Decimus Juvenal - Biography and creativity » E-books buy or read online

Ancient Roman poet

First of all, it is worth saying that one of the most significant poets of the ancient world had this name. His poems have left a noticeable mark on world literature. Without Juvenal, the genre of satire to which he devoted his creative activity might not have existed in its modern understanding. Or, at least, this type of humorous literature would not have acquired a caustic, topical, caustic tone, which most of the works of the Roman classic have.

Among professional writers, as well as among ordinary connoisseurs of ancient poetry, the name of Decimus Junius Juvenal has long become a household name. This is often the name given to an ardent, indignant satirist who exposes the vices characteristic of his contemporaries.

Read online “Juvenal. Satires"

Juvenal Decimus Junius

Satires

Decimus Junius Juvenal

Satires

BOOK I.

SATIRE FIRST.

How much longer do I have to listen? Will I really not repay, completely exhausted by the “Theseide” of the hoarse Kord? Or will they read to me with impunity - this elegy, the same one - togatas? Will the endless “Telephus” take a whole day, or “Orestes”, which left no margins in a book filled with writing, took up the inside of the pages and is still not finished? I’m completely at home, at home, in the Grove of Mars Or in the cave of Vulcan, adjacent to the cliff of Aeolus. What are the winds doing, which Aeacus tortures 10 Shadows, from where the golden fleece is stolen and taken away, What kind of huge ash trees does the Monk throw over the lapiths, This is what the plane trees of the Fronton, and the marble, already shaky, and the columns, all in cracks from recitation, are forever screaming about: These The techniques are the same - for big and small poets. Well, so did we - we took our hand away from the rod, and we gave advice to Sulla - to sleep peacefully, like private individuals; School's over! When so many scribblers have multiplied everywhere, It is stupid to spare paper, which is doomed to death anyway. But why did I choose to compete in a field where 20 Avrunka’s great pet, Lucilius, was already driving the horses? I’ll explain, since you have leisure and patience for reasons. It’s hard not to write satire when a limp eunuch marries, Mevia strikes the Tusk boar and shakes him with a spear, baring his chest; when the patricians are challenged by the one who resoundingly shaved my beard, which had become coarse, to me - a young man: If some Nile scoundrel, this slave from Canopus, This Crispin straightens his purple Tyrian Cloak with his shoulder and on his sweaty hand keeps turning a golden ring, As if not he can bear a great deal of weight from the heat 30 Gemma - how can one not write here? Who is so tolerant of the perversions of Rome, so steely that he can restrain himself from anger, Having met the lawyer Mathon in a new lecture, that with his carcass he fills everything with his own; behind him is an informer against a friend of the Close One, quickly seizing everything that remains from the collapses of the Noble People: Mass is afraid of him, Car and the trembling Latinus are cajoling him, sending theirs to Timela. Here you will be pushed aside by those who receive an inheritance overnight, Those who are carried to heaven in the best modern way of the highest successes - by serving a rich old woman: 40 ounces for Proculeius, eleven ounces for Gill, Each has his own share, according to the strength of the man. Let him receive a reward for blood - and turn pale, as if he had stepped on a snake with his bare foot, or as if an orator who is forced to speak in front of the Lugudun altar. It is clear with what irritation the withered liver burns, If people are being crushed by a crowd of people, either a robber of a Boy they have corrupted, or condemned by a fruitless court ruling: what is dishonor - with money? The expelled Mari, having angered the gods, is already drinking early: 50 He is having fun - and with a groan the province reigns in victory. Should I not consider the Venusian lamp worthy? Shouldn't I do this? And what's even more important? The path of Diomedes, Hercules, the lowing inside the Labyrinth Or the flying Daedalus and the fall of Icarus into the sea? The pimp took the property from the libertine if his wife had no right of inheritance, but the pimp learned to look at the ceiling And got the hang of snoring with his never-sleeping nose behind a bowl. After all, the one who squandered his wealth on the stables and completely lost the 60 Ancestors of the inheritance, racing in the chariot of the dear Flaminian Automedon the Young, considers it legitimate to have hope for the cohort, for He personally held the reins, in front of a light maiden dressed in a lazern, showing off. Don’t you want to write up a pile of pages at the very crossroads when you see how six people are carrying around their necks Visible to everyone from everywhere, in a completely open seat, To the bed of a bowed husband, similar to a Maecenas, a Maker of signatures on forgeries, who with a wet seal on wills has brought fame to himself and funds. There is a matron over there, one of the nobles, ready to mix toad poison for her husband into Kalenskoe wine with a mild 70 Taste; Better than Lukusta, she teaches her inexperienced relatives how to bury blackened spouses to the sound of the crowd. Do you want to be known as someone? So dare to do what is worthy of Little Giara and prison: honesty is praised, but it chills; It is only through crime that gardens and chambers, dishes, and old silverware, and goblets with goats are made for themselves. Will a stingy seducer of your daughter-in-law let you sleep peacefully, or vile wives and a libertine in children's clothes? If there is no talent, the verse is generated by indignation, 80 To the best of one’s ability - be it my verse or Kluvien’s verse. Since the flood itself, when, with the sea swollen, Deucalion floated up on the mountain on a ship, torturing fate, And little by little the softened stones warmed with their breath, And Pyrrha offered naked girls to their husbands, Everything that people do - desires, fear, pleasures, Joys, anger and discord - all this is the filling for the book. Has there ever been a more plentiful supply of vices, Was the bosom of greed wider open and had the audacity to play such a game? After all, nowadays they don’t come up to the board, 90 Taking the wallet, but putting the chest on the card, they play. What kind of battles will you see there under the squire-cashier! Is there any worse madness than throwing away a hundred thousand sesterces And not giving clothes to a slave who shudders from the cold? Who built so many villas for their fathers, who ate seven changes in a home dinner? Now, on the very threshold, they put a handout - it is stolen by the crowd that is dressed in togas. However, first they will look at your face, fearing that you have come under a false name and are asking under a false name; Recognized, you too will receive it. Through the herald the owner calls 100 Even the descendants of the Trojans: and they beat the thresholds Just like us. - “Give it to the praetor, and then the tribune.” The freedman is the first of us: “I arrived earlier. Why should I be afraid and not boldly defend my place: Even if I was born near the Euphrates, there are female holes in my ears, I myself do not argue; but my five shops will bring me four hundred thousand profit; What is more desirable than the wide purple Dust, since Corvinus guards hired sheep in the Laurentian Field, and I am richer than Pallantus or Licinus? Therefore, let the tribunes wait and let them win 110 Money: the one who was recently brought to Rome with a whitened foot should not yield to us in sacred honor, Since between us the most sacred thing is the greatness of money. True, the fatal Money does not yet live in the temple, We have not yet erected altars, and the Cult of coins has not been created, as Loyalty, Peace, as Valor, or Victory, Or Consent, which clicks from its nest in greetings.

. If the venerable patron counts in the annual total, How many handouts has he saved and how much income has he added? What does he give to clients who have a toga from here, 120 Shoes, and bread, and home fire? Beyond a hundred quadrants, the stretchers are crowded: and the wives follow their husbands. This one is sick, that one is pregnant - wives are reaching out everywhere. A husband, skilled in the usual art, asks for someone who is not there, and instead of a wife - an empty closed chair. “Galla is mine,” he says. - Let go quickly; Why are you delaying? Galla, show your face! Don’t disturb her, she’s resting.” The day is distributed approximately in this order: In the morning, a handout, there is a forum, then Apollo the legal adviser, Statues of those who knew triumph, and between them a cheeky inscription 130 Either from Egypt of unknown persons, or an Arab prince, Before whom it is not a sin to urinate, and maybe more . Now the elderly clients are leaving the hallway, tired: No matter how tenacious their hope is - maybe to have lunch, But they give up their dream, buy firewood and cabbage; Meanwhile, their patron will eat everything that the Forest or the sea sends us the best, and he will recline on spacious pillows: For from how many beautiful tables, both wide and ancient, So in one sitting they eat up inheritances at once! If there were no parasites at all, then who would endure such stinginess 140 Luxury? And what kind of throat will it be to swallow whole boars - animals born for feasts? However, retribution will come when you take off your clothes, having filled your belly, or go to the bathhouse, having eaten too much of a peacock: Without a will, old age hence, sudden deaths, And - for any dinner it is not a sad story at all The body is carried among gloomy friends and to the joy of the people. Our posterity will have nothing to add to these morals: such deeds and desires will remain with our grandchildren. Every vice stands in the rapids: use the sail, 150 Unravel the whole canvas! But here you may say: “Where is the talent equivalent to the subject? Where did the ancients get this directness from their letters about everything that comes to their minds in the heat of the moment?” - I dare not say any name? What do I care whether Mucius forgives my hints or not. - “Show us Tigellinus - and you will light up like a torch, Standing, you will burn and smoke with a pierced chest, Drawing a wide furrow along the very middle of the arena.” “So, whoever gave aconite to three uncles can despise Us from the stretcher, looking from the heights of his soft pillows?” 160 - “If you meet him, seal your mouth with your finger: The one who says the word: “Here he is!” will be an informer. You can calmly pit Aeneas against the ferocious Rutulus, No one will be upset by the unfortunate fate of Achilles or the missing Gil, who went under the water with the urn; As soon as the ardent Lucilius swings like a naked sword, his heart, cooled by the crime, immediately blushes before him, and the perpetrator of the secret deeds breaks out in sweat: Hence the tears and anger. Therefore, think about this in your soul first, and then blow the trumpet; and with the helmet on it’s too late 170 Fights to run.” - I’ll try what is permissible against Those whose ashes are buried on Flaminskaya or Latin.

SATIRE SECOND.

It’s better to run away from here - to at least the icy ocean, For the Sauromatians, as soon as they dare to give a hint about morals. Those who present themselves as Curians are themselves Bacchants: They are completely ignorant, although you will find Plasters with Chrysippus everywhere among them; the most perfect among them is the one who buys a portrait of Aristotle or Pittacus, and also orders the Busts of Cleanthes to guard his bookshelves. There is no trust in people, because our alleys are full of gloomy libertines; you denounce a shameful deed, 10 but you yourself are more obscene than all the disgraces of the school of Socrates. True, the stubble on your arms and shaggy limbs promise an unyielding Spirit, but the Doctor laughingly cuts off large warts from your smooth bottom. They rarely speak, their lust for silence is great; Hair is shaved shorter than eyebrows. Archagallus Peribomius is more truthful and honest than them: with his face and gait He exposes his depravity - fate is to blame for this; Simplicity is pitiful for these; in their madness, an apology is given. Worse than them are those who crush viciousness with the words of Hercules, 20 They talk about virtue - and twist their ass. “You, wagging Sextus, will I be ashamed of you? Why am I worse than you? - the dishonest Varill will ask him. The straight one laughs at the bow-legged one, and the white one laughs at the blacks; Is it tolerable when the Gracchi are outraged by rebellion? Who would not confuse heaven with earth and seas with heaven, If Veres does not like a thief, and Milo does not like a murderer, If Clodius blames libertines, Catiline blames Cethegus, And the triumvirs do not tolerate the proscriptions of the teacher Sulla? There was such a seducer, recently tainted by a 30 Creepy connection; he restored harsh laws; They were terrible not only for people, but also for Venus and Mars During endless abortions from Julia’s dense womb, Which spewed out lumps of meat similar to their uncle. This means that, quite rightly, the vicious all despise the Made Scaurs and, if you touch them, they also bite. Once Laroniya could not stand one of these - the gloomy ones, Eternally crying: “Where are you, the law of debauchees? Are you dozing? He says to him with a grin: “It’s a happy time when you observe Morals, the whole capital now knows modesty: 40 The third Cato fell from heaven. But where do you buy this balm, which smells from your hairy Neck? Don't be ashamed - show me the owner of the shop...

Classics of Russian poetry about the ancient Roman genius

The very fact that the work of Junius Juvenal is mentioned in the works of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin already indicates that the poems of this poet deserve attention. First of all, in describing the main character of the novel “Eugene Onegin,” Pushkin gives the following detail: the young man loved to talk about the work of the satirist. Alexander Sergeevich himself in one of his poems says that he wants his poetry to be like “the sword of Juvenal.”

Another great Russian writer, Zhukovsky, translated all of his satires. And this poet was extremely picky when choosing works for translation into Russian. He created his own versions of only the most outstanding works of world literature, such as Goethe’s “The Forest King”, poems by Schiller, Southey and so on.

It is also worth mentioning that a Russian literary critic once compared Juvenal, the Roman classic of satirical poetry, with a two-faced mythological character - Janus. This is a pretty good comparison. Juvenal's satires contain both criticism of the morals of the society contemporary to the author, as well as more “peaceful” works that touch upon moral problems that are relevant for all eras and peoples.

Satires are more often devoted to events of the past, in which, however, some features of the century in which the author lived are discernible. Therefore, this Roman poet was awarded comparison with a two-faced deity, one face of which looks into the dark past, and the other into an equally dark future.

Among the problems raised by the poet Juvenal, the education of the younger generation was also considered in the works from the “satire” cycle.

Translations

In the “Loeb classical library” series, the satires of Juvenal and Persia are published under No. 91.
Edition in the "Collection Budé" series: Juvénal
. Satires. Texte établi et traduit par P. de Labriolle et F. Villeneuve. 224 p.

Russian translations

D. Junius Juvenal
satires. / Per. A. Feta. M.: 1885. 245 pp.
Satires of D. Junius Juvenal
. / Per. A. Adolf. M.: 1888. 504 pp.
Juvenal
. Satires. / Per. D. S. Nedovich and F. A. Petrovsky, entry. Art. A. I. Beletsky. M.-L., Academia. 1937. 158 pp. 5300 copies. reprints: (partially) Roman satire. M., 1957.
Roman satire. M., 1989. P. 241-340, with comm. A.I. Solopova on p. 501-542;
with an article by V. S. Durov. (Series “Ancient Library”) St. Petersburg: Aletheia. 1994. 220 pp.

Truth and fiction

Little information has survived to this day about the life of this outstanding figure of ancient culture. Nevertheless, several dozen books have been written dedicated to his biography. Some of these works are based on unconfirmed documentary facts.

For example, the legend that Decimus Juvenal was exiled to Greece or even Britain for his satirical poems, which contained many attacks on the existing political system, became widespread. The poet was sent into exile when he was already at a venerable age; at that time he was more than eighty years old. According to this legend, he died in a foreign land. Researchers say that this fact is nothing more than a simple invention of biographers who did not have enough information to create full-fledged biographies.

Biography of the great satirist

It is reliably known that Juvenal was born under Emperor Nero into a family belonging to the middle class of Roman citizens. According to some reports, the poet's father was a freed slave. The future writer received an excellent education, studying public speaking skills from famous masters of public speaking.

He also studied foreign languages and jurisprudence. The latter circumstance allowed him to practice law. Until the age of forty, he made a living by this profession, as well as by writing speeches for political and public figures.

The era of the satirist

The emperors Trojan and Hadrian, who ruled at the end of the first and beginning of the second centuries AD, were among the best statesmen of this empire. Under them, the era of dictatorship and unlimited autocracy ended. There came a time of relative political stability, when the emperor resolved state issues in cooperation with the Senate. The hostility between these government officials has ceased.

Changes for the better have also occurred in the cultural life of the country. An amnesty was declared for many writers and poets who were in exile because of their opposition views. Numerous denunciations of citizens against each other, which were common under Nero and other rulers of ancient Rome, stopped.

Some people known for their false testimony in court have themselves been punished. Cultural figures received relative freedom of speech. They now have the opportunity to criticize the government without fear of retribution from the authorities.

Two types of satire

Among the most prominent poets of antiquity who spoke about the shortcomings of modern society, Juvenal and Horace are most often named.

The latter was a proponent of softer satire. Laughing at human vices, he treated their owners with understanding. The poet tried to explain the appearance of certain negative character traits in a person by life circumstances.

Juvenal is the exact opposite of Horace.

He acts only as an accuser, his judgment is uncompromising. This poet, like Pushkin’s prophet, wants to “burn the hearts of people with his verb.” He expresses his position in relation to art and the role of the author of works in the first satire. Juvenal says that many Roman poets are too keen on mythological subjects.

Their works are far from life, and their excessive pathos is disgusting. According to him, there are many pressing problems in the world that need to be talked about. In one of Juvenal’s works there is a fragment that contains the author’s self-irony - a phenomenon not typical for the work of this poet. He says that in moments when a person is not inspired, it can be replaced by observing negative phenomena in people's lives.

Essays

According to the nature of Juvenal’s works, they can be divided into two groups, the second (starting from about the 10th satire), according to Juvenal expert Otto Jahn, is much weaker:

“The first satires were written with the most vivid impressions of the era of horrors experienced, are full of fierce and sharp attacks against prominent and leading persons and give a vivid picture of the immediate past. In the latest satires this fire is dying out more and more. Brightly flaring rage gives way to grumbling complacency; a living attitude towards things and persons gives way to commonplaces; a tendency towards certain philosophical propositions, moralizing and, in general, towards broad, vague exposition is becoming more and more evident; a powerfully gushing, even foaming and raging mountain stream turns into a wide and increasingly calmer flowing river.”

This difference gave rise to the German scientist O. Ribbeck to declare almost half of Juvenal’s satires to be works of a later time (“Der echte mid unechte J.”, Leipzig, 1859), but this hypothesis was not further developed.

In the first satire, Juvenal justifies his performance as an exposer of the vices of his contemporary society and expresses his opinion about these vices: this satire is, as it were, a program for all others. The poet is dissatisfied with the prevailing predilection in literature for boring and cold mythological subjects and draws the readers' attention to Roman society, which provides rich material for observation, outlining with cursory but accurate strokes various vices, for example, a man who marries like a woman, a robber-governor, a pimp spouse his own wife, etc. In the 2nd satire, depraved hypocrites are exposed (“ ...qui Curios simulant et Bacchanalia vivunt...

"). How life was lived among such depraved individuals in general in Rome at that time is shown by the 3rd satire, the most successful in depicting the painful conditions of existence in the capital of a poor and honest person (this satire was imitated by Boileau in satires I and VI). In the 4th satire, with evil irony, a meeting of the state council during the time of Domitian is depicted, where the question of what to do with a huge fish presented by a fisherman as a gift to the emperor is discussed.

In the 5th satire, the poet paints in bright colors the humiliation suffered by a poor client at a feast given by a rich patron. Juvenal wants to awaken in the parasite a sense of shame and pride, and for this purpose he contrasts in sharp contrasts what the rich man himself has at the table and what he orders to be served to the poor hanger-on. From the 6th satire we can conclude that Juvenal was a passionate misogynist and an enemy of marriage and thoroughly studied the weaknesses and vices of the ladies of his time. This satire, the largest in volume (661 verses), is one of the harshest fruits of the poet’s genius, both in its extremely harsh tone and in the naturalness of its description. The 7th satire is devoted to the plight of people who live by mental work: writers, lawyers, teachers. The 8th satire addresses the question of what true nobility consists of. The poet proves that noble origin alone does not mean anything without personal moral qualities, and that it is better to have Fersit as a father and be like Achilles than to be the son of Achilles and be like Fersit (this satire was imitated by Cantemir). The 9th satire contains ironically naive complaints from a man who trades in pederasty about how difficult it is to earn his living through this activity. The theme of the 10th satire is the short-sightedness of all human desires; people, in fact, need one thing, to have a sound mind in a sound body (the famous “Orandum est, ut sit mens sana in corpore sano”

).
In the 11th satire, Juvenal invites his friend Pontik to dinner on the Megalesius holiday and on this occasion talks about the simplicity of ancient morals and modern extravagance. In the 12th satire (the weakest), Juvenal persecutes a type of inheritance seeker ( heredipeta
) that was very common in Rome at that time. In the 13th satire, the poet, consoling his friend Calvin, who has lost a significant amount of money, depicts the remorse that must be tormented by the person who deceived Calvin. The 14th satire consists of two loosely connected parts: the first about the enormous influence of their parents’ lifestyle on children and the second about greed as one of the main vices. In the 15th satire, regarding the case of cannibalism in Egypt, Juvenal expands on the perversity of the religious beliefs there. Finally, the last, 16th satire is a passage of 60 verses, which talks about the imaginary superiority of the military class over others. The unfinished nature of this satire serves as proof that Juvenal's works were not revised after his death.

For the general characteristics of Juvenal, his first satire is especially important. The poet repeatedly repeats that, observing the depravity of his time, he cannot help but write satires, and that if nature denied him poetic genius, then indignation will dictate his poems (the famous “Si natura negat, facit indignatio versum”

). And at the end of this fiery speech, to our utmost surprise, we read the following statement: “I’ll try that it is permissible for us to talk even about those whose ashes are already buried on the Flaminius or on the Latin road.” Thus, the reader is warned that the satirist’s courage will not go further than sacrificing the dead. And, as far as we can judge, Juvenal remained faithful to this position: in addition to the dead, he names only such persons who cannot harm him - namely, convicts and people of low rank. Such a precaution should seem strange in a poet who was previously thought to have consulted only his own courage; but such restraint is understandable in those terrible times, and the poet could be forgiven for protecting himself against the cruel fantasies of sovereigns and the inevitable vindictiveness of strong people; At the same time, it should also be recognized that Juvenal did not have the character usually attributed to him, and his satyrs are not distinguished by heroism. If Juvenal’s satire concerns only the past, then the poet’s indignation is not a sudden anger caused by the contemplation of social decline: Juvenal conveys only his memories, not nearly as colorful as they would have been in a contemporary story. Hence the need to decorate your story, to give it an artificial flavor. Here Juvenal the rhetorician comes to the aid of Juvenal the poet, who was not without reason engaged in recitation for a long time. Thanks to these habits of the reciter, exaggeration and pathos are often noticed in satires, the external expression of which is a mass of questions filled with indignation and amazement, exclamations, witty sayings - features of speech that sometimes make Juvenal’s style confusing and dark. Then we should remember that Juvenal began to write satires after he had already passed the middle of his life, having experienced many disappointments. Such a person is easily inclined to view everything in a gloomy light, to be a pessimist. The famous satire against the vices of women, obviously, resulted from a man who suffered a lot from the weaker and fairer sex. In the same way, in the 3rd and 7th satires one can see the appearance of a young provincial who, with the most rosy hopes, aspired to the capital, dreaming of finding there quick fame and the wealth associated with it, but these dreams were soon shattered to smithereens. Juvenal's pessimism explains another aspect of his works: he willingly digs in the dirt, and in the gallery of his images there are many such paintings that should be hung for the ordinary reader.

What has been said still applies to the negative aspects of Juvenal's poetry. Moving on to its merits, we note, first of all, that the rhetorician did not drown out the moralist and citizen in Juvenal. His satires are filled with patriotic feelings. He was a truly moral man, with a sublimely ideal outlook on life. He sincerely sought to help his fellow citizens, and if sometimes he exaggerated their vices, it was only out of concern for their benefit. Count A. V. Olsufiev speaks about another positive side of Juvenal’s poetry as follows: “in the satires of Juvenal, this realist of the ancient world, like in a photographic camera, the entire Roman life that surrounded him was imprinted, depicted by him in a number of everyday paintings completed to the smallest detail, directly portraits captured from life, psychological, subtly developed sketches of individual types and characters, realistically faithful photographs from the entire environment around him, from the palace of Caesar to the hovel in Subura, from the dressing room of a noble matron to the cage in the lupanarium, from the magnificent reception room of a swaggering lawyer to the smoky school of a poor man -grammar; Juvenal collected all this diversity with the power of his talent into one artistic whole, in which, like in a mirror, the entire ancient world is reflected, as far as it was visible to the poet.” Juvenal is important for the study of the private, family, and internal life of the ancients, about which very scanty information has reached us. His satires were read zealously not only in antiquity, but also in the Middle Ages, when his sublime and inspired tone was liked; many called him then ethicus

, and one poet wrote that Juvenal is believed more than the prophets (
"Magis credunt Juvenali, quam doctrinae prophetali"
). There are many ancient interpretations of the poet (the so-called scholia), ranging from the century to the late Middle Ages.

Works of Juvenal

Only sixteen works of the ancient Roman poet, called satyrs, have survived to this day. Usually these poems are usually divided into two groups: early and late. The first includes nine works that contain sharp criticism of social mores, the political system, unseemly actions and actions of individuals.

In these works of Juvenal, events of the past are described more often than current incidents, but all these episodes contain a hint of modernity. The author in one of the satires himself claims that it is wiser to speak in the language of hints than openly. Nevertheless, his poems are also filled with negative examples from his time.

Decimus Juvenal - Biography and creativity

Juvenal Decimus Junius

Biography and creativity

V.S. Durov

Biography and creativity (Decimus Junius Juvenal)

Juvenal is the last classic of Roman satire. It is unlikely that the words “satire” and “satirical” would have the meaning that we give them if Juvenal had not existed. Juvenal entered European culture and literary history as a generalized image of a poet-accuser of political despotism and moral decay of his time. Almost nothing is known about the life of Juvenal, although we have a dozen of his biographies. The oldest of them was probably created towards the end of the 4th century, that is, more than 250 years after the death of the poet. As a rule, none of these life stories deserves complete confidence. Based on indirect evidence, we can conclude that the satirist was born between 50 and 60. AD His birthplace was Aquinus, a small town near Rome. The best biography that has reached us speaks very vaguely about the origin of Juvenal: he was the son or pupil of a wealthy freedman who received a thorough grammatical and rhetorical education. Among his teachers may have been the great rhetorician of the time, Marcus Fabius Quintilian, author of 12 books, The Education of the Orator. It is known that Juvenal, almost until the middle of his life, was engaged in composing declamations and speeches on fictitious topics, more likely for his own pleasure than in order to prepare for professional activity. However, for some time he was still a lawyer, but, apparently, he was not successful in this field, which did not bring him significant income. Juvenal began his work as a satirical poet only after the death of Emperor Domitian (96 AD), when relative freedom of speech was established in Rome. As far as one can judge, Juvenal gave a public reading of his satires and was successful, which seems to have brought him into trouble: already in antiquity there was a widespread version that, despite being eighty years old, he was exiled, under the pretext of a military command, or Egypt, or to Britain, where he died. However, the story of the poet’s expulsion gives the impression of a legend. The date of his death is unknown. One thing is certain: he died after 127. Juvenal's satires provide extremely scant information about their author. Unlike his predecessors, the satirists Lucilius and Horace, Juvenal carefully avoids talking about himself, and although his satires give a fairly clear idea of the poet’s personality, his thoughts and aspirations, they hardly inform us about the external circumstances of his life. On the contrary, Juvenal tries, as far as possible, to push his figure into the shadows, as if he is afraid with his presence to weaken the impression of his revealing invective. However, from some hints in the satires themselves, one can, for example, conclude that Juvenal was not rich. In one of Martial's epigrams (12, 9), he is depicted restlessly scurrying through the streets of Rome to pay his respects to the rich. The fact that Juvenal led the life of a client during his stay in Rome is indicated by his satires, in which the poet speaks with understanding, sympathy and bitterness about the situation of Roman clients. From Juvenal there are 16 hexametric satires in 5 books: they were published sequentially, in numerical order, between approximately 100 and 127 years. Juvenal's satires have come down to us in numerous copies. Currently, about 300 manuscripts of his satires are known; several manuscripts are kept in Russian libraries. All of them, as a rule, are of late origin, passed through many hands of different scribes and were subject to many distortions. Establishing the editorship of texts is fraught with considerable difficulties, since a number of poems raise doubts among publishers about their authenticity. Chronological indications in the satires themselves are minimal, but it is clear that Juvenal reached poetic maturity under the Emperor Trajan (r. 98-117) and continued to write satires during the reign of Hadrian (r. 117-138). Both emperors almost completely corresponded to the Senate aristocracy's idea of an ideal ruler. Hating the tyranny of the imperial regime, the historian Tacitus enthusiastically hails Trajan's principate as “the dawn of a happy age,” as “years of rare happiness, when everyone can think what he wants and say what he thinks” (“History”, 1, 1). Anti-Senate repressions, which had become commonplace in the last years of Domitian's reign, ceased. Exiled philosophers return to Rome from exile. Measures are being taken against informers, the number of which increased under Domitian. The differences between Romans and provincials are being erased; the latter have broad access to a government career. Agreement is established between the emperor and the senate. The part of the intelligentsia that was closely associated with the ruling class enjoyed special patronage from the emperor. Adrian personally takes care of the sciences and arts, is interested in the cultural life of Athens, and encourages philosophers, poets and scientists. All those dissatisfied with the despotic rule of Domitian now had the opportunity to openly express their indignation, confident that their writings would meet with a favorable reception. Writers appear on the literary arena who preferred to remain silent under Domitian. A whole galaxy of writers makes themselves known in Rome: Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius, Juvenal, who replaced the deceased Statius, Valerius Flaccus, Silius Italicus, Quintilian, Martial, who left for Spain. Although during the reign of Trajan and Hadrian many of the contradictions that aggravated under Domitian were smoothed out, nevertheless, not all social conflicts were eliminated. Emperors are guided less and less by laws and rely more and more on military force. Political activity is on the wane. The gap between wealth and poverty among the poor is widening. Eastern cults and Christianity became widespread in the empire. Apparently, Juvenal was captured by the general enthusiasm caused by the death of Domitian and the rise to power of Trajan. Inspired by hatred of the overthrown tyrant, he creates a series of satires in a sharp, invective form, which brought him over the centuries the glory of a merciless flagellant exposer. These are satires of his first three books, which differ markedly from the subsequent ones, created by the aging poet in the reign of Hadrian and usually called later. In the satires of the last two books there is no former sharpness of criticism and the power of indignation that was characteristic especially of the first nine satires, the most lively in intonation and rich in themes and satirical images. In his later works, Juvenal is more inclined to raise general problems that concern not so much the people of a certain era, but human nature in general. In later satires the influence of rhetoric is more strongly felt. According to the witty remark of a modern researcher, in early and late satires Juvenal appears to us as a two-faced Janus, with one face turned to the contemporary reality full of life, and the other turned to the dead past. As for the content of his satires, it is essentially very limited. The poet repeats in different ways the same attacks on contemporary morals, however, enlivening them with examples from life, history and mythology. Although he claims that all human life, everything that people do, served as the “filling” of his book, many themes that were characteristic of his predecessors remain outside the scope of his poetry. This was a deliberate limitation that allowed him to focus exclusively on exposing vices. His satires also lack the variety of forms that was inherent in the works of this genre by Lucilius and Horace. Juvenal looks at the reality around him with the deepest pessimism. He sees only evil (at least in his early works) and is convinced that it is rooted in the very nature of man. Juvenal does not believe in the possibility of improving society. A skillful painter of morals, he depicts the world as he sees it, depraved and corrupting, reaching in his bitter bitterness to extreme fanaticism. Here they prefer only money to duty, honor, and decency, no matter how acquired. Notes of personal disappointment and anger give his attacks a cruel and merciless character. Juvenal's uncompromising satire knows neither a mocking smile, nor a good-natured joke, nor psychological insight and understanding of the essence of phenomena, as in the satires of Horace. For Juvenal, the present does not contain anything good, and the future does not promise any hope. All that remains is to regret the past, the former way of life and ancient institutions, of which not a trace remains now. Longing for irrevocably past times, the poet sees no way out of the current situation. The position of Juvenal the satirist is that of a furious accuser. His attacks on wealthy upstarts and defense of oppressed slaves do not stem from a conviction of the need for social reconstruction. Juvenal's indignation is caused by the contradiction between what, in his opinion, should be and the real state of affairs. It seems that of the two main types of satire: one - optimistic and joyful (developed by Horace), the other - pessimistic and gloomy, Juvenal chooses this latter. If in Horace the satire heals and convinces, then in Juvenal it wounds, punishes and destroys. Juvenal's gloomy pessimism nevertheless softens somewhat in his later satires, in which, along with vice and evil, he is ready to see the brighter sides of life. There, Juvenal often returns his thoughts to the past of the Roman people and idealizes patriarchal antiquity. But deeply felt admiration for ancient simplicity is, of course, not enough to solve the social problems raised by the poet. It rather serves as a background, designed to highlight the squalor of modern life even more sharply. Juvenal usually turns the edge of his satire - perhaps for artistic reasons - not against the present, but against the recent past, against the reign of Domitian or even Nero, justifying this with arguments of caution. Of course, this did not give him a firm guarantee that he would avoid hostility and revenge: the times that he touches are too close. This kind of camouflage is rather a rhetorical trick, which the satirist resorts to in order to further enhance the feeling of disgust caused by the pictures of the vice he depicts. Although the people he names are long dead and belong to the past, he argues, the vices he castigates are the vices of all times. If Juvenal's predecessors often explained their turn to satire by an internal inclination towards this genre, which they preferred to others, then Juvenal declares that he was forced to write satire by the general decay of morals. His decision to take up satire was, as it were, imposed on him from the outside. “It’s hard not to write satire,” the poet declares. If talent is lacking, poetry is generated by the very indignation that inevitably arises at the sight of the vices that filled Rome. It is very significant that at approximately the same time when Juvenal begins to write satires, Tacitus begins to create historical works, whose works are characterized by the same pessimism as Juvenal’s satires. The historian also does not hide his bitterness at the sight of the widespread decay of morals, but he tries, according to his own statement, to write “without anger and partiality.” In Juvenal's poems there is more feeling than rationality. Not only does he not try to restrain his anger, but, on the contrary, he believes that indignation is precisely the emotion that a satirist poet should be guided by in the first place. Juvenal's rhetorical education, his experience as a reciter, and the tastes of his era undoubtedly had the most significant influence on his satires. They also identified some of his weaknesses. As a devout reciter, Juvenal sometimes lacks poise and detachment. The poet is completely immersed in his material and is so captivated by it that he can be accused of excessive subjectivity and excessive passion. Juvenal wants to give the impression of a man completely captured by moral problems. Indeed, many researchers see him as a serious ethical preacher. The reputation of a moral poet came to Juvenal during late antiquity and the Middle Ages and firmly held until the 19th century, when many scholars declared Juvenal's poetry insincere on the grounds that his instructions were not the result of a developed system of ethical teaching, that he was only repeating hackneyed moralistic truths, while using, and very immoderately, the techniques of declamatory technique. In fact, Juvenal's attitude towards human shortcomings is far removed from the objectivity necessary to evaluate and distinguish them according to the degree of their significance and seriousness, as should be characteristic of a true moralist. Juvenal puts simple weaknesses and heinous crimes on the same level. Thus, in the 1st satire, he equates a pimp who expects to receive an inheritance from his wife’s lover, a forger of wills, a poisoner and a man overwhelmed by a passion for horses. This violation of proportionality is one of the reasons for the impression of monotony that arises when reading Juvenal's satires for a long time. Although the poet strives for variety in his works, he nevertheless largely disappears under the gloomy colors that he abundantly imposes everywhere. The equalization of all moral transgressions occurs in Juvenal because, while depicting Roman society, undoubtedly corrupt and mired in vices, he portrays it as much worse than it really was. A satirist poet, and also a poet of rhetorical training, he forces himself, especially in his early satires, to see only evil and abominations in the life around him. Setting out his poetics in the 1st satire, Juvenal emphasizes that the driving force of his satires is indignation. An orderly style is not his main concern; the poet sets himself an extremely difficult task - to create in his listeners the illusion of impromptu, the illusion of impulsive, unrestrained improvisation, suddenly arising under the influence of anger and indignation. Hence this apparent negligence displayed on display, which sometimes creates the impression of unnaturalness. After long sessions of recitation, Juvenal creates his own special style of poetic satire, generally impersonal, dramatically tense, majestically pompous and pathetic, which is a reflection of his era with its sharp contrast between reality and ideal. However, Juvenal does not always succeed in maintaining this pathos of indignation and the tone corresponding to it. It happens that genuine, artistically justified tension is replaced by artificial tension, which is achieved through rhetorical questions, exclamations, excessive exaggerations, amplifications and other means of rhetoric, with the help of which Juvenal seeks to evoke feelings of disgust and anger. Juvenal's satires demonstrate his thorough familiarity with Roman literature. Better than others, he knew the works of the poets Martial, Ovid, Virgil and Horace, whose poems he sometimes parodies, sometimes imitates, sometimes uses for simple reminiscence. Among prose writers, he read Cicero, Seneca, Tacitus, perhaps Pliny the Elder, and knew the satires of Persia quite well. However, he is very far from the stylistic sophistication of the Persia satires, although he also has a clear weakness for pretentious stylistic devices, sharp contrasts, and neologisms. It seems that Juvenal abandoned the Horace principle - a language close to colloquial. More often he takes advantage of the opportunities provided to him by rhetoric. At the same time, he strives to find the most accurate, most characteristic touch to create images, which for him, as a rule, are extremely specific, real, and vital. Juvenal's satires do not contain an abundance of adjectives, as one might expect; usually a noun and a verb are enough for him to create an image, to describe an action or situation in a naturalistic way. A brilliant writer of everyday life, Juvenal is a great master in creating realistic scenes. He is fluent in the language of epigrams and the technique of maxims, so that each particular case in his depiction takes on the character of a universal phenomenon. This is Juvenalian realism. To achieve truthfulness, a variety of artistic means are used: from all the tricks of rhetoric to the use of banal phraseology and rude, often obscene language. Even if such external realism is not a true reflection of real life, the power of Juvenal’s poetic talent is such that it creates the illusion of amazing vitality, which is far from often found in works of Roman literature. Apparently, the secret lies not so much in Juvenal’s rhetorical training, but in the fact that the poet went through a harsh school of life and captured his personal experience in satires. The feeling of indignation narrows, but at the same time sharpens the poet’s gaze. When Juvenal states that “the filling of his book” is “desires, fear, anger, pleasure, joy, intrigue”, then this listing, heap of words, without their visible logical connection, he seeks to convey the impression of disorder and even randomness reigning. In Roman society. The main merit of Juvenal-satirist, undoubtedly, is that he, giving Satire the character of a sharp reverence, forever fixed his revealing content. None of the Roman satirists, even Horace, had such an influence on the satirical literature of Europe as Juvenal, whose name became a household name to designate the satirist as such. In Russia, the first news of the satires of Juvenal dates back to the era of Peter I. Once the king saw a collection of the satire of the Roman poet with one German and became interested in their content. He was read by an excerpt from the tenth satire with the famous aphorism “Healthy Spirit in a Healthy Body” (Mens Sana in Corpore Sano). Peter liked these verses so much that he wrote to himself Juvenal in a Dutch translation and forced himself to read. He knew the Roman satirist well and imitated him Antioch Kantemir, who in his satires scourged his modern Russian reality. The revealing Cantemir satires spread in Russia only in the lists and were published for almost two decades after the death of the poet. Many Kantemir verses sound like a very close or almost literal translation of Juvenal. The founder of Russian romanticism V. A. Zhukovsky approvingly responded about Juvenal, but he saw in him only a poet-monitor. Otherwise, the Decembrists looked at Juvenal, for whom the Roman satirist, a lively inspired example of a political rebel and a Republican. In 1826, during the interrogation of the Decembrists, when the arrested people served from whom they borrowed their revolutionary views, the name of Juvenal was called among others. It is no coincidence that one of the manifestations of political free -thinking of Pushkin Onegin, the hero of the novel in the verses of Eugene Onegin, was that he could "talk about Juvenal." For A. S. Pushkin Juvenal - the personification of a courageous scourging satire. The first mention of the name of Juvenal in the verses of A. S. Pushkin dates back to 1814 in the poem “To a Friend of the Poem”, the first printed poem of Pushkin. In the poem "Licinius" (1814) there are such verses:

Author's style

Juvenal is a person who was educated in the field of oratory, so many of the techniques he used were drawn from this area.

For example, he often asks rhetorical questions to emphasize the point he wants to convey to the audience. Also, these verses are characterized by numerous examples confirming one or another thesis. Juvenal literally brings down on the reader a mountain of evidence that he is right.

In addition, the author repeats the same idea several times, formulating it differently. He seems to hypnotize people by repeating a spell several times. For the reader of our days, studying his works is an activity that requires endurance and patience. Many words in his texts require explanation, so, as a rule, publishers provide them with footnotes. Juvenal often appeared before the public reading his works.

Therefore, it can be assumed that in his poems he mentioned facts familiar to his contemporaries. The Roman satirist used a wide range of techniques to influence the audience in his works.

He tried to influence both the emotional sphere of people (rhetorical questions, exclamations) and the intellectual sphere (numerous examples from history). Juvenal's favorite stylistic device was hyperbole - literary deliberate exaggeration, exaggeration.

Juvenal is the last classic of Roman satire. It is unlikely that the words “satire” and “satirical” would have the meaning that we give them if Juvenal had not existed. Juvenal entered European culture and literary history as a generalized image of a poet-accuser of political despotism and moral decay of his time. Almost nothing is known about the life of Juvenal, although we have a dozen of his biographies. The oldest of them was probably created towards the end of the 4th century, that is, more than 250 years after the death of the poet. As a rule, none of these life stories deserves complete confidence. Based on indirect evidence, we can conclude that the satirist was born between 50 and 60. AD His birthplace was Aquinus, a small town near Rome. The best biography that has reached us speaks very vaguely about the origin of Juvenal: he was the son or pupil of a wealthy freedman who received a thorough grammatical and rhetorical education. Among his teachers may have been the great rhetorician of the time, Marcus Fabius Quintilian, author of 12 books, The Education of the Orator. It is known that Juvenal, almost until the middle of his life, was engaged in composing declamations and speeches on fictitious topics, more likely for his own pleasure than in order to prepare for professional activity. However, for some time he was still a lawyer, but, apparently, he was not successful in this field, which did not bring him significant income. Juvenal began his work as a satirical poet only after the death of Emperor Domitian (96 AD), when relative freedom of speech was established in Rome. As far as one can judge, Juvenal gave a public reading of his satires and was successful, which seems to have brought him into trouble: already in antiquity there was a widespread version that, despite being eighty years old, he was exiled, under the pretext of a military command, or Egypt, or to Britain, where he died. However, the story of the poet’s expulsion gives the impression of a legend. The date of his death is unknown. One thing is certain: he died after 127. Juvenal's satires provide extremely scant information about their author. Unlike his predecessors, the satirists Lucilius and Horace, Juvenal carefully avoids talking about himself, and although his satires give a fairly clear idea of the poet’s personality, his thoughts and aspirations, they hardly inform us about the external circumstances of his life. On the contrary, Juvenal tries, as far as possible, to push his figure into the shadows, as if he is afraid with his presence to weaken the impression of his revealing invective. However, from some hints in the satires themselves, one can, for example, conclude that Juvenal was not rich. In one of Martial's epigrams (12, 9), he is depicted restlessly scurrying through the streets of Rome to pay his respects to the rich. The fact that Juvenal led the life of a client during his stay in Rome is indicated by his satires, in which the poet speaks with understanding, sympathy and bitterness about the situation of Roman clients. From Juvenal there are 16 hexametric satires in 5 books: they were published sequentially, in numerical order, between approximately 100 and 127 years. Juvenal's satires have come down to us in numerous copies. Currently, about 300 manuscripts of his satires are known; several manuscripts are kept in Russian libraries. All of them, as a rule, are of late origin, passed through many hands of different scribes and were subject to many distortions. Establishing the editorship of texts is fraught with considerable difficulties, since a number of poems raise doubts among publishers about their authenticity. Chronological indications in the satires themselves are minimal, but it is clear that Juvenal reached poetic maturity under the Emperor Trajan (r. 98-117) and continued to write satires during the reign of Hadrian (r. 117-138). Both emperors almost completely corresponded to the Senate aristocracy's idea of an ideal ruler. Hating the tyranny of the imperial regime, the historian Tacitus enthusiastically hails Trajan's principate as “the dawn of a happy age,” as “years of rare happiness, when everyone can think what he wants and say what he thinks” (“History”, 1, 1). Anti-Senate repressions, which had become commonplace in the last years of Domitian's reign, ceased. Exiled philosophers return to Rome from exile. Measures are being taken against informers, the number of which increased under Domitian. The differences between Romans and provincials are being erased; the latter have broad access to a government career. Agreement is established between the emperor and the senate. The part of the intelligentsia that was closely associated with the ruling class enjoyed special patronage from the emperor. Adrian personally takes care of the sciences and arts, is interested in the cultural life of Athens, and encourages philosophers, poets and scientists. All those dissatisfied with the despotic rule of Domitian now had the opportunity to openly express their indignation, confident that their writings would meet with a favorable reception. Writers appear on the literary arena who preferred to remain silent under Domitian. A whole galaxy of writers makes themselves known in Rome: Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius, Juvenal, who replaced the deceased Statius, Valerius Flaccus, Silius Italicus, Quintilian, Martial, who left for Spain. Although during the reign of Trajan and Hadrian many of the contradictions that aggravated under Domitian were smoothed out, nevertheless, not all social conflicts were eliminated. Emperors are guided less and less by laws and rely more and more on military force. Political activity is on the wane. The gap between wealth and poverty among the poor is widening. Eastern cults and Christianity became widespread in the empire. Apparently, Juvenal was captured by the general enthusiasm caused by the death of Domitian and the rise to power of Trajan. Inspired by hatred of the overthrown tyrant, he creates a series of satires in a sharp, invective form, which brought him over the centuries the glory of a merciless flagellant exposer. These are satires of his first three books, which differ markedly from the subsequent ones, created by the aging poet in the reign of Hadrian and usually called later. In the satires of the last two books there is no former sharpness of criticism and the power of indignation that was characteristic especially of the first nine satires, the most lively in intonation and rich in themes and satirical images. In his later works, Juvenal is more inclined to raise general problems that concern not so much the people of a certain era, but human nature in general. In later satires the influence of rhetoric is more strongly felt. According to the witty remark of a modern researcher, in early and late satires Juvenal appears to us as a two-faced Janus, with one face turned to the contemporary reality full of life, and the other turned to the dead past. As for the content of his satires, it is essentially very limited. The poet repeats in different ways the same attacks on contemporary morals, however, enlivening them with examples from life, history and mythology. Although he claims that all human life, everything that people do, served as the “filling” of his book, many themes that were characteristic of his predecessors remain outside the scope of his poetry. This was a deliberate limitation that allowed him to focus exclusively on exposing vices. His satires also lack the variety of forms that was inherent in the works of this genre by Lucilius and Horace. Juvenal looks at the reality around him with the deepest pessimism. He sees only evil (at least in his early works) and is convinced that it is rooted in the very nature of man. Juvenal does not believe in the possibility of improving society. A skillful painter of morals, he depicts the world as he sees it - depraved and corrupting, reaching in his bitter bitterness to extreme fanaticism. Here they prefer only money to duty, honor, and decency, no matter how acquired. Notes of personal disappointment and anger give his attacks a cruel and merciless character. Juvenal's uncompromising satire knows neither a mocking smile, nor a good-natured joke, nor psychological insight and understanding of the essence of phenomena, as in the satires of Horace. For Juvenal, the present does not contain anything good, and the future does not promise any hope. All that remains is to regret the past, the former way of life and ancient institutions, of which not a trace remains now. Longing for irrevocably past times, the poet sees no way out of the current situation. The position of Juvenal the satirist is that of a furious accuser. His attacks on wealthy upstarts and defense of oppressed slaves do not stem from a conviction of the need for social reconstruction. Juvenal's indignation is caused by the contradiction between what, in his opinion, should be and the real state of affairs. It seems that of the two main types of satire: one - optimistic and joyful (developed by Horace), the other - pessimistic and gloomy, Juvenal chooses this latter. If in Horace the satire heals and convinces, then in Juvenal it wounds, punishes and destroys. Juvenal's gloomy pessimism nevertheless softens somewhat in his later satires, in which, along with vice and evil, he is ready to see the brighter sides of life. There, Juvenal often returns his thoughts to the past of the Roman people and idealizes patriarchal antiquity. But deeply felt admiration for ancient simplicity is, of course, not enough to solve the social problems raised by the poet. It rather serves as a background, designed to highlight the squalor of modern life even more sharply. Juvenal usually turns the edge of his satire - perhaps for artistic reasons - not against the present, but against the recent past, against the reign of Domitian or even Nero, justifying this with arguments of caution. Of course, this did not give him a firm guarantee that he would avoid hostility and revenge: the times that he touches are too close. This kind of camouflage is rather a rhetorical trick, which the satirist resorts to in order to further enhance the feeling of disgust caused by the pictures of the vice he depicts. Although the people he names are long dead and belong to the past, he argues, the vices he castigates are the vices of all times. If Juvenal's predecessors often explained their turn to satire by an internal inclination towards this genre, which they preferred to others, then Juvenal declares that he was forced to write satire by the general decay of morals. His decision to take up satire was, as it were, imposed on him from the outside. “It’s hard not to write satire,” the poet declares. If talent is lacking, poetry is generated by the very indignation that inevitably arises at the sight of the vices that filled Rome. It is very significant that at approximately the same time when Juvenal begins to write satires, Tacitus begins to create historical works, whose works are characterized by the same pessimism as Juvenal’s satires. The historian also does not hide his bitterness at the sight of the widespread decay of morals, but he tries, according to his own statement, to write “without anger and partiality.” In Juvenal's poems there is more feeling than rationality. Not only does he not try to restrain his anger, but, on the contrary, he believes that indignation is precisely the emotion that a satirist poet should be guided by in the first place. Juvenal's rhetorical education, his experience as a reciter, and the tastes of his era undoubtedly had the most significant influence on his satires. They also identified some of his weaknesses. As a devout reciter, Juvenal sometimes lacks poise and detachment. The poet is completely immersed in his material and is so captivated by it that he can be accused of excessive subjectivity and excessive passion. Juvenal wants to give the impression of a man completely captured by moral problems. Indeed, many researchers see him as a serious ethical preacher. The reputation of a moral poet came to Juvenal during late antiquity and the Middle Ages and firmly held until the 19th century, when many scholars declared Juvenal's poetry insincere on the grounds that his instructions were not the result of a developed system of ethical teaching, that he was only repeating hackneyed moralistic truths, while using, and very immoderately, the techniques of declamatory technique. In fact, Juvenal's attitude towards human shortcomings is far removed from the objectivity necessary to evaluate and distinguish them according to the degree of their significance and seriousness, as should be characteristic of a true moralist. Juvenal puts simple weaknesses and heinous crimes on the same level. Thus, in the 1st satire, he equates a pimp who expects to receive an inheritance from his wife’s lover, a forger of wills, a poisoner and a man overwhelmed by a passion for horses. This violation of proportionality is one of the reasons for the impression of monotony that arises when reading Juvenal's satires for a long time. Although the poet strives for variety in his works, he nevertheless largely disappears under the gloomy colors that he abundantly imposes everywhere. The equalization of all moral transgressions occurs in Juvenal because, while depicting Roman society, undoubtedly corrupt and mired in vices, he portrays it as much worse than it really was. A satirist poet, and also a poet of rhetorical training, he forces himself, especially in his early satires, to see only evil and abominations in the life around him. Setting out his poetics in the 1st satire, Juvenal emphasizes that the driving force of his satires is indignation. An orderly style is not his main concern; the poet sets himself an extremely difficult task - to create in his listeners the illusion of impromptu, the illusion of impulsive, unrestrained improvisation, suddenly arising under the influence of anger and indignation. Hence this apparent negligence displayed on display, which sometimes creates the impression of unnaturalness. After long sessions of recitation, Juvenal creates his own special style of poetic satire - generalized impersonal, dramatically tense, majestically pompous and pathetic, which is a reflection of his era with its sharp contrast between reality and ideal. However, Juvenal does not always succeed in maintaining this pathos of indignation and the tone corresponding to it. It happens that genuine, artistically justified tension is replaced by artificial tension, which is achieved through rhetorical questions, exclamations, excessive exaggerations, amplifications and other means of rhetoric, with the help of which Juvenal seeks to evoke feelings of disgust and anger. Juvenal's satires demonstrate his thorough familiarity with Roman literature. Better than others, he knew the works of the poets Martial, Ovid, Virgil and Horace, whose poems he sometimes parodies, sometimes imitates, sometimes uses for simple reminiscence. Among prose writers, he read Cicero, Seneca, Tacitus, perhaps Pliny the Elder, and knew the satires of Persia quite well. However, he is very far from the stylistic sophistication of the Persia satires, although he also has a clear weakness for pretentious stylistic devices, sharp contrasts, and neologisms. It seems that Juvenal abandoned the Horace principle - a language close to colloquial. More often he takes advantage of the opportunities provided to him by rhetoric. At the same time, he strives to find the most accurate, most characteristic touch to create images, which for him, as a rule, are extremely specific, real, and vital. Juvenal's satires do not contain an abundance of adjectives, as one might expect; usually a noun and a verb are enough for him to create an image, to describe an action or situation in a naturalistic way. A brilliant writer of everyday life, Juvenal is a great master in creating realistic scenes. He is fluent in the language of epigrams and the technique of maxims, so that each particular case in his depiction takes on the character of a universal phenomenon. This is Juvenalian realism. To achieve truthfulness, a variety of artistic means are used: from all the tricks of rhetoric to the use of banal phraseology and rude, often obscene language. Even if such external realism is not a valid reflection of real life, the power of Juvenal’s poetic talent is such that it creates the illusion of amazing vitality, which is far from often found in works of Roman literature. Apparently, the secret lies not so much in Juvenal’s rhetorical training, but in the fact that the poet went through a harsh school of life and captured his personal experience in satires. The feeling of indignation narrows, but at the same time sharpens the poet’s gaze. When Juvenal states that “the filling of his book” is “desires, fear, anger, pleasure, joy, intrigue”, then this listing, heap of words, without their visible logical connection, he seeks to convey the impression of disorder and even randomness reigning. In Roman society. The main merit of Juvenal-satirist, undoubtedly, is that he, giving Satire the character of a sharp reverence, forever fixed his revealing content. None of the Roman satirists, even Horace, had such an influence on the satirical literature of Europe as Juvenal, whose name became a household name to designate the satirist as such. In Russia, the first news of the satires of Juvenal dates back to the era of Peter I. Once the king saw a collection of the satire of the Roman poet with one German and became interested in their content. He was read by an excerpt from the tenth satire with the famous aphorism “Healthy Spirit in a Healthy Body” (Mens Sana in Corpore Sano). Peter liked these verses so much that he wrote to himself Juvenal in a Dutch translation and forced himself to read. He knew the Roman satirist well and imitated him Antioch Kantemir, who in his satires scourged his modern Russian reality. The revealing Cantemir satires spread in Russia only in the lists and were published for almost two decades after the death of the poet. Many Kantemir verses sound like a very close or almost literal translation of Juvenal. The founder of Russian romanticism V. A. Zhukovsky approvingly responded about Juvenal, but he saw in him only a poet-monitor. Otherwise, the Decembrists looked at Juvenal, for whom the Roman satirist, a lively inspired example of a political rebel and a Republican. In 1826, during the interrogation of the Decembrists, when the arrested people served from whom they borrowed their revolutionary views, the name of Juvenal was called among others. It is no coincidence that one of the manifestations of political free -thinking of Pushkin Onegin, the hero of the novel in the verses of Eugene Onegin, was that he could "talk about Juvenal." For A. S. Pushkin Juvenal - the personification of a courageous scourging satire. The first mention of the name of Juvenal in the verses of A. S. Pushkin dates back to 1814 in the poem “To a Friend of the Poem”, the first printed poem of Pushkin. In the poem "Licinius" (1814) there are such verses:
O muse of fiery satire! Come to my calling cry! I don’t need a thundering lyre, Give me Juvenal’s scourge.
At the end of his life, Pushkin decided to take Juvenal seriously; he even began to translate his tenth satire, which had so interested Peter I at one time. From the translation begun by Pushkin, verses 1-4 and 188-195 from the tenth satire survived. V. G. Belinsky highly appreciated the work of Juvenal. “True Latin literature,” he wrote, “that is, national and original Latin literature, lies in Tacitus and the satirists, of whom the most important is Juvenal. This literature, which appeared in an era of extreme decomposition of the elements of the social life of the Romans, has the high significance of the highest moral judgment over a society rotten in depravity, which gives it primarily world-historical, and therefore never dying, significance.” By this time, the name of Juvenal became a household name to denote an exemplary satirist in general. In 1856, N. G. Chernyshevsky, in a review of the Russian translation of Horace’s odes, wrote about the need to translate Juvenal’s satires into Russian: “Juvenal, without any doubt, will be extremely popular with us, if only he is well translated.” In 1859, St. Petersburg University professor N.M. Blagoveshchensky gave two public lectures on Juvenal for the first time in Russia. Under the influence of these lectures, the poet D. Minaev rearranged the first and third satires of Juvenal in iambics, and one of Blagoveshchensky’s students, V. Modestov, translated the eighth satire in hexameter. Blagoveshchensky himself published a prose translation of III, VII, VIII and X satires in a scientific journal in the 1880s. The most complete translation of Juvenal (however without the ninth satire) appeared only in 1885 and belonged to the pen of the famous lyric poet A. A. Fet. In 1888, a modest teacher of one of the Moscow gymnasiums, A. Adolf, published the Latin text of Juvenal's satires with a parallel Russian translation in verse. This translation is provided with an extensive commentary, but some parts of individual satires have not been translated, and satire IX has been completely released. A complete translation of Juvenal's satires into Russian was made by D. S. Nedovich (satires I-VIII) and F. A. Petrovsky (satires IX-XVI) and was published in 1937; partially reprinted in 1957 and republished in 1989.

Error

On some Internet sites you can find an erroneous statement that Juvenal’s most famous creation is “Satyricon”. The authors of these notes confuse this work with satires that actually belong to the pen of the poet discussed in this article. The Satyricon was written by another Roman writer, Petronius. In addition, his work belongs to the prose genre. It is considered the first novel in the history of world literature.

A distinctive feature of this work is that Petronius provides the prose text with poetic inserts written in the style of Petrarch, Horace and Juvenal. Perhaps because of this, the authorship of the Satyricon is often mistakenly attributed to the latter.

In addition, these two works have another similarity. In them, the author speaks on behalf of the common people. He criticizes the morals of the nobility. Both works contain elements of colloquial Latin, which was not typical for the literary language of that time.

Chapter XIII JUVENAL

Juvenal's works of satire (or satura) have come down to us in copies, of which the oldest, containing only the last eight verses of satire 14 and the 43 initial verses of satire 15 together with scholia, dates back to the 4th century. This is a palimpsest currently in the Vatican Library. The oldest complete manuscript dates back to the 9th century; this is the Codex Pithoeanus, named after its former owner, a 16th-century French scientist. Pierre Pitou. Currently, this manuscript is located in Montpellier, which is why it is also called Codex Montepessulanus. Ancient commentaries (scholia) on Juvenal have also been preserved [1]. Sixteen satires of Juvenal were in ancient times combined into a collection divided into five books (Book 1 - satires 1-5; II - satires 6; III - satires 7-9; IV - satires 10-12; V - satires 13-16). According to this account, they are quoted, by the way, by the grammarian Priscian (491-518). The time of composition of individual Juvenal satires can only be determined very approximately, and the generally accepted opinion of bourgeois scholars that Juvenal’s satires (or at least the books in which they are distributed) follow in the collection in chronological order is not based on any solid data. The first satire was written no earlier than 100 AD. e. (under Trajan), which is established by verse 49, which mentions Marius Priscus as an exile, whose condemnation occurred in January 100 [2] The 2nd satire, judging by verses 29 and 160, was written shortly after the death of Emperor Domitian (in 96), since in the first of these verses Juvenal hints at Domitian’s relationship with his niece Julia, and in the second he talks about the conquest by Roman troops Orcad (i.e. the present Orkney Islands, north of Scotland), which occurred in 84 AD. e. (see Tacitus, Agricola, 10). Juvenal speaks of both Domitian’s connection with Julia and the conquest of Orcade as recent events [3]. In the 3rd satire, apparently, there is no indication of the time of its composition. The 4th satire was apparently written after the 1st, since its opening words “Again Crispinus” (Ecce iterum Crispinus) can only be attributed to verse 26 of the 1st satire. But even this very vague chronological indication cannot be considered unconditional: the name Crispinus, which is found in the satyrs of Horace, and in Persius, and in Martial, could well have been not so much a proper name as a common noun. From the mention of Domitian as “the last Flavius” (laceraret Flavius... ultimus) in verses 37-38 it is clear that the satire was written after the death of Domitian. Based on the text of the 5th satire, it is not possible to determine the time of its composition. 6th satire. The time of composition of this longest of Juvenal's satires, which occupies the entire book II of his collection, is usually determined by the following data. 1. In the indication in verse 555 that “the Delphic oracle fell silent” (Delphis oracula cessant) they see evidence of the publication of the 6th satire under Trajan, since the Delphic oracle was restored by the emperor Hadrian; and therefore this oracle spoke again. 2. Verse 205 mentions gold coins called Dacicus and Germanicus - titles related (according to numismatics) to Trajan. 3. Verses 407-411 speak of a great earthquake in Antioch. It is considered beyond doubt that this refers to the earthquake of 115. (or the next few years). The time of appearance of the comet mentioned in these verses is also determined. Based on these data, it is believed that satire 6 was written under Trajan. But these data are very uncertain. 1. An indication of the silence of the Delphic oracle could well have been made under Hadrian, since the concerns of this emperor about the renewal of the Delphic oracles were quite in vain. In this indication one could also see evidence that the 6th satire was written before the reign of Trajan, since this emperor also tried to restore the Delphic oracle, which had fallen into decay [4]. 2. Gold coins from the time of Trajan were in circulation even after his death. 3. The reference to a comet and an earthquake in connection with a context depicting women's chatter and gossip cannot have any chronological significance. In addition, astronomical phenomena such as comets, unlike, for example, lunar eclipses, can in no way serve as a reliable reference point for restoring chronology. It is clear, therefore, that the time of composition of the 6th satire from its text cannot be determined with any precision. There is no coherent plan in this satire: it seems to be composed of separate pieces. Most likely, one can think that its individual parts were written at different times, and it is more than difficult to date its final composition. The 7th satire is also not dateable. The opening verse of this satire:

Only in Caesar is the meaning and hope of verbal science

Adolf [5] considers it undoubtedly related to Trajan; Weidner [6] is careful to say that if the satires in Juvenal's collection are arranged in chronological order, the Caesar to whom the opening verse refers must be Hadrian; Friedlander [7] believes that most of the 7th satire (starting from verse 22 or 36) was written under Trajan, and its beginning was composed under Hadrian. It can also be added that the author of the above biography of Juvenal indicates that some verses of the 7th satire belong to Juvenal’s earliest poetic experiments. The arguments of the scientists we have indicated are so shaky that we have to consider the time of the composition of the 7th satire also indeterminable. The 8th satire gives the only precise chronological indication of Juvenal's contemporary events in verse 120:

Since Mari recently stripped the Africans naked.
Cum tenuis nuper Marius discinxerit Afros.
The trial of Maria Prisca (as already indicated above when analyzing the dating of the first satire) took place in 100 AD. e. But the adverb nuper (recently) is as vague here as in satires 2, 29; 4, 9; 15, 20 and as modo in satires 2, 160 and 4, 77. Thus, it can only be established that the 8th satire was written after 100 AD. e. In the 9th satire there are no chronological indications of the time of its composition. 10th satire. “In the satire,” says Adolf [8], “there are no chronological indications, but there is no doubt that it, like the satires that followed it, was written in the poet’s advanced years, when the causticity of the satire was replaced by the calm reflection of an old man, taught by everyday experience to treat more forgiving of human error." It is quite obvious that such reasoning has no evidence, and there are no other arguments in favor of the composition of this satire by Juvenal in his old age. Based on the 11th and 12th satires, it is impossible to determine the time of their writing [9]. In the 13th satire there is, at first glance, a definite chronological indication:

Are you amazed that you carry behind you
six decades of years that you were born into the consulate of Fonteus? (vv. 16-17)
Most likely [10], Juvenal points to the consulate of 67 AD. e. Adding 60 years, we get the year the satire was written as 127th. But the trouble is, as S.K. Apt correctly points out [11], that sexaginta does not at all indicate exactly sixty years, since the number 60 was used by the Romans to imprecisely designate a large number. In addition, to prove that Juvenal means precisely the consulate of the 67th year, and not the 59th (or even the 12th) year AD. e. is certainly impossible [12]. The mention in verse 98 of Archigenes, a famous physician of the times of Domitian, Nerva and Trajan, also does not provide any chronological support. In the 14th satire there are no reference points for its dating. Satire 15 is considered completed, certainly not earlier than 128, on the basis of the indication in verse 27 that the incident of cannibalism described in this satire occurred in the recent consulate of Iunco (nuper consule Iunco). But the evidence for such dating is far from certain. 1. The reading of Iunco in verse 128, adopted by the newest editors of Juvenal [13], is by no means the only manuscript reading. Although it is attested by a palimpsest from Bobbio, dating from the end of the 4th century. (B. 5750 in the Vatican Library), Munich manuscript of the 11th century. (A) and some others, but the best list of Juvenal -Codex Pithoe-anus (P) gives the reading iunpo, and lists of the class ψ (with the exception of OU, which gives nino-iunio, which K.F. Heinrich [14] considers the only correct one ( let us add: and the most difficult - lectio difficilior, that is, according to the law of criticism of the text, preferable) [15]. In the time of Juvenal, says Heinrich, there were two consuls of Junius: one in 119, at the same time with Hadrian - Quintus Iunius Rusticus, the other - under Domitian 2. The reference to the fact that the case of cannibalism is indicated by Juveial as having occurred recently (nuper) is completely unsuitable for chronological combinations, since Juvenal, like other Roman writers, does not give this adverb a specific temporal meaning indicating the near future [16 ] 3. If we accept the reading of Iunco in verse 27 and believe that this name refers to the consul L. Aemilius Iunk, then why not consider it possible that to designate the year Juvenal could here indicate the name of the consul not only the first mentioned in the consular fasts , and not even mentioned in them at all, but known as the consul of 127 only from other sources? [17] Indeed, to prove that the 13th satire indicates the consul of the 67th year, and not another year, Juvenal researchers refer precisely to the fact that in the chronological instructions of ancient authors, the year is certainly indicated by the name of the first of the consuls (so to speak , consul-eponym). It must be said that difficulties also arise when reading Iunio (there is nothing to say about the readings iunio and uino, i.e. Iunio-Junjo (in two syllables). The consul of 119, as can be considered established [18], was called not Junius, but Messiah Rusticus; as for the consul during the reign of Domitian (unter Domitian), it is completely unclear to us who Henry has in mind. The only possible assumption seems to us that under the name of consul Junius (if we accept the reading of R) is meant the consul of 53. AD (under Claudius, in the third year of Domitian’s birth) Decimus Iunius Silanus, whose name comes first in the consular fasti But with this assumption, no exact data about the time of composition of the 15th satire is obtained. Taking into account all that has been said, we can only conclude that the data from the text of the 15th satire do not provide any solid grounds for its dating.As for the 16th satire, which, according to the scholiast, many do not approve of and consider not to belong to Juvenal ( Ista a plerisque exploditur et dicitiir non esse Iuvenalis), then it is now recognized as undoubtedly authentic. As for the time of its composition, there is no data to determine this. When listing Juvenal's satires, we deliberately dwelled on many questions about their dating in order to show how the criteria for this dating are uncertain and in many cases very shaky. The main error in the argumentation when determining the time of composition or publication of individual satires of Juvenal (if only such individual publications existed during his lifetime) should be considered the generally widespread, but completely a priori belief that the satires in the collection of them that have come down to us are arranged in chronological order. S.K. Apt very thoroughly opposed this belief in the dissertation we have already mentioned above. The most complete translation of Juvenal's satires into Russian in the 19th century. is a translation by Fet (1885). The translation by A. Adolf, published along with the Latin text, was published in 1888. This translation is provided with an extensive commentary, but some parts of individual satires have not been translated, and the 9th satire has been completely published. A complete translation of Juvenal's satires, including poems preserved only in an 11th-century Oxford manuscript. and discovered in 1899 by Winstedt (34 verses between verses 365 and 366 and two verses after verse 373 of the 6th satire), made by D. S. Nedovich and F. A. Petrovsky and published in 1937. Despite the insufficiency and unreliability information about the life of Juvenal and the lack of data in his own works, with the exception of just a few isolated indications that may be autobiographical [19], we can nevertheless conclude with complete certainty, firstly, that Juvenal was a contemporary of Martial, Statius, Tacitus and Pliny the Younger, and secondly, that the main theme of his satires arose from observations of contemporary Roman society, mainly from the time of Domitian. Although it is impossible to determine Juvenal’s social position with a sufficient degree of certainty on the basis of any documentary data, the general direction and tone of his satires quite clearly indicate that Juvenal occupied a far from high position in Roman society. Even if we do not have the right to unconditionally identify the satirist Juvenal with Juvenal, Martial’s friend, we do, however, have evidence to conclude that both of these poets - the epigrammatist and the satirist - belonged to the same stratum of Roman society. It is very likely that Juvenal, like Martial, was a client in Rome [20]. Thanks to this, Juvenal could be well acquainted with the life and customs of the ruling strata of Roman society and observe its decomposition. There is any amount of evidence of such acquaintance in Juvenal’s satires, and the most striking examples are provided by the 1st and 6th satires. The collection of Juvenal's satires that has come down to us undoubtedly represents not a simple collection of his works, but a book in which the individual parts are distributed as systematically as possible. This is very clearly seen in the 1st satire of the collection, which is not only a separate independent work, but also an introduction to all the other satires. In this satire, Juvenal sets out his writing credo. The content of this satire is as follows. Introduction

(1-21).
Protesting against the sterile and dead mythological poetry and public recitations of contemporary poets (1-14), Juvenal says that, in view of the general passion for writing, he himself decides to become a poet, but not to follow the example of modern “singers” (vates), but to choose the field of Lucilius , i.e. write satires (15-21). Main part
(22-146). — The extreme decline of morals in Rome, a decline that has reached the point of a real social disaster, prompts one to turn to Juvenal’s satire. With the art of a true artist, Juvenal, without wasting unnecessary words and in exceptionally bright colors, describes debauchery, deceit, robbery, forgery, the arrogance of rootless upstarts and all sorts of other vices that captured Roman society, which had lost all shame, conscience and self-esteem. Juvenal is indignant at the decline and decay of the ancestral Roman nobility, at the rich freedmen who emerged from among foreign slaves, at the conquering power of money. Juvenal frames the pictures of the disaster he depicts with exclamations that all this inevitably causes denunciations in satire: “It’s hard not to write satire...” (30 ff.), “It’s clear with what irritation the withered liver burns...” (45), “This Shouldn’t I consider the Venusian lamp worthy[21], Shouldn’t I do this?” [22] (51 ff.), “Don’t you want to write up a pile of pages at the very crossroads at once...” (63 ff.). And these remarks are concluded by the famous saying (79):

Si natura negat, facit indignatio versum,
If there is no talent, the verse is generated by indignation.
This formula is extremely important for judging Juvenal’s views on poetry, which, in his opinion, should have life as its source, and not a fictitious lifeless theme. Life in all its manifestations and in their mutual interweaving - this is the true theme of poetry and especially satirical poetry, saturation in its original meaning:

Since the flood itself, when, with the sea swollen,
Deucalion floated up on a ship to the mountain, torturing fate, And little by little the softened stones warmed with their breath, And Pyrrha offered naked girls to their husbands, Everything that people do - desires, fear, pleasures, Joys, anger and discord - all this is filling for a book
[23]
. (vv. 81-86)
Conclusion

(147 -171). The final part of the 1st satire is devoted by Juvenal to the question of the relationship of the satirical genre to the contemporary life of the poet in Rome and the possibility of writing satires in the socio-political conditions that were created in the imperial era. Juvenal believes that the richest material for satire is provided precisely by his time, when (149)

Every vice has reached its limit,

and (147)

posterity will have nothing to add to such morals
.
But accusatory satire requires: “talent equivalent to the subject” (ingenium par materiae), reckless courage, because for any hint of a living person worthy of a satirical image, you can pay with your life. The ancients (think: Lucilius) had the ability to speak directly about “what would come into their heads in the heat of the moment” (150 ff.), but now it is much safer to “push Aeneas against the wild Rutulus,” that is, write on mythological topics). Taking all this into account, Juvenal decides to try

...what is permissible against
Those whose ashes are covered on the Flaminian or Latin, (vv. 170-171)
that is, to write satires on the dead who are already powerful in the world. Formally, Juvenal attacks either only the dead, or those living persons who cannot harm him, such as, for example, Marius (Priscus), sentenced to eternal exile, about whom he speaks in the 1st satire (49 ff.) ; but essentially, of course, he means mainly not the dead (like Nero, Messalina, etc.), but the living, whom he either does not call by name at all, or means by other names, as was generally accepted in his time. The 2nd satire is directed against hypocrites who, putting on the guise of guardians of morals and posing as moral philosophers, indulge in the most vile vices. Juvenal exposes the debauchery and vices of men, using very expressively the technique of gradation. He frames his indignation at hypocrisy in the form of a rhetorical question:

Is it tolerable when the Gracchi are outraged by rebellion?

[24]
Who would not confuse heaven with earth and seas with heaven, If Verres does not like a thief, Milo does not like a murderer, If Clodius blames libertines, Catiline blames Cethegus, And the triumvirs do not tolerate the proscriptions of their teacher Sulla? (vv. 24-28)
In the final verses of the 2nd satire, Juvenal, stating the complete disbelief of his age in the afterlife with its Charon, Styx and all other mythological and superstitious nonsense, demands from the Romans, so to speak, civil religious consciousness: respect to the valiant Romans of the glorious past - to the mans of Curius, Scipios, Camillus and to the souls of the soldiers who died in the battles for Rome. And present-day Rome teaches the peoples it conquered not strict morals, but only disgusting debauchery. In the 2nd satire, we mainly refer to the times of Domitian, who accepted in 84 AD. e. the title of indispensable censor (censor perpetuus) (Cassius Dio, 67, 4; cf. Suetonius, “Domitian,” 8). In the satire, an allusion to Domitian is made three times: in verses 29-33, 63 and 121. In the 3rd satire, the exclamation with which the 2nd satire begins is carried out:

It’s better to run away from here - to at least the icy Ocean,
Beyond the Sauromatians...
But Umbricius, on whose behalf the entire satire is written, starting from verse 21, does not leave so far: he moves from Rome only to the south of Italy, to Cumae. In Rome, says Umbricius, one cannot live by honest labor (21 ff.); all sorts of foreigners and mainly Greeks who penetrated (72)

In the depths of noble houses, where they will be masters,

completely wiped out the natural Roman clients (58 ff.); only money rules everything (126 words); finally, it is dangerous to live in Rome due to the complete disorganization of the city: collapses of houses, fires, etc., as well as due to clashes with night revelers and robbers (190 ff.). In conclusion, Umbricius dreams of meeting Juvenal not in Rome, but in Juvenal’s native Aquina, promising to help him there in writing satires. The 4th and 5th satires deal with gastronomic themes: the 4th satire depicts a meeting of the palace council convened by Domitian (whom Juvenal never mentions by name) to discuss how to cook the giant fish presented to Caesar. The 5th satire describes a dinner with a rich patron, who himself treats himself to magnificent dishes and wine, and serves all sorts of rubbish to his clients. The theme of this satire is used in many epigrams by Martial, as well as in one of the letters of Pliny the Younger (I, 6), but neither one nor the other develops it into such a grandiose satirical picture as we find in Juvenal. It should be noted that the 4th satire consists of two separate parts: it begins with the image of the dissolute glutton Crispinus, but then Juvenal seems to forget about this and through several, rather artificially inserted verses (28-36), concluding with a parodic appeal to Calliope and Pierides, passes to Domitian. It is very possible that the beginning of this satire represents an unfinished independent work, which was later added to the satire on Domitian and his courtiers. The 6th satire is the brightest and most powerful of all Juvenal’s satires. It exposes the vices of women in high Roman society and provides rich material for the history of the morals (or, rather, immorality) of Roman women of the imperial era. The truly terrible images of this satire are enhanced by the fact that it is extremely formless in its composition. This formlessness creates an unforgettable impression of the incredible chaos reigning in Roman society; one might think that, if Juvenal did not intentionally give the 6th satire a chaotic character, then, in any case, when processing this satire, he deliberately did not systematize the parts of this, his largest work. It should be noted that one of Juvenal's lists (Oxford Manuscript of the 11th century) gives a more complete text of this satire than all other lists. After verse 365, this list contains another 34 additional verses, and after verse 373 - two. Most likely, these verses belong to a special editorial version of Juvenal himself. The 7th satire depicts the difficult situation of the Roman intelligentsia, whose only hope, Juvenal says at the beginning of the satire, is only in Caesar[25]. Poets (verses 1-97), historians (98-104), lawyers (105-149), teachers of eloquence - rhetoricians (150-214), teachers of literature - grammar (215-243), - all suffer dire need. The place of former patrons of the arts has been taken by freedmen and actors who understand nothing about true talent and do not provide any support to talented people. Only the darlings of fortune, financially secure people (like Lucan) [26], and such rhetoricians as the rich Quintilian (188 ff.) can calmly engage in poetry. The first seven satires of the collection, in which Roman morals are depicted with all causticity and indignation, are also adjacent to the 9th satire, the theme of which is an exposure of disgusting male debauchery in Rome. Satires 8, 10, 11 and 13-15 are predominantly discursive in nature. In the 8th satire, Juvenal examines the question of true nobility and proves that it is determined not by a lush family tree, but by personal merit and valor. Satire 10 is devoted to the question of true good. Juvenal comes to the conclusion that true good is internal independence, which makes it possible to rise above what is sent to a person by random fate. Juvenal considers the moral philosopher Democritus to be an example of achieving internal independence. It should be noted that in this satire there is a vivid picture of popular anger against the temporary emperor Tiberius - Sejanus (56 ff.). The theme of the 11th satire is the praise of moderation. The first part of this satire (1-55) is an exposure of the unreasonable luxury that ruins the Romans of Juvenal’s time. The second part (56-208) praises patriarchal well-being, which makes it possible to live a simple and honest life, finding pleasure not in depraved metropolitan entertainment, but in a reasonable pastime, such as reading the works of true poets - Homer and Virgil (162-181). The 13th satire is devoted to a discussion about the peace of mind that should be maintained in the face of everyday adversity, and about the remorse of conscience that inevitably haunts deceivers and other criminals. This satire was written in the form of a teaching to Calvin, who lost 10 thousand sesterces entrusted to a friend. In the 14th satire, Juvenal discusses the false and disastrous principles of education. Satire 15 is devoted to exposing superstition using the example of African cannibals. Of the other two satires, the 12th is a message to a friend expressing joyful feelings on the occasion of his return from a dangerous sea voyage; the other - 16th - talks about the advantages of military service.

[1] For a detailed analysis of Juvenal’s handwritten legend, see the book: D. Iunii Iuvenalis Saturae. Editorum in usu edidit A. E. Housman. Cambridge, 1938. [2] For the trial of Maria Prisca, see Pliny the Younger. Letters, II, 11 and 12. [3] In Art. 29 costs nuper, and in Art. 160 - modo. Regarding the period of time denoted by the adverb nuper, see below, page 228. [4] See A. Bouché-Leclercq. Histoire de la divination dans l'antiquité, t. 3. Paris, 1880, p. 200 sqq. [5] "Satires of D. Junius Juvenal", page 255. [6] D. Iunii Iuvenalis Saturae. Erklärt von Andreas Weidner. Leipzig, 1873, S. 15, § 16. [7] Friedländer. Sittengeschichte, III, 413, We present the opinion of Frpdlandsr based on Weidner’s reference to it (ibid., note 3). [8] “Satires of D. Junius Juvenal”, p. 343. [9] Only on verses 201 words. satire 11, one can, and even then presumably, conclude that it was written by Juvenal in his old age. [10] See A. Adolf. Satires of D. Junius Juvenal, p. 423. [11] “Satires of Juvenal” (dissertation). M., 1950. [12] See below, in the analysis of the chronology of satire of the 15th. [13] See Juvenal. Satires. Texte établi et traduit par P. de Labriolle et F. Villeneuve. 2nd ed., Paris, 1931; D. Iunii Iuvenalis Saturae…edidit AE Housman. Cantabrigiae, 1938. [14] D. Iunii Iuvenalis Satirae. Ex emend, et c. comm. C. F. Heinrichii, vol. II. Bonnae, 1839, p. 501. [15] On the Juvenal manuscripts, see the preface to the Housman edition cited above. The symbols of the Juvenal codes are given according to this edition. [16] In Julius Caesar, for example, nuper is used when talking about events that happened two years ago (“Notes on the Gallic War”, I, 6), several months (ibid., I, 37) and 13-15 years ago (ibid., I, 40). [17] For these sources, see D. Iunii Iuvenalis Saturae. Erklärt von Andreas Wein der (Leipzig, 1873, S. 295). W. S. Teuffel. Geschichte der Romischen Literatur, Bd. 3, § 331, 1 (Leipzig, 1913). [18] See A. Adolf. Satires of D. Junius Juvenal, p. 476 with reference to Borghesi, and also in Weidner's edition (p. 295) from where Adolf apparently took his note. [19] It is absolutely impossible to consider even such verses as, for example, verse 203 of the 11th satire with an indication of old age as unconditionally referring to the real Juvenal, and not to the literary “I”, on whose behalf this or that satire was written. [20] An indication of this in satire 1, 95-108 can be considered quite autobiographical. [21] This refers to the satyrs of Horace, who was from Venusia. [22] This remark is complemented by a reminder of the insignificance of mythological themes:

...And what's even more important? The path of Diomedes, Hercules, the lowing inside the Labyrinth, Or the flying Daedalus and the fall of Icarus into the sea? [23] Nostri farrago libel Ii est. The word farrago fully corresponds in meaning to the original meaning of the term satura. See “History of Roman Literature”, vol. I. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1959, ch. XIV - “Early Roman Satura”. [24] Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes? This verse has become proverbial. [25] Et spes et ratio studiorum in Caesare tantum. It is hardly possible to decide which Caesar Juvenal has in mind. It is generally believed that this is either Trajan or Hadrian. [26] The mention of Lucan in verse 79 can hardly be used to date the 7th satire, but it is interesting that Juvenal apparently considers him a true poet.

Plot

The Satyricon attributed to Juvenal (which was actually written by Petronius) is a prime example of the adventure novel. It tells the journey of Encolpius, a young man with a dark past: he has repeatedly had problems with the law. This character periodically quarrels with his companions. The central episode of the work is the feast that Encolpius and his friends attend.

This meal takes place in the house of a former slave who was voluntarily released by the owner. Finding himself free, this man became very rich, but this circumstance did not add to his good manners. He is depicted wearing fancy clothes and lots of jewelry. His sleeves are deliberately rolled up and his collar is open to show off his jewelry. The speech of this hero is distinguished by an abundance of illiterate expressions and vulgarisms.

After the feast

After leaving the house of a rich but ignorant acquaintance, the main character quarrels with Ascylt. As a result of this disagreement, Encolpius and his friend (Eumolpus) board a ship with the goal of sailing as far as possible from the enemy. During the journey, it turns out that the ship belongs to their enemy Likh. To avoid being recognized, friends change their appearance: they shave off their hair and eyebrows. But, despite this ruse, the ship's owner learned of their presence on his ship. A fight broke out between the intriguers and the team.

When all the participants in the brawl were tired, a truce was concluded. Soon the ship is shipwrecked. The heroes are saved by fishermen. When the friends arrived in the nearest town, they learned that this city was home to many people who dreamed of getting rich by receiving a rich inheritance. One of them decides to impersonate a wealthy nobleman, and the rest play the role of his servants. The townspeople, hoping for the rich man's favor, supply them with everything they need. The novel ends at the episode when Eumolpus decides to once again play a trick on the greedy townspeople and announces that he will leave an inheritance to the one who eats his body after his death.

Excerpt characterizing Decimus Junius Juvenal

- Really! Where is she? “I would very much like to see her,” said Pierre. – I spent the evening with her yesterday. Today or tomorrow morning she is going to the Moscow region with her nephew. - Well, how is she? - said Pierre. - Nothing, I’m sad. But do you know who saved her? This is a whole novel. Nicholas Rostov. They surrounded her, wanted to kill her, wounded her people. He rushed in and saved her... “Another novel,” said the militiaman. “This general elopement was decidedly done so that all the old brides would get married.” Catiche is one, Princess Bolkonskaya is another. “You know that I really think that she is un petit peu amoureuse du jeune homme.” [a little in love with a young man.] - Fine! Fine! Fine! - But how can you say this in Russian?.. When Pierre returned home, he was given two posters by Rastopchin that had been brought that day. The first said that the rumor that Count Rostopchin was prohibited from leaving Moscow was unfair and that, on the contrary, Count Rostopchin was glad that ladies and merchant wives were leaving Moscow. “Less fear, less news,” the poster said, “but I answer with my life that there will be no villain in Moscow.” These words clearly showed Pierre for the first time that the French would be in Moscow. The second poster said that our main apartment was in Vyazma, that Count Wittschstein defeated the French, but that since many residents want to arm themselves, there are weapons prepared for them in the arsenal: sabers, pistols, guns, which residents can get at a cheap price. The tone of the posters was no longer as playful as in Chigirin’s previous conversations. Pierre thought about these posters. Obviously, that terrible thundercloud, which he called upon with all the strength of his soul and which at the same time aroused involuntary horror in him - obviously this cloud was approaching. “Should I enlist in the military and go to the army or wait? – Pierre asked himself this question for the hundredth time. He took a deck of cards lying on his table and began to play solitaire. “If this solitaire comes out,” he said to himself, mixing the deck, holding it in his hand and looking up, “if it comes out, it means... what does it mean?..” He didn’t have time to decide what it meant when a voice was heard behind the office door the eldest princess asking if she could come in. “Then it will mean that I have to go to the army,” Pierre finished to himself. “Come in, come in,” he added, turning to the prince. (One eldest princess, with a long waist and a petrified face, continued to live in Pierre’s house; the two younger ones got married.) “Forgive me, mon cousin, for coming to you,” she said in a reproachfully excited voice. - After all, we finally need to decide on something! What will it be? Everyone has left Moscow, and the people are rioting. Why are we staying? “On the contrary, everything seems to be fine, ma cousine,” said Pierre with that habit of playfulness that Pierre, who always embarrassedly endured his role as a benefactor in front of the princess, acquired for himself in relation to her. - Yes, it’s good... good well-being! Today Varvara Ivanovna told me how different our troops are. You can certainly attribute it to honor. And the people have completely rebelled, they stop listening; My girl started being rude too. Soon they will start beating us too. You can't walk on the streets. And most importantly, the French will be here tomorrow, what can we expect! “I ask one thing, mon cousin,” said the princess, “order me to be taken to St. Petersburg: whatever I am, I cannot live under Bonaparte’s rule.” - Come on, ma cousine, where do you get your information from? On the contrary... - I will not submit to your Napoleon. Others do whatever they want... If you don’t want to do it... - Yes, I will do it, I’ll order it now. The princess was apparently annoyed that there was no one to be angry with. She sat down on a chair, whispering something. “But this is being conveyed to you incorrectly,” said Pierre. “Everything is quiet in the city, and there is no danger.” I was reading just now...” Pierre showed the princess the posters. – The Count writes that he answers with his life that the enemy will not be in Moscow. “Oh, this count of yours,” the princess spoke angrily, “is a hypocrite, a villain who himself incited the people to rebel.” Wasn’t he the one who wrote in those stupid posters that whoever he was, drag him by the crest to the exit (and how stupid)! Whoever takes it, he says, will have honor and glory. So I was quite happy. Varvara Ivanovna said that her people almost killed her because she spoke French... “But it’s so... You take everything to heart,” said Pierre and began to play solitaire. Despite the fact that the solitaire had worked out, Pierre did not go to the army, but remained in empty Moscow, still in the same anxiety, indecision, in fear and at the same time in joy, expecting something terrible. The next day, the princess left in the evening, and his chief manager came to Pierre with the news that the money he required to outfit the regiment could not be obtained unless one estate was sold. The general manager generally represented to Pierre that all these undertakings of the regiment were supposed to ruin him. Pierre had difficulty hiding his smile as he listened to the manager’s words. “Well, sell it,” he said. - What can I do, I can’t refuse now! The worse the state of affairs, and especially his affairs, was, the more pleasant it was for Pierre, the more obvious it was that the catastrophe he was waiting for was approaching. Almost none of Pierre's acquaintances were in the city. Julie left, Princess Marya left. Of the close acquaintances, only the Rostovs remained; but Pierre did not go to them. On this day, Pierre, in order to have fun, went to the village of Vorontsovo to see a large balloon that was being built by Leppich to destroy the enemy, and a test balloon that was supposed to be launched tomorrow. This ball was not ready yet; but, as Pierre learned, it was built at the request of the sovereign. The Emperor wrote to Count Rastopchin the following about this ball: “Aussitot que Leppich sera pret, composez lui un equipage pour sa nacelle d'hommes surs et intelligents et depechez un courrier au general Koutousoff pour l'en prevenir. Je l'ai instruit de la chose. Recommandez, je vous prie, a Leppich d'etre bien attentif sur l'endroit ou il descendra la premiere fois, pour ne pas se tromper et ne pas tomber dans les mains de l'ennemi. "Il est indispensable qu'il combine ses mouvements avec le general en chef." [As soon as Leppich is ready, assemble a crew for his boat of loyal and intelligent people and send a courier to General Kutuzov to warn him. I informed him about this. Please instruct Leppich to pay careful attention to the place where he descends for the first time, so as not to make a mistake and not fall into the hands of the enemy. It is necessary that he coordinate his movements with the movements of the commander-in-chief.] Returning home from Vorontsov and driving along Bolotnaya Square, Pierre saw a crowd at Lobnoye Mesto, stopped and got off the droshky. It was the execution of a French chef accused of espionage. The execution had just ended, and the executioner was untying a pitifully moaning fat man with red sideburns, blue stockings and a green camisole from the mare. Another criminal, thin and pale, stood right there. Both, judging by their faces, were French. With a frightened, painful look, similar to that of the thin Frenchman, Pierre pushed through the crowd. - What is this? Who? For what? - he asked. But the attention of the crowd - officials, townspeople, merchants, men, women in cloaks and fur coats - was so greedily focused on what was happening at Lobnoye Mesto that no one answered him. The fat man stood up, frowning, shrugged his shoulders and, obviously wanting to express firmness, began to put on his doublet without looking around him; but suddenly his lips trembled, and he began to cry, angry with himself, as adult sanguine people cry. The crowd spoke loudly, as it seemed to Pierre, in order to drown out the feeling of pity within itself. “Someone’s princely cook...” “Well, monsieur, apparently the Russian jelly sauce set the Frenchman on edge... set his teeth on edge,” said the wizened clerk standing next to Pierre, while the Frenchman began to cry. The clerk looked around him, apparently expecting an assessment of his joke. Some laughed, some continued to look in fear at the executioner, who was undressing another. Pierre sniffed, wrinkled his nose, and quickly turned around and walked back to the droshky, never ceasing to mutter something to himself as he walked and sat down. As he continued on the road, he shuddered several times and screamed so loudly that the coachman asked him: “What do you order?” -Where are you going? - Pierre shouted at the coachman who was leaving for Lubyanka. “They ordered me to the commander-in-chief,” answered the coachman. - Fool! beast! - Pierre shouted, which rarely happened to him, cursing his coachman. - I ordered home; and hurry up, you idiot. “We still have to leave today,” Pierre said to himself. Pierre, seeing the punished Frenchman and the crowd surrounding the Execution Ground, so finally decided that he could not stay any longer in Moscow and was going to the army that day, that it seemed to him that he either told the coachman about this, or that the coachman himself should have known it . Arriving home, Pierre gave an order to his coachman Evstafievich, who knew everything, could do everything, and was known throughout Moscow, that he was going to Mozhaisk that night to the army and that his riding horses should be sent there. All this could not be done on the same day, and therefore, according to Evstafievich, Pierre had to postpone his departure until another day in order to give time for the bases to get on the road. On the 24th it cleared up after the bad weather, and that afternoon Pierre left Moscow. At night, after changing horses in Perkhushkovo, Pierre learned that there had been a big battle that evening. They said that here, in Perkhushkovo, the ground shook from the shots. No one could answer Pierre's questions about who won. (This was the battle of Shevardin on the 24th.) At dawn, Pierre approached Mozhaisk. All the houses of Mozhaisk were occupied by troops, and at the inn, where Pierre was met by his master and coachman, there was no room in the upper rooms: everything was full of officers. In Mozhaisk and beyond Mozhaisk, troops stood and marched everywhere. Cossacks, foot and horse soldiers, wagons, boxes, guns were visible from all sides. Pierre was in a hurry to move forward as quickly as possible, and the further he drove away from Moscow and the deeper he plunged into this sea of troops, the more he was overcome by anxiety and a new joyful feeling that he had not yet experienced. It was a feeling similar to the one he experienced in the Slobodsky Palace during the Tsar’s arrival - a feeling of the need to do something and sacrifice something. He now experienced a pleasant feeling of awareness that everything that constitutes people’s happiness, the comforts of life, wealth, even life itself, is nonsense, which is pleasant to discard in comparison with something... With what, Pierre could not give himself an account, and indeed she tried to understand for himself, for whom and for what he finds it especially charming to sacrifice everything. He was not interested in what he wanted to sacrifice for, but the sacrifice itself constituted a new joyful feeling for him. On the 24th there was a battle at the Shevardinsky redoubt, on the 25th not a single shot was fired from either side, on the 26th the Battle of Borodino took place. Why and how were the battles of Shevardin and Borodino given and accepted? Why was the Battle of Borodino fought? It didn’t make the slightest sense for either the French or the Russians. The immediate result was and should have been - for the Russians, that we were closer to the destruction of Moscow (which we feared most of all in the world), and for the French, that they were closer to the destruction of the entire army (which they also feared most of all in the world) . This result was immediately obvious, but meanwhile Napoleon gave and Kutuzov accepted this battle.

The fate of the novel

Petronius's novel has not survived to this day in its entirety. Some of its fragments have been lost. The reader can guess about the events described in them only from some references in the surviving chapters. For example, part of the novel “Satyricon” (Juvenal is not its author) was lost, which told about the criminal life and the subsequent imprisonment of the main character.

“Satyricon” has been distributed throughout the world in numerous copies since its creation. In all of these manuscripts the work is presented in incomplete form. To connect the fragments into a single whole, the French poet François Naudeau composed the missing fragments and published the “complete” Satyricon, which he allegedly found as a result of a long search. His deception was easily revealed, but the work is also sometimes published in this form. "Satyricon" influenced the art of subsequent generations. The Moscow Comedy Theater is named after this book. Based on this work, several feature films were made, including a film directed by the outstanding Italian director Federico Fellini.

One more meaning

It's time to return to the main topic of the article - “Juvenal - what is it?” In addition to its own name, this word is also used as a term to designate an age group in sports ballroom dancing.

According to the rules of this sport, all people involved in it are divided according to age into several categories. Thus, persons from sixteen to twenty-two years old are classified as “Youth”. Next, as age increases, there are groups: adults and seniors.

Children attending ballroom dancing sections are also divided into categories. The smallest participants in choreographic circles are called “children.” This group includes preschoolers from five to seven years old. When dancers reach the age of seven, they are transferred to the Juvenile dance group. This category is divided into two subgroups, first and second. Number one includes those children who have not yet reached the age of eleven.

Preschoolers who have crossed this line, but are under fifteen, are called “Juveniles 2.”

By the way, this term came into Russian from Latin and can literally be translated as “child” or “junior”. Children over this age, but under eighteen, are called "juniors". This category is also divided into two subgroups. The main conclusion to be drawn from this section is that juveniles are a category in ballroom dancing.

Concept in justice

Another important concept that cannot be ignored when examining the question of what juveniles are is the legal term indicated in the title of the chapter.

A little historical background: in the seventies of the nineteenth century, the following innovation in the law enforcement system was implemented in the United States of America. Now minors who committed a crime did not receive the punishment provided for by law, but were sent to study and live in special institutions.

After some time, so-called juvenile courts appeared in this country, that is, those that heard cases in which a minor citizen acted as one of the parties.

This system operated not only to control juvenile delinquents, but also to protect the rights of children. Juvenile justice has also become widespread in a number of Western European countries. Along with the positive consequences of such reform of the judicial system, some mistakes were also made.

Protests against juvenile justice have been held repeatedly in a number of Scandinavian countries and in Germany. Their participants said that such laws give the state the right to freely interfere in family affairs. Parents are subject to severe penalties for the smallest violations of the rules for treating children.

There are cases where people were deprived of parental rights for insufficiently compelling reasons. In addition, similar legislation in European countries, as a rule, often contains articles on the rights of minors, but is silent about their responsibilities. President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin spoke against the introduction of Western-style juvenile justice in Russia. Prominent representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church also opposed it.

In addition to the indicated meanings, the word “juvenile” is used to name one of the construction companies in the city of St. Petersburg. This company is a closed joint stock company. JSC "Juvenal" is its official name.

Satires of Juvenal. Russian poets and critics about Juvenal.

While the wealthy and noble Pliny admires the “happy times” that came under the Emperor Trajan, his contemporary Juvenal gives a much darker picture of Roman life.

Decimus Junius Juvenal (born in the 50s or 60s of the 1st century, died after 127) was an elderly man when he began to write satires. Little reliable biographical information has been preserved about him. He came from Aquina, a small Italian town, where his family owned land and apparently belonged to the local municipal elite. In the time of Domitian, Juvenal was an insignificant writer, gave speeches, was perhaps engaged in minor legal affairs and was forced to provide client services to influential persons. Subsequently, he achieved some prosperity: he published satires without “dedications” to any patrons, that is, as a person with an independent social position. Juvenal's literary heritage - 16 satires (in 5 books); all of them were compiled in the post-Domitian period, the first six under Trajan, the others already during the reign of Hadrian.

Juvenal acted as a satirist-accuser. The first satire of the collection contains the rationale for the choice of genre and the literary program. Given the impressions that Roman life brings at every step, “it’s hard not to write satire.”

Like Martial, Juvenal contrasts his satire with mythological genres; The subject of satire is the actual actions and feelings of people.

The task of the satirist is formulated as if clearly - to depict the vices of his time. But here the author introduces an interlocutor who calls for caution: it is not safe to name the names of the living. However, a solution has been found - Juvenal will name the names of the dead.

In contrast to the “laughing” satire of Horace and the doctoral tone of Persius, Juvenal’s poems will thus belong to the type of indignant satire. A classically minded poet imagines satire of the traditional type, containing an “iambographic” element of ridicule of specific individuals, that is, that element that was almost eliminated in Persius. He remembers the “ardent Lucilius.” But under the conditions of the empire, Lucilius’ method was no longer possible. Hence Juvenal’s peculiar technique: he uses names from the times of Domitian or even Nero, and among the living he names only people of low social status or those sentenced by court. At the same time, the author makes it clear to the reader that his satire, although related to the past, is actually aimed at the present.

Two periods can be distinguished in Juvenal's work. The most powerful and vibrant works belong to the first period (approximately until 120), during which the first three books of the collection (satires 1 - 9) were compiled. The poet chooses sensitive topics at this time, and the satire takes the form of a noisy declamatory invective against the vices and disasters of Roman life, with illustrations from the chronicles of several generations.

Juvenal shows the desolation of Italian cities, the hardships of a crowded metropolitan life for a poor citizen, the competition of visiting foreigners, Greeks and Syrians, displacing an honest Roman client (3rd satire). Lively sketches depict the plight of intellectual professions, poets, lawyers, teachers of rhetoric and grammar (7th satire). The humiliation of clients at a meal at the patron's is depicted in the 5th satire: “if you are able to endure all this, so serve you,” the author gloomily concludes. The fourth satire, which denounces the despotic regime of Domitian, belongs to a relatively rare narrative type for our poet: parodying the forms of epic presentation, Juvenal tells how a fisherman brought the emperor a flounder of unprecedented size and how the imperial council was convened on the issue of its preparation. The satire about nobility (8th), which received great resonance in world literature, approaches the form of satire-reasoning familiar in Roman poetry. Numerous examples show that long genealogies lose value if their owner is not worthy of the glory of his ancestors.

We find attacks against the degenerating nobility, its luxury and excesses in many satires, and those names with which the satirist illustrates the exposed vices belong mainly to the senatorial class. The figures of wealthy freedmen are presented with extreme bitterness. The great satire against women (6th) is all based on examples from the lives of representatives of high Roman society, right up to the empresses. Getting married is madness; the satire contains a long list of women's shortcomings, which include the absence of shortcomings.

In these satires there is a lot of exaggeration, thickening of colors, deliberate selection of isolated cases, especially when it comes to depicting dissipation. The author himself often cools his declamatory ardor with ironic endings. But at the same time, Juvenal touches on a number of serious and significant aspects of Roman life. The depopulation and pauperization of Italy was a very pressing problem that prompted Nerva and Trajan to carry out a number of credit and charitable activities. In the works of Juvenal the voice of the poorer sections of the free Italian population is often heard; the satirist shares their dissatisfaction with modern life, their moral ideas and their prejudices. Hence his hatred of foreigners, rich freedmen and bitter reproaches against the selfishness of the nobility and the scandalous behavior of its individual representatives.

In bourgeois literature, the image of Juvenal was distorted many times. While the bourgeoisie was a revolutionary class, it saw in Juvenal a denouncer of tyranny and aristocracy, a preacher of strict republican morality. This was, of course, wrong. But the prevailing attitude among bourgeois researchers of the 19th century is just as erroneous. the tendency to portray Juvenal as an empty “reciter”. His criticism of Roman reality has, as we have seen, a completely definite social basis. But the “indignation” of the slave-owner satirist cannot rise to the level of criticism of the social system as a whole and does not go beyond attacks on “mores.”

In the second period of his creativity, Juvenal turns to moral and philosophical themes, talks about unreasonable desires, education, and reproaches of conscience. Criticism of reality takes on a more abstract character of complaints about the moral decline of modernity, about depraved city life, and the harshness of the tone weakens. Sometimes Juvenal tries to approach the Horatian manner; such, for example, is the 11th satire, containing an invitation to a friend to a modest country meal.

The composition of satyrs is unique. The author values the chain of images more than the logical connection, moves abruptly from one topic to another and just as unexpectedly returns to the previous one. As a true “declamator,” he tries to act by means of oratorical suggestion, heaps up sensually vivid images, hyperboles, pathetic exclamations and questions. Juvenal is a satirist of declamatory style.

And at the same time, the example of this writer shows to what extent rhetorical culture was accompanied by a decline in the general cultural level. Juvenal discusses philosophical topics, but his knowledge of philosophy is insignificant; he often gives mythological examples, but limits himself to well-known plots: His attitude to mythology is interesting: he condemns the mythological plots of tragedy as stories about immoral acts and crimes, and this is the position that Christian authors will later take.

His satire was also popular in Russia, first in Decembrist times, and then in the 50s and 60s. It was no coincidence that Onegin knew how to “talk about Juvenal,” and Pushkin called on the “muse of fiery satire” to hand him “Juvenal’s scourge.”

Juvenal's enormous popularity among Russian democrats of the 19th century is explained by the opposition to tyranny on the part of the little man clearly expressed in his poems. Such opposition was the favorite child of Russian democracy. To this we must add Peter the Great’s rather frivolous fascination with Juvenal, who hardly went further than admiration for Juvenal’s expression “a healthy mind in a healthy body,” and student borrowings from the Roman satirist, the founder of Russian poetic satire, the 18th-century poet. Antioch Cantemir.