Theatre, Spectacle, and the Satirist in Juvenal

Author(s): Catherine Clare Keane

Source: Phoenix , Autumn - Winter, 2003, Vol. 57, No. 3/4 (Autumn - Winter, 2003), pp.
257-275
Published by: Classical Association of Canada

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3648516

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 THEATRE, SPECTACLE, AND THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL

CATHERINE CLARE KEANE

BESIDES HIS FAMOUS POSTURE OF INDIGNATIO, Juvenal's most notable contri-

bution to the genre of Roman satire is colorful, sustained narrative of human
activities. In Horace and Persius, stories and tableaux are relatively brief and
ancillary to dialogues and monologues, but Juvenal takes us with ceremony to the
streets of Rome, to the homes of the great, and even to foreign parts, to show us
what he is attacking. At 1.63-64 Juvenal encourages us to think of him standing
on a street-corner, watching the depraved world go by, and scribbling furiously.
Even his more focused accounts of specific events or lists of exempla, such as the
council on Domitian's big fish (Satire 4), the parade of foolish human prayers
(10), and the cannibalistic battle in Egypt (15), showcase theatrical narrative and
tableau description more than the satire of his predecessors does. As the survey
of Schmitz (2000: 20-34) indicates, Juvenal's emphasis on the visual suggests the
influence of theatre and spectacle.
The satirists who preceded Juvenal cultivated a programmatic connection with
literary drama, especially comic drama. Horace situates his Sermones in the comic
family tree (1.4);1 Persius invokes Horace's claim that satire is related to Old
Comedy (1.123-124), and also figures his authorial role as speech-writing (1.44).
Similarly, Juvenal likens his satire to drama, broadly construed, when he refers
to one subject as a character whom he must often summon "to play his part"
(Crispinus. . . est mihi saepe vocandus adpartes, 4.1-2). He also explicitly compares
human affairs to theatre and games (14.256-257, 262-264):

monstro voluptatem egregiam, cui nulla theatra,

nulla aequare queas praetoris pulpita lauti...
... ergo omnia Florae
et Cereris licet et Cybeles aulaea relinquas:
tanto maiores humana negotia ludi.

I show you an extraordinary passion, with which you could equate

no theatres, no stages of a rich praetor ...
... Thus you can leave behind
all the games of Flora and Ceres and the stage-shows of Cybele;
human affairs make such superior games.

I would like to thank the Editor and the anonymous readers of Phoenix for their valuable suggestions
on the presentation of this argument. The attention that Clare Keane and my colleague Ryan Balot
generously gave helped to improve this paper. An early version was presented to the University of
Pennsylvania Department of Classical Studies in November 2002; the discussion on that occasion was
fruitful, and I am indebted to all who attended.
1 The most recent discussion of Horace's engagement with Old and New Comedy is Cucchiarelli
2001: 15-55; cf. Leach 1971.

257
PHOENIX, VOL. 57 (2003) 3-4.

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258 PHOENIX

With this broad compa

include races, gladiatori
category of "drama" tha
of Horace and Persius h
drama, Juvenal expands
broad range of entertai
applicability of the thea
that Juvenal also explor
of all kinds. The satirist
not simply by imitating
his own picture of the c
Juvenal's narratives th
supposedly perverse asp
impact on Roman cultu
known programmatic
reading of these three pa
generic experiments as
the dramatic experimen
a self-critical position m
argued that this is Roma
their failures and limita
Lucilius demonstrate th
all. It is also useful to re
exercise in belated and de
work-in both historic
that enables his satire.
relationship between de
theatre" described in pr
and narrative, construct
images are designed to in

I. THE PERVERSIONS OF PERFORMANCE

Juvenal makes frequent reference to theatre and spectacle,

vative moral attitudes that Edwards has argued are typical o
the Republic and Empire (1993: 98-136; cf. Parker 1999:
theatre, spectacles, and games played a vital role in Roman p
they also engaged some of the deepest anxieties of moralists.
Juvenal both recognizes the political and social functions of t
races, and condemns those who engage in performance as sham
An analysis of the attitudes commonly expressed, and a surve

2 Cucchiarelli (2001: 204-217) analyzes Juvenal's development of programm

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 THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL 259

passages that illustrate them, will illuminate my subsequent re

programmatic material.
The wide appeal of theatre and ludi throughout Roman h
institutions useful political tools. Magistrates and emperors
took credit for their success, and used these occasions to "
observe the sentiments of the people and to hold audience w
division between people and rulers was underscored by seati
on status, which must have created a striking visual represe
social hierarchy.4 As Pompey and Caesar did in the late Re
adopted the practice of wearing crowns and triumphal dre
the shows themselves were backdrops for the real politica
display in the stands: the elaborate, color-coded presentatio
society, and the self-defining communication, from the off
that took place within that arrangement.6 Every member o
perform his or her social identity just by sitting in a particul
certain attire.

The same popularity that made such entertainments usefu

emperors also makes them excellent material for satire. In Juv
theatre, amphitheatre, and circus witness the telling behav
from the gossiping plebs through self-important nouveax
women who lust after pantomime actors. While Horace's c
of gossip-exchange are doctors'-offices and barber-shops (
are larger, more socially organized gathering-places: banqu
and theatres (omnis / convictus thermae stationes, omne th
people gather here to share gossip, so too Juvenal com
show us examples of vice. At the theatre, the rich sons of
gladiators, and trainers loudly demand the front seats reser
pushing the poor away (3.153-158). In his sixth Satire, again
the first place that Juvenal looks in order to reveal the c
the theatre seats (spectacula). In a scene ironically reminisce
1.41-228, the satirist asks what woman his addressee might
62) from the seats, when their behavior there is so lascivi
satire seems only to require observation of these gatherin

3 General: Hopkins 1983: 14-20; theatre in the Republic: Riipke 2000: 41

period: Millar 1977: 368-375; Parker 1999: 166-167; Bartsch 1994: 1-35;
40rigins of these arrangements: Val. Max. 2.4.3, 4.5.1; Cic. Har. R
Observation of the laws under the Principate: Tac. Ann. 13.54; Suet. Au
126. Distinguishing clothing worn by different tiers of the audience: Plaut
44; Mart. 5.23; Calp. Ed. 7.23-29. Juvenal (3.172-179) points out that in
these distinctions are less visible.
5Pompey: Vell. Pat. 2.40.4; Dio Cass. 37.21.4; Caesar: Suet. lul. 76;
Augustus: Dio Cass. 51.19.2.
6 Parker 1999: 163: "The theater ... provided a specific place and time fo
society to be played out, with a full cast of characters, to a complete and r

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260 PHOENIX

distance, at his country

urban scene: "Today all
circus capit, 197). The c
Rome itself-and so ofJ
Audiences are not the o
much of interest to Ju
held an ambiguous posit
imply that acting is a m
and point out that whil
mimesis, Roman cultur
One tradition attributes
in 390 B.C.E., during wh
gods.8 early Roman The
performances a novelty,
prided itself on resistin
and permanent theatres
agenda: Edwards (1993:
to Rome is a by-product
Actors, though some w
the effects of this distr
perfumers did (Cic. Off
as practitioners of an "
Presumably as a result o
that grouped them with
occasional mass banishm
and from entering the ar
Juvenal exploits the neg
of their perversity is Um
of Satire 3. A self-descr
resents the city's East
out, either act professi
social relations. Umbric
he suggests that their p
(93-97). In social life, ef
monopolize and flatter w
and able to praise bad s

7 For example, Cic. Rep. 4.1

8Livy 7.2; Val. Max. 2.4.4; c
theatre, see Rawson 1991: 46
9Val. Max. 2.4.2, 6; Tac. An
10Legal disabilities: Dig. 48
Banishments of actors from R
11Cic. Rep. 4.10; Livy 7.2.12

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 THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL 261

(86-93, 100-112).12 For Greeks especially, the practice of

naturally: "Their whole race is a comedy" (natio comoeda e
an enormous aid to immigrants; the Greeks' ability to tr
embodied in their hero Daedalus, the Athenian native exile
wings to flee abroad (79-80).
For honest native Romans, mimesis poses a threat. True
pure and guileless as the air that they breathe and the food
drank in the air of the Aventine and was nourished on t
olive]" (nostra infantia caelum / hausit Aventini baca nut
as Umbricius indicates, Romans have also proved impress
behaviors and fads of the immigrant population. Now ev
slippers and perfume (67-68) and all Romans struggle to p
you see splendor of dress beyond people's means" (hic ult
180). And as other characters in Juvenal demonstrate, hyp
well: it is the weapon of the moralistic pathics of Satire 2 a
of Satire 9. The "spectacle of pathics" of Satire 2 dramati
satiric procedure of identifying and parading deviance in a
gratifies and entertains the community (Walters 1998). I
the pathics to act in a performance that he designs himself
counters their own everyday hypocrisy. Romans have evide
to serve themselves in daily life. Umbricius himself allude
perform in society: "[Offering insincere praise] is certain
among us, but they [Greeks] are believed" (haec eadem licet e
creditur, 3.92-93). While Umbricius, like Juvenal, posits
between devious Greeks and honest Romans, he also m
particular Greek tendency has invaded and corrupted Rom
In Rome, the conservative suspicion of acting was al
belief that performers themselves could be morally damag
This attitude underlies the scandal that attached to mem
who took part in theatre or other entertainments such a
While the legal status of gladiators differed in some way
both professions were a form of self-display, and both act
similarly dire consequences for members of the upper or
85-90). Although particular cases are recorded from the l
Principate, ancient historians associate this phenomenon es
of Nero, who forced and bribed nobles of both sexes to e
of an appearance on stage or in the arena.14 Some app

12 Cf. 6.63-75 on actors' seduction of Roman women.

13 In a paradoxical doubling of the mimetic theme, even the ethnic labe
assumed; Umbricius points out that most "Greeks" in Rome are actually
(61-66).
14For example, Laberius performed in a mime for Julius Caesar
aristocrats appeared at the games of Marcellus in 23 B.C.E. (Dio Cas

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262 PHOENIX

have been voluntary; th

tempt some, despite the
face (Edwards 1993: 131
the theatre or amphithe
the disgrace-whether w
provides a well-known c
(8.183-230),15 and like h
emperor who loved perf
"When the princeps is a
haut mira tamen citbaro
places blame on the pop
Tac. Ann. 14.14 also repr
of the performing noble
criticizing the crowd's t
Roman authors with a
popular in enterta taste
ment venue, predating
become associated with
Fronto Ep. 2.216 Haines
funerals were featuring
increasing frequency of
the mob. Cicero describ
B.C.E. as having little a
attacking the circus race
the popular spectacles co
as Terence famously com
of entertainment as refin
classes attended and enjo
of the topic of entertain
Like the Romans who i
not only a foil for thing
Republican a period saw
which became increasing
390 B.C.E. initiated a pra
expense and ostentation

54.2.5; Suet. Aug. 43; Tib. 35. U

knights); Tac. Ann. 14.14-15
15 Cf. 4.95-102 on Acilius Gla
with Domitian; the fact that
of his integrity all the more ap
16Augustus, for example, is
motive for attending was that
(civile rebatur misceri volupta

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 THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL 263

theatres, a reflection of the early Romans' virilitas, with t

and displays that became fashionable in the last decades of
cf. Tac. Ann. 14.20). As Juvenal's Umbricius points out, on
Italy still preserve simpler theatrical traditions: in a country
on the grass itself, and mothers and babies may watch an
remain morally unscathed (172-179). For the playwrights
no such retreat is possible. Horace laments that the excessive
parades, entr'actes, and costumes) comes at the expense of t
2.1.182-207). The culture of spectacle that rewards perfor
instead of authors of dramatic poetry seems to be to blame
that Juvenal recounts in Satire 7. In that poem, the syste
traditionally supports literary careers is failing, and poets
actors, rather than the nobility, as potential patrons (90).
To sum up, Juvenal's Satires echo conservative attitudes
entertainment that are expressed throughout Roman literat
The poet's account of the entertainment climate is a satiric fi
one. Juvenal is not to be categorized as a typical proponen
Roman morality, while the moral discourse of his Satires
his identity as satirist is more complex than that. Juvenal
other sources on theatre and entertainment cannot: he ap
the particular version of reality that he depicts. This has
representation of satire itself.

II. PERFORMANCE AND PROGRAM

In the remainder of this paper, I will argue that Juvenal in

generic experiment into his account of theatre and entertainm
grammatic passages. These references to performance activate
while simultaneously implicating the satirist figure as a poten
prejudices. The poet takes a different role in each of these cas
himself in a spectacle that links the risks of writing satire wi
show cultivated in Imperial Rome. Second, in a programmatic
genre-mixing, he figures himself both as a transgressive perform
pioneer, and this portrait is imbued with the well-known Ro
imported foreign practices. Third, he employs a complex allu
order to place his satire in a diachronic account of Roman th
that emphasizes the political dimension of theatre as well as
competes with gaudier forms of entertainment.
While Juvenal's first Satire employs programmatic strateg
Horace and Persius, namely the dialogue with an interlocutor a
of Lucilius as precedent, this poem also greatly expands the s
Juvenal brings epic into the list of satire's literary influence
unprecedented claim to study human experiences throughout

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 264 PHOENIX

and he adds a memorable

not only describes the m
satire, also imagine but
comes the convent after
writing offensive verse
receiving the cold shou
Pers. 1.108-110); whereas
poet far more than just
the satirist's "burning he
burning in the center o

pone Tigillinum: taeda

qua stantes ardent quifi
et latum media sulcum d

Defame Tigillinus, and

in which men with fix
and which traces a broa

The name Tigillinus (15

the interrogations and e
and master of depravi
Juvenal describes recalls
were displayed as huma
Ann. 15.44). But the sce
horrific tale from Nero
satire with the genre's o
(2001: 243-245) has argue
and rulers. The low-bor
Scaevola, the eminent ad
satirist's vulnerability to
from the free and powe
to execution of this natu
list of Rome's decline.
Against this backgroun
in 1.155-157 a striking
arena scene wrenches th
described by the interl
venue imaginable. Juven
Old Comic hero or as a
of a recently evolved an

17On Juvenal's programm

205-212. On epic in particula
Keane 2002.

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 THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL 265

criminals in the early Imperial period,18 his punishment is

(as implied by the grisly metaphor of the torch and by the
The name of Tigillinus also recalls Nero and the scandalous d
playing prince" (citharoedusprinceps, 8.198) notoriously orch
and otherwise inspired. Like the humiliating performance
actors and gladiators, Juvenal's involuntary performance is
to incur the loss of his dignitas as well as, in this scenario,
even than a gladiator, who at least wields a sword like Juv
(this metaphor for Lucilian satire appears at 165), Juvenal
expendable criminal. The spectacle of the satirist's executi
conventional association with drama and drastically lowers th
poet.
The scene of the satirist's execution exchanges satire's traditional affiliations
with theatre for a more sensational form of entertainment. But Juvenal also
pursues the possibilities that literary drama has to offer as a model for satire. As
I noted above, Horace and Persius look to the specific genres of Old and New
Comedy as models for their satiric projects and styles. Juvenal, for his part, is
known for using the serious tone and high style associated with tragedy.19 In the
fifteenth Satire the poet even uses that genre as a foil for the admittedly "tragic,"
but far more sordid, events that took place in an Egyptian village one festal
day-"more serious than all tragedies combined" (cunctis graviora coturnis, 29).
More familiar, however, is the lengthier comparison of the satiric catalogue of
bad wives with tragic subject matter in Satire 6. Reaching the height of his tirade
with a survey of child- and husband-killers, Juvenal imagines a reader objecting
to the generic twist taking place (6.634-638):

fingimus haec altum satura sumente coturnum

scilicet, etfinem egressi legemque priorum
grande Sophocleo carmen bacchamur hiatu
montibus ignotum Rutulis caleoque Latino?
nos utinam vani.

I suppose I'm inventing this, with my satire taking up

the high tragic boot, and I've passed the boundary and law set by my predecessors
and am revelling with Sophoclean gape to produce
a poetry alien to Rutulian hills and the sky of Latium?
I wish I were making it up.

This passage prompts the post-classical characterization of Juvenal as a "tragic

satirist" in contrast to the comic Horace (Weber 1981). But the dramatic analogy
is qualified. Unfortunately, Juvenal assures us, his material is not made-up myth
but all too real (nos utinam vani). Even worse, as the ensuing lines insist, modern-
day Roman murderesses, who kill their relatives for money, have far baser motives

18Coleman 1990.
19 Smith 1985; Freudenburg 1993: 227-228; Schmitz 2000: 38-50; Cucchiarelli 2001: 204-205.

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266 PHOENIX

than their Greek myth

simply as bad as tragedy,
On the surface, the exc
questions surrounding "t
verb fingimus is the on
to the charge (nos utin
been dismissed. But two
entire passage, although
creation; the satirist him
poem. Each element of t
satirist intends his audien
Second, in addition to
critic's complaint bring
surface. The three-wo
fact that the critic rais
Juvenal does not clarify
that he has broken a ge
is converting satire int
that he is introducing a
appears in a rhetorical q
the sarcastic "I suppose"
their validity.
Each of the judgments
both generic and cultur
scrutiny. The critical r
the satirist has passed b
et legem ... priorum, 63
contrasting the Satires
stops short of confirm
description of "tragic s
absolute in line 634, altu
of that absolute, is per
up the high tragic boo
essentialism" that Barch
hisEpistles, Horace figur
own generic developmen
metrical combinations
Like Horace's iambus, Ju
taking on the responsib
poetry seems to be mimi
to be "ranting out a g
tragic mask, denoted by
hiatus, in the Atellan fa

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 THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL 267

Meanwhile, to increase the shock of the accusation, tra

tialized in its own way: it is described specifically as the
ancient and remote, as represented first in the verb bacch
up the god in whose honor the Athenian playwrights com
rigid old-fashioned mask, the hiatus. Juvenal's imaginary
a double function: metonymically, it stands for that anc
and symbolically it represents the absurd generic posture
assuming. Thus the critic in Satire 6 figures the satirist's g
as an outrageous performance, complete with inappropriate
cultural miscegenation. This links Juvenal (in the critic's
of the most pervasive and corrupting phenomena in his
noble, mimesis and dress-up, and the influx of foreign cus
The passage also makes a curiously exaggerated claim
of tragedy to Roman affairs. The critic's analogy of t
as-satire-is-to-reality is a shallow one, for it resists a
resonance of mythological tragedy, recognized by author
from its inception in Greece to its archaizing recited for
Accounts of reactions to mythological tragedies in the la
Empire indicate that plays were in fact construed as p
contemporary affairs (e.g., Cic. Sest. 115-126).20 And in
contemporary of Juvenal's, Tacitus' Dialogue on Orators, t
is urged to recognize the resonance that his work can ha
audience, regardless of authorial intentions (2-3). In this
using the odd critical perspective of Juvenal's attack
to the passage's more interesting themes. In line 637,
suggests that the tragic satirist is producing a form pre
Rutulian hills and Latin sky." With this image Juve
innovator in an even more extreme sense than that impl
comic to tragic satire. The merging of satire and tr
nothing less than the introduction of a Greek form into t
Latium. It recalls the complaint of Umbricius that sycop
monopolizing the privileges due to one who in childhood "
Aventine and was nourished on the Sabine berry" (3.8
figure the invasion by Greek customs as a physical violat
landscape.
It would be absurd to suggest that Juvenal is actually giving his Roman
audience its first glimpse of tragedy, yet this seems to be implied in the scandalized
description of his transgression. This puzzling suggestion can be better understood
in light of an older account which the passage recalls. Juvenal's satiric predecessor
Horace recounts the birth of the Roman literary tradition in his Epistle 2.1,

20Nicolet (1980: 366-373) discusses cases in the late Republic; cf. Bartsch 1994: 63-97. On the
political context and significance of tragedy in classical Athens, see Goldhill 1990.

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 268 PHOENIX

and implies that traged

imitations soon follow

... post Punica bella quie

quid Sophocles et Thespis
temptavit quoque rem, si
et placuit sibi, natura su
nam spirat tragicum sati
sed turpem putat inscite

After the Punic wars,

what of use Sophocles
He also made the attem
and he was satisfied, bei
for he certainly breathe
although, foolishly; he

Horace's account of tr
accurate than the extrem
the tragic tradition of
stereotypes of his own.
character, which Horac
oriented in contrast to
Ars P. 323-332). The Ro
something "useful" (uti
high style.21
It is remarkable that Juvenal, at the end of Satire 6, chooses to take us back
to this historic moment of literary exposure. Juvenal's critic likens the satirist
to a pioneer of the third and second centuries22 who both enhances his cultural
consciousness and (as the critic puts it) violates the very landscape of his homeland.
In fact the critic's description of Juvenal bears an uncanny resemblance to the
Horatian character of "the Roman": he is finding the conventions of classical
tragedy to be utile for his own moral themes and perspectives, and he is making
his own version of it (vertere, 164) by writing it into his historical satire. And as
the early Roman followed his own rules (placuit sibi, 165), so does Juvenal: in this,
his longest poem by several hundred lines, he exhibits a "lofty and fierce nature,"
"tragic spirit and successful daring."

21Horace describes the early Roman tragedian as natura sublimis (165). Writing on the Juvenal
passage, Schmitz (2001: 44) notes that it is appropriate for Juvenal to choose Sophocles as his tragic
counterpart, for Quintilian identifies Sophocles as the most sublimis of the three great Attic tragedians
at Inst. 10.1.68.
22Horace's phrase post Punica bella (Epist. 2.1.162) could refer either to the first phase of the
war (262-241 B.C.E.) when Livius Andronicus and Naevius were active, or to the second phase
(212-201 B.C.E.) and the careers of Ennius, Pacuvius, and Accius. Rudd (1989: 102) prefers the latter
interpretation, as the Epistle does not discuss the earlier authors as dramatists.

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 THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL 269

The programmatic image in Satire 6 places the satirist

historical and cultural role: that of generic inventor and m
product and Rome. And in the context of the Satires, this
it is in Horace's literary history, which sees such evolution
(cf. Horace's claims about his own career at Epist. 1.19.21-
inserts the poet into the dire picture of a "Greek Rome"
(Graecam urbem, 3.61) by figuring him as an importer. Th
of "trying on" Greek tragedy thus ties together two linke
dressing in inappropriate garb, and facilitating the corru
Roman tastes with Greek merchandise. Here, as in 1.155-1
portrait ties satire's evolution into that of drama; once agai
theme of that combined history is perversion.
A third programmatic image that engages aspects of th
of the Satires comes at the beginning of Satire 10. Her
what is thought to be an alter ego for himself in the port
Democritus of Abdera (fifth century B.C.E.), who chose to
at the follies of humanity.23 Juvenal speculates that Demo
more reason to laugh were he to be resurrected today (10

perpetuo risu pulmonem agitare solebat

Democritus, quamquam non essent urbibus illis
praetextae trabeaefasces lectica tribunal.
quid si vidisset praetorem curribus altis
extantem et medii sublimem pulvere circi
in tunica Iovis et pictae Sarranaferentem
ex umeris aulaea togae magnaeque coronae
tantum orbem, quanto cervix non sufficit ulla?
quippe tenet sudans hanc publicus et, sibi consul
ne placeat, curru servus portatur eodem.
da nunc et volucrem, sceptro quae surgit eburno,
illinc cornicines, hinc praecedentia longi
agminis officia et niveos ad frena Quirites,
defossa in loculos quos sportulafecit amicos.
tunc quoque materiam risus invenit ad omnis
occursus hominum . ..

Democritus used to shake his lungs with unbroken

laughter, even though cities in those days didn't have togas
bordered with purple and scarlet, or the rods or litters or th
What if he'd looked on the praetor, standing out in a high
chariot and high above the dust of mid-circus,
wearing Jupiter's tunic and the Tyrian hangings of the

23This argument is laid out by Bellandi (1980: 66-101) and Ander

revisited by Braund (1988: 184-189) and Cucchiarelli (2001: 214). Juvenal's
owes much to Sen. Dial. 4.10.5 and 9.15.2.

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270 PHOENIX

embroidered toga from

great crown so big that
Of course a public slave
won't be self-satisfied,
Consider this too-the bi
and from one side trum
in a long train, and by
the dole pu tucked into
[Despite not having see
for laughter in all hum

Line 35, with its list of

fasces lectica tribunal) e
Juvenal's introduction
homines, votum timor
("whatever people do--p
fodder of my little b
spectrum of human exp
to the trappings of R
the passage: Democritus
resembles the speaker o
humans (86). But the ph
sights signals a revision
The depiction of the m
passage, but it is also im
satire. In this case the sa
of everyday affairs. Wh
easily converted into sub
feel of the scene befor
clues,24 and in a deeper
with a more explicitly
is understood to be al
his account of early Ro
face a major challenge i
nowadays people go to t
colorful props and othe
10, Horace summons De
the present (Epist. 2.1

siforet in terris, rideret D

diversum confusa genus p
sive elephans albus volgi c

24 Schmitz (2000: 27-28) anal

39: the "hangings" of the prae

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 THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL 271

spectaret populum ludis attentius ipsis

ut sibi praebentem nimio spectacula plura;
scriptores autem narrare putaret asello
fabellam surdo. nam quae pervincere voces
evaluere sonum referunt quem nostra theatra?
Garganum mugire putes nemus aut mare Tuscum,
tanto cum strepitu ludi spectantur et artes,
divitiaeque peregrinae; quibus oblitus actor
cum stetit in scaena, concurrit dextera laevae.
"dixit adhuc aliquid?" "nil sane." "quid placet ergo?"
"laena Tarentino violas imitata veneno.

If he were on earth, Democritus would laugh, whether

a mixed creature such as a panther crossed with a camel,
or a white elephant, attracted the eyes of the crowd,
since they would offer him more spectacles by far;
but he'd think the playwrights were telling their stories
to a deaf ass. For what words have ever been able
to overpower the din that our theatres send out?
You'd think the wood of Garganus or the Tuscan sea was bello
when people watch the games and works of art,
and those exotic riches, with such a clamor; when the actor, d
out in all this, takes his place on the stage, right hand smacks
"Has he said anything yet?" "Oh no." "Then what's so pleasing
"His cloak; with its Tarentine dye it looks just like violets."

While the philosopher's laughter (rideret, 194) is one poin

this passage and the scene in Juvenal 10 (Braund 1988: 189),
more depth when we consider Horace's broader argument. H
excitable theatre audience itself makes as good a spectacle as
he links this phenomenon to the decline of popular interest
behind the dramas-as a result of the increasing popularity o
spectacles. Horace uses the figure of Democritus as a judge,
one, of current tastes in drama-or, more accurately, of popu
instead of literary drama.
Juvenal makes several modifications to Horace's Democritu
with the material that I surveyed earlier. First, he borrow
of a spectacle appealing to popular taste, while simultaneou
even greater degradation of his own age. Like Horace's Dem
philosopher is taking note of the excitement aroused by spe
races at the circus (10.37), one of the "popular entertainmen
with literary drama. While the circus is in fact one of Rom
Juvenal's substitution of it for the theatrical scene in his Hora
As Horace would see it, Juvenal is placing Democritus in an
theatrical environment: the philosopher is no longer at the t
Epist. 2.1.201) where visual elements and interludes draw a

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 272 PHOENIX

the language of the play

to distract one from the
then, magnifies Horace's
Second, the environmen
the political uses of ludi
audience at a theatrical p
at the races themselves,
parade of magistrates and
the ludi Romani (Courtn
would dress like a trium
from the treasury of Ju
him resemble the actor
appearing on stage in h
divitiaeperegrinae at Hor
by a public slave and by
45-46). The tableau nicel
of Roman society," the r
entertainment events.
These features of the Juvenalian scene, which play up the intersection between
spectacle, politics, and moral climate, tie it to the picture of contemporary theatre
and entertainment in the Satires. Furthermore, since Democritus functions as an
alter ego for the satirist, the details of his role as a spectator have programmatic
significance as well. The connections to the Epistle passage emphasize the already-
degraded environment that is the subject of Horace's criticism there; Juvenal is
able to suggest that in his own time, Democritus' hypothetical materia has become
predictably worse. Although the satirist follows the description of the pompa
circensis with the comment that even in his time, Democritus found other scenes
to mock, the attention to detail in the pompa scene qualifies this claim. In contrast
to the generalized "all human interactions" (omnis/occursus hominum, 47-48) and
the "cares and joys of the crowd" (curas... et gaudia vulgi, 51) that Democritus
watched in his own time, the parade is described in vivid detail. The philosopher
appears especially captivated by this contemporary scene.
As an alter ego for Juvenal, Democritus sets an example not just with his
mocking laughter but with one particularly telling aspect of his spectatorship. In
Horace, Democritus is an innovator in spectacle-making. He uses an existing
theatrical event to create his own version of theatre, going one better than the
sponsors of the plays by focusing on the audience, who "offered more spectacles
by far" (praebentem nimio spectacula plura, Epist. 2.1.198). Democritus' attentive,
creative spectatorship (197) allows him to perceive and interpret the unscripted
behavior of members of the crowd as they respond emotionally to the shows. The
philosopher autonomously transforms a ready-made theatrical scene into his own

25 Versnel 1970: 58-59 (on the Juvenal passage) and 96-98.

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 THE SATIRIST IN JUVENAL 273

"material," giving it entirely new meaning. Juvenal express

his comparison of human affairs to theatre and games at 1
satirist diverts his readers from staged spectacles to the every
makes an even better show. But while the Juvenalian sati
empowered in the same way that Horace's Democritus is, J
Satire 10 has a more passive and compliant role. He watches
which is a spectacle designed to attract the eye of every m
in attendance--a spectacle designed, moreover, to reinforc
visual means. The trappings listed in the asyndetic line 35
Reading the scene, we are made to follow the philosopher's
praetor's decorated body (36-41, pausing on his head at 39
procession of white-clad clients positioned by his team of h
the subsequent claim that Democritus' age provided analog
is subtly undercut by the detail of 35-46. In Juvenal,
participates in the dramatization of the political hierarchy,
autonomy and the theatre-making ability possessed by Hor
This lack of autonomy underscores the programmatic t
associated with theatre and shows, linking it to Juvenal's sa
earlier in this paper, degradation and belatedness can be seen
for this satirist, inasmuch as he highlights and thematizes
contexts. Juvenal's Democritus lacks autonomy, but his gaz
satire. This is made possible in part by what Parker calls
gaze," the double function of the popular gaze as power-en
Opportunities for "political theatre" allowed politicians to d
their power, but as subjects of the popular gaze they also ri
even infamia, that public performance can incur.26 This vu
viewer, who is participating in the dramatization of hierarc
himself. Democritus' gaze in Juvenal 10 takes the f~llest adv
making the praetor into an actor like the one in Horace's E
as it were, from political drama. At the same time, h
compromised by the fact that the spectacle has been desig
attention in the first place. Democritus embodies the a
the Juvenalian satirist who writes dramatic satire in an atm
perversion. The climate of his time (as he presents it to the
him with materia and dictates what his position within tha
Juvenal's manipulation of the traditional programmatic
satire and performance is a brilliant strategy of generic co
satiric poets declare a programmatic affinity with drama, the
charged history of theatre floods into satire's generic spa
self-consciously belated position, makes creative use of th

26 Parker 1999: 167: "To appear in the theater under the eyes of the mu
assimilation to those who appeared on the stage or in the arena.

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 274 PHOENIX

He figures himself both

of types of entertainm
consequences of the tren
of spectacle and the per
as spectacle subject, gen
important ideas about s
authors deliberately tak
rhetorical purposes, and
both fictional construct
satire's true nature.

DEPARTMENT OF CLASS
WASHINGTON UNIVERSI
CAMPUS Box 1050
ST. LOUIS, MO 63130-4899
U.S.A. ckeane@artsci.wustl.edu

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