, the man who idolized Juvenal.
A third being people began to
question the quality of their
government.
His Long Lasting Effects
are now even longer!
Juvenal did not just leave a
short term effect on Rome.
Roman’s remembered his
Satires and looked at them to
see the problems that they
may have been blindly
accepting.
His writings gave
entertainment to the Roman
citizens for many years until
the fall of Rome in 476 AD.
A Roman Orator
A look back on his Effects
on Rome
Juvenal influenced the people
to not let the cruelty of the
emperor go unchecked.
He provided entertainment at
the cost of his citizenship
because he was banished
along with other writers.
He created a new form of
literature called Satire which
would then be utilized by
other Roman writers such as
Martial.
Juvenal in the Modern Day
Juvenal being born in 60AD
would now be 1952 years old,
it’d be incredible if his
skeleton was as in good of a
condition as the one in the
picture.
Many people like satiric
shows that would of never
been without Juvenal to begin
Satire in the first place.
US revolution may of never
happened without Juvenal’s
witty ways of criticizing the
government that can be seen
in revolutionary propaganda.
A favorite Satirst of many, John Colbert.
Juvenal’s current state
Authors of Satire
Alexander Pope was one of
the authors who took after
Juvenal in writing criticism of
government with satire.
Charles Dickens also took
slightly after Juvenal, but was
more like Martial in the way
that his writings were not as
severe.
Charles Dickens, a well known writer
Alexander Pope(He even has Juvenal’s nose!)
Many other writers were
influenced by Juvenal but the
previous two were very well
known for the satires.
Satire in current day
Culture
Satire can be seen in every form
of media whether from books, to
television and speeches to songs.
Satire is seen everywhere.
One previously noted satirist was
John Colbert who has a satirical
news show where he satirizes
politicians and current events.
Stephen Colbert, host of the Colbert Report
A movie example would be A
Clockwork Orange. The main
character satirizes the
government in how since he was
an experiment, rather than show
the cruelties performed on him,
he would be given monetary
benefits after their experiment
had failed
One of the cruelties suffered in A Clockwork Orange
Juvenal’s Effects
Summarized
Juvenal influenced the people
of Rome to not be oppressed by
their rulers.
Created Satire and entertained
the people.
Influenced writers such as
Charles Dickens, Alexander
Pope and many more.
Influenced the media and it’s
use of Satire in many different
mediums.
His greatest achievement was
his 16 Satires.