The Form and Purpose of Juvenal's Seventh "Satire"

THIS study of Satire 7 is intended to be another step in an attempt to understand and explain the structure of Juvenal's Satires and the varied techniques which were employed by the poet to secure cohesion in them. For, despite the many extravagant statements of the past, it may now be demonstrated that Juvenal was too great an artist and too well versed in the best techniques of rhetoric to allow his subject to get out of hand.' It is unthinkable that Satires 4 and 7, for example, ale the result of patchwork by the author. In previous studies the present authors, either jointly or individually, have set forth their preliminary views on several Satires.2 We now turn our attention to Seven. This is similar to Satire 4 in several respects. There are two distinct parts to each, so distinct, in fact, that many critics have denied their belonging to the same poem. Each is concerned intimately with an emperor. Finally, and perhaps most important, critics have misunderstood the form and purpose of each poem. The opinions of scholars on the various problems of Satire 7 may be summarized briefly: (1) The poem is dedicated to an emperor, probably Hadrian, on or shortly after his accession to the throne.3 (2) Verses 1-35 have at best only a tenuous connection with 36ff.4 (3) Verses 88-90, the lines which are said to have been the immediate cause of Juvenal's exile, have no place in a poem which is dedicated to an emperor.5 The last supposition is the only correct one, and it ought to have led critics to the truth long before this namely, verses 88-90 cannot forin part of a poem -which is dedicated to an emperor. Since, moreover, the tradition for the validity of the lines is persistent,6 should we not reconsider the first supposition, that the poem is a dedication ? A re-examination of verses 1-35 suggests the following propositions: the poem is not a dedication to any emperor; it is rather an attack, and a bitter one at that; nior is it addressed to a new emperor; nor is the emperor Hadrian, but our old friend Domitian. Indication that the emperor is not newly enthroned can be demonstrated by an examination of verses 1-7: