UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING 
 SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR H. WESTON 
 
 A THESIS 
 
 Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of 
 
 Yale University in Candidacy for the Degree of 
 
 Doctor of Philosophy 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 
 
 LANCASTER. PA. 
 
 I9I5
 
 EX LIBRIS 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 FROM THE FUND 
 
 ESTABLISHED AT YALE 
 
 IN 1927 BY 
 
 WILLIAM H. CROCKER 
 
 OF THE CLASS OF 1882 
 
 SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL 
 
 YALE UNIVERSITY
 
 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING 
 SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL
 
 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING 
 SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR H. WESTON 
 
 A THESIS 
 
 Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of 
 
 Yale University in Candidacy for the Degree of 
 
 Doctor of Philosophy 
 
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 PREFACE 
 
 This volume represents in a somewhat enlarged and revised 
 form a dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate 
 School of Yale University, in candidacy for the degree of 
 Doctor of Philosophy, in 1911. The subject for investiga- 
 tion was suggested to me by Professor G. L. Hendrickson, 
 who has given me much valuable advice and criticism, both 
 in general and in particular. I am very glad to have this 
 opportunity to publicly acknowledge my indebtedness, and 
 
 express my gratitude and appreciation, to him. 
 
 A. H. W. 
 
 J f^n^ f;
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 Minor Poets Contemporary with Juvenal ii 
 
 Apuleius 14 
 
 Tertullian 16 
 
 Commodianus 26 
 
 Arnobius 31 
 
 Ausonius 37 
 
 Tetradius 41 
 
 Sulpicia 42 
 
 Prudentius 43 
 
 Carmen contra Paganos 57 
 
 Carmen ad Senatorem 61 
 
 Paulinus of Nola 64 
 
 Cresconius 69 
 
 Ambrosius 70 
 
 Hieronymus 82 
 
 Claudian loi 
 
 S, Paulini Epigramma 121 
 
 Orientius 125 
 
 Rutilius Namatianus 129 
 
 Lucillus 135 
 
 Apollinaris Sidonius 136 
 
 Secundinus 140 
 
 Lampridius 141 
 
 Salvianus 143 
 
 Conclusion 155 
 
 Bibliography 158 
 
 Index 164 
 
 vu
 
 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING 
 SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL
 
 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUB- 
 SEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 § I 
 
 In undertaking a discussion of the satirical element in the 
 Latin literature of the later Roman Empire, we are con- 
 fronted at the very outset with the necessity of establishing 
 what we are to understand by our terminology. What is 
 "satire"? What can we properly call "satirical" writing? 
 
 The origin and early history of the word satiira, satira, 
 is somewhat obscure, and scholars differ as to when it actually 
 came into use in the sense in which it was afterwards employed. 
 The earliest occurrence in extant literature is in Horace, 
 Serm., II, i, i, and here it is plain that Horace used it in a 
 generic sense, not referring specifically to a certain individual 
 production of his, but to the general body of his literary work 
 of a certain kind.^ 
 
 The Roman grammarians distinguished between two types 
 of satire, one, the mere mixture of prose and verse, or of 
 different kinds of verse, in one poem, and the other, the criti- 
 cal, censorious type of literature written by such masters as 
 Horace, Persius, and Juvenal. A definition found in the 
 De Poetis of Suetonius, and again in the work of Diomedes, a 
 grammarian of the fourth century A. D., runs as follows: 
 ''Satira is the name given in Roman circles nowadays to a 
 censorious poem {carmen malediciim) , one written to criticise 
 men's vices, in the manner of the Old Comedy, such as Lucilius 
 
 ^ Yet Serm., II, 6, 17 shows, by the use of the plural, that he was 
 beginning to apply the generic word to the single work. 
 
 I
 
 2 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 and Horace and Persius wrote. And formerly, a poem that 
 was made up of different kinds of verse was called satira, 
 such as Pacuvius and Ennius wrote. "^ We shall concern 
 ourselves with that type of satire first mentioned, the one 
 "ad carpenda hominum vitia . . . compositum." 
 
 In investigating the Roman idea of satire, we soon meet 
 what is apparently an inconsistency, a contradiction. Satire 
 is spoken of as a Roman invention. "Satira quidem," says 
 Quintilian, "tola nostra est."^ Horace refers to Lucilius as 
 the "inventor" of satire,* and states again that he, LuciHus, 
 was the first to dare to write this sort of poetry.^ Yet, on 
 the other hand, Horace, after speaking of the Greek poets of 
 the Old Comedy and the attitude they took in their comedies 
 toward contemporary life, says 
 
 Hinc omnis pendet Lucilius, hosque secutus 
 Mutatis tantum pedibus numerisque, etc.® 
 
 And again in Serm., I, lo, 16-17, the same close connection 
 between Lucilius and the poets of the Old Comedy is indi- 
 cated. How are these discrepancies to be reconciled? 
 Both statements are true. The attitude taken by Roman 
 satire toward persons or manners or vices did find its proto- 
 type in the Greek Old Comedy, and was anything but ex- 
 clusively Roman; but the Roman claim to originality is just, 
 in so far as it refers to the development of that kind of writing 
 into a literary genus, and the application to it of a definite 
 and particular name. In the words of Professor Conington, 
 "That which constitutes the vaunted originality of Roman 
 
 ^ Satira dicitur carmen apud Romanos nunc quidem maledicum et ad 
 carpenda hominum vitia archaeae comoediae charactere compositum, 
 quale scripserunt Lucilius et Horatius et Persius. Et olim carmen quod 
 ex variis poematibus constabat satira vocabatur, quale scripserunt Pacuvius 
 et Ennius. Suetonius, Reliquiae, Reifferscheidt's edition, p. 20. Keil, 
 Gram. Lat., I, 485. 
 
 3 Inst. Or at., X, i, 93. 
 
 * Serm., I, 10, 48. 
 
 ^ Serm., II, i, 62 f. 
 
 * Serm., I, 4, 6.
 
 INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 satire is not so much its substance as its form: the one had 
 already existed in perfection at Athens, the elaboration of 
 the other was reserved for the poetic art of Italy."^ 
 
 And not only in the Old Comedy of the Greeks, but also 
 in their Stoic diatribes, their Cynic popular-philosophical 
 writings, are we to look for the forerunners of Roman satire. 
 The importance of the Stoic element in the works of Persius 
 due to the influence of his teacher Cornutus, is of course well 
 known; but, aside from such definite and individual connec- 
 tions, there is a very considerable similarity between the 
 Greek philosophical moralists and the Roman satirists in 
 general. The same underlying motive, that of ethical criti- 
 cism, appears again and again. The broad principle em- 
 phasized by the Cynic school, that man should live as far as 
 possible a life of simplicity and naturalness, is reflected in 
 the satirical pictures of luxury and artificiality in the later 
 writers. Horace acknowledges the influence of Bion of Borys- 
 thenes upon his own work.^ Sometimes definite parallelisms 
 can be shown between his writing and various Greek works. 
 The comic picture of the discontented people who, when 
 suddenly offered their wishes by some god, hastily eat their 
 own words, is found in Maximus of Tyre,^ a Greek writer of 
 the second century a. d. He probably did not copy it from 
 Horace: more likely both authors made use of an idea that 
 was common property, and which may have originated with 
 Bion.^° Those who make no use of the hoards they have 
 amassed are compared to Tantalus by Teles." The contrast 
 that is at the bottom of Horace's fable of the city mouse and 
 the country mouse — simplicity and safety versus luxury and 
 
 ^ Lecture on the Life and Writings of Persius, prefixed to his edition 
 of Persius, p. xxvii. 
 
 ^ Epist., II, 2, 60. 
 
 8 XXI, I (XV of Hobein's edition). 
 
 ^^ Heinze, De Horatio Bionis Imitatore, p. 16-17. Cf. Kiessling-Heinze, 
 note on Horace, Serni., I, i, ad loc. 
 
 "IV A. Hense's edition of the Reliqtnae, p. 24 f. loannes Stobaeus, 
 Florilegium, 97, 31.
 
 4 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 care and danger — is dwelt on to some extent by a later imi- 
 tator of Teles. ^^ Musonius, Philo, and Plutarch, to mention 
 representatives of different periods, all contain more or less 
 of this same general type of moralizing.^^ 
 
 Horace gives us his idea of the proper style for satire, in 
 Serm., I, lo, — the writer should have some more lofty motive 
 than merely to raise a laugh, whether by his wittiness or by 
 galling, cruel mockery; he should avoid verbosity; sometimes, 
 perhaps, it is well to be stern and bitter, more often kindly and 
 playful; assuming now the lofty style of the orator and poet, 
 and then the lighter attitude of the wit, which is often indeed 
 the more effective of the two.^* With this an English satirist 
 of note agrees, in saying that "the best and finest manner of 
 satire ... is that sharp well-mannered way of laughing a 
 folly out of countenance . . . ".^^ 
 
 But there are certain definite limitations to this view- 
 point. There is little practice, for example, of the art of 
 " laughing a folly out of countenance " in the satires of Juvenal. 
 John Delaware Lewis, indeed, points out that Juvenal has 
 relieved his somber pages with not a few touches of a humor 
 that is essentially modern ;^^ but the real spirit of Juvenal's 
 satire is not humorous, but austere, and, with the exception 
 of a few passages like 
 
 Maxima debetur puero reverential^ 
 
 i^Stob., 7=-/or., 93, 31. 
 
 ^^ See, in general, Heinze's dissertation above referred to, also P. Wend- 
 land, Philo und die Kynisch-Stoische Diatribe; P. Wendland, Hellenistisch- 
 Romische Kultur, pp. 78-79; F. Leo, Romische Literatur des Altertums, 
 in Die Kultur der Gegenwart, I, 8, 3d ed., p. 421 ; M. Croiset, Essai sur la vie 
 et les oeuvres de Lucien, p. 152. 
 
 ^^ On the interpretation of this passage see G. L. Hendrickson, Horace 
 and Lucilius: a Study of Horace, Serm., I, 10, in the volume of Studies in 
 Honor of Basil L. Gilder sleeve, p. 152 ff, 
 
 '^ John Dryden, Discourse concerning the Original and Progress of Satire. 
 Essays of John Dryden, edited by W. P. Ker, 2, 105. 
 
 1^ John Delaware Lewis, D. lunii luvenalis Satirae, with a Literal English 
 Prose Translation and Notes. 2d ed. Introduction pp. 14-17. 
 
 " 14. 47- 
 
 I
 
 INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 he does not seek, directly, at least, to reform evil conditions, 
 so much as to scourge them with indignant invective and 
 bitterest scorn. 
 
 It would be a thankless task to attempt to define satire as 
 rigidly and precisely as a mathematician defines a circle. The 
 field of satire is broad enough to include the humorous descrip- 
 tion of the journey to Brundisium, the "intellectual scorn" 
 of Persius, and the concentrated rhetorical denunciations of 
 
 Juvenal. 
 
 Quidquid agunt homines, votum timor ira voluptas 
 Gaudia discursus — 
 
 that is the true field of satire, and not only what men do, but 
 what they think, and what they are. Satire may be personal, 
 as Lucilius's satire of prominent men, Seneca's satire on the 
 dead Claudius, or Claudian's "/w Eutropium." In such 
 cases its affinity with the Old Comedy is clear. Its object 
 then is to pillory the given person before the reader's eye, 
 to ridicule his faults, laugh at his failings, or expose his crimes 
 to the reader's indignation. Or satire may deal with topics 
 and problems and thoughts of every-day life, as in Horace 
 and Persius, and, as a rule, wherever it mentions names, men- 
 tion them more as representatives of types, embodiments of 
 the qualities under discussion, than with any special feeling 
 of personal bitterness in mind. But within this wide variety 
 of subjects for treatment, we must remember that the satirist 
 occupies essentially one point of view, and that the differ- 
 ences which may exist between his different writings are due 
 to the variety of subject-matter, and not to any change in 
 the writer's attitude. We will always find, at bottom, some 
 moral or ethical-philosophical idea, some principle which the 
 satirist desires to inculcate, in a positive or negative way. 
 The definition already quoted holds the key to the real char- 
 acter of satire, "ad carpenda hominum vitia." Only when 
 this is clearly borne in mind can one begin to grasp the unity 
 of satirical literature as a whole. "Quidquid agunt homines''
 
 6 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 is a wide field, and only some such underlying attitude, some 
 such well-defined angle of thought, or purpose, on the part 
 of the writer can enable him to even attempt to assume such a 
 field for his province. The criticism of human faults is this 
 underlying basis of satire: it takes many forms, from the wide 
 variety of its possible themes, and from the temper of its 
 individual exponents, but it is always there. 
 
 Is it necessary, moreover, that we should think of satire 
 as restricted to hexameter verse? "Carmen maledicum," 
 says the grammarian ; must we hold fast to the literal meaning 
 of "carmen''? Here again careful analysis is necessary. 
 In a certain sense, yes. In so far as the dictum of Quintilian, 
 " Satira quidem iota nostra est," is true, in so far as we think of 
 satire as "a definite poetical genus, comparable to other 
 departments of poetry, such as, for example, the elegy ";^^ 
 so far must we yield to the formal character given to satire by 
 Lucilius and confirmed by the practice of Horace, Persius, 
 and Juvenal. 
 
 And yet, in a wider sense, no. When once we look below 
 
 the surface, and seek the gold regardless of the stamp upon it, 
 
 we find that the satirical spirit has by no means confined 
 
 itself, in its desire for expression, to the traditional, established 
 
 hexameter form. In a type of literature like satire, where the 
 
 content is really the important element, the form cannot be 
 
 more than a minor consideration. Would not the satires of 
 
 Horace and Persius and Juvenal deserve the name of satires 
 
 if they were turned into prose? Horace, in fact, frankly 
 
 excepts himself "numero illorum qidhus dederim esse poetis";^^ 
 
 and it seems evident that to him the metrical form in which 
 
 his "sermones" or "talks" were cast was an incidental and 
 
 not an indispensable feature. Prose parallels to the poetical 
 
 "satire" are not wanting. The 86th letter of Seneca, in which 
 
 he compares heroes like Scipio, Fabius, and Cato, with their 
 
 ^* G. L. Hendrickson, Are the Letters of Horace Satires? American 
 Journal of Philology, i8, 322. 
 " Serm., I, 4, 39 ff. 
 
 I
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 scanty toilet accommodations and their rustic ideas of cleanli- 
 ness to the degenerate Romans of a later age who build and 
 enjoy such elaborate baths, is an illustration in point. Such 
 a reference to the temperature of the modern bath as the 
 following, — ^^ temper atur am . . . gtiae niiper inventa est simAlis 
 incendio, adeo qiiidem, ut convictum in aligiio scelere servum 
 vivum lavari oporteat" — might, if in verse, easily pass for a 
 remark of Juvenal's. Seneca satirizes Claudius, Petronius 
 satirizes the vulgar ostentation of Trimalchio, no whit the 
 less keenly for doing it mainly in prose. To think of such 
 writing as satire only in the sense of "that other and earlier 
 kind of satire" seems to the writer an unnecessary and unwise 
 limitation of the significance of the word. 
 
 It would be a mistake to think of the three great Roman 
 satirists — Horace, Persius, and Juvenal— as the only men 
 who were writing satire during the period covered by their 
 literary activities. Still earlier, of course, was Lucilius, the 
 great master whom Horace, though criticising in details, yet 
 revered and imitated; and between Lucilius and Horace, 
 M. Terentius Varro Atacinus was only one of several who had 
 tried their hands at satirical writing, but without success.^" 
 In the works of Horace himself, and the notes of early commen- 
 tators, we find evidence pointing to the existence of other, 
 contemporary satirical poets. The most positive of this 
 evidence is to be found in the scholiasts. Porphyrio says, 
 in his note on Serm., I, i, 20: " Crispinus philosophiae studiosus 
 fuit: idem et carmina scripsit, sed tarn garriile, ut aretalogus 
 diceretur^ The pseudacronian scholium on the same pas- 
 sage is to the same effect: "Hie Crispimis poeta fuit, qui 
 sectam Stoicam versibus scripsit. . . . nam Stoici de divitiis 
 maxime disseruerunt.'' Again, on Serm., I, 3, 139 (pseudacro) : 
 "Crispinus Stoicus fuit qui Stoicam sectam scripsit versibus.'' 
 
 ^"^ Serm., I, 10, 46 ff.
 
 8 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 And on Serm., I, 4, 14: ^^ Hie (i. e., Crispinus) similiter ut 
 Lucilius multos sed malos versus faciebat." Thus it would 
 appear that this Crispinus was a Stoic poet, who wrote the 
 moral-didactic precepts of his school in verses which were 
 Lucilian in their fluency, at least, and probably in other re- 
 spects. The evidence is too scanty to enable one to dogmatize, 
 but Horace's references to Crispinus gain in significance and 
 interest if we regard this writer as really more or less of a rival 
 of his, writing along similar lines. Horace, recognizing a 
 certain affinity between many of his own ideas and those of 
 the Stoic school, such as he puts in the mouth of Damasippus, 
 deprecated none the less the vehemence and extreme con- 
 clusions which characterized Stoic teachings. It is all the 
 more natural, therefore, that he should object to having argu- 
 ments with which he could sympathize weakened by inferior 
 presentation or proximity to other arguments with which 
 he had nothing in common. Thus if Crispinus was really a 
 Stoic satirist, treating, on the whole, the same general themes 
 which furnished Horace himself with material, we have a 
 broader and more adequate ground for Horace's evident 
 antipathy to him than if we merely assume that his verses 
 illustrated certain defects in style. 
 
 Further, the words of Serm., I, 4, 33 fif., — 
 
 Omnes hi metuunt versus, odere poetas. 
 "Faenum habet in cornu, longe fuge: dummodo risum 
 Excutiat sibi, non hie cuiquam parcet amico" — 
 
 clearly imply that there must have been poets writing who 
 furnished ground for such a generalization. Why should 
 those ruled by avarice, ambition, or passion, immediately 
 become alarmed on hearing that Horace was a satiric poet, 
 unless for the simple reason that they had already had ex- 
 perience with "versus'' and "poetas," so that the mere mention 
 of either was sufficient to arouse their fear and hatred? Vv. 
 70 ff. of the same satire have the same implication, namely, 
 that Horace was contrasting himself with other writers whose
 
 INTRODUCTION . 9 
 
 works were widely published, and whom some people were per- 
 haps justified in fearing. 
 
 We know also that Gaius Trebonius sent to Cicero some 
 satirical verses in the style of Lucilius,^! and that Lenacus, 
 a grammarian, a freedman of Pompey, wrote a "most bitter 
 satire " against the historian Sallust.22 Suetonius also mentions 
 Sevius Nicanor as the author of a satire ;23 and Lucius Abuccius, 
 according to Varro,-^ had written books of Lucilian character. 
 Orbilius Pupilius Beneventanus, the teacher of Horace, wrote 
 a book " containing complaints of the injuries suffered by 
 professors from the negligence or the ambition of parents. "^s 
 The two books of Julius Caesar against Cato, also, perhaps, 
 deserve mention in this connection.^^ And in the time of 
 Nero, Seneca and Petronius were writing satire." 
 
 We shall find that satirical writing took an important place, 
 also, in the literature of the later Empire. It is the most 
 natural thing in the world — any other result would be in- 
 explicable — that this should be so. There could not help 
 being writers in the later generations (i. e., after Juvenal) who 
 were actuated by like motives to those of the classical satirists, 
 whose minds were filled with wrath or contempt for vice and 
 vicious men, or with tolerant, kindly ridicule for the lighter 
 failings of human nature. The very fact of the rise and spread 
 
 21 Cicero, Epp. ad Fam., XII, 16, 3. 
 
 ^^ Suetonius, De Gratn., 15. 
 
 ^^ De Gram., 5. 
 
 ^* De Re RusHca, III, 2, 17. 
 
 ^^ Suetonius, De Gram., 9. Cf. Juvenal, 7. 
 
 2s Merivale, History of the Romatis under the Empire, Vol. 3, p. 9. Cf. 
 C. W. Gottling, Opuscida, 158. 
 
 " It seems clear that the mention by Fulgentius, Expositio Serm. 
 Antiq., 33 and 58, of Gavius Bassus and of Rabirius as writers of satire 
 is not to be taken as trustworthy evidence. Cf. Lcrsch in Philologus, I, 
 615 ff., and Haupt in Rheinisches Museum, 3, 308 f?. (= Opuscida, Vol. i, 
 P- 159 f-)- And this renders suspicious also the reference to L. Annaeus 
 Cornutus, the philosopher and teacher of Persius, as a satirist, by the 
 same author {ibid. 20) ; although F. Ramorino in Studi italiani di Filologia 
 classica, 12, 230-231, inclines to give some credence to this statement.
 
 10 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 of Christianity, with the attendant gigantic, world-wide, 
 bitter conflict between the new rehgion and the old, itself 
 gave an excellent opportunity for the use of satire and in- 
 vective, an opportunity which was by no means overlooked.^* 
 These later writers may not have put their thoughts into 
 words with quite the same skill as the classical satirists, may 
 be inferior in clearness of insight and ability of expression, 
 but at the same time they deserve investigation, and it will 
 be found that in many cases they are not at all unworthy of 
 being compared with their earlier and better knov/n prototypes. 
 It is the purpose of the writer to call attention to some of the 
 satirical writing of this later period, to show what forms it 
 took, what subjects it dealt with, and the nature of its treat- 
 ment of those subjects. 
 
 2^ Cf. Schanz, Geschichte der romischen Literatur, in I wan Miiller's 
 Handbuch, Vol. 8, IV, i, 252.
 
 MINOR POETS CONTEMPORARY WITH JUVENAL 
 
 TURNUS 
 
 TuRNUS, a satirical poet of whom not much is definitely 
 known, was approximately contemporary with Juvenal. If 
 we are to trust the scholiast quoted by Valla on Juvenal i, 20, 
 he was "patents in aula Vespasiani, Titi, et Domitianif' hence 
 may have flourished a little before Juvenal. As a satirist, 
 his name was often used in conjunction with that of Juvenal, 
 e. g., by Rutilius Namatianus, De Reditu Sno, i, 603: 
 
 Huius vulnificis satura ludente Camenis 
 Nee Turniis potior nee luvenalis erit. 
 
 loannes Lydus, also, in his book "Z)e Magistratihus Populi 
 Romani" i, 41, couples the name of Turnus with those of 
 Juvenal and Petronius, in speaking of Roman satirists.^ 
 
 We have, in fact, two lines preserved, which are ascribed to 
 Turnus by the scholiast on Juvenal i, 71. They are, un- 
 fortunately, corrupt, reading as follows: 
 
 Ex quo Caesareas suboles Loeusta cecidit 
 Horrida eura sui verna nota Neronis. 
 
 The second verse is thus emended by Buecheler:- 
 Horrendi curas avertere nata Neronis. 
 
 It is impossible to tell from such a small fragment what 
 the whole satire was about — whether the mention of Nero is 
 just in passing, or whether he is depicted at some length. A 
 possible interpretation is that a certain state of affairs (poison- 
 ing?) is being dated by Turnus from the employment by 
 Nero of the "famosa venefica'' of Gaul, Loeusta.^ 
 
 * See also Martial, XI, 10. Sehanz, Geschichte, Handbuch, 8, II, 2 
 (3d ed.), 196. 
 
 2 Pers. luv. Snip. Saturae, lahn-Leo, 4th ed., p. 286. 
 
 * Cf. Suetonius, Nero, 33. Tacitus, Annals, 12, 66; 13, 15. 
 
 1 1
 
 12 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Turnus' style of satire would seem from this fragment to 
 be sharp and biting, like that of Juvenal. Similarity to Juve- 
 nal is also suggested by the coupling of their names by later 
 writers. 
 
 The lines attributed to Turnus by Wernsdorf^ have been 
 shown to be the work of a later writer.^ 
 
 SiLIUS 
 
 Silius, about lOO a. d., is known to us as a satirist from the 
 scholiast on Juvenal i, 20 ("magnus Aunmcae alumnus'^) 
 as follows: " Lucilium dicit . . . vel . . . Turnum dicit . . . 
 vel Lenium^ dicit . . . vel Silium et ipsum sui temporis satyri- 
 cum, qui onines ut Prohus referl ex Aiirunca fuerunt.'' 
 
 This writer may be identical with the Silius Proculus to 
 whom Pliny the Younger addresses Epistle 15 of Book 3, in 
 which he promises to look over some of his poetry.^ 
 
 Sentius Augurinus 
 
 A reference by the younger Pliny points to this writer, 
 about whom nothing else is known, in a way that indicates 
 that some of his writing may have been of a satirical nature. 
 
 "Poematia appellat. Multa teniiiter, multa siihlimiter , 
 multa veniiste, multa tenere, multa dulciter, multa cum hile^^ 
 
 Vergilius Romanus 
 Considering the relation which Roman satire bore to the Old 
 Comedy, it may be of interest here to note a comedy written 
 in imitation of the Old Comedy at Rome about 107 A. D. 
 Pliny^ tells of listening to Vergilius Romanus as he read to a 
 few friends "comoediam ad exemplar veteris comoediae scriptam 
 tarn bene ut esse quandogue possit exemplar. '' It was his first 
 
 * Poetae Latini Minores, 3, p. lix, p. 77. 
 
 5L. Muller: Rhcinisches Museum, 25 (1870), 436. 
 
 ^ Lenaeus, above referred to. Introd., p. 9. 
 
 ^ Teuffel's Geschichte der Romischen Literatur, 6th ed., § 332, 9. 
 
 8 Pliny, Epp., IV, 27. Teuffel's Geschichte, 6th ed., § 332, 6. 
 
 ^Epp., VI, 21.
 
 MINOR POETS CONTEMPORARY WITH JUVENAL I3 
 
 attempt at this sort of writing, but he did not seem a beginner, 
 "wow illi vis, non granditas, non suhtilitas, non amaritudo, 
 non dulcedo, non lepos defuit; ornavit virtiites, insectatiis est 
 vitia, fictis nominibus decenter, veris usus est apte." It re- 
 ceives high praise from Pliny. Ribbeck^** remarks that it is 
 an indication of the HberaUty of the age, that a satirical comedy 
 in which names of Hving persons appeared could be written 
 and admired. 
 
 1' Geschichte der Romtschen Dichtimg 3, 292.
 
 APULEIUS. 
 
 Apuleius (c. 124-? A. D.,) a native of Madaura, on the 
 borderland of Numidia and Gaetulia in North Africa, was a 
 fluent and versatile writer, master of both Greek and Latin. 
 Among his literary works he produced satires, as we know 
 by his own testimony. In the Florida 9 (p. 37 Oud.) we read: 
 "... fateor . . . me reficere poemata omnigenus apta virgae, 
 lyrae, socco, cotiirno, item satiras ac gryphos, item historias 
 varias reriim nee non orationes laudatas disertis nee non dialogos 
 laudatos philosophis . . . ," etc. 
 
 Again in the same work, Chapter 20 (p. 98 Oud.): "canit 
 enim Empedocles carmina, Plato dialogos, Socrates hymnos, 
 Epicharmus modos, Xenophon historias, Xenocrates satiras: 
 Apuleius vester haec omnia novemque Musas pari studio colit 
 . . .," etc. As to the nature and style of these satires of 
 Apuleius, whether Menippean or Horatian, and what kind of 
 material they dealt with, we have no knowledge whatever. 
 
 But another work of Apuleius demands our attention: his 
 longest and most important production, the '^ Metamor- 
 phoseon Libri XI," a prose romance of a fantastic, satirical 
 character. In this the author narrates, in the first person, 
 the numerous and varied adventures of one Lucius, a Corin- 
 thian, who by accident was transformed into an ass, and under- 
 went many remarkable experiences before he regained his 
 human form. 
 
 This work is based in part on a Greek romance entitled 
 AovKLos fj ovos, commonly ascribed to Lucian. There are 
 some important alterations and additions in the work of Apu- 
 leius, especially the end of the story, which is on a much higher 
 plane than in the Greek version,^ but in the main the resem- 
 
 ^ W. H. D. Rouse: Cupid and Psyche and Other Tales. Introduction, 
 p. xix. 
 
 14
 
 APULEIUS 15 
 
 blance is quite close. The work of Lucian, if he was really 
 the author,^ in turn was preceded by the two books of Mero:- 
 Hop(f)03(Teis of an otherwise unknown Lucius of Patrae, who is 
 mentioned by Photius.^ 
 
 Rohde believes that the Mera/jLopcpioaeLs of Lucius of Patrae 
 was written in a serious style, as if the author pretended, at 
 least, to veracity; while the Aovklos rj ovos was in a joking, 
 satirical vein, perhaps with the definite idea of making fun 
 of the earlier work,^ and that Apuleius copied the general 
 tone and manner of the latter. 
 
 Apuleius may not have begun his work with the deliberate 
 intention of writing a satire on contemporary life, but it has 
 long been recognized that such an element plays no small 
 part in the composition, and it may very properly be classified 
 as a satirical novel. ^ 
 
 The widespread superstition, the credulous acceptance of 
 the most extravagant yarns, and various immoralities of the 
 time, are depicted in a way sometimes gruesome, but often 
 amusing and absurd. The narration of the experiences of an 
 ass with human intelligence naturally gives opportunity for 
 much that is comical and ridiculous. It does not seem too 
 much to say that the very metamorphosis itself, with the 
 unexpectedness of the transformation into a donkey instead 
 of a bird, conveys a satirical hint that the road to the occult 
 is a slippery path, and a slight misstep may produce results 
 the reverse of satisfactory. 
 
 Touches like VI, 22, where Jupiter reproaches Cupid for 
 causing him to violate the "lex lulia," and VI, 23, where 
 Mercury threatens delinquent deities with a fine of ten thou- 
 sand nummi, are in line with the satirical tendency of the work. 
 
 ^ Erwin Rohde: Zu Apuleius, Rheinisches Museum, 40 (1885), 91. 
 
 ^ Bibliotheca, 129, p. 96 h, Bekker. 
 
 * Rheinisches Museum, 40, 91. See also TeufFel, Lukians Aovkios und 
 Appuleius' Metamorphosen, Rheinisches Museum, 19 (1864), 243. 
 
 ^ Teuffel in Pauly's Realencyclopedie, 6, 822 sub voce Satira. Bern- 
 hardy, Crundriss der Romischen Litteratur, 726. Ribbeck, Geschichte, 3, 
 337. Schwabe in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopddie, 2, 250.
 
 TERTULLIAN. 
 
 Among the early Christian writers in Latin, Quintus Septim- 
 ius Florens TertulHanus occupies a prominent place. Car- 
 thage was the scene of his greatest activity: the dates of his 
 birth and death are not known with certainty, but were 
 approximately 150 and 230 a. d. Eusebius^ mentions him 
 as an eminent jurist at Rome, and many traces of his legal 
 education are apparent in his writings. He was not Christian 
 born, but made, as he himself would have phrased it.^ After 
 his conversion, however, he became a zealous advocate and 
 defender of Christianity against paganism, and in his later 
 life upheld the Montanist party in the Church against the 
 orthodox. 
 
 The writings of Tertullian exercised a powerful influence 
 on his successors in the Latin Church. His style was original, 
 concise, and epigrammatic, often obscure, but strong and 
 effective. He was not "absolutely without a trace of humor, "^ 
 but his humor was biting and caustic. He was less concerned 
 with the stylistic excellence of his literary productions than 
 with their subject matter. He was a very vigorous and im- 
 passioned writer, of great learning, a keen logical mind, in- 
 tolerant of opposition, absolutely fearless in controversy; 
 and he frequently relied on the satirical treatment of his 
 themes, — now skilfully exposing the absurdities and incon- 
 sistencies of his opponents, making them appear ridiculous,* 
 now reproaching them with the most intense and bitter irony.^ 
 
 ^ His tor ia Ecclesiastica, 2, 2. 
 
 ^ Apologeticum, 18. 
 
 ^ Cruttwell, A Literary History of Early Christianity, 2, 569. 
 
 * E. g., adv. Valentinianos, where he expressly states that to be his 
 purpose; cf. below p. 23 f. 
 
 ^ Bernhardy, Grundriss, 791. Ebert, Geschichte der christlichen lateiniS' 
 chen Literatur, 34. Robertson, History of the Christian Church, l, ill. 
 Farrar, Lives of the Fathers, l, 120. 
 
 16
 
 TERTULLIAN 17 
 
 Some of his works are almost wholly satirical, while in others 
 satire is employed at intervals, and never fails in keenness. 
 The treatise De Pallio is an excellent example of TertuUian's 
 use of satire.^ This was written, probably about the year 
 208,'' as a reply to those who criticized his action in discarding 
 the Roman toga for the Greek pallium. Though brief, and 
 apparently on a rather insignificant subject, the De Pallio 
 is interesting, lively, and full of spice. The very beginning, — 
 "Perpetual rulers of Africa, men of Carthage, of noble past 
 and blessed present, I congratulate you on having fallen into 
 such prosperous times as thus to have the leisure and the 
 inclination to criticize people's clothes,"^ — reminds one of 
 Juvenal's sarcastic exclamation " Respondes his, lane pater? 
 magna otia caeliF'^ Continuing with a rather pointed refer- 
 ence to the fact that the toga upheld by his critics is the 
 garb of the nation that once overthrew Carthage, he passes 
 over this with the ironical words "sit mine aliunde res, ne 
 Poenicum inter Romanos ant erubescat ant doleat." Why 
 should man be denied the freedom of changing his appearance 
 for which nature is praised? For the whole face of the earth 
 is continually changing, with convulsions of nature, the 
 march of the seasons, the rise and decay of cities, etc. How 
 delightful a change, for example, Tertullian remarks with 
 keen mockery, has taken place in the Empire, " eradicato 
 omni aconito Jwstili talis et cacto et mho suhdolae familiari talis 
 convulso, et amoenus super Alcinoi pometum et Midae rosetum."^'^ 
 Even beasts, though not possessed of garments, alter their 
 looks by changing color or skin or in other ways. The pea- 
 
 * Teuffel in Pauly's Realencyclopedie , 6, 822, sub voce Satira. Salmas- 
 ius, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus Liber de Pallio, p. 61. Ebert, 
 Geschichte, 53 f. 
 
 ^ A. Harnack, Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, II, 2, 259. 
 
 * Principes semper Africae, viri Carthaginienses, vetustate nobiles, 
 novitate felices, gaudeo vos tam prosperos temporum, cum ita vacat ac 
 iuvat, habitus denotare. 
 
 ' 6, 394. 
 
 1" Chapter 2. Cf. Hauck, Tertullians Leben und Schriften, p. 383.
 
 l8 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 cock, the snake, the hyena, the chameleon, furnish examples 
 of this love of variety for which the man is censured. 
 
 If the Roman dress is so essential, why, says Tertullian 
 to his critics, do you treat your bodies as if you were Greeks? 
 Whence this strange inconsistency? "Prodigium est, haec 
 sine pallio fieri. Illius est haec tota res Asiae. Quid tibi, 
 Libya et Europa, cum xysticis munditiis, quae vestire non nosti? 
 Revera enim quale est Graecatim depilari magis quam amiciri?"^^ 
 
 Change of dress is blameworthy only when it offends nature, 
 not merely custom. For Achilles to conceal himself beneath 
 the gown pf a girl, for Hercules to exchange garb with Om- 
 phale, for Alexander to discard the Macedonian mail for 
 effeminate Eastern silk, — such acts deserve your censure. 
 And why do you not criticize the relaxation of the ancient 
 laws of female dress, or those who follow after this, that, or 
 the other religious sect, attracted by the color of its devotees' 
 costume? 
 
 We should not hesitate to abandon diadem and scepter, 
 say nothing of the toga, for the pallium. For the pallium 
 is more comfortable and simple and sensible than the toga. 
 " I ask you frankly, when you have a toga on, how do you feel, 
 dressed, or burdened? That you are wearing a garment, or 
 carrying one? If you will not answer, your actions shall 
 speak: I will follow you home and see what you do as soon 
 as you cross the threshold." 
 
 But let the pallium plead its own cause. "I am under no 
 obligations to the forum, the campus, the curia; I seek no 
 social recognition, I do not haunt the evil-smelling markets, 
 the tribunals, the courts; I have nothing to do with judicial, 
 or military, or political affairs; I have withdrawn from the 
 people. I live for myself, and yet I benefit the public by 
 prescribing remedies for wide-spread maladies. I have no 
 leniency toward vice. I cauterize that ambition which makes 
 a man spend half a million for a single piece of furniture. I 
 
 " Chapter 4.
 
 TERTULLIAN 1 9 
 
 plunge my scalpel into that cruelty which throws slaves to 
 the fishes, that ultimately they may become food for their 
 own masters. I amputate that gluttony which seeks rare and 
 unheard-of dishes. I offer purifying drugs to uncleanness 
 and drunkenness. Even without my words, the very sight 
 of me brings a blush to the cheek of the evil-doer. 
 
 "I represent also other virtues. The first literary men 
 and musicians and orators and physicians and poets and 
 astronomers wore the pallium. All liberal arts are covered 
 by my four corners. 
 
 "A fine loss of standing the discarding of the toga must 
 bring, now that even gladiators and their trainers are clad 
 therein!" 
 
 Here Tertullian reverts to his own person and closes with 
 the words "But now the pallium has attained new heights of 
 glory. Gaude pallium et exsulta! A better philosophy has 
 adorned thee since thou becamest the garb of a Christian." 
 
 The De Pallio is an interesting and enigmatical work. 
 What was its motive? Why had Tertullian discarded the 
 toga for the pallium? It was not a symbol of his conversion, 
 for he had been a Christian for years before the date of this 
 satire. The most reasonable explanation is that he wished 
 it to symbolize his withdrawal to a more severe and ascetic 
 level, like the philosophers who had worn the pallium before 
 him.^^ 
 
 It is quite obvious that much more is involved than a mere 
 justification of a man's changing the style of his clothes. 
 The ostensible occasion for the work is hardly more than a 
 convenient starting-point for a satire on certain phases of 
 contemporary life. Tertullian does more than defend: he 
 not only parries, but thrusts, with the sharp rapier of his 
 satire, at his fellow-citizens, their idleness in criticizing trifles 
 while passing over things of moment, their inconsistent pro- 
 fessions of regard for the established order contrasted with 
 
 '^^ Gaston Boissier, La fin du paganisme, i, 242 flf.
 
 20 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 their abandonment of the best that the old order stood for, 
 and many of the common vices of the period. 
 
 In spite of the undoubted sincerity of this, we should prob- 
 ably be wrong in taking the De Pallio as an expression of 
 TertulHan's own original ideas clamoring for utterance. The 
 work was more or less a " jeu d'esprit," a product of the study.^' 
 There are suspicious discrepancies between parts of the De 
 Pallio and TertulHan's other writings. Elsewhere, for ex- 
 ample, he does not recognize anything in common between 
 philosophy and Christianity. In the De Praescriptione, 
 I, 7, he says, ^^ Quid ergo Athenis et Hierosolymis? quid acade- 
 miae et ecclesiae?" And in the Apologeticum, 46: ^^ Adeo 
 quid simile philosophus et Christianus? Graeciae discipulus 
 et caeli?" Yet in the De Pallio he does not oppose the ancient 
 culture, but rather admires the sages who had worn the pal- 
 lium before him. Christianity is a "melior philosophia.'^ 
 
 Reasoning along these lines, J. Geffcken^'* presents argu- 
 ments to prove that the De Pallio may very likely have been 
 based on or copied from an earlier Roman satire, possibly by 
 Varro. There are frequent resemblances between the style 
 of the De Pallio and the customary style of diatribe and satire. 
 The device of a fictitious opponent is one which is used here. 
 The author begins by addressing " Principes semper Africae," 
 and consistency would demand that he adhere to the use of 
 the plural. But presently we find "quid denotas hominem" 
 (Chapter 2) and "tamen, inquis, ita a toga ad pallium?'* 
 (Chapter 5), and so on, as if he were carrying on a discussion 
 with a single interlocutor.^^ Again, the historical treatment 
 of clothing, such as Tertullian uses, reminds one of the diatribe, 
 as does the general tone of advice to live according to nature. 
 The curious inaccuracy in the description of the chameleon in 
 Chapter 3 is also best explained by the assumption of an 
 earlier model. Tertullian himself, an African, must have 
 
 1' Boissier, La fin du paganisme, i , 257 f . 
 
 " Kynika und Verwandles. 
 
 1^ Norden, Die antike Kunstprosa, p. 129 n. Geffcken, op. cit., 88, 129.
 
 TERTULLIAN 21 
 
 known that this animal does not live on air, but would have 
 copied this mistaken idea from his original without correction.'^ 
 Most of all, perhaps, in the speech of the personified pallium, 
 do we observe that the tone is thoroughly Roman. It is 
 Roman landmarks, — the forum, the campus, the curia, and 
 Roman characters, — M. Tullius, Vedius Pollio, Hortensius, 
 that are continually referred to, in spite of the fact that the 
 De Pallio is presumably written by a Carthaginian for Car- 
 thaginians. And finally, this theory also offers a satisfactory 
 explanation for the tone of respect for philosophy, augury, 
 and other non-Christian branches of learning.'^ 
 
 One of the most important of TertuUian's literary works is 
 his Apologeticuni, composed about 197 a. d.'^ This is a care- 
 fully written defence of Christianity against the attacks of 
 the pagans, and is addressed to the rulers of the state, as if 
 the author were pleading his cause before a judicial tribunal. 
 The tone is intensely serious, indignant at times, and the 
 work abounds in bitter satire.'^ 
 
 "What sort of laws are those which are employed against 
 us only by the cruel and unjust emperors? Laws which 
 Trajan partially nullified in forbidding active measures against 
 the Christians, which never a Hadrian, though keen to in- 
 vestigate novelties, never a Vespasian, though victor over 
 the Jews, never a Pius, never a Verus enforced. If we are 
 evil, much more should these emperors, foes of evil, have 
 sought to root us out." 
 
 Chapter 6 is satire pure and simple, directed against the 
 
 degeneracy of the Romans as compared with their ancestors, 
 
 whom they professed to imitate. "Now let those most 
 
 scrupulous defenders and avengers of the laws and institutes 
 
 of our fathers make answer concerning their own fidelity and 
 
 16 Geffcken, op. cit., 84-85. 
 " Geffcken, op. cit., 88, 130. 
 
 1* Harnack, Geschichte der all-chrisllichen Literatur, II, 2, 257. 
 " Le Nourry in Oehler's edition of Tertullian, 3, 116. Milman, History 
 of Christianity, 2, 215.
 
 22 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 honor and reverence toward the decrees of our ancestors, 
 whether in no point they have fallen short or deviated, whether 
 they have not really destroyed the essential spirit of the old 
 discipline. Whither have those laws gone which restrained 
 extravagance and ostentation? Luxury and immodesty run 
 riot, both among men and women. Even the old austere 
 religious laws you have repealed. Piso and Gabinius — and 
 they were not Christians — expelled Isis and Serapis and Ar- 
 pocrates from all Italy: you of today confer high honors 
 upon them. You continually praise antiquity while at the 
 same time renouncing it in practice.^" 
 
 "The charges of crimes against the Christians are so mon- 
 strous as to be incredible; yet similar crimes are well attested 
 as existing among many nations and classes, yes, even among 
 the deities, of the old religion. But the two species of blind- 
 ness easily go together, so that those who do not see that 
 which is, seem to see that which is not.^^ 
 
 " If Liber was deified for revealing the vine to man, Lucullus 
 has been cheated of his just deserts in not receiving similar 
 honors, for he first brought the cherry from the East to Italy. 
 
 "You use axe and saw more vigorously in making the idols 
 you worship than in destroying the bodies of the Christians. 
 We are condemned to dig for metals. Thence arise your gods. 
 We are exiled to islands. It is usually in an island somewhere 
 that your gods are wont to be born, or to die. If any divinity 
 comes from that, then those who are punished are sanctified, 
 and tortures have the effect of rendering the victim divine." 
 
 The style of the Apologeticum differs from that of the De 
 Pallio. The latter is shorter and its object is less definite: 
 it is more a satire in the strict sense of the word. In the 
 Apologeticum the use of a satirical style is a means to an end, 
 used to sharpen the weapons of the invective and make them 
 more telling. There is scarcely a chapter which does not 
 
 2" Similarity in thought to the De Pallio is quite noticeable here. 
 21 Chapters 8, 9.
 
 TERTULLIAN 23 
 
 ridicule with keen irony the attitude of the pagans, or con- 
 vict them in fiery, passionate language on charges graver than 
 their own. This is one of the most noticeable characteristics 
 of Tertullian as a writer. He occupies an anomalous position 
 as the representative of a cause supposed to be harassed and 
 persecuted and on the defensive. He feels more at home as 
 the prosecuting attorney than as the counsel for the defense. 
 Starting out to defend a position he soon ingeniously manipu- 
 lates his arguments so as to put himself on the aggressive. 
 He is never content with clearing his party of the charges 
 against it; he brings counter-charges against the accusers. 
 Thus it has been said of the Apologeticum, "After Tertullian's 
 defense the magistrate had no alternative between condemn- 
 ing the prisoner, or — taking his place. "^- 
 
 In the treatise adverstis Valentinianos Tertullian frankly 
 avows that satire is his aim ; that is, he announces his deliberate 
 intention of attempting to make the adherents of that heresy 
 ridiculous.^^ In a very naive, frequently most amusing fashion 
 our author keeps up a running fire of humorous satirical com- 
 ment on the fantastic cosmogony of the Valentinians, and 
 
 2^ Woodham, TerluUiani Liber Apologelicus, Preface, p. xliii. The 
 two books Ad, Nationes are in content very similar to the Apologeticiim. 
 Tertullian takes a slightly different standpoint here, varying with the 
 character of the readers for whom the two works were written. While the 
 material is much the same, the treatment in the Apologeticum is somewhat 
 more orderly, and the element of law and governmental policy in regard 
 to the Christians is emphasized. The books Ad Nationes were directed, 
 as the title implies, to the people rather than to the magistrates, and, if 
 possible, are even more sarcastic and uncompromising in their indictment 
 of heathenism. They were probably written about the same time as 
 the Apologeticum, perhaps as a rough draft later expanded into the other 
 work. Harnack, Geschichte der alt-christlichen Literatur, II, 2, 257. Hauck, 
 Tertullians Lehen tind Schrijten, 71 ff. Schanz, Geschichte, Handbuch, 8, 
 III, 286. 
 
 ^' Ostendam, sed non imprimam vulnera. Sed si ridebitur alicubi, 
 materiis ipsis satisfiet. Multa sunt sic digna revinci, ne gravitate adoren- 
 tur. Vanitate proprle fcstivitas cedit. Congruit et veritati ridere, quia 
 laetans, de aemulis suis luderc, quia secura est. Curandum plane ne risus 
 eius rideatur si fuerit indignus; ceterum ubicunque dignus risus, officium 
 est. Denique hoc modo incipiam. Chapter 6. 
 3
 
 24 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 undoubtedly succeeds in his effort at ridicule. Thus, in 
 Chapter 15, he expounds one detail of the origin of matter: 
 "Come now, let the Pythagoreans and Stoics, and Plato 
 himself, learn about the real source and substance of matter, 
 which they would have as already existent: something which 
 not even Hermes Trismegistus, master of all physicists, ever 
 thought of. . . . For from her tears (namely those of Acha- 
 moth, one of the strange race of beings created by the Valen- 
 tinian system) flowed forth all water. Observe the different 
 kinds of tears she had : salt and bitter and sweet and warm and 
 cold drops and pitchy and iron-tasting and sulphurous and 
 poisonous, so that thence trickled down the Nonacris, which 
 was the death of Alexander, and thence the river of the Lyn- 
 cestae, which makes men intoxicated, and thence the Sal- 
 macis, which effeminates. The rains of heaven sobbed forth 
 Achamoth and we in our cisterns take pains to save and keep 
 another's grief and tears." 
 
 There are other works of Tertullian in which the satirical 
 element plays a more or less important part. In the De 
 Spectaculis he inveighs against the theater, charging that 
 men go there to see what they abhor outside.-* The last 
 chapter contains a vivid and mocking picture of the magnifi- 
 cent spectacle, — far greater and more realistic than that 
 shown in any theater — which will one day be presented to 
 the saints in heaven by the sight of the tortures of the damned. 
 
 In the De Cultu Feminarum he satirizes the immoderate 
 love of jewelry and fine clothes, and excessive care of the 
 body, which were becoming all too prevalent in the Christian 
 Church as its membership came to include the wealthier 
 classes. 2^ The De Pndicitia and the De leiuniis deserve 
 mention also.^^ 
 
 24 Cf. Juvenal, 11, 165-6. 
 
 2^ J. W. Mackail, Latin Literature, p. 253. Hauck, Tertullians Leben 
 und Schriften, 31 ff. 
 
 2s Schanz, Geschichte, III, 315. Kriiger, History of Early Christian 
 Literature, p. 275.
 
 TERTULLIAN 25 
 
 In fact, it would probably be difficult to find any of Tcr- 
 tullian's works in which he did not avail himself, to a greater 
 or less degree, of a bitingly satirical style. This is sometimes 
 more delicate, as in the De Pallio, and sometimes more crude 
 and unrestrained, as in some of the controversial works. 
 But at least enough has been said to justify the inclusion of 
 Tertullian in such a survey as the present. Tertullian alone 
 furnishes abundant material to set over against the remarkable 
 statement of Wernsdorf-'^ that no satire will be found among 
 Christian writers, because its acrimony and bitterness were 
 contrary to the holiness and charity of the Christian character. 
 
 ^^ Poeiae Latini Minores, 3, Preface, p. xxv.
 
 COMMODIANUS 
 
 In regard to the life, or even nationality, of Commodianus, 
 perhaps the earliest Christian writer of verse, very little can 
 be definitely determined. He is mentioned by Pope Ge- 
 lasius, who, in the decree de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis, 
 issued in 496, enumerates the works of Commodianus among 
 those of the latter class, on account of certain doctrinal 
 tendencies shown in them; and by Gennadius, about the 
 same date, who speaks disparagingly of his style. ^ Beyond 
 these references, Commodianus' own writings are our only 
 source of information about himself, and widely divergent 
 opinions, based on internal evidence, are held by different 
 scholars. Ebert- sees, in the Carmen Apologeticum, 808 ff., 
 references to the invasion of the Goths and the persecution 
 of the Christians during the reign of the Emperor Decius, 
 and sets the date of the composition at 249 a. d. This is also 
 the opinion of Schanz^, Manitius,'* Dombart,^ and others. 
 Julicher^ and Harnack^ allow latitude of a century later, 
 while Brewer^ argues strongly for as late a time as the middle 
 of the fifth century. Commodianus was probably an African,^ 
 though the prefix nomen Gasei of the last poem of the second 
 
 ' Scripsit mediocri sermone quasi versu adversus paganos. . . . vili 
 satis et crasso ut ita dixerim sensu disseruit, illis (the pagans) stuporem, 
 nobis desperationem incutiens. De viris illustribus, 15. 
 
 2 Abhandlungen der koniglichen sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissen- 
 schaften, 5 (1870), 387 flf. 
 
 ^ Geschichte, III, 427. 
 
 ^ Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Poesie, 28 ff. 
 
 ^ Edition of Commodianus, Volume XV of tiie Corpus Scriptorutn Ec- 
 clesiasHcorum Latinorum, Prefacfe, p. i-ii. 
 
 ^ Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopddie, 4, 773. 
 
 ^ Geschichte der alt-christlichen Literatur, II, 2, 436. 
 
 8 Kommodian von Gaza, 29 ff. 
 
 ' Manitius, Geschichte, p. 29. 
 
 26
 
 COMMODIANUS 27 
 
 book of the Instnictiones is also taken by some as an indi- 
 cation that he was a native of Gaza in Palestine. ^° But any 
 attempt at the solution of these problems is beyond the 
 range of the present investigation. 
 
 Commodianus wrote in dactylic hexameter, but in a hex- 
 ameter in which the classical rules of quantity and elision are 
 ignored. The style is hard and wooden and often obscure, 
 but this is to be ascribed to the fact that he was writing to be 
 read by uneducated people, and hence employed idioms and 
 artificial devices, such as the acrostic form, suitable for this 
 purpose. 
 
 The Carmen Apologeticum is an expository and descriptive 
 poem, urging all men to embrace Christianity, for the end of 
 the world is near. It contains considerable theological 
 dogma, and a mystical and vivid account of Antichrist and 
 the end of the world. 
 
 The two books of Instructiones are made up of short poems 
 in which the initial letters of the lines, taken in order, give 
 in acrostic form the title of the poem. Thus, the first letters 
 of I, I form PRAEFATIO, of i, 4 SATVRNVS, and so on. 
 Many of these may be fitly termicd satires against the pagan 
 deities, and the eager zeal of the new-made convert^^ shows 
 itself clearly in the scornful portraits he draws of the ancient 
 gods. 
 
 How, he asks, could Saturn grow old if he was a god? He 
 was really a mortal king, and stupid enough to swallow a 
 stone in place of his own son.^'- And as for Jupiter: 
 
 De Fulmine Ipsius lovis Audite:^^ 
 Dicitis o stulti: lovis tonat, fulminat ipse. 
 Etsi parvulitas sic sensit, cur anni dicentes? 
 
 1° Ebert, Abhandlungen 420, Brewer, 162 ff., Boissier, Melanges Rcnicr, 
 
 39- 
 
 '1 Cf. Gennadius, 1. c. Factus itaque Christianus et volens aliquid studi- 
 orum muneris offerre Christo, etc. 
 
 ^^1,4. 
 '3 I, 6.
 
 28 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Fuistis infantes: numquid et semper eritis? 
 Versari maturum in infantia non capit aevum 
 Lusus puerilis cessit: sic et corda recedant; 
 Moribus utique consilia vestra debentur. 
 Insipiens ergo lovem tonitruare tu credis 
 Natum hie in terris et lacte caprino nutritum; 
 Ergo si ilium devorasset * * * Saturnus, 
 
 In istis temporibus quis pluebat illo defuncto? 
 Praesertim mortali patre deus nasci credatur? 
 Saturnus in terris senuit et defecit in ipsis. 
 Ilium non aliquis prophetavit ante pronasci. 
 Vel, si tonat ipse, lex ab ipso lata fuisset. 
 Seducunt historiae fatuos confictae inanes. 
 
 Ille autem Cretae regnavit et ibi defecit. 
 Omnipotens vobis factus Semeles amator. 
 Vivus ipse modo amaret similiter ille. 
 Inpuros oratis et dicitis esse caelestes 
 Semine mortali natos de Gigantibus illis. 
 
 Auditis et legitis natum in terra fuisse: 
 Unde bene meruit corrupter ascendere caelum 
 Dicitur et fulmen Cyclopas illi fecisse, 
 Inmortalis enim habuit a mortalibus arma. 
 Tot reum criminibus, parricidam quoque suorum, 
 Ex auctoritate vestra contulistis in altum. 
 
 Mercurius:^* 
 
 Mercurius vester fiat cum saraballo depictus 
 Et galea et planta pinnatus et cetera nudus. 
 Rem video miram, deum cum saccello volare: 
 Currite pauperculi cum gremio quo volat ille, 
 Ut sacculum effundat, vos extunc estote parati. 
 Respicite pictum, quoniam vobis hie ab alto 
 lactabit nummos; vos tunc saltate securi. 
 Vane, non insanis, colere decs pictos in axe? 
 Si vir esse nescis, cum besteis perge morari. 
 
 Apollo Sortilegus Falsus:^^ 
 
 Apollinem facitis citharoedum atque divinum. 
 Primum de moechia natus in insula Delo; 
 Oblata mercede postmodum structuram secutus 
 
 "1.9. 
 » I, II.
 
 COMMODIANUS 29 
 
 Laomedontique regi Troianorum muros eduxit 
 Locavitque sese, quern deum seducti putatis; 
 Ossibus cuius amor Cassandrae flagravit, 
 
 Subdole quern lusit virgo, falliturque divinus, 
 Officio verbenis non potuit scire bicordem; 
 Repudiatus enim discessit inde divinus. 
 Torruit hunc virgo specie, quam ille deberet. 
 Ilia prior utique debuerat deum amasse. 
 Lascivientemque Dafinem sic coepit amare. 
 Et tamen insequitur, dum vult violare puellam: 
 Gratis amat stultus, nee potuit consequi cursu. 
 Vel, si deus erat, occurreret illi per auras; 
 Sub tectis ilia prior venit, remansitque divinus. 
 
 Fallit vos gens hominum, nam vi robusti fuerunt. 
 A primitia quoque pecora pavisse refertur. 
 Lusibus in positis dum mitteret discum in altum, 
 Sublapsum non potuit retinere, prostravit amicum: 
 Ultimus ille dies fuit Hyacinthi sodalis. 
 Si divinus erat, mortem praecessisset amici. 
 
 Thus god after god is satirized in these artificial yet earnest 
 
 Httle poems. It will be noticed that Commodianus adopts 
 
 at times the well-known device of introducing a fictitious 
 
 single interlocutor into the midst of his arguments. Again, 
 
 speaking of the foolishness of the age, — hebetvdo saeculi, 
 
 he says:^^ 
 
 Heu doleo, elves, sic vos hebetari de mundo! 
 Excurrit alius ad sortes, aves aspicit alter, 
 Belantum cruore fuso malus inspicit alter 
 Et cupit audire responsa bona crudelis. 
 Tot duces et reges ubi sunt consulti de vita, 
 Vel portenta sua scisse quo profuit illis? 
 Discite quaeso bonum, cives, simulacra cavete: 
 Omnipotentis enim in legem quaerite cuncti. 
 
 Sic ipsi conplacuit domino dominorum in altis. 
 
 Ad probationem nostram daemones in mundo vagari 
 
 Et tamen ex alia parte mandata praemisit, 
 
 Caelestis fieri qui relinquant aras eorum. 
 
 Unde non hoc euro disputare parvo libello: 
 
 Lex docet in medio; vos consulete pro vobis! 
 
 In duas intrastis vias: condiscite rectam. 
 
 16 
 
 I, 22.
 
 30 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 The point of view here is not dissimilar, as far as it goes, 
 to that of the Stoic philosopher in the Damasippus satire of 
 Horace. 
 
 In the second book of the Instructiones Commodianus 
 addresses his fellow-Christians in tones of reproof and ex- 
 hortation. Poems i8 and 19 deal with that favorite theme of 
 the satirical writer, female love of fine clothes, jewelry, and 
 personal adornment. ^'^ 
 
 These acrostic poems are rather stiff and stilted, as such 
 poems generally must be. Commodianus was not a poet of 
 high rank, and was not writing in polished verse for an edu- 
 cated body of readers. His style shows the cramping effects 
 of the form of composition chosen. His satire is not that of 
 tolerant, gentle raillery at the faults and foibles of mankind, 
 nor yet of indignant invective against the evil-doer. His 
 attacks on heathenism are of the common type to be found 
 among early Christian apologists. Persecution and ridicule 
 of the new religion engendered a spirit of intolerance and 
 obstinacy. Commodianus' satirical acrostics reflect this 
 feeling. He does not enter into serious discussions or argu- 
 ments, but picks out a myth here and a legend there, and 
 takes them as typical and as a complete characterization of 
 the person or attitude which he wishes to satirize. 
 
 " Cf. Tertullian, De Cultu Feminarum. Prudentius, Hamartigenia , 
 264 ff. Hieronymus, infra, p. 91. Juvenal, 6, 457 ff.
 
 ARNOBIUS 
 
 According to St. Jerome's Chronicle, for the year 2343 
 (326 A. D.), Arnobius was a citizen of the town of Sicca, in 
 Niimidia. He was a teacher of rhetoric, numbering Lactan- 
 tius among his pupils,^ and a prominent opponent of the 
 Christians. But, influenced by dreams, he renounced his 
 former beHefs, and sought to join the Christians. The bishop 
 to whom he applied for admission to the Church was, not 
 unnaturally, somewhat skeptical of the sincerity of such an 
 unexpected convert, and demanded some proof of his good 
 faith. It was to satisfy this requirement, the story goes, 
 that Arnobius wrote his seven books Adversiis Gentes, or 
 Adversus Nationes, as the manuscript evidence favors. This 
 account is open to some criticism,^ but as there are some evi- 
 dences of hurry and incompleteness in the work, and the au- 
 thor's acquaintance with the Christian faith appears rather 
 limited, it may be taken as essentially reliable.^ The date 
 given by St. Jerome is probably wrong.'* The work is dated 
 by Harnack^ from 304 to 310 a. d. 
 
 The seven books may be divided as follows:'' Books i 
 and 2 are of a purely apologetic character. Their tone is in 
 the main that of a dispassionate (familiari et placida oratione 
 I, 2) examination into and refutation of various charges that 
 had been brought against the Christians, interspersed with 
 more or less of philosophical discussion, as to the nature of 
 evil, of the human soul, etc. Arnobius points out that many 
 charges are entirely baseless; that in regard to others the 
 
 ^ Hieronymus, De Viris Illiistrihus, 80. 
 
 ^ E. g. Bryce and Campbell, The Seven Books of Arnobius Adversus 
 Gentes, Introduction, p. x. 
 
 ^ Schanz, Geschichte, III, 439-40. Cruttwell, Literary History, 2, 631. 
 ^ See Bryce and Campbell, Introduction, i-ii. 
 * Geschichte, II, 2, 415. 
 
 ^ Ebert, Geschichte, 65. Cruttwell, Literary History, 2, 638. 
 
 31
 
 32 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 facts are distorted and exaggerated, and that even were they 
 true, they could easily be paralleled by more extreme cases 
 from heathen mj^thology. 
 
 Books 3-7 are of a different sort. Instead of being apolo- 
 getic, defensive, they are polemical, aggressive, and often 
 strongly satirical. Arnobius is still arguing, and keeps the 
 idea of a definite opponent before us constantly by his rhe- 
 torical use of the second person plural, and by such words 
 as inqidt, inquiiint, etc., but frequently he is carried away 
 by his earnestness, and in addition to argument, he overwhelms 
 his adversary with sarcastic pictures of the utter absurdity 
 and illogicalness of his religious systems. Books 3-5 are 
 directed against the heathen polytheism, 6 and 7 against 
 their rites and forms of worship. His attack on heathenism 
 is much abler than his defence of Christianity.^ 
 
 A brief survey of the last five books may illustrate the oc- 
 casions and methods of Arnobius' use of satire. 
 
 It is to be noted at the outset that Arnobius was anything 
 but fastidious in the choice of his material. Being desirous 
 of depicting his opponents' religion in the worst possible 
 light, he narrates some of the most scandalous and immoral 
 stories about the gods that he can lay his hands on, and makes 
 them the object of his satirical rhetoric. To modern feeling 
 he goes far beyond the limit he professes to set up in Book 5, 
 Chapter 27: "0 qualia, o quanta inridentes potuimns cavil- 
 lantesque depromere, si non religio nos gentis et litterarum 
 prohiberet atictoritas." The auctoritas litterarum does not 
 seem to have restrained him from repeating a good deal of 
 coarseness. 
 
 In Book 3 Arnobius points out that the heathen cannot 
 prove that there may not be other gods beside those they wor- 
 ship, of unknown name and unlimited numbers. Their gods, 
 moreover, are constantly spoken of as if divided into two 
 sexes, like mortals. Cicero showed the absurdity of this. 
 
 ^ Alzog, Handbuch der Patrologie, 206. Cruttwell, Literary History, 2, 
 638. Meyer, De ratione et argumento apologetici Arnobiani, 217.
 
 ARNOBIUS 33 
 
 Chapter lo contains in drastic language a scornful picture 
 of the conditions which must necessarily result from sex 
 distinctions among the gods. It is senseless to believe that 
 they really have bodies, and irreverent to endow them with 
 bodily attributes otherwise. 
 
 He next satirizes the offices attributed to the various deities. 
 "I ask you: what reason is there, what stern necessity, what 
 occasion for the gods to have learned and be acquainted with 
 these trades, as if they were good-for-nothing mechanics? 
 For in heaven there is song and music: that the nine sisters 
 may skilfully join and harmonize times and rhythms. In 
 the stars are forests, groves, woods: for Diana's benefit, the 
 mighty huntress. . . . The gods are seized by disease, wounded, 
 hurt: that he of Epidaurus may heal them. . . . They are 
 in need of garments: that the Tritonian maiden may deftly 
 weave for them, and fit them out with three-ply tunics, or 
 silken, according to the weather."^ 
 
 And again: "Unxia, they say, presides over anointings, 
 Cinxia over unloosings, and most holy Victa and Potua over 
 eating and drinking. O excellent and wonderful interpre- 
 tation of the divine powers! Unless brides smeared with 
 ointment their husbands' door-posts, unless ardent husbands 
 unbound the virgin girdle, unless people ate and drank, 
 would the gods not have names? "^ 
 
 ' Rogo: quae ratio est, quae tam dura necessitas, quae causa, ut arti- 
 ficia haec superi tamquam viles noverint atque habeant sellularii? In 
 caelo enim cantatur et psallitur: ut intervalla et numeros vocum novem 
 conserant scitule ac modulenter sorores. Sunt in sidereis motibus silvae, 
 sunt lustra, sunt nemora: ut venationum pracpotens liabeatur in expedi- 
 tionibus Diana. . . . Corripiuntur dii morbis et vulnerari, vexari aliqua 
 ex re possunt: ut cum exegerit ratio, auxiliator subveniat Epidaurius. . . . 
 Vestis indigent tegmine: ut virgo Tritonia curiose eis stamen neat et quali- 
 tate pro temporis aut trilices tunicas aut de serico componat. Etc. 
 Book 3, Chapter 21. 
 
 ^ Unctionibus, inquit, superest Unxia, cingulorum Cinxia rcplicatione, 
 Victa et Potua sanctissimae victui potuique procurant. O egregia numinum 
 et singularis interpretatio potestatum: nisi postes virorum adipali unguine 
 oblinerentur ab sponsis, nisi virginalia vincula iam ferventes dissolverent 
 atque imminentes mariti, nisi potarent et manderent homines, di nomina 
 non haberent? Book 3, Chapter 25.
 
 34 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 The myths themselves are so inconsistent as to render it 
 impossible to believe in the old gods. If Janus is the year, 
 he cannot have built Janiculum. If Jove is the ether, he 
 cannot have been concealed from his father in a Cretan cave. 
 If Bacchus and Apollo and the sun are all the same thing, 
 then there cannot be either a Bacchus or Apollo, and thus at 
 one blow are wiped out of existence " Setneleius, Pytliiiis, 
 alter feculantae hiJaritatis dator, Sminthiorum alter pernicies 
 murur)!.'" 
 
 In Book 4 Arnobius shows the absurdity of assuming gods 
 of common things, for it is impossible to know when to stop, 
 and there might as well be special deities presiding over the 
 most insignificant trifles. Sometimes several names are 
 given to one god, sometimes several gods are given one name. 
 If all the stories are true, there must be five Minervas instead 
 of one. Chapter i6 contains an amusing, satirical picture 
 of the complications that might ensue if the five goddesses 
 should fly up and wrangle over which one was entitled to 
 the benefits of a given sacrifice. In Chapters 20, 21, he heaps 
 ironical question on ironical question: do the gods, then, 
 have betrothals and marriages, like mortals? And was 
 Jupiter, the terrible god of the thunderbolt, once lulled to 
 sleep with the noise of rattles and broken words? 
 
 In Book 5 the same arguments are continued. Arnobius 
 relates several of the ancient myths at length, such as the 
 deception of Jupiter by Numa, the story of Acdestis, of Attis, 
 and others, showing with keen satire the absurdity and in- 
 decency of such religious beliefs, and how immoral and de- 
 grading it is that such tales should be told about one who is 
 worshiped as the Supreme Ruler of the universe. To the 
 plea that they are not literally true, but mere allegories, that 
 the names of divinities are used symbolically for common 
 things, as "Jove" for "rain," "Ceres" for "earth," etc., 
 he returns answer that such an explanation is inconsistent 
 and impossible, "because everything which has been done 
 and set down in a book cannot be turned into an allegory,
 
 ARNOBIUS 35 
 
 nor can a thing done be undone, or the nature of an event be 
 changed to something entirely different. Can the Trojan 
 war become the condemnation of Socrates? or the battle of 
 Cannae the cruel proscription of Sulla? "^'^ This book closes 
 with the satirical exclamation " Verecundia laude condigna! 
 Eruhescitis panem et vinum nominare et pro coitu Venerem 
 non metuitis dicere." 
 
 Books 6 and 7 are devoted to a satirical exposition of the 
 absurdity of the heathen methods of worship. The finest 
 temples must seem like base huts to the gods, who can have 
 no need of shelter. Statues of the gods do not represent the 
 deity, but the wanton fancy of the artists, who "alter alterum 
 vincere contentiosa aemulatione quaerebant, non Venus ut 
 augustior fieret sed ut Phryna pro Venere staret." Do the 
 gods dwell in figures of earthenware, or expand or contract 
 themselves to fit the size of the images? If they are in the 
 statues and temples, why do not they protect them from 
 destruction? "O dreadful forms of terror and fear, to in- 
 spire such lasting awe in the human breast as to restrain 
 mankind from all deeds of evil and crime,— little sickles and 
 keys and caps and sandals and staves and cups and musical 
 instruments and horns of fruit, naked bodies and obscenities 
 unashamed !"^^ 
 
 The sacrifice of innocent animals is satirized in 7, 9 by a 
 speech put in the mouth of an ox. The belief in gaining divine 
 favor by sacrifice is reduced to an absurdity: suppose two 
 warring nations should offer equal sacrifices, would not the 
 gods be at a loss which side to aid? Why, he ironically asks, 
 do you offer special sacrificial animals to special gods? Do 
 they have religious scruples, or weak digestions? "O marve- 
 
 ^"5.38. 
 
 " O species formidinum dirae metuendique terrores, propter quos genus 
 hominum torpedine in perpetua adfigeretur, nihil moliretur attonitum ab 
 omnique se actu sceleroso flagitiosoque frenaret: falciculae claves caliandria 
 fomites talaria baculi tympaniola tibiae psalteria, mammae promptae 
 atque ingentes, cantharuli forcipes cornuaque pomifera, nuda corpora 
 feminarum et veretrorum magnitudines publicatae! 6, 26.
 
 36 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 lous magnitude of the gods, comprehended by no mortal 
 man, or by any creature, if indeed their good-will is to be 
 obtained by the most worthless parts of beasts, if they do 
 not lay aside their anger till they see entrails and offae offered 
 up on their altars. "^^ 
 
 Almost everyone will agree with the judgmentof St. Jerome, ^^ 
 " Arnobius inaegiialis et nimius,et absque operis sui partitione 
 conjusiis." He does not know moderation, and his incessant 
 use of sarcasm and scornful query palls on his readers in a 
 short time. His style is artificial and tiresome — no other 
 man ever used the rhetorical question so much as Arnobius 
 did.^* But some allowance must be made for the probability 
 that the work never underwent a revision, which might have 
 removed some of its defects. On the other hand, there are 
 many points of interest in Arnobius' work. It is valuable 
 for its array of mythical legends and obscure rites of worship, 
 and for its richness of vocabulary. ^^ It is also valuable as a 
 good example of controversial writing of a certain type by an 
 able and intelligent man, who, whatever his deficiencies as as 
 apologist, lacked nothing in zeal or in the ability to pierce 
 the weak points in his enemies' armor with a sharp and biting 
 satire.^^ 
 
 12 O deorum magnitude mirabilis, o nullis hominum comprehensa, nullis 
 intellecta naturis siquidem ut prosint testiculis pecudum redimuntur 
 et rumis, neque prius iras atque animos ponunt nisi sibi adoleri paratas 
 conspexerint nenias offasque reddier penitas. 7, 25. 
 
 " Epistle 58, 10 (Ad Paulinum). 
 
 " Norden, Die Antike Kunstprosa, 2, 605. Schanz, Geschichte, III, 444. 
 Kriiger, History of Early Christian Literature, 306. 
 
 1^ Cruttwell, Literary History, 2, 641. Bryce and Campbell, Introduc- 
 tion, p. xiv-xv. 
 
 1^ Such satire of superstitious beliefs as is found in Arnobius and others 
 of the Christian writers may be paralleled in a measure by the section of 
 Juvenal's sixth satire, from line 511 on, with its references to the credulous, 
 blind obedience yielded to Oriental fakirs by ignorant women, and their 
 belief in Jewish and Chaldaean fortune-tellers. Entirely different, however, 
 are such matters as the " Thessala philtra" of Juvenal, 6, 610 f., and the 
 woollen and waxen images of Horace's eighth satire of the first book. These 
 are not connected with religion at all, properly speaking, but are survivals 
 of a very wide-spread, primitive belief in magic.
 
 AUSONIUS 
 
 Decimus Magnus Ausonius of Burdigala (Bordeaux), 
 310-395 A. D., professor of rhetoric, tutor to the young prince 
 Gratianus, man of letters and learning, public ofificial, and poet, 
 was apparently a man of singularly fortunate circumstances 
 and gentle, contented disposition. Yet it is not unreasonable 
 that such a man should at times have employed the pen of 
 satire. Horace also was under the highest patronage, and 
 calm and even-tempered. We should not be surprised, 
 however, to find that satirical writing in the sense of indignant 
 invective, or bitter irony, was distasteful to him and foreign 
 to his nature. 
 
 Thus in writing commemorationes of his friends and col- 
 leagues, he praises his friend Tiberius Victor Minervius, an 
 eminent orator, for the fact that 
 
 Nullo felle tibi mens livida, turn sale multo 
 Lingua dicax blandis et sine lite iocis.^ 
 
 Similarly Attius Patera, a rhetorician, is characterized as 
 being, among his other admirable qualities, 
 Salibus modestus felle nullo perlitis.^ 
 
 The same quality is referred to in both passages. Bright- 
 ness and wit, "nullo felle," without sarcasm and bitterness, 
 are to Ausonius qualities to be admired. 
 
 Of even more importance is his letter to Tetradius the 
 satirist,^ in which he writes: "Tetradius, you who enrich the 
 wit of old from your abundant store of eloquence, and take 
 pains lest your compositions be harsh and bitter, lacking 
 pleasantness; who mingling honey and gall in the same song 
 
 1 Com. Prof., I, 31-2. 
 
 2 Com. Prof., 4, 19. 
 ' Epistle II. 
 
 37 
 
 ^.\.i 
 
 ^'im
 
 38 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 allow the Muses no rest, who color equally what is flat to the 
 taste and what is harsh ; who surpass the rude verses of Suessa 
 (Lucilius) and yield in age but not in ability:" etc.^ 
 
 This letter is of value not only objectively for the reference 
 to Tetradlus, but subjectively for its light on Ausonius' 
 attitude. Tetradius takes pains not to make his satires 
 gloomy and unpleasant: that constitutes part of their charm 
 in Ausonius' eyes. It seems fairly clear that he had little 
 sympathy or liking for invective and sarcasm. Is this perhaps 
 to be taken as a reference to contemporary writers of such 
 a character? 
 
 But surely epigrams, of which Ausonius wrote a great 
 number, are naturally of a certain unpleasantness and sharp- 
 ness. What are we to think of Ausonius' epigrams? It is 
 hardly possible to take them as being altogether serious 
 expressions of the poet's thought. Many of them are avowed- 
 ly mere translations from the Greek, probably made not so 
 much from an interest in their content as from a desire to 
 exercise his skill in reproducing their form. The mixture of 
 Greek and Latin verses, half-verses, and words, the almost 
 endless variations on the same themes, preclude the possi- 
 bility of viewing the epigrams as anything more than rhetorical 
 exercises, for the pure pleasure of making formally correct 
 verses, and based on the most convenient models at hand.^ 
 
 We know that Ausonius must have been somewhat acquainted 
 with Lucilius, even if only through anthologies, for he refers 
 
 ^ O qui vetustos uberi facundia 
 
 Sales opimas Tetradi, 
 Cavesque ne sit tristis et dulci carens 
 
 Amara concinnatio, 
 Qui felle carmen atque melle temperans 
 
 Torpere Musas non sinis 
 Pariterque fucas, quaeque gustu ignava sunt, 
 
 Et quae sapore tristia; 
 Rudes Camenas qui Suessae praevenis 
 
 Aevoque cedis, non stilo: etc. 
 
 ^Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 30-31, 38-39.
 
 AUSONIUS 39 
 
 to him several times, and often imitates liis style. In the 
 letter quoted above, it is Lucilius whom he takes as a standard 
 with which to compare Tetradius. In Epistle i6 he gives 
 an example of Lucilian tmesis: 
 
 35 Invenies praesto subiuncta petorrita mulis: 
 
 Villa Lucani- mox potieris -aco; 
 Rescisso disces conponere nomine vcrsum 
 Lucili vatis sic imitator eris. 
 
 His use of such queer combinations as "gelidoTpoMcpot," 
 "xoXi;cantica," "xoXurisa," "forw," "causats/'etc, as are 
 found in Epistle 8, are clearly modelled after such Lucilian 
 phrases as "eyTrarepetam," "vinoTo bonoto," etc.^ 
 
 The little poem De Herediolo,"^ said to be written " Liiciliano 
 stilo,''^ is of a very Horatian tone and sentiment. E. g.: 
 
 Parvum herediolum, fateor, set nulla fuit res 
 10 Parva umquam acquanimis, adde etiam unanimis. 
 
 Ex animo rem stare aequum puto, non animum ex re.^ 
 
 Cuncta cupit Croesus, Diogenes nihilum: 
 Spargit Aristippus mediis in Syrtibus aurum,!" 
 Aurea non satis est Lydia tota Midae. 
 15 Cui nuUus fuit cupiendi, est nullus habendi; 
 
 Ille opibus modus est quem statuas animo. 
 
 Another kind of quasi-satirical writing is to be seen in some 
 of Ausonius' letters to Theon, of which he himself says, 
 "instaurata est satirica et ridicula concinnatio,''^^ as for ex- 
 ample in 14, 44 ff., where he jokingly invests him with all 
 the graces of Adonis, or in 15, where he devotes twenty-five 
 lines to a piling up of paraphrases of the number "30," in an 
 
 ^ Birt, Zwei Politische Satiren des Alien Rom., p. ']\-']2. Ribbeck, 
 Geschichle, 3, 345. 
 ' Domestica, i . 
 
 * On account of the moral aphorisms in it. Cf. L. Miiller, Lucilius, p. 
 298, 40. 
 
 * Cf. Horace, Epistles, I, 11, 29-30: 
 
 Quod petis, hie est; 
 Est Ulubris, animus si te non deficit acquus. 
 1" Cf. Horace, Sermones, H, 3, 100 ff. 
 " Epistle 15, 8. 
 4
 
 40 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 exaggerated effort to explain to Theon's pretended ignorance 
 
 how many he means. ^^ But this is all in fun, merely gentle, 
 
 good-natured teasing of a friend. ^^ 
 
 ^'^ "Quod si . . . ignorat alto mens obesa viscere. " 
 ^' Pichon, Les dernier s ecrivains profanes, p. 183.
 
 TETRADIUS 
 
 Tetradius, a grammarian of about the middle of the fourth 
 century, at IcuHsma (Angouleme), is known to us only 
 from a letter to him from Ausonius, whose pupil he had been. 
 We have none of his works, but know that he wrote satires 
 in imitation of Lucilius. 
 
 Ausonius, in Epistle ii, addressing Tetradius, says: 
 
 O qui vetustos uberi facundia 
 
 Sales opimas Tetradi, 
 Cavesque ne sit tristis et dulci carens 
 
 Amara concinnatio, 
 Qui felle carmen atque melle temperans 
 
 Torpere Musas non sinis 
 Pariterque fucas, quaeque gustu ignava sunt, 
 
 Et quae sapore tristia; 
 Rudes Camenas qui Suessae praevenis 
 
 Aevoque cedis, non stilo: etc.^ 
 
 From this we may conclude that the satires of Tetradius 
 were wntten in the Lucilian style; but whether this refers to 
 their method of treatment of their subjects, or merely to an 
 external imitation of Lucilius' phraseology and mixture of 
 Latin with Greek in his poetry, is not certain.^ 
 
 ^ Cf. above, p. 37. 
 
 'Ribbeck, Ceschichte, 3, 344-345. 
 
 41
 
 SULPICIA 
 
 Of uncertain date and authorship is the poem of 70 hexa- 
 meters discovered at Bobbio in 1493 and generally known as 
 " Sulpiciae satira.'' This takes the form of a dialogue be- 
 tween the poetess^ and the Muse. It is not really a satire at 
 alP but merely a complaint at the evil times under Domitian, 
 especially his expulsion of the philosophers (vv. 37-8). The 
 Muse replies with the comforting prophecy of the speedy fall 
 of the tyrant. 
 
 There is no manuscript authority for the use of the word 
 *'satira" in the title of this poem, and the most recent editors 
 agree from considerations of internal evidence that it cannot 
 have been written by the Roman poetess Sulpicia quoted by 
 Martial.^ Probably it was the work of some literary novice, 
 perhaps as a school exercise;^ and is dated by Baehrens a 
 little after the time of Ausonius.^ 
 
 1 That the (ostensible) writer is a woman is clear from v. 8 "prima," etc. 
 - Cf. Bernhardy, Crundriss der Romischen Literatur, p. 564. 
 
 'X,35; 38. 
 
 ■• Eskuche, Rheinisches Museum, 45 (1890), 388. Ribbeck, Geschichte, 
 3, 286. Schanz, Geschichte, II, 2, 164. 
 
 ^ The text is printed in Baehrens, Poetae Lalini Minores, 5, 93 ff. 
 
 42
 
 PRUDENTIUS 
 
 For information regarding the life of Aurelius Prudentius 
 Clemens, though he was the greatest and most versatile of 
 Christian Latin poets, we are confined to what we can learn 
 from his own works. He was born, evidently, in the year 
 348, in Spain — the exact location is disputed — and was active 
 in public life. He studied rhetoric, became an advocate, 
 twice served as governor of a province, and later held some 
 court position of honor by the appointment of the Emperor 
 Theodosius. In this later life he devoted himself to the 
 writing of poems, and published his collection of works in. 
 the year 404/5, in the 57th year of his age. The date of his 
 death is unknown. 
 
 Prudentius' poetry covers a wide range of form and subject, 
 though in general a spirit of aggressive Christianity runs 
 through all his writing. It may be an exaggerated praise 
 to call him, with Bentley, "the Horace and Vergil of the 
 Christians," but there can be no doubt that one who excelled 
 in lyric, in satire, in didactic and allegorical poetry, deserves 
 to be classed as more than an ordinary versifier.^ 
 
 His lyrical poems— a collection of hymns, and verses in 
 praise of Christian martyrs — need not occupy our attention, 
 but considerable material of interest will be found in his hex- 
 ameter writings. He composed three didactic-dogmatic or 
 allegorical poems, the Apotheosis, the Hamartigenia, and the 
 Psychomachia. In the latter, which contains many reminis- 
 cences of Vergil, the various virtues and vices of human nature 
 are personified and do battle with each other for the dominion 
 of the soul. It is one of the earliest examples which have 
 come down to us of allegory pure and simple, although of 
 
 ^ Boissier, La fin du paganisnie, 2, 135. 
 
 43
 
 44 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 course personification of abstract qualities is a literary device 
 which was even then centuries old. Occasionally the allegory 
 contains a trace of veiled satire, as, for example, the following 
 description put in the mouth of Discordia, who was caught 
 in an attempt to assassinate Concordia: 
 
 Ilia 
 Exanguis turbante metu: "Discordia dicor, 
 710 Cognomento Heresis: Deus est mihi discolor" inquit 
 
 "Nunc minor aut maior, modo duplex et modo simplex, 
 Cum placet, aerius, et de phantasmate visus, 
 Aut innata anima est, quotiens volo ludere numen: 
 Praeceptor Bella mihi, domo et plaga mundus." 
 
 These various descriptions of the Deity correspond to the 
 teachings of various heretical sects of that period, as is more 
 clearly brought out in the Apotheosis. 
 
 The Apotheosis is a didactic poem of 1084 verses in which 
 Prudentius reviews and refutes several of the most prominent 
 heresies, such as those of the Patripassians, who held that it 
 was actually God the Father who suffered on the Cross, of 
 the Sabellians, who differed from the orthodox Trinitarians, 
 of the Jews, the Ebionites or "Homuncionitae," itself a satir- 
 ical appellation, who denied the divinity of Christ, and finally 
 the Manichaeans, who held that Christ was a mere image, 
 "aerius," '^ phantasma," etc. Passages where a satirical treat- 
 ment is employed are not wanting here, as, for example, the 
 following reference to the ancient philosophers, addressed to 
 Sabellius: 
 
 200 Consule barbati deliramenta Platonis 
 
 Consule et hircosus Cynicus quos sompniat, et quos 
 Texit Aristoteles torta vertigine nervos. 
 
 Or this, to the Jews: 
 
 Pascha tuum die, die, cuius de sanguine festum 
 Tarn sollempne tibi est? quis tandem caeditur agnus 
 350 Anniculus, sacer ille tibi redeuntibus annis? 
 
 Sed sacer in pecude, stultum est sic credere sacrum: 
 Sanguine balantis summos contingere postes, 
 Lascivire choris, similaginis azymon esse, 
 Cum fermentati turgescant crimine mores.
 
 PRUDENTIUS 45 
 
 Or this, to Manichaeus: 
 
 980 Obmutesce, furor; linguam, canis improbe, morde 
 
 Ipse tuam, lacero consumens verba palato. 
 
 Another body of heretics is made the object of attack in 
 the Hamartigenia, or Origin of Evil. These are the Mar- 
 cionites, a sect previously strongly assailed by Tertullian 
 and others. They believed in a system of dualism, according 
 to which the God revealed in the Old Testament is the creator 
 of evil, and the God of the New Testament is the creator of 
 good. This poem is one of Prudentius' best works. The 
 argument is strong, and the description of the degeneration 
 following the introduction of sin into the world reminds one 
 of Lucretius.^ His descriptions of hell and paradise are among 
 the best in early Christian literature. 
 
 The Hamartigenia contains some of the best instances of 
 Prudentius' use of satire. The first five lines show one of 
 
 them : 
 
 Quo te praecipitat rabies tua, perfide Cain, 
 
 Divisor blaspheme Dei? Tibi conditor unus 
 
 Non liquet et bifidae caligant nubila lucis, 
 
 Insincera acies duo per divortia semper 
 5 Spargitur, in geminis visum frustrata figuris. 
 
 Similarly vv. 85-88: 
 
 85 Nemo duos soles, nisi sub glaucomate, vidit; 
 
 Aut, si fusca polum suffudit palla serenum, 
 Oppositus quotiens radiorum spicula nimbus 
 Igne repercusso mentitos spargit in orbes. 
 
 One cannot help remembering that Horace and Juvenal 
 were not ignorant of other alternatives when the act of "seeing 
 double" may occur .^ 
 
 Keenly satirical is the passage where, in speaking of the 
 idea of an evil Deity, Prudentius says, "we always knew there 
 was such a person, but we didn't call him God; we called him 
 the devil:" 
 
 * Ebert, Geschichte, p. 292. 
 
 ' Horace, Serm., II, I, 25. Juvenal, 6, 305.
 
 46 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Haec tua, Marcion, gravis et dialectica vox est, 
 125 Immo haec attoniti phrenesis manifesta cerebri. 
 
 Novimus esse patrem scelerum, sed novimus ipsum 
 Haudquaquam tamen esse Deum, quin immo gehennae 
 Mancipium, stygio qui sit dampnandus averno. 
 Marcionita Deus, tristis, ferus, insidiator, 
 130 Vertice sublimis, cinctum cui nubibus atris 
 
 Anguiferum caput et fumo stipatur et igni, 
 Liventes oculos suffundit felle perusto 
 Invidia inpatiens iustorum gaudia ferre. etc." 
 ************** 
 
 157 Par furor illorum, quos tradit fama dicatis 
 
 Consecrasse deas Febrem Scabiemque sacellis.* 
 
 Not God, but a wicked and rebellious angel, says Prudentius, 
 is the author of the evil in the world; and in depicting this evil 
 the poet writes with a vigor and a skill scarcely inferior to 
 that of the great satirists of earlier times. ^ 
 
 250 Exemplum dat vita hominum, quo cetera peccent 
 
 Vita hominum, cui, quicquid agit, vesania et error 
 Suppeditant, ut bella fremant, ut fluxa voluptas 
 Diffluat, inpuro fervescat ut igne libido, 
 Sorbeat ut cumulos nummorum faucibus amplis 
 
 255 Gurges avaritiae, finis quam nullus habendi 
 
 Temperat, aggestis addentem vota talentis. 
 Auri namque fames parto fit maior ab auro. 
 Inde seges scelerum, radix et sola malorum.^ 
 
 Prudentius next passes to that love of luxury and adornment 
 which characterizes the female sex. Women, he says, are 
 ashamed of their appearance as God made them, and pre- 
 sumptuously seek to improve it, by painting their skin, and 
 wearing jeweled and golden ear-rings and hair-ornaments. 
 They are the weaker sex, of unstable will, and easily yield 
 to faults: 
 
 4 Cf. Baumgartner, Die lateinische und griechische Literatur der christ- 
 lichen Volker, p. 164. 
 
 5 Boissier, La fin du paganisme, 2, 132. 
 
 8 V. 257 is in no way inferior to Juvenal's (14, 139) 
 
 Crescit amor nummi, quantum ipsa pecunia crevit. 
 Cf. also Juvenal, i, 85; 14, 125; Horace, Sermones II, 3, 82; Epistles 
 I, 2, 56.
 
 PRUDENTIUS 47 
 
 Nee enim contenta decore 
 265 Ingenito externam mentitur fcmina formam. 
 
 Ac velut artificis Domini manus inpcrfectum 
 Os dedcrit, quod adhuc res exigat aut hyacinthis 
 Pingere sutilibus redimitae frontis in arce, 
 Colla vel ignitis sincera incingere sertis, 
 270 Auribus aut gravidis virides suspendere bacas, 
 
 Nectitur et nitidis concharum calculus albens 
 Crinibus aureolisque riget coma texta catenis. 
 Taedet sacrilegas matrum percurrere curas, 
 Muneribus dotata Dei quae plasmata fuco 
 275 Inficiunt, ut pigmentis cutis inlita perdat 
 
 Quod fuerat, falso non agnoscenda colore. 
 Haec sexus male fortis agit, cui pectore in arto 
 Mens fragilis facili vitiorum fluctuat aestu. 
 
 Yet this is not confined to the female sex. Men are no 
 better. They are "dissolved in luxury," mindful only of 
 perfumes and clothing of the softest texture and most deli- 
 cate dye: 
 
 Quid? quod et ipse caput muliebris corporis et rex, 
 
 280 Qui regit invalidam propria de carne resectam 
 
 Particulam, qui vas tenerum ditione gubernat, 
 Solvitur in luxum: cernas mollescere cultu 
 Heroas vetulos, opifex quibus aspera membra 
 Finxerat et rigidos duraverat ossibus artus. 
 
 285 Sed pudet esse viros, quaerunt vanissima quaeque, 
 
 Quis niteant, genuina leves ut robora solvant: 
 Vellere non ovium, sed Eoo ex orbe petitis 
 Ramorum spoliis fluitantes sumere amictus 
 Gaiident et durum scutulis perfundere corpus. 
 
 290 Additur ars, ut fila herbis saturata recoctis 
 
 Inludant varias distincto stamine formas, 
 Ut quaeque est lanugo fere mollissima tactu, 
 Pectitur: hunc videas lascivas praepete cursu 
 Venantem tunicas, avium quoque versicolorum 
 
 295 Indumenta novis texentem plumea telis: 
 
 Ilium pigmentis redolentibus et.percgrino 
 Pulvere femineas spargentem turpiter auras. 
 
 All five senses, says the poet, are pampered out of all pro- 
 portion, and gratified with such artificial and base pleasures 
 as they were never created to enjoy. Indecent theatrical 
 shows, perfumery, light and trivial music, gluttony, and soft
 
 48 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 clothing, together with excessive care of the body, are made 
 the subject of his indignant satire. 
 
 Omnia luxus habet nostrae vegetamina vitae, 
 Sensibus in quinque statuens quae condidit auctor: 
 
 300 Auribus atque oculis, turn naribus atque palato 
 
 Quaeritur infectus vitiosis artibus usus. 
 Ipse etiam toto poUet qui corpore tactus, 
 Palpamen tenerum blandis ex fotibus ambit. 
 Proh dolor ingenuas naturae occumbere leges, 
 
 305 Captivasque trahi regnante libidine dotes! 
 
 Perversum ius omne viget, dum, quicquid habendum 
 Omnipotens dederat, studia in contraria vertunt. 
 Idcircone, rogo, speculatrix pupula molli 
 Subdita palpebrae est, ut turpia semivirorum 
 
 310 Membra theatrali spectet vertigine ferri, 
 
 Incestans miseros foedo oblectamine visus? 
 Aut ideo spirant mediaque ex arce cerebri 
 Demittunt geminas sociata foramina nares, 
 Ut bibat inlecebras male conciliata voluptas, 
 
 315 Quas pigmentato meretrix iacit inproba crine? 
 
 Num propter lyricae modulamina vana puellae, 
 Nervorumque sonos et conviviale calentis 
 Carmen nequitiae patulas Deus addidit aures? 
 Perque cavernosos iussit penetrare meatus 
 
 320 Vocis iter? numquid madido sapor inditus ori 
 
 Vivit ob banc causam, medicata ut fercula pigram 
 Ingluviem vegetamque gulam ganeonis inescent? 
 Per varios gustus instructa ut prandia ducat 
 In noctem lassetque gravem sua crapula ventrem? 
 
 325 Quid durum, quid molle foret, quid lene, quid horrens, 
 
 Quid calidum gelidumve, Deus cognoscere nosmet 
 Attactu voluit palpandi interprete sensu. 
 At nos delicias plumarum et linea texta 
 Sternimus atque cutem fulcro attenuante polimus. 
 
 330 Felix qui indultis potuit mediocriter uti 
 
 Muneribus parcumque modum servare fruendi, 
 Quern locuples mundi species et amoena venustas 
 Et nitidis fallens circumflua copia rebus 
 Non capit ut puerum, nee inepto addicit amori: 
 
 335 Qui sub adumbrata dulcedine triste venenum 
 
 Deprendit latitare boni mendacis operto. 
 
 Such a long digression as this, almost one hundred lines, 
 dealing with the faults and vices of contemporary men and
 
 PRUDENTIUS 49 
 
 women, cannot be regarded as unimportant. Coming from 
 his native province to the capital city, Prudentius' point 
 of view was that of a fresh observer, and his position at court 
 gave him access to the circles where luxury was at its height. 
 If his words remind us irresistibly of those of Juvenal, if the 
 vices which he attacks are the same as those which aroused 
 the elder satirists,^ it can only mean that Roman society 
 had not changed much in three centuries, and that even the 
 spread and victory of Christianity had not availed to check 
 the prevalence of extreme luxury and extravagance among 
 the wealthy classes. Similar in spirit are the strictures of 
 Tertullian on female dress and adornment, and, as we shall 
 see, they are closely paralleled in St. Jerome and other writers. 
 
 The remainder of the Hamartigenia is devoted to more 
 directly theological and dogmatic argument and description. 
 
 In the year 384 the distinguished pagan orator and prefect 
 of the city Symmachus had addressed an eloquent plea to 
 the rulers of the Empire for the re-establishment of the altar 
 of Victory in the Senate-house, from which it had been re- 
 moved by an edict of Gratian two years previously. This 
 made a strong impression, but the opposition of Bishop Am- 
 brose of Milan was sufficient to render it fruitless. Still, 
 the Relatio of Symmachus remained as a sort of standard 
 plea for his party, and when, in the early years of the fifth 
 century, the question of the altar was re-opened, Prudentius 
 wrote his two books Contra Symmachum in reply. It is, 
 perhaps, open to question whether this poem is to be taken 
 as an actual combating of an imminent pagan reaction^ 
 or as merely an academic tour deforce:^ at all events, it must 
 be classed among the best of apologetic writings. The 
 
 ^ See Horace, Sermones, I, 2, 27; II, 2, passim; Carmina, III, 16; 
 Juvenal i, 139 ff.; 3, 180; 6, 63, 300; 11, 162. Cf. also Schuster, Studien 
 zu Prudentius, p. 90 ff., for parallelisms in thought and phraseology be- 
 tween Prudentius and Juvenal. 
 
 * Ebert, Geschichte, p. 276. Manitius, Geschichte, p. 77. Baumgartner, 
 Die lateinische und griechische Lileratur der christlichen Volker, p. 169. 
 
 ^ Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 226.
 
 50 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 first book is a rather general attack on paganism, while in 
 the second, in which the author quite closely follows the 
 previous work of Ambrosius,-'' the arguments of Symmachus 
 are taken up and answered seriatim. ^^ In the first book, and 
 to a less extent in the second, one finds satirical writing that 
 again recalls the best work of Juvenal. ^^ 
 
 Book I begins with an expression of surprise that there 
 should ever again be any renewal of anti-Christian activity, 
 followed by praise of Theodosius for his services to the true 
 religion. Then various gods are satirized in short passages 
 which in thought are not unlike the acrostic poems of Com- 
 modianus. 
 
 Saturn bursts on the scene with the comically ironical 
 words "I am a god; I come a fugitive; hide me, hide the old 
 man hurled from his throne by a ruthless son. Here I will 
 conceal myself, and give the name 'Latium' to folk and land." 
 
 45 Sum deus, advenio fugiens, praebete latebras, 
 
 Occultate senem nati feritate tyranni 
 Deiectum solio. Placet hie fugitivus et exul 
 Ut lateam: genti atque loco Latium dabo nomen. 
 
 Inde deos, quorum patria spectata sepulcra 
 55 Scimus, in acre hebetes informavere minores, 
 
 Advena quos profugus gignens et equina libido 
 Intulit Italiae; Tuscis namque ille puellis 
 Primus adhinnivit simulato numine moechus. 
 
 Next Jupiter the adulterous: 
 
 luppiter astus 
 
 75 Multiplices variosque dolos texebat, ut ilium, 
 
 Vertere cum vellet pellem faciemque, putarent 
 Esse bovem, praedari aquilam, concumbere cycnum 
 Et nummos fieri et gremium penetrare puellae. 
 Nam quid rusticitas non crederet indomitorum 
 
 8o Stulta virum, pecudes inter ritusque ferinos 
 
 Dedere sueta animum diae rationis egenum? 
 In quamcumque fidem nebulonis callida traxit 
 Nequitia, infelix facilem gens praebuit aurem. 
 
 " Ebert, Geschichte, 277-8. 
 
 " nunc dictis dicta refellam, 2, 4. 
 
 '2 Baumgartner, Die lal. utid griech. Literakir, 170, 172, 177.
 
 PRUDENTIUS 51 
 
 So Mercury, teacher of theft and magic arts, Priapus the 
 obscene, Hercules the boy-lover, the drunken Bacchus, are 
 depicted in vigorous verses as examples of what is offered in 
 place of Christianity. Even sovereigns were deified, which 
 was bad for the national character. Mars and Venus, re- 
 puted ancestors of the Roman nation, were in the very cir- 
 cumstances of that ancestry models of vice. Multitudes of 
 new deities were brought to Rome from other countries. 
 Such superstitions once started advanced rapidly; children 
 grew up in their atmosphere, even imbibed them with their 
 milk. The description of the influence of parents and sur- 
 roundings on the youthful character may be compared with 
 that in Juvenal's 14th satire, though the reference is entirely 
 different, being here to error, there to vice. With scorn 
 Prudentius recalls the deification of Li via, and of Antinous, 
 the favorite of Hadrian. Was it under the auspices of such 
 divinities that Roman armies fought and conquered? Happy 
 would the Romans have been if they had recognized the true 
 Giver of their prosperity and power! 
 
 Felices, si cuncta Deo sua prospera Christo 
 Principe disposita scissent, qui currere regna 
 Certis ducta modis Romanorumque triumphos 
 
 290 Crescere et inpletis voluit se infundere seclis. 
 
 Sed caligantes animas et luce carentes 
 In lovis Augustique adytis templisque duarum 
 lunonum Martisque etiam Venerisque sacellis 
 Mactatas tetro leti inmersere barathro, 
 
 295 Supremuni regimen crassis in partibus orbis 
 
 Esse rati mcrsoque poll consistere fundo. 
 
 Even natural forces were deified, although all are but serv- 
 ants of the Creator. Even this, however, might be tolerated, 
 but what when we come to the gods of the infernal regions: 
 
 Hoc tamen utcunque est tolerabile. Quid, quod et ipsae 
 355 Dant tibi, Roma, deos infcrni gurgitis umbrae? 
 
 Eumenidum domina Stygio caput exerit antro 
 Rapta ad tartarei thalamum Proserpina regis: 
 Et si quando suos dignatur adire Quirites, 
 Placatur vaccae sterilis cervice resecta
 
 52 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 360 Et regnare simul caeloque ereboque putatur: 
 
 Nunc bigas frenare boves, nunc saeva sororum 
 Agmina vipereo superis inmittere flagro, 
 Nunc etiam volucres caprearum in terga sagittas 
 Spargere terque suas eadem variare figuras. 
 
 Gladiatorial shows draw forth some of Prudentius' severest 
 strictures: 
 
 Respice terrific! scelerata sacraria Ditis, 
 380 Cui cadit infausta fusus gladiator arena: 
 
 Heu male lustratae Phlegethontia victima Romae! 
 
 Nam quid vesani sibi vult ars inpia ludi, 
 
 Quid mortes iuvenum, quid sanguine pasta voluptas, 
 
 Quid pulvis caveae semper funebris et ilia 
 385 Amphitheatralis spectacula tristia pompae? 
 
 Nempe Charon iugulis miserorum se duce dignas 
 
 Accipit inferias placatus crimine sacro. 
 
 Hae sunt deliciae lovis infernalis, in istis 
 
 Arbiter obscuri placidus requiescit Averni. 
 390 Nonne pudet regem populum sceptrisque potentem 
 
 Talia pro patriae censere litanda salute, 
 
 Relligionis opem subternis poscere ab antris? 
 
 Theodosius is introduced speaking, urging the city to dis- 
 card such gloomy teachings and follow the Cross, which had 
 already, through Constantine, set them free from the oppres- 
 sion of Maxentius. The crimes of this tyrant are recalled in a 
 short but vigorous satirical passage (469 ff.). Prudentius 
 then emphasizes the fact that a vast majority of Rome's best 
 people are now Christians, and closes this book with praise 
 of Symmachus as an orator, saying that his own intention is 
 not to attack him, but to defend his own beliefs. 
 
 The second book is longer than the first, and as there are 
 some repetitions of thought in it, and some purely dogmatic 
 argument, it seems unnecessary to present a connected outline 
 of the content. But it contains some excellent examples of 
 satire. To the argument of Symmachus that Rome's vic- 
 tories were due to the worship of the gods, notably the goddess 
 of Victory, Prudentius replies, "Not from altars and sacri- 
 ficial meal does victory come, but from toil and valor and
 
 PRUDENTIUS 53 
 
 courage and diligence: if these are lacking, all the talents you 
 may spend on shrines and statues will be in vain. Never did 
 a steel-clad legion see a winged maiden directing their javelins. 
 The author of victory is Almighty God and one's own right 
 hand, — not a female with combed locks, naked feet, and 
 flowing garments." 
 
 Non aris, non farre molae Victoria fclix 
 Exorata venit: labor inpiger, aspera virtus, 
 
 25 Vis animi, excellens ardor, violentia, cura, 
 
 Hanc tribuunt, durum tractandis robur in armis; 
 Quae si defuerint bellantibus, aurea quamvis 
 Marmoreo in templo rutilas Victoria pennas 
 Explicet et multis surgat formata talentis, 
 
 30 Non aderit versisque offensa videbitur hastis 
 
 Quid miles, propriis diffisus viribus, aptas 
 Inrita femineae tibimet solatia formae? 
 Nunquam pennigeram legio ferrata puellam 
 Vidit, anhelantum regeret quae tela virorum. 
 
 35 Vincendi quaeris dominam? sua dextera cuiquc est, 
 
 Et Deus omnipotens: non pexo crine virago. 
 Nee nudo suspensa pede strophioque recincta, 
 Nee tumidae fluitante sinu vestita papillas. 
 ********** 
 
 Desine, si pudor est, gentilis ineptia, tandem 
 Res incorporeas simulatis fingere membris: 
 Desine, terga hominis plumis obducere, frustra 
 60 Fertur avis mulier magnusque eadem dea vultur. 
 
 The same thought is emphasized again later in the poem, 
 where Prudentius indignantly demands that Roman valor be 
 given its just dues for victories won: "I will not endure such 
 insults to the Roman name, and the honors we poured out so 
 much blood to gain. To ascribe a victory to Venus, steals 
 the credit from the real victors. Why do we put up statues 
 to Camillus and other heroes if it was really Flora, Matuta, 
 Ceres, and Larentina who defeated the foe?" 
 
 Non fero, Romanum nomen sudataque bella 
 Et titulos tanto quaesitos sanguine carpi. 
 Detrahit invictis legionibus et sua Romae 
 Praemia diminuit, qui, quidquid fortiter actum est,
 
 54 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 555 Ascribit Veneri, palmam victoribus aufert. 
 
 Frustra igitur currus summo miramur in arcu 
 Quadriiugos stantesque duces in curribus altis 
 Fabricios, Curios, hinc Drusos, inde Camillos, 
 Sub pedibusque ducum captivos poplite flexo 
 
 560 Ad iuga depresses manibusque in terga retortis, 
 
 Et suspensa gravi telorum fragmina trunco: 
 Si Brennum, Antiochum, Persen, Pyrrhum, Mithridatem, 
 Flora, Matuta, Ceres, et Larentina subegit. 
 
 The satirical absurdity is heightened by the use of these 
 goddesses in this connection, instead of, for example, Jupiter, 
 Minerva, Mars, and Apollo. 
 
 Prudentius easily shows the ridiculousness of Symmachus' 
 
 plea for the retention of the ancient rites. If age is to be 
 
 the criterion of the value of a custom or religion, we should 
 
 quickly lapse into barbarism. We should cease to cultivate 
 
 the soil, we should have to clothe ourselves in skins and live 
 
 in caves and murder our aged parents, foi such things formerly 
 
 were done. 
 
 Si quidquid rudibus mundi nascentis in annis 
 Mos habuit, sancte colere ac servare necesse est: 
 Omne revolvamus sua per vestigia seclum 
 
 280 Usque ad principium, placeat dampnare gradatim, 
 
 Quidquid posterius successor repperit usus. 
 Orbe novo nuUi subigebant arva coloni: 
 Quid sibi aratra volunt, quid cura superflua rastri? 
 Ilignis melius saturatur glandibus alvus. 
 
 285 Primi homines cuneis scindebant fissile lignum: 
 
 Decoquat in massam fervens strictura securem 
 Rursus et ad proprium restillet vena metallum. 
 Induvias caesae pecudes et frigida parvas 
 Praebebat spelunca domos: redeamus ad antra, 
 
 290 Pellibus insutis hirtos sumamus amictus. 
 
 Inmanes quondam populi feritate subacta 
 Edomiti, iam triste fremant iterumque ferinos 
 In mores redeant atque ad sua prisca recurrant. 
 Praecipitat Scythica iuvenis pietate vietum 
 
 295 Votivo de ponte patrem; sic mos fuit olim.^' 
 
 Symmachus says (369 ff.), "Let the city be left to the care 
 of its Genius, and to fulfil its fated destiny." Prudentius re- 
 " Cf. Horace, Epistles, II, i, 34 ff-
 
 PRUDENTIUS 55 
 
 plies, "What is this Genius, where did it come from, and 
 when, what does it look like, what does it do? What sen- 
 sible man could fail to laugh at such a belief?" 
 
 At tuus hie urbis Genius, dicas volo, quando 
 Coepit adhuc parvae primum se infundere Romae, 
 
 395 Fluxit ab uberibus nemorosa in valle lupinis, 
 
 Infantesque aluit, dum nascitur ipse, gemellos? 
 An cum vulturibus volitans ignota per auras 
 Umbra repentinam traxit de nube figuram? 
 Culminibus summis sedet, an penetralia servans 
 
 400 Instituit mores et iura forensia condit? 
 
 An castrorum etiam fossis intervenit, acres 
 Cogit ad arma viros, lituis ciet, urget in hostem? 
 Quae quis non videat sapientum digna cachinno? 
 
 Finally, after denying that the confiscation of the revenues 
 of Vesta will bring untold woes on the state, Prudentius 
 satirizes the Vestal virgins, as being chaste only through force 
 of circumstance and vows made in ignorance, and as taking a 
 cruel and unnatural delight in the shameful gladiatorial con- 
 tests, for the abolition of which he makes a strong plea. 
 
 Interea dum torta vagos ligat infula crines 
 Fatalesque adolet prunas innupta sacerdos, 
 Fertur per medias ut publica pompa plateas 
 Pilento residens molli, seque ore retecto 
 
 1090 Inputat attonitae virgo spectabilis urbi. 
 
 Inde ad consessum caveae pudor almus et expers 
 Sanguinis it pietas, hominum visura cruentos 
 Congressus mortesque et vulnera vendita pastu 
 Spectatura sacris oculis: sedct ilia verendis 
 
 1095 Vittarum insignis phaleris fruiturque lanistis. 
 
 O tenerum mitemque animum! consurgit ad ictus 
 Et quotiens victor ferrum iugulo inserit, ilia 
 Delicias ait esse suas pectusque iacentis 
 Virgo modesta iubet converso pollice rumpi, 
 
 1 100 Ne lateat pars uUa animae vitalibus imis, 
 
 Altius inpresso dum palpitat ense sccutor. 
 
 The foregoing discussion, though necessarily dealing with 
 
 Prudentius from a limited point of view, should yet make it 
 
 evident that here is a Latin poet who deserves to be better 
 
 known than he is. His hymns show an advance on his prede- 
 
 5
 
 56 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 cessors/^ he was a pioneer in allegorical poetry, in his didactic 
 works he was a poet as well as a theologian, and he must also 
 be recognized as a satirical poet of a high order. In grave 
 irony, in amusing ridicule, and in sharp and bitter sarcasm, 
 he shows the skill of a master. He may be characterized not 
 unjustly as the principal satirist of Christian Latin poetry, 
 and rivalled only by Claudian of the other poets subsequent 
 to Juvenal. 
 
 ^* Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 230.
 
 CARMEN CONTRA PAGANOS 
 
 We have here a spirited satirical poem of one hundred and 
 twenty-two hexameter verses, preserved in a manuscript of 
 Prudentius (Paris 8084). Its author is unknown, and the 
 date of composition is only to be deduced from internal evi- 
 dence, which points quite clearly to the year 394 A. d., in the 
 reign of Eugenius.^ 
 
 Although prosody and diction are faulty,^ the poem pos- 
 sesses much of interest. Its satire is directed against the 
 minority who even at that period remained true to the pagan 
 religion. Special attention is paid to an unnamed pagan of 
 high rank and influence who had recently died — generally 
 believed to be Virius Nicomachus Flavianus, a former consul 
 and prefect of the city.^ 
 
 The central thought of the poem seems to be a feeling of 
 exultation at the decay of paganism and the death of its chief 
 adherent, coupled with a satirical query as to what avail the 
 ancient religion had been either for itself or for him. The 
 heathen gods and their crimes and weaknesses are satirized 
 in much the same manner as by Tertullian, Commodianus, 
 Arnobius, and others."* The style is exultant and scornful, 
 rhetorical questions are frequent, and "the relative clause 
 is hounded to death. "'^ Repetitions of phrases are common, 
 e. g. 23, 122; 77, 107; 83, 120. . 
 
 The poem begins^ with an ironical address to the pagans, 
 
 ^ Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 200. " 
 
 2 Mommsen, Carmen codicis Parisini 8084, Hermes, 4 (1869), 350 EF. 
 
 ' Morel, Recherches, Revue Archeologique, 1868, 2, 48-50. Momm- 
 sen, Hermes, 4, 360. But Robinson Ellis identifies him rather with 
 Praetextatus (Journal of Philology, i, 2, 80). 
 
 * Manitius, Geschichte, 147 n. 
 
 ^ Schanz. 
 
 8 Following the text of Baehrens, Poetae Latini Minores, 3, 287 ff. 
 
 57
 
 58 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 in which some of their gods are characterized by their well- 
 known faults: "Say, ye who worship the Sibyl's groves and 
 cave, the woods of Ida, the Capitol, the Palladium, the shrine 
 of Vesta, the incestuous gods — Veneris monumenta nefandae — 
 ye whom only your purple robes make holy, who never learned 
 the truth from either Apollo's shrine or quack Etruscan 
 soothsayer, — was your Jupiter so madly in love with Leda 
 as to become a swan? Did he descend to Danae in a shower 
 of gold? Did he bellow as a bull through the straits of Par- 
 thenope? ... If Jove himself is subject to fate, what avails 
 it to utter useless prayers? Adonis is mourned, Venus weeps, 
 Mars rejoices, Jupiter knows not how to end their strife, and 
 Bellona urges on the wrangling deities with her scourge." 
 
 Dicite, qui colitis lucos antrumque Sibyllae 
 Idaeumque nemus, Capitolia celsa Tonantis, 
 Palladium Priamique Lares Vestaeque sacellum 
 Incestosque deos, nuptam cum fratre sororem, 
 
 5 Inmitem puerum, Veneris monumenta nefandae, 
 
 Purpurea quos sola facit praetexta sacratos, 
 Quis numquam verum Phoebi cortina locuta est, 
 Etruscus ludit semper quos vanus aruspex: 
 luppiter hie vester, Ledae superatus amore, 
 
 10 Fingeret ut cycinum, voluit canescere pluma? 
 
 Perditus ad Danaen fluere subito aureus imber, 
 Per freta Parthenopes taurus mugireque adulter? 
 Haec si monstra placent nulla sacrata pudica 
 
 Pellitur arma lovis fugiens regnator Olympi? 
 35 Et quisquam supplex veneratur templa tyranni, 
 
 Cum patrem videat nato cogente fugatum? 
 
 Postremum, regitur fato si luppiter ipse, 
 
 Quid prodest miseris perituras fundere voces? 
 
 Plangitur in templis iuvenis formonsus Adonis, 
 20 Nuda Venus deflet, gaudet Mavortius heros, 
 
 luppiter in medium nescit finire querellas 
 
 lurgantesque deos stimulat Bellona flagello. 
 
 The personal object of the satire is referred to as one who 
 travelled over the whole world in three months and came at 
 last to the end — of his life. No one was a more thorough-
 
 CARMEN CONTRA PAGANOS 59 
 
 going devotee of paganism than he: an adept in the arts of 
 Numa, worshipper of Serapis, indefatigable opponent of the 
 true religion, — is not this the very man who destroyed a 
 year's wine supply of his country and sought to bring ruin 
 on the city?^ He underwent the degrading mystic rites. He 
 refused, though censor, to do a censor's part. He sought to 
 corrupt Christians by gifts and offices. 
 
 Quis tibi taurobolus vestem mutare suasit, 
 Inflatus dives, subito mendicus ut esses? 
 Obsitus et pannis, modica stipe factus epaeta, 
 60 Sub terram missus, pollutus sanguine tauri, 
 
 Sordidus, infectus, vestes servare cruentas? 
 Vivere num speras viginti mundus in annos? 
 
 Christicolas multos voluit sic perdere demens, , 
 
 Quis, vellent sine lege mori, donaret honores 
 80 Oblitosque sui caperet quos daemonis arte, 
 
 Muneribus cupiens quorundam frangere mentes 
 Aut alios facere prava mercede profanes 
 Mittereque inferias miseros sub Tartara secum. 
 
 The satirist addresses the unnamed individual. "What 
 good did all your gods and worshippings do you?" 
 
 Quid tibi diva Paphi custos, quid pronuba luno 
 
 Saturnusque senex potuit praestare sacrato? 
 
 Quid tibi Neptuni promisit fuscina, demens? 
 90 Reddere quas potuit sortes Tritonia virgo? 
 
 Die mihi, Sarapidis templum cur nocte petebas? 
 
 Quid tibi Mercurius fallax promisit eunti? 
 
 Quid prodest coluisse Lares lanumque bifrontem? 
 
 Quid tibi Terra potens, mater formosa deorum, 
 95 Quid tibi sacrato placuit latrator Anubis? 
 
 Quid miseranda Ceres mater, Proserpina subter? 
 
 Quid tibi Vulcanus claudus, pede debilis uno? 
 
 Quis te plangentem non risit, calvus ad aras 
 
 Sistriferam Fariam supplex cum forte rogares? etc. 
 
 "Lo, in spite of magic charms and votive offerings, death 
 was your portion. Weep not, wife, for a husband who could 
 hope for aid from Jupiter Latiaris!" 
 
 ' The events alluded to here are unknown.
 
 6o LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 1 10 Artibu' sed magicis procerum dum quaeris honores, 
 
 Sic, miserande, iaces parvo donatu' sepulcro. 
 Sola tamen gaudet meretrix te consule Flora 
 Ludorum turpis genetrix Venerisque magistra, 
 Conposuit templum nuper cui Symmachus heres. 
 
 115 Omnia quae in templis positus tot monstra colebas, 
 
 Ipsa mola et manibus coniunx altaria supplex 
 Dum cumulat donis votaque in limine templi 
 Solvere dis deabusque parat superisque minatur 
 Carminibus magicis cupiens Acheronta movere, 
 
 120 Praecipitem inferias miserum sub Tartara misit. 
 
 Desine post hydropem talem deflere maritum, 
 De love qui Latio voluit sperare salutem! 
 
 The author of this fanatical and bitter satire may congratu- 
 late himself that his name has not descended to us along with 
 his verses. Very probably the reason why it has not is that 
 the poem was published anonymously in the first place. 
 Were the poet's name known, it would merely signify to us 
 an author of third-rate verses, who waits, before venting his 
 spite and scorn, till the object of it is dead, and even then 
 avoids mentioning him by name, — surely not an enviable 
 reputation.
 
 CARMEN AD SENATOREM 
 
 Another anonymous poem, preserved in manuscripts of 
 Cyprian^ and wrongly ascribed to him, is this of eighty-five 
 hexameter verses, directed against an unnamed senator who 
 had apostatized from Christianity to the worship of the Magna 
 Mater and of Isis. This is probably to be dated at about the 
 same time as the Carmen contra Paganos.^ As poetry, these 
 are superior to the other verses, and their tone is distinctly 
 calmer and less bitter. Yet this is also to be called a satire, 
 written in the epistolary form. The senator's instability is 
 dwelt on, and the cults to which he had returned are depicted 
 in a satirical manner. 
 
 The author remarks with delicate irony that as the senator 
 had always been fond of poetry, this rebuke takes the form of a 
 
 poem: 
 
 Cum te diversis iterum vanisque viderem 
 Inservire sacris priscoque errore teneri, 
 Obstipui motus. Quia carmina semper amasti 
 Carmine respondens properavi scribere versus, 
 
 5 Ut te corriperem tenebras praeponere luci. 
 
 Then follows a picture of the priests of the Magna Mater, 
 who by their outward ceremonies betray their inner degrada- 
 tion: 
 
 Namque sacerdotes tunicis muliebribus idem 
 10 Interius vitium cultu exteriore fatentur, 
 
 Idque licere putant, quod non licet; unde per urbem 
 Leniter incedunt molliter voce loquentes, 
 Laxatosque tenent extenso poUice lumbos, 
 Et proprium mutant vulgato crimine sexum. 
 
 1 And now printed in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 
 Vol. 23, p. 227 ff. 
 
 2 Victor Schultze, Geschichte des Untergangs des griecMsch-romischen 
 Heidentums, i, 290. Manitius, Geschichte, 130. Ebert, Geschichte, 313 ff. 
 Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 201. 
 
 61
 
 62 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 15 Cumque suos celebrant ritus, his esse diebus 
 
 Se castos memorant; ut, si tantum modo tunc sunt, 
 Ut perhibent casti, reliquo iam tempore quid sunt? 
 Sed quia coguntur saltim semel esse pudici, 
 Mente fremunt, lacerant corpus funduntque cruorem. 
 
 Should a servant of Isis become consul, all the world would 
 laugh ; is it any less absurd for an ex-consul to become a servant 
 of Isis, to exchange the fasces for a dog's head and a sistrum? 
 
 25 Si quis ab Isiaco consul procedat in orbem, 
 
 Risus orbis erit; quis te non rideat autem, 
 Qui fueris consul, nunc Isidis esse ministrum? 
 Quodque pudet primo, et non pudet esse secundo, 
 Ingeniumque tuum turpes damnare per hymnos, 
 
 30 Respondenti tibi vulgo et lacerante senatu; 
 
 Teque domo propria pictum cum fascibus ante. 
 Nunc quoque cum sistro faciem portare caninam. 
 Haec tua humilitas et humilitatis imago est! 
 Aedibus ilia tuis semper monumenta manebunt. 
 
 There is a rumor that you said, "Goddess, I have erred; 
 forgive me, I have returned." What answer, pray, did you 
 receive? Better had you never been a Christian than to 
 have known the truth and discarded it. While worshipping 
 all, you worship nothing; pretend to philosophy, and would 
 doubtless be even a Jew on occasion. 
 
 Minus esses forte notandus, 
 Si tantum hoc scires et in hoc errore maneres; 
 At cum vericolae penetraveris ostia legis, 
 Et tibi nosse deum paucis provenerit annis, 
 
 45 Cur linquenda tenes aut cur retinenda relinquis? 
 
 Nilque colis, dum cuncta colis, nee corde retractas, 
 Vera quid a falsis, quid ab umbris lumina distent. 
 Philosophum fingis, cum te sententia mutet: 
 Nam tibi si stomachum popularis movent ira, 
 
 50 Et ludaeus eris totusque incertus ageris! 
 
 The writer continues with a warning that, just as excessive 
 brightness, as well as darkness, may make one unable to see, 
 just as overeating may prove fatal, as well as starvation, so 
 too much knowledge makes one a fool — "sic nimium sapere 
 stuUum Jacit" (63). Better the simple faith which is stable
 
 CARMEN AD SENATOREM 63 
 
 and unmoved. This seems to be a reference to contemporary 
 attempts to substitute philosophy for religion.' 
 
 The poem concludes with the hope that riper years, "matura 
 senectus," may yet bring the senator back, this time per- 
 manently, to the Christian faith, and holds out encourage- 
 ment as to his reception: 
 
 Desiste vereri: 
 85 Non erit in culpa, quem paenitet ante fuisse. 
 
 ^ Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 202.
 
 PAULINUS OF NOLA 
 
 A CLOSE contemporary of Prudentius, though, as a writer, 
 inferior to him in imagination and poetical ability, was Pon- 
 tius Meropius Paulinus, known usually as Paulinus of Nola, 
 from his long residence at Nola in Campania. Paulinus was 
 born at Burdigala (Bordeaux) about the year 353, and was a 
 pupil and friend of the well-known rhetor Ausonius. He em- 
 braced the Christian religion, was consul, and lived for some 
 time in Spain. Resolving to devote himself to a religious 
 life, he became a priest in 393, and shortly afterwards removed 
 to Nola, a place sanctified by the burial there of St. Felix. 
 In 409 Paulinus was chosen bishop, and held that position till 
 his death in 431. 
 
 Although many of his letters and poems are not without in- 
 terest, the chief interest, from our point of view, is to be 
 found in the hexameter poem of 254 v\^, numbered XXXII, 
 sometimes known as the '' poema uUimtim." The author's 
 purpose in writing this poem was, as he declares, to describe 
 in smooth verses different religious beliefs, with a view to 
 showing the superiority of Christianity to all others. In 
 other words, the poem belongs to the great mass of Christian 
 apologetical literature; and one finds, as is to be expected, 
 many points of similarity between it and previous apolo- 
 getical writings. 
 
 The first hundred and fifty lines, roughly speaking, is de- 
 voted to an attack on non-Christian sects, and we will find 
 here the same satirical treatment of the subject with which 
 we have become familiar in the works of writers previously 
 discussed.^ First Paulinus speaks of the Jews, and comments 
 on their insane perversity in turning from the worship of the 
 
 ^ Ebert, Geschichte, 308. Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 239. 
 
 64
 
 PAULINUS OF NOLA 65 
 
 true God to that of idols. Equally mad is the pagan who 
 makes his god of stone or metal : 
 
 Par quoque paganus; lapides quos sculpat adorat 
 20 Et facit ipse sibi quod debeat ipse timere. 
 
 Turn simulacra colit quae sic ex acre figurat 
 
 Ut, quando libitum est, mittat confracta monetae 
 
 Aut magis in species convertat saepe pudendas.^ 
 
 And their sacrifices, how stupid a practise, and deserving 
 of censure: 
 
 27 Quid petit ignosci veniam qui sanguine poscit? 
 
 lUud enim quale est, quam stultum quamve notandum!^ 
 
 The philosophers are contemptuously characterized, — the 
 Cynics, who resemble the dogs from whence they get their 
 name, the disciples of Plato, who have no stable doctrine, the 
 "Physici" (see below), who lead a rude and uncultured life, 
 carrying their ideal of simplicity to an extreme: 
 
 Philosophos credam quicquam rationis habere, 
 Qui ratione carent, quibus est sapientia vana? 
 Sunt Cynici canibus similes, quod nomine produnt; 
 
 35 Sunt et sectantes incerti dogma Platonis, 
 
 Quos quaesita diu animae substantia turbat, 
 Tractantes semper nee definire valentes, 
 Unde Platonis amant de anima describere librum, 
 Qui praeter titulum nil certi continet intus. 
 
 40 Sunt etiam Physici naturae nomine dicti 
 
 Quos antiqua iuvat rudis atquc incondita vita. Etc.'' 
 
 The poet here does not distinguish carefully between his 
 philosophers. The "Physici" should be the Stoics, probably, 
 but his description best fits the Cynics.^ 
 
 2 Cf. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Chapter 23, for similar thought. 
 
 * Cf. Horace, Sermones, I, 3, 24: 
 
 Stultus et improbus hie amor est, dignusque notari. 
 
 * Cf. Prudentius, Apotheosis, 200 f. : 
 
 Consule barbati deliramenta Platonis 
 
 Consule et hircosus Cynicus quos sompniat, etc. 
 
 * Cf. Bursian, Bas sogenannte poe^na ultimum des Paulinus Nolajius, in 
 Sitzungsberichte der koniglichen bayerischen Akademie der VVissenschaften, 
 Philosophisch-philologischen Klasse, 1880, p. 22.
 
 66 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Then come satirical comments on gods and goddesses, on 
 Jove the incestuous — teste Marone — held inferior in honor by 
 his worshippers to the mortal king Janus, on the degraded 
 and degrading Attis cult, on the absurd myth of Saturn and 
 his children, with the vain attempt at rationalization, on the 
 myth of Saturn's exile — how the one great god hid away, and 
 the other great god was unable to find him, on the Isis wor- 
 ship, on Vesta. — why should fire be deified in a feminine 
 
 form, particularly? 
 
 Primum 
 
 Hie deus est uxorque dei ipsamque sororem 
 55 Esse volunt quam Vergilius notat auctor eorum 
 
 Dicendo "et soror et coniunx." Plus de love fertur 
 Et natam stuprasse suam fratrique dedisse 
 Utque alias caperet propriam variasse figuram: 
 Nunc serpens, nunc taurus erat, nunc cygnus et anser, 
 60 Seque immutando qualis fuit indicat ipse; 
 
 Plus aliena sibi quam propria forma placebat. 
 Turpius his aquilam finxit puerique nefandos 
 Venit in amplexus.^ 
 
 Further: 
 
 O mens caeca virum ! de sacris semper eorum 
 Scaena movet risus, nee ah hoc errore recedunt. 
 
 95 Saturnum perhibent lovis esse patrem huncque vorasse 
 
 Natos ante suos et mox e ventre nefandos 
 Evomuisse dapes, sed postea coniugis arte 
 Pro love suppositum mersisse in viscera saxum 
 Quod nisi fecisset, consumptus luppiter esset. 
 
 100 Huncque Cronon dicunt ficteque Chronon, quia tempus 
 
 Quae creat absumit, rursusque absumpta promittit. 
 Cur tamen oblique nomen pro tempore fingunt?^ 
 Hunc etiam quod saepe sibi de prole timebat 
 Ab love deiectum caelo latuisse per agros 
 
 105 Italiae, Latiumque ideo tune esse vocatum. 
 
 Magnus uterque deus! Terris est abditus alter, 
 Alter non potuit terrarum scire latebras.^ 
 
 Again : 
 
 Quid quod et Invictum spelaea sub atra recondunt 
 Quemque tegunt tenebris audent hunc dicere solem? 
 
 ^ Cf . Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, i , 59 ff. 
 ' On this Xpows = Kpovos, cf. Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, 3, 29. 
 8 Cf . Prudentius, Contra Symmachum, i, 47 fl. Commodianus, In- 
 strudiones, i, 4. Manitius, Geschichte, 294 n.
 
 PAULINUS OF NOLA 67 
 
 Quis colat occulte lucem sidusque supernum 
 
 115 Celet in infernis nisi rerum causa malarum? 
 
 Quid quod et Isiaca sistrumque caputque canlnum 
 Non magis abscondunt sed per loca publica ponunt?^ 
 Nescio quid certe quaerunt gaudentque repertum 
 Rursus et amittunt quod rursus quaerere possint. 
 
 120 Quis ferat hoc sapiens, illos quasi claudere solem, 
 
 Hos proferre palam propriorum monstra deorum? 
 Quid Serapis meruit qui sic laceratur ab ipsis 
 Per varios turpesque locos? Hie denique semper 
 Fit fera fitque canis, fit putre cadaver aselli, 
 
 125 Nunc homo cum pannis, nunc corpore languidus aegro. 
 
 Talia dum faciunt, nihil hunc sentire fatentur. 
 Quid loquar et Vestam quam se negat ipse sacerdos 
 Scire quid est, imisque tamen penetralibus intus 
 Semper incxtinctus servari fingitur ignis? 
 
 130 Cur dea, non deus est? Cur ignis femina fertur? 
 
 Then follows the story connecting Vesta with Vulcan and 
 the Sun/" and the poet concludes this polemical section of his 
 poem with an exclamation on the perversity of the human vi'nd : 
 
 148 Quae mens est hominum ut pro veris falsa loquantur, 
 
 Qui linquenda colunt contraque colenda relinquuntl^^ 
 
 Paulinus here turns to an exposition of his own Christian 
 belief; and the remainder of the poem lacks the satirical 
 character of the foregoing. 
 
 One recognizes the marked similarity in style of treatment 
 of the subject between this poem and other anti-pagan writ- 
 ings. Such a satirical style had become the favorite for apolo- 
 getical writers, and Paulinus was only following what was, as 
 it were, an established literary tradition. 
 
 In Carmen VI, we find the common enough satirical 
 thought expressed, that pleasure, luxury, and avarice, are 
 the roots of crime: 
 
 240 Sic primi vixere homines mundoque recenti 
 
 Hos auctor dederat ventura in saecula mores 
 Inseruit donee sese malesuada voluptas, 
 
 ' Cf. Carmen ad Senatorem, 32. 
 
 1° This passage is mythographically important. Cf. Bursian, op. cit., I4 ff . 
 
 ^^ Cf. Carmen ad Senatorem, 45.
 
 68 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Ac secum luxus et amorem invexit habendi; 
 Hinc odia hinc lites hinc fraus hinc livor et irae 
 245 Caedes arma cruor conflictus proelia mortes 
 
 Hinc offensa dei quam tartara saeva piabunt.^^ 
 
 '^ This deserves comparison with Prudentius, Hamartigenia 393-7: 
 Namque illic numerosa cohors sub principe tali 
 Militat horrendisque animas circumsidet armis: 
 395 Ira superstitio maeror discordia luxus, 
 
 Sanguinis atra sitis, vini sitis, et sitis auri, 
 Livor adulterium dolus obtrectatio furtum. 
 Details: 
 
 Paulinus Prudentius 
 
 irae ira 
 
 luxus luxus 
 
 livor livor 
 
 lites discordia 
 
 caedes arma cruor 
 
 conflictus proelia mortes sanguinis atra sitis 
 
 amorem habendi sitis auri 
 
 fraus dolus
 
 CRESCONIUS 
 
 Probably of the fourth century A. d., was the writer 
 Cresconius, of whom certain works were extant at Lorsch in 
 the tenth century, but now no longer exist. An old cata- 
 logue mentions "metrum Cresconii in Evangel, lib. I; eiusdem 
 de diis gentium luculentissimtim carmen; eiusdem versus de 
 principio mundi vel de die iudicii et resurrectione carnis."^ 
 From this brief notice we may infer that Cresconius had written 
 a poem on the subject of the heathen gods which was, in the 
 opinion of the cataloguer at least, an able production, "Iticu- 
 lentissimum carmen.'' Moreover, the tone so frequently 
 adopted when discussing the heathen religious beli ,' by so 
 many other writers, such as Tertullian, Commodianus, 
 Arnobius, Prudentius, and Paulinus of Nola, makes it extreme- 
 ly probable that this poem also was of a polemical, satirical 
 nature. This Cresconius may, or may not, have been identi- 
 cal with the Cresconius who was an adversary of St. Augustine. 
 
 ^ Catalog! bibliothecarum antiqui, ed. Becker, N. 37, 459 ff., apud 
 Manitius, Ceschichte, 315, q. v. 
 
 69
 
 AMBROSIUS 
 
 A FREQUENT and important element in satirical writing is 
 
 the moral-didactic element. In other words, the satirist 
 
 takes it upon himself to preach. Juvenal, to be sure, does 
 
 not preach: he draws vivid and drastic pictures of the worst 
 
 sides of Roman life and social conditions of his day, without, 
 
 as a rule, appealing for or even suggesting reforms. But in 
 
 Horace, for example, we find the preaching tone prominent. 
 
 Take for example the passage beginning " Vellem in amicitia 
 
 sic erraremus,^' in Sermones, I, 3.^ This is an argument directly 
 
 dealing with the improvement of character. "Opinor,'' 
 
 he c'^'--' es, "liaec res et iimgit iunctos et servat amicos." 
 
 To noiace can strikingly well be applied the words of Rutilius 
 
 Namatianus, 
 
 Restituit veterem censoria lima pudorem, 
 Dumque malos carpit, praecipit esse bonos.^ 
 
 The converse of this is also true. If the satirist often 
 adopts a preaching tone, so also does the preacher adopt fre- 
 quently a satirical tone. It is the office of the preacher, says 
 Dean Milman,^ to use somewhat of the manner of the satirist. 
 This was true of Greek homilists, like Basilios and Gregory of 
 Nazianzus,^ and it is also true of the Latin churchman to 
 whom we shall now turn. 
 
 St. Ambrose was not educated with the career of a church- 
 man in mind. He was born in Treves, about 340, and was 
 the son of a praefectus praetorio. He received his education 
 in Rome, and entered on an official career. As consular of 
 Aemilia and Liguria, with headquarters in Milan, he was 
 
 1 Vv. 41-54- 
 
 2 De Reditu Suo, i , 605-6. 
 
 * History of Christianity, 3, 342. 
 
 * Forster, Amhrosius Bischof von Mailand, p. 209. 
 
 70
 
 AMBROSIUS 71 
 
 suddenly and unexpectedly chosen bishop of that diocese, 
 when, as governor, he had appeared to quell a tumult which 
 had arisen between rival parties in the Church. This bishop- 
 ric Ambrosius held till his death in 397, and distinguished 
 himself especially for ability of administration, utter fear- 
 lessness in dealing with the secular power, and vigorous 
 orthodoxy. 
 
 Three of the sermons of Ambrosius which are of especial 
 interest for us are the De Helia et leiunio, the De Nabuthae, 
 and the De Tobia. These afford an excellent example of 
 this writer's homiletic style, and reflect his own training and 
 characteristics. His was a true Roman nature, practical 
 and energetic, and he brought to his task the rhetorical 
 training of his youth, joined to immense religious earnestness.^ 
 These sermons, being sermons, depend on ci Biblical text, 
 and the Bible is the source of frequent illustrations and refexb 
 ences; but the same types of human nature are held up to 
 scorn, the same thoughts expressed in different metaphors, as 
 in the classical satirists.^ They are characterized by SchenkF 
 as '^libelli tres, eodem consilio scripti — nam magis ad morum 
 emendationeni giiam ad librorum divinorum explicationem 
 spectant . . . ." These three sermons inveigh especially 
 against the vices of drunkenness, avarice, and the taking 
 of usury. 
 
 In the De Tobia it is the latter practice, that of lending 
 money at interest, that is severely condemned. The tone of 
 this work is stern and accusatory, less relieved than the other 
 two by "peintures de moeurs presque comique."^ Tobias 
 furnishes merely a convenient starting point, and does not 
 
 ^ Bardenhewer, Patrologie, 403-4. Forster, Ambrosius Bischof von 
 Mailand, 218. 
 
 ^ Ampere, Histoire litteraire de la France avant Charlemagne, 2d edition, 
 I, 384 ff., 2, 153. 
 
 ^ Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 32, 2, Praefatio, 
 XVIIII. 
 
 * Ampere, Histoire litteraire, 2, 153. 
 6
 
 72 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 reappear till near the end. In Chapter 3 is a clever and vivid 
 picture of a typical money-lender. The most worthy charities, 
 the most pitiable cases of destitution, fail to move him. He 
 swears he himself must negotiate a loan to meet his own ex- 
 penses. But hint at interest, and he thaws out at once. He 
 remembers his friendship with the applicant's father, and 
 says that he will melt up the family plate before he shall want. 
 
 " Simul ut aliqui necessitate constrictus aut pro suorum 
 redemptione sollicitus, quos captivos barbarus vendat, rogare 
 coeperit, statim dives vultum avertit, naturam non recog- 
 noscit, humilitatem supplicis non miseratur, necessitatem 
 non sublevat, fragilitatem non considerat, stat inflexibilis, 
 resupinus, non precibus inclinatur, non lacrimis movetur, 
 non heiulatibus frangitur, iurans quod non habeat, immo et 
 ipse faeneratorem requirat, ut necessitatibus subveniat suis. 
 '. . . at ubi usurarum mentio facta fuerit aut pignoris, tunc 
 deiecto supercilio faenerator adrisit et quem ante sibi cogni- 
 tum denegabat eundem tamquam paternam amicitiam re- 
 cordatus osculo suscipit, hereditariae pignus caritatis appellat, 
 flere prohibet. Quaeremus, inquit, domi si quid nobis pe- 
 cuniae est, frangam propter te argentum paternum, quod 
 fabrifacti est. Plurimum damni erit. Quae usurae com- 
 pensabunt pretia emblematorum? Sed pro amico dispendium 
 non reformidabo." 
 
 Again, these usurers attach themselves to young and inex- 
 perienced men who have inherited fortunes. They profess 
 to have known their fathers or grandfathers. They show a 
 kindly interest in their affairs. They urge them by degrees 
 to extravagant expenditures, and if the youths' fortunes do 
 not suffice, they offer their own resources, making light of the 
 interest. It is an investment, like the expenses of the legacy- 
 hunter in Horace, Sermones II, 5. Yet once the unfortunate 
 man is involved beyond his power to extricate himself, how 
 suddenly they change! They demand their principal, or an 
 iron-clad note.^ 
 
 ^ Chapter 6, 23-24.
 
 AMBROSIUS 73 
 
 How miserable the state of the debtor! He is like a fish 
 who sees the hook, yet swallows the bait. His friends all 
 desert him. The thought of debt is ever present to his mind. 
 He is continually counting up what he owes, as is also the 
 creditor, but with very different emotions. He fears to meet 
 his creditor. Should he see him coming, he covers his face 
 and hides behind a pillar. Should someone knock at his door 
 during the night, in terror he crawls under the bed, or jumps 
 out of the window. Even at the barking of a dog, his heart 
 palpitates, and a cold sweat breaks out. 
 
 " Ille gressus debitoris singulos numerat, aucupatur de- 
 flexus: iste continuo post columnas caput obumbrat; nuUam 
 enim habet debitor auctoritatem. Ambobus in digitis u?ura- 
 rum repetitur saepius calculatio. Par cura, sed dispar aftec- 
 tus: alter laetatur incremento faenoris, alter cumulo debi- 
 tionis adfligitur, ille quaestus numerat, hie aerumnas. ... Si 
 quis pulsaverit nocte, faeneratorem putas: sub lectum ilico. 
 Si quern subito intrare senseris, tu foras exsilis. Canis latrat, 
 et cor tuum palpitat, sudor effunditur, anhelitus quatit."^" 
 
 In the De Helia et leiunio Ambrosius takes up the question 
 of religious fasting. He adduces examples, such as the 
 fasting of Elijah, of Moses, of Christ, and of others. Fre- 
 quently his argument takes the form of satirical pictures of 
 those who indulge to excess in the pleasures of the table. 
 For example, in Chapter 12, section 42, he describes a group 
 of loafers about a tavern, dwelling on the ridiculous effects 
 which strong drink has on them, — how men without money 
 enough to pay for a night's lodging pass judgment on poten- 
 tates and principalities (like the typical country-grocery 
 loafers in the United States). For while drunk they seem to 
 themselves rich, they give largess to the populace, they build 
 cities, without a cent in their pockets. How brave and wise 
 and eloquent and handsome men think themselves, when 
 they are so drunk they cannot stand upright! 
 
 1" Chapter 7, 25, 26. Cf. 5, 19.
 
 74 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 " Sedent in foribus tabernarum homines tunicam non 
 habentes nee sumptum sequentis diei. De imperatoribus et 
 potestatibus iudicant, immo regnare sibi videntur et exercitibus 
 imperare. Fiunt ebrietate divites qui sunt veritate inopes. 
 Aurum donant, dispensant pecunias populis, civitates aedi- 
 ficant qui non habent cauponi unde potus nisi suis corporibus 
 pretium solvant. Fervet enim vinum in his, nesciunt quid 
 loquantur, divites sunt, dum inebriantur; mox ubi vinum 
 digesserint, cernunt se esse mendicos. Uno die bibunt mul- 
 torum dierum labores. De ebrietate ad arma consurgitur, 
 calicibus tela succedunt. Pro vino sanguis effunditur et 
 ipsum sanguinem vina fuderunt. Quam fortes sibi homines 
 videntur in vino, quam sapientes, quam diserti, quantum 
 etiam pulchri ac decori, cum stare non possint!"^^ 
 ^ Nor are such excesses confined to the lower classes of so- 
 ciety. Ambrosius describes, with keen satirical touch, a 
 fashionable banquet, with its silver vessels, its servants 
 crowned with garlands, its mad rivalry in drinking contests, 
 and the miserable condition to which its participants reduce 
 themselves. Their slaves receive them, laughing, as they 
 come staggering out, and place them on their horses. But 
 these mighty warriors, who have been recounting their valorous 
 deeds to their table companions, are now too weak to keep 
 their seats without assistance. "In the morning they are 
 resplendent in arms, and of a threatening countenance: in 
 the evening you may see the same men mocked with impunity 
 by small boys, wounded without a sword, slain without a 
 battle, terrified without an enemy, trembling without being 
 old, feeble in the very bloom of youth." 
 
 " Cernas iuvenes terribilis visu hostibus de convivio portari 
 foras et inde ad convivium reportari, repleri ut exhauriant et 
 exhauriri ut bibant. Si quis verecundior fuerit, ut erubescat 
 surgere, cum iam immoderatos potus tenere non possit, 
 
 " Cf. Horace, Epistles, I, 5, 19: 
 
 Fecundi calices quern non fecere disertum?
 
 AMBROSIUS 75 
 
 anhelare vehementius, gemere, sudare, signis prodere quod 
 pudeat confiteri. Ibi unusquisque pugnas enarrat suas, ibi 
 fortia facta sua praedicant, narrant tropaea vino madidi et 
 somno soluti nesciunt mente quod lingua proferant. Unus- 
 quisque stertit et potat, dormit et dimicat, et si quando 
 consurrectum fuerit, viri proeliatores stare non possunt, 
 egressu vacillant. Rident servuli dominorum opprobria, 
 manibus suis portant militem bellatorem, imponunt equo. 
 Itaque hac atque iliac tamquam navigia sine gubernatore 
 fluctuant et tamquam vulnere icti in terram. defluunt, nisi ex- 
 cipiantur a servulis. Alii referuntur in scutis, fit pompa ludi- 
 brii. Quos mane insignis armis spectaveras, vultu minaces, 
 eosdem vesperi cernas etiam a puerulis inpune rideri, sine 
 ferro vulneratos, sine pugna interfectos, sine hoste turbatos, 
 sine senectute tremulos, in ipso iuventatis Acre marcent?',;" ^^ 
 
 In another place he again satirizes the drunkard bydescrib - 
 ing the effects of wine: there is an incessant ringing in the ears, 
 like v/aves on the shore, imaginary dangers appear, a man 
 seems shut in by mountains, dogs seem lions. Some laugh, 
 some weep, and some sleep so that they can by no means be 
 aroused till the effects of the drink pass away: 
 
 " Hinc etiam vanae imagines, incerti visus, instabilis gressus. 
 Umbras saepe transiliunt sicut foveas. Nutat his terra, 
 subito erigi et inclinari videtur, quasi vertatur. Timentes in 
 faciem ruunt et solum manibus adprendunt aut concurrentibus 
 montibus sibi videntur includi. Murmur in auribus tamquam 
 maris fluctuantis fragor et resonantia fluctu litora. Canes si 
 viderint, leones arbitrantur et fugiunt. Alii risu solvuntur 
 incondito, alii inconsolabili maerore deplorant, alii inrationa- 
 bilis cernunt pavores. Vigilantes somniant, dormientes liti- 
 gant. Vita his somnium est, somnus his multus est. Ex- 
 citari nullis vocibus possunt: quantolibet stimulandos in- 
 pulsu putes, nisi resipierint, vigilare non possunt." ^^ 
 
 12 Chapter 13, 50. 
 1^ Chapter 16, 60.
 
 76 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 What are such people, he asks ironically, human beings or 
 wine-skins? ^^ homines hos an utres veriiis aesiimarim?^^^^ 
 
 Women as well receive a sharp rebuke at the hands of 
 Ambrosius, for their failure to obey the Apostolic injunction 
 to stay at home and be obedient to their husbands. Instead 
 of that they parade, intoxicated, in the public squares, and 
 by conspicuous dress and deportment seek to attract the 
 attention of men: 
 
 " Sed quid de viris loquamur quando etiam feminae, quas 
 oportet sollicitiorem castitati sobrietatis adhibere custodiam, 
 usque ad ebrietatem bibunt? Deinde surgentes, quas etiam 
 intra secreta domus vel audiri ab alienis non convenit vel 
 videri, prodire in publicum non velato capite, vultu procaci! 
 Apostolus mulieres tacere etiam in ecclesia iubet, domi viros 
 sji'.o^r- praecipit interrogare. Illae in plateis inverecundos 
 titiam viris sub conspectu adulescentulorum intemperantium 
 choros ducunt, iactantes comam, trahentes tunicas, scissae 
 amictus, nudae lacertos, plaudentes manibus, saltantes 
 pedibus, personantes vocibus, inritantes in se iuvenum libi- 
 dines motu histrionico, petulanti oculo, dedecoroso ludibrio." 
 Etc.15 
 
 Ambrosius also, in this sermon, characterizes luxury as the 
 hot-bed and source of vices: "Luxuria seminarium et origo 
 vitiorum est. Nee arbitremini me adversus Apostolum 
 dixisse, quia ille ait avaritiam radicem esse vitiorum omnium, 
 quoniam luxuria ipsius est mater avaritiae."^^ He condemns 
 the insatiate greed of those who pervert the gifts of nature, 
 especially those who sail the sea in pursuit of wealth: 
 
 "Ad escam tibi mare datum est, non ad periculum: cibo, 
 
 non ad mercatum, utere. Cur tibi periculum generas de 
 
 voluptate? Cur separations elementi profunda rimaris? 
 
 Cur inquietas mundi altiora sequetur? Cur postremo saepius 
 
 " 17, 64. Cf. Juvenal, 6, 474. 
 
 1^ Chapter 18, 66. Cf. Hieronymus, Ep. 22, 13; below, p. 83-4. 
 ^^ Chapter 19, 69. Cf. Prudentius, Hamartigenia, 391 flf., Paulinus 
 Nolanus, VI, 242 ff.
 
 AMBROSIUS 77 
 
 sulcare atque exarare fluctus inpatiens nauta contendis? 
 Cur temptas frequenter innoxia aequora, inritas procellas? 
 O inexplebilis avaritia mercatorum!"'^ 
 
 Perhaps most of all in the De NahiUhae is one struck by the 
 satire of Ambrosius. This sermon, which has for its text the 
 greed of King Ahab for the vineyard of Naboth (III Kings, 
 2i), with its unfortunate consequences, deals with wealth 
 and poverty, and, as one might expect, with the extremes of 
 both. In the fashion of the Stoic diatribe, the writer dwells 
 on the unnaturalness, the artificiality, of property distinctions. 
 Nature knows no such distinctions. Naked we come into 
 the world, and we can take nothing with us when we depart. 
 
 " Quousque extenditis, divites, insanas cupiditates? Num- 
 quid soli habitabitis super terram? Cur eicitis consortem 
 naturae et vindicatis vobis possessionem naturae? In com- 
 mune omnibus, divitibus atque pauperibus, terra fundaca v^^t; 
 cur vobis ius proprium soli, divites, adrogatis? Nescit natura 
 divites, quae omnes pauperes generat. Neque enim cum 
 vestimentis nascimur, cum auro argentoque generamur, 
 Nudos fundit in lucem egentes cibo amictu poculo, nudos 
 recipit terra quos edidit, nescit fines possessionum sepulchre 
 includere." Etc.^^ 
 
 The rich man is self-deceived in thinking himself rich. 
 The more he has, the more he wants: "Quanto plus habueris, 
 plus requiris, et quidquid adquisieris, tamen tibi adhuc indiges. 
 Inflammatur lucro avaritia, non restinguitur."^^ 
 
 ^^ Chapter 19, 71. Cf. Horace, Carmina, I, 3, 21 ff.; Sermones, I, i, 4 
 and 29-30; Epistles, I, i, 45. Gregory of Nyssa, 44 M, p. 1169 c, quoted 
 by Kiessling-Heinze apud Horace, Ep-istles, I, i, 45. Persius, 5, 132 ff. 
 '^ Chapter 1,1. 
 
 1" Chapter 2, 4. Cf. Horace, Carmina III, 16, 17 f. : 
 Crescentem sequitur cura pccuniam 
 Maiorumque fames. 
 Persius 6, end. Juvenal 14, 139: 
 
 Crescit amor nummi quantum ipsa pecunia crevit. 
 Prudentius, Hamartigenia, 257:
 
 78 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 The story of Ahab and Naboth is partially reviewed, with 
 ironical amplification of details; the king's petulant refusal 
 to touch food is contrasted with the necessities of the poor: 
 
 " Compara nunc afTectum pauperis. Nihil habet et ieiunare 
 voluntarius nisi deo nescit, ieiunare nisi ex necessitate non 
 novit. Eripitis quidem pauperibus universa, aufertis omnia, 
 nihil relinquitis, poenam tamen pauperum vos potius, divites, 
 sustinetis. Illi ieiunant, si non habeant, vos, cum habetis. 
 A vobis igitur prius poenam exigitis quam pauperibus in- 
 rogatis. Vos igitur vestro affectu luitis miserae paupertatis 
 aerumnas, et pauperes quidem non habent quo utantur, vos 
 autem nee ipsi utimini nee alios uti sinitis. Eruitis aurum de 
 metalli venis et rursus absconditis."-" 
 
 The heir of the rich man waits impatiently and grumbles 
 at the long life of his relative.^^ 
 
 V'erhaps the limit of miserliness is depicted in the instance 
 of the rich man, who, whenever an egg was cooked for him, 
 complained at the loss of the chicken which might have been 
 hatched from that egg: " Comperi etiam veri fide, si quando 
 ovum esset adpositum, qiieri quod pulliis esset occisus," — an 
 example which certainly would have delighted Horace.^^ 
 
 On the other hand, there are those whose luxury consumes 
 
 the choicest and rarest viands^^ without a thought of the 
 
 hardships or even actual suffering or loss of life involved in 
 
 their acquisition. It is a new turn that Ambrosius gives to 
 
 this subject. References to excessive display and luxury at 
 
 table are fairly frequent^'* but it is not the extravagance so 
 
 Auri namque fames parto fit maior ab auro. 
 
 Also again in this same sermon (Chapter 6, 28); "Quid est enim dives nisi 
 inexplebilis quidam gurges divitiarum, inexplebilis auri fames aut sitis? 
 Quo plus hauserit plus inardescit." 
 
 20 Chapter 4, 16. Cf. Horace, Sermones, I, i, 70 ff., II, 3, 104 ff. 
 
 21 Chapter 4, 17. Cf. Horace, Carmina, IV, 7, 19; Sermones, II, 3, 145 flf. 
 
 22 Chapter 4, 18. 
 
 23 Cf. Juvenal, i, 135. 
 
 2* Cf. Horace,5erwone5, II, 2. Seneca, Epistle 89, near the end. Lucan, 
 Pharsalia, 4, 372; 10, 155. TertuUian, De Pallio, Chapter 5. Petronius, 
 Cena Trimalchionis. Claudian, In Eutropium, 2, 330. Etc.
 
 AMBROSIUS 79 
 
 much as the accompanying indifference or downright cruelty 
 which Ambrosius here attacks: 
 
 " Quanti necantur ut vobis quod delectat paretur ! Funesta 
 fames vestra, funesta luxuries. Illi de summis culminibus 
 ruit, ut frumentis ampla vestris receptacula praepararet. 
 Ille de sublimi cacumine altae arboris decidit, dum genera 
 explorat uvarum, quas deferat, quibus digna convivio tuo 
 vina fundantur. Ille mari mersus est dum veretur, ne piscis 
 mensae tuae desit aut ostrea. Ille brumali frigore, dum 
 lepores investigare aut laqueis studet aves captare, diriguit. 
 Ille ante oculos tuos, si quid forte displicuit, verberatur ad 
 mortem atque ipsas epulas fuso cruore respergit.'"-^ 
 
 In contrast to this thoughtless luxury, the preacher draws 
 a powerful and touching picture of the man whose poverty 
 compels him to sell one of his children into slavery, to pi;f;vide 
 means for the support of the rest. The father's dilemma .> 
 truly pitiable; he knows not which one to part with. Each 
 son has some peculiar claim on his father's love, yet he must 
 either sell one or watch them all slowly perish for lack of food.^^ 
 But what effect has his pitiful case on the rich? None, 
 avarice stops their ears. Here Ambrosius satirizes woman 's 
 love of jewelry and fine raiment, the cost of which would 
 bring happiness to many a poverty-stricken wretch. Women 
 rejoice in burdens and fetters, if they be but precious material. 
 They will even wound their bodies for the sake of displaying 
 jewels. They dress for looks, not for comfort; and nature 
 yields to the love of wealth : 
 
 " Ilia tibiinponetsumptuum necessitatem, ut gemma bibat, 
 in ostro dormiat, in argentea sponda recumbat, auro oneret 
 manus, cervicem monilibus. Delectantur et conpedibus 
 mulieres, dummodo auro ligentur: non putant onera esse, si 
 pretiosa sint, non existimant vincula esse, si in his thensaurus 
 coruscet. Delectant et vulnera, ut aurum auribus inseratur 
 
 2^ Chapter 5, 20. 
 '^^ Chapters, 21-24.
 
 80 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 et margaritae pendeant. Habent et gemmae pondera sua, 
 habent et vestes sua frigora. Sudatur in gemmis, algetur in 
 sericis: tamen pretia iuvant et quae natura aversatur com- 
 mendat avaritia."^^ 
 
 Again, in Chapter 13, 56, Ambrosius returns to the same 
 thought, attacking with vigorous antitheses the maintenance of 
 luxurious estabUshments in the face of wide-spread poverty.^^ 
 " Deinde non ipsas vos pudoris aula admonet, qui aedifi- 
 cando vestras vultis superare divitias nee tamen vincitis.^^ 
 Parietes vestitis, nudatis homines. Clamat ante domum 
 tuum nudus, et negligis: clamat homo nudus, et tu solHcitus 
 es quibus marmoribus pavimenta tua vestias. Pecuniam 
 pauper quaerit et non habet: panem postulat homo, et equus 
 tuus aurum sub dentibus mandit. Sed delectant te ornamenta 
 pretiosa, cum alii frumenta non habeant: quantum, o dives, 
 •ixidicium tibi sumis! Populus esurit, et tu horrea tua claudis; 
 populus deplorat, et tu gemmam tuam versas. Infelix, cuius 
 in potestate est tantorum animas a morte defendere et non 
 est voluntas! To tins vitam populi poterat anuli tui gemma 
 servare." 
 
 Like Horace, Ambrosius lays stress on the fact that the 
 avaricious man gets no comfort from his hoard; he is con- 
 tinually tormented by anxiety for its safety; he is a slave to 
 his avarice; his wealth owns him, not he his wealth.^" Ex- 
 citat eum cupiditas, exagitat cura pervigil aliena rapiendi, 
 torgiiet invidia, mora vexat, sterilitas proventuum infecunda 
 pertiirhat, sollicitat ahundantia?^ And again, Servitis, divites, 
 ac miseram qiiidem servitutem, qui servitis errori, servitis cu- 
 piditati, servitis avaritiae, quae expleri non potest.^- 
 
 It is worth noticing that Ambrosius makes frequent use of 
 
 " Chapter 5, 25-26. 
 
 -^ See Forster, Ambrosius Bischof von Mailand, 231. 
 
 2^ Cf. Hieronymus, Epistle 22, 32. 
 
 '" Cf. Horace, Sermones, I, i, 76 ff.; Epistles, I, 10, 39 ff. 
 
 '1 Chapter 6, 29. 
 
 32 Chapter 12, 52. Cf. Chapter 14, 62-15, 63.
 
 AMBROSIUS 8l 
 
 the device — common enough in diatribe and satirical writing — 
 of a fictitious opponent, to be overwhelmed by his argument, or 
 crushed by his scorn. Sometimes it is one adversary, some- 
 times more than one, sometimes he uses both singular and 
 plural numbers in the same sentence. E. g. De Nabuthae, 
 13. 54. Quid enim superbias, dives? quid dicas pauperi: noli 
 me tangere? 13, 55, Mir or tamen cur eo vos, divites, iactandos 
 putetis. 8, 40, Sed fortasse dicas quod vulgo soletis dicer e. 
 
 We should not be surprised at the evidences of similarity 
 between these sermons of Ambrosius and classical satirical 
 writing. As he was writing from much the same point of view 
 as the earlier writers, and with much the same purpose — to 
 point out and criticize the faults of humanity — it is entirely 
 natural that he should achieve a not dissimilar result. Dif- 
 ferences there are, differences of age, and personality, and 
 differences caused by the introduction of Christianity, but 
 down at the bottom the spirit of satire is scarcely changed at all.
 
 HIERONYMUS 
 
 EusEBius HiERONYMUS, who was a native of Stridon in 
 Dalmatia, and who lived from about 348 to 420 a. d., was one 
 of the most learned, vigorous, and prolific writers produced 
 by the early Christian Church. In fact, it has been said that 
 to him, with almost more right than to Lactantius, should 
 fall the honor of being known as "the Christian Cicero."^ 
 His translations of and voluminous commentaries on the 
 Scriptures would alone suffice to win him distinction; but 
 also of much interest and importance will be found his letters 
 and polemical writings. 
 
 In many of these the satirical element plays an important 
 part. And a man of Hieronymus' austere and ascetic tem- 
 perament could find enough to satirize in contemporary life. 
 The Church itself was afflicted with widespread corruption 
 and vice and luxury .^ The old habit of legacy-hunting had 
 become so prevalent that the Christian clergy were especially 
 forbidden to receive bequests. 
 
 "I am ashamed to say," says Hieronymus, "that idolaters 
 and performers of mimes and chariot-drivers and harlots all 
 receive bequests: only to the clergy and monks is this legally 
 forbidden ; and it is forbidden not by those wishing to persecute 
 them, but by the very leaders of the Church. I do not com- 
 plain about the law, but I am sorry such a law is necessary. "^ 
 
 Ambition, avarice, vanity, effeminacy, pride, superstition, 
 all found in Hieronymus an eager and uncompromising op- 
 ponent. Shams of all kinds were especially hateful to him, 
 from the use of false hair and cosmetics to the subtlest kinds of 
 
 1 Zockler, Hieronymus, Sein Leben und Wirken, 323. 
 '^A. Thierry, St. Jerome, I, 15 ff. Griitzmacher, Hieronymus, i, 281. 
 Cf. Ammianus Marcellinus, 27, 14. 
 ^ Epistle 52, 6. 
 
 82
 
 HIERONYMUS 83 
 
 clerical and monkish hypocrisy. Heretics hated him because 
 of his vigorous orthodoxy; the clergy hated him because he 
 unceasingly rebuked their immorality and vices.^ The 
 pictures which he draws in his denunciations, worthy of 
 Juvenal, are graphic and vivid, and might almost be taken 
 as of pagan times.^ 
 
 The famous letter to Eustochium, daughter of Paula, 
 de custodia virginitatis (Epistle 22), is a rich mine of this sort 
 of material. We know that the extreme outspokenness of 
 this little document, "the most celebrated and the most 
 aggressive of his polemical works, "^ produced no small excite- 
 ment in Rome, and not improbably hastened his own departure 
 from the city.''' The author himself tells us that this " sermo 
 offendit pliirimos, dum unusquisque in se intelligens quod dice- 
 hatiir, non quasi monitorem libenter audivit, sed quasi crimi- 
 natorem sui operis aversatus est."^ In other words, the public 
 received it in a spirit strikingly like that which Horace com- 
 plains of in the fourth satire of the first book. 
 
 In this letter to Eustochium Hieronymus pictures for us 
 some of the rottenness which had invaded all ranks of the 
 Christian world. Men and women alike had fallen away 
 from the spiritual ideals of the past and were yielding them- 
 selves to sensuality, and mocked at those who remained pure. 
 A very drastic description of the depths of dishonor and even 
 crime to which so many so-called "virgines'' had sunk closes 
 with the contemptuous words: "They are the ones who 
 say, 'To the pure all things are pure,' who walk through the 
 streets striving with every detail of dress and manner to 
 attract the attention of young men, whose modesty and vir- 
 ginity is a delusion and a sham:" 
 
 ^ Sulpicius Severus, Dial., I, 8, 6; 9, 4; 21, 5. 
 
 ^ Milman, History of Latin Christianity, 1, 113. Thierry, St. Jerome, i. 
 Preface VII. 
 
 ® Thierry, St. Jerome, i, 186. 
 
 ' Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 441-2, 446. 
 
 * Epistle 130, 19.
 
 84 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Istae sunt quae solent dicere "omnia munda mundis." . . . 
 Hae sunt quae per publicum notabiliter incedunt et furtivis 
 oculorum nutibus adulescentium gregem post se trahunt, 
 quae semper audiunt per prophetam "Facies meretricis facta 
 est tibi, inpudorata es tu."^ Purpura tan turn in veste sit tenuis 
 et laxius ut crines decidant, ligatum caput, soccus vilior et 
 per umeros maforte volitans, strictae manicae bracchiis ad- 
 haerentes et solutis genibus fractus incessus: haec est apud 
 illas tota virginitas. Habeant istiusmodi laudatores suos et 
 sub virginali nomine lucrosius pereant: libenter talibus non 
 placemus.^" 
 
 Equally indignant is his characterization of a certain class 
 of married women and widows. "Avoid the society of 
 matrons," he bids Eustochium, '^ad hominis coniiigem Dei 
 sponsa quid properas? . . . Neque vero earum te tantum cupio 
 dedinare congressus, quae maritorum inflantur honoribus, 
 quas eunuchorum greges saepiunt et in quarum vestihus adte- 
 nuata in filum metalla texuntur^' — a picture drawn with a few 
 brief strokes, but distinctly satirical. "Not only these," 
 he resumes, "but shun also those who are widows from neces- 
 sity, not from choice, — not that they ought to desire the death 
 of their husbands, but that they do not gladly embrace the 
 offered opportunity for a life of holiness and chastity. — One 
 would think from their ruddy cheeks and their plumpness 
 that they had not lost husbands, but were seeking them. 
 Their houses are full of flattery and banqueting. Even the 
 priests who ought to be objects of reverence, kiss the brows of 
 their patronesses and with outstretched hand, so that you 
 might think them to be pronouncing a blessing if you did not 
 know, they receive the payment for their salutation." No 
 wonder Hieronymus was not popular with his clerical brethren ! 
 He continues, 
 
 " Illae interim, quae sacerdotes suo vident indigere praesidio, 
 
 * Jeremiah, 3, 3. Cf. Ambrosius, De Helia et leiunio, 18, 66; above, 
 p. 76. 
 
 1" Epistle 22, 13.
 
 HIERONYMUS 85 
 
 eriguntur in superbiam et, quia maritorum expertae domi- 
 natum vidiiitatis praeferunt libertatem, castae vocantur et 
 nonnae, et post cenam dubiam apostolos somniant."^^ 
 
 It is on the clergy, " men of my own station," that Hierony- 
 mus pours out the bitterest quintessence of his satire. Fops 
 and dandies, their very motive in becoming clergymen is often 
 that they may have freer access to female society : 
 
 " Omnis his cura de vestibus, si bene oleant, si pes laxa pelle 
 non folleat. Crines calamistri vestigio rotantur, digiti de anulis 
 radiant et, ne plantas umidior via spargat, vix inprimunt 
 summa vestigia. Tales cum videris, sponsos magis aestimato 
 quam clericos. Quidam in hoc omne studium vitamque 
 posuerunt, ut matronarum nomina, domos moresque cog- 
 noscant." 
 
 Follows the remarkable passage: 
 
 " E quibus unum, qui huius artis est princeps, breviter 
 strictimque describam, quo facilius magistro cognito dis- 
 cipulos recognoscas. Cum sole festinus exsurgit; salutandi 
 ei ordo disponitur; viarum compendia requiruntur et paene 
 usque ad cubilia dormientium senex inportunus ingreditur. 
 Si pulvillum viderit, si mantele elegans, si aliquid domesticae 
 supellectilis, laudat, miratur et se his indigere conquerens 
 non tam inpetrat quam extorquet, quia singulae metuunt 
 veredarium urbis offendere. Huic inimica castitas, inimica 
 ieiunia; prandium nidoribus probat et "altilis" "7epcoj^" 
 vulgo "ttotttv^uv" nominatur. Os barbarum et procax 
 et in convicia semper armatum. Quocumque te verteris, 
 primus in facie est. Quidquid novum insonuerit, aut auctor 
 aut exaggerator est famae. Equi per horarum momenta 
 mutantur tam nitidi, tam feroces, ut ilium Thracii regis putes 
 esse germanum."^^ 
 
 " Epistle 22, 16. 
 
 J2 Epistle 22, 28. " I will describe one of these, who is the chief of this 
 sort, briefly, so that by knowing the master you may more easily recognize 
 the disciples. He arises with the sun, makes a list of morning calls, 
 hurries along cross-cuts, and almost intrudes himself into people's sleeping-
 
 86 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Did Hieronymus' title as a satirist rest on this description 
 alone, it would still be secure, — so vivid and lifelike and 
 merciless are the details, weaving into a connected whole 
 which doubtless could not fail to be recognized and identified 
 by readers familiar with contemporary characters. 
 
 Still darker charges could be brought against the Roman 
 churchmen and ascetics, and were not neglected by the un- 
 sparing Hieronymus: 
 
 " Pudet dicere, pro nefas! triste sed verum est: unde in 
 ecclesias agapetarum pestis introiit? unde sine nuptiis 
 aliud nomen uxorum? immo unde novum concubinarum 
 genus? Plus inferam: unde meretrices univirae? Eadem 
 domo, uno cubiculo, saepe uno tenentur et lectulo, et suspi- 
 ciosos nos vocant, si aliquid aestimemus. Prater sororem 
 virginem deserit, caelibem spernit virgo germanum, et, cum 
 in eodem proposito esse se simulent, quaerunt alienorum 
 spiritale solacium, ut domi habeant carnale commercium."^^ 
 
 Another satirical picture warns Eustochium against pride, 
 display, and avarice, by holding up to scorn those women 
 who provide themselves with more fine clothes than they can 
 even keep free from moths, who possess purple and jeweled 
 manuscripts while the poor are dying around them, who give 
 alms only for their own display and not in the spirit of Chris- 
 tian charity. 
 
 "At nunc plerasque videas armaria stipare vestibus, tunicas 
 
 mutare cotidie et tamen tineas non posse superare. Quae 
 
 rooms before they are awake, in his zeal. If he sees a cushion or an at- 
 tractive cloak or some article of household furniture, he praises it, admires 
 it, touches it, laments that he has to do without such, and not so much 
 receives it as a gift as extorts it, because his hostesses being single individuals 
 do not dare to cross the gossip-carrier of the whole city. Purity and fasting 
 are hateful to him; he can tell a good dinner by the smell; he is commonly 
 called 'altilis' (stuffed), '76PC0;' ,' ' iroTnrv^coi'.' His speech is harsh and 
 shameless, always ready to abuse. Wherever you turn, he is the first 
 person you see. Whatever news there is, he either originated it or exag- 
 gerated it. He has so many and so fine horses that you might take him 
 for the brother of the king of Thrace." 
 
 " Epistle 22, 14. Thierry, St. Jerome, i, 15, 289, note 2.
 
 HIERONYMUS 87 
 
 religiosior fuerit, unum extent vestimentum et plenis arcis 
 pannos trahit. Inficitur membrana colore purpureo, aurum 
 liquescit in litteras, gemmis codices vestiuntur et nudus ante 
 fores earum Cliristus emoritur. Cum manum porrexerint, 
 bucinant; cum ad agapen vocaverint, praeco conducitur. 
 Vidi nuper — nomen taceo, ne saturam putes — nobilissimam 
 mulierum Romanarum in basilica beati Petri semiviris ante- 
 cedentibus propria manu, quo religiosior putaretur, singulos 
 nummos dispertire pauperibus. Interea,— ut usu nosse 
 perfacile est — anus quaedam annis pannisque obsita prae- 
 currit, ut alterum nummum acciperet; ad quern cum ordine 
 pervenisset, pugnus porrigitur pro denario et tanti criminis 
 reus sanguis effunditur."^"* 
 
 If cold-hearted luxury is bad, pretended poverty is even 
 worse, for hypocrisy is added. The shamming of an ascetic 
 look and manner of life rightly aroused the wrath of the great 
 moralist, both when it was done by women who put on a 
 pious look as soon as they saw anyone approaching, and 
 dressed meanly, though feeding themselves well, — and by 
 men who went about barefooted, paying no attention to hair 
 or clothes, deceiving credulous women by their holy appear- 
 ance, and by stolen meals at night keeping up the pretence 
 of a protracted fast. 
 
 "Sunt quippe nonnullae exterminantes facies suas, ut pareant 
 hominibus ieiunare; quae, statim ut aliquem viderint, inge- 
 mescunt, demittunt supercilium et operta facie vix unum 
 oculum liberant ad videndum; vestis pulla, cingulum sacceum 
 et sordidis manibus pedibusque venter solus, quia videri non 
 potest, aestuat cibo; . . . Sed ne tantum videar disputare 
 de feminis, viros quoque fuge, quos videris catenatos, quibus 
 feminei contra apostolum crines, hircorum barba, nigrum 
 pallium et nudi in patientiam frigoris pedes. Haec omnia 
 argumenta sunt diaboli, Talem olim Antimum, talem nuper 
 
 1^ Epistle 22, 32. Cf. Ambrosius, De Nabuthae, Chapter 13, 56; above 
 p. 80. 
 
 7
 
 88 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Sofronium Roma congemuit. Qui postqiiam nobilium in- 
 troierint domos et deceperint mulierculas oneratas peccatis, 
 semper discentes et numquam ad scientiam veritatis perveni- 
 entes, tristitiam simulant et quasi longa ieiunia furtivis noc- 
 tium cibis protrahunt."^^ 
 
 One class of monks in particular aroused Hieronymus' 
 disgust and antipathy for similar reasons. These were the 
 monks in Egypt called "Remnuoth," "genus deterrimum 
 atgue neglectum," who, if not the only ones, were at least the 
 first to enter Italy. They lived by twos and threes scattered 
 about in larger communities, and made articles which they 
 sold at exorbitant prices. They were prone to quarrelling, 
 endured no discipline, and their piety and self-abnegation 
 was only pretence. 
 
 " Habitant autem quamplurimum in urbibus et castellis, et 
 quasi ars sit sancta, non vita, quidquid vendiderint, maioris 
 est pretii. Inter hos saepe sunt iurgia, quia suo viventes 
 cibo non patiuntur se alicui esse subiectos. Re vera solent 
 certare ieiuniis et rem secreti victoriae faciunt. Apud hos 
 affectata sunt omnia: laxae manicae, caligae follicantes, 
 vestis grossior, crebra suspiria, visitatio virginum, detrectatio 
 clericorum, et si quando festior dies venerit, saturantur ad 
 vomitum.''^^ 
 
 A satirical passage where the Horatian parallel is given by 
 Hieronymus himself is found in Epistle 53, 6-7. He remarks 
 how the various arts and sciences, even the humbler occu- 
 pations, demand a trained and skilful workman to produce 
 successful results; and utters a tirade against the talkative 
 old women, the doting old men, the ignoramuses of all kinds, 
 who profess to teach the Scriptures without knowing anything 
 
 about them: 
 
 " Quod medicorum est 
 Promittunt medici; tractant fabrilia fabri.^^ 
 
 ^^ Epistle 22, 27-28. 
 
 ^^ Epistle 22, 34. 
 
 " Horace, Epistles, II, i, 115-6.
 
 HIERONYMUS 89 
 
 Sola Scripturarum ars est, quam sibi omnes passim vindicant: 
 Scribimus indocti doctique poemata passim.^^ 
 
 " Hanc garrula anus, banc debrus senex, banc soloecista 
 verbosus, banc universi praesumunt, lacerant, decent, ante- 
 quam discant. Abi adducto supercibo grandia verba truti- 
 nantes inter muberculas de sacris btteris philosopbantur, 
 abi discunt — pro pudor — a feminis, quod viros doceant, et 
 ne parum boc sit, quadam facibtate verborum, immo audacia 
 disserunt abis, quod ipsi non intebegunt. Taceo de meis 
 simibbus, qui si forte ad Scripturas sanctas post saeculares 
 btteras venerint et sermone conposito aurem popub mul- 
 serint, quicquid dixerint, boc legem Dei putant nee scire 
 dignantur, quid prophetae, quid apostob senserint, sed ad 
 sensum suum incongrua aptant testimonia, quasi grande sit 
 et non vitiosissimum dicendi genus depravare sententias et 
 ad voluntatem suam Scripturam trabere repugnantem. . . . 
 Pueriba sunt baec et circulatorum ludo similia, docere, quod 
 ignores, immo, ut cum Cbtomacbo loquar, ne boc quidem 
 scire, quod nescias." 
 
 In otbers of bis letters Hieronymus satirizes tbe avarice 
 and worldbness of botb clergy and monks. Tbis bad grown 
 to sucb proportions tbat clergymen were forbidden by law 
 to receive bequests, as mentioned above, but tbese laws were 
 evaded by tbe fiction of trusteesbips and similar means, so 
 tbat Hieronymus could say "Eagerness for personal wealtb 
 is tbe sbame of the wbole priestbood." In a passage like tbe 
 following, wbicb describes, first, tbe extreme of luxury at 
 table wbicb priests of bumble origin now demand, and second, 
 tbe bumiliating and bypocritical deptbs to wbicb tbey will 
 stoop in tbe bope of pecuniary gain, we have a picture, dif- 
 ferent indeed in detail, but very similar in underlying thought, 
 to that of tbe professional "captator" immortalized by Horace. 
 
 " Natus in paupere domo et in tugurio rusticano, qui vix 
 milio et cibario pane rugientem saturare ventrem poteram, 
 1^ Horace, Epistles, II, i, 117.
 
 90 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 nunc similam et mella fastidio, novi et genera et nomina 
 piscium, in quo litore conca lecta sit, calleo, saporibus avium 
 discerno provincias^^ et ciborum me raritas ac novissime 
 damna ipsa delectant. Audio praeterea in senes et anus 
 absque liberis quorundam turpe servitium. Ipsi opponunt 
 mattulam, obsident lectum et purulentias stomachi et phleg- 
 mata pulmonis manu propria suscipiunt. Pavent ad in- 
 troitum medici trementibusque labiis, an commodius habeant, 
 sciscitantur et, si paululum senex vegetior fuerit, periclitantur 
 ac simulata laetitia mens intrinsecus avara torquetur. Timent 
 enim, ne perdant ministerium, et vivacem senem Mathusalae 
 annis comparant.''^" 
 
 Elsewhere he pays his respects to those who, professing 
 to have renounced the world, still devote themselves to the 
 accumulation of wealth and become richer as monks than they 
 had been as laymen, who alter their garb but not their lives, 
 who retain their throngs of servants, or those who apparently 
 of humble estate, are found at their death to be possessed of 
 large fortunes. 
 
 " Alii nummum addant nummo et marsuppium suffocantes 
 matronarum opes venentur obsequiis, sint ditiores monachi, 
 quam fuerant saeculares, possideant opes sub Christo paupere, 
 quas sub locuplete diabolo non habuerant, et suspiret eos 
 ecclesia divites, quos tenuit mundus ante mendicos; etc."^^ 
 
 " Vidi ego quosdam qui postquam renuntiavere saeculo, 
 vestimentis duntaxat, et vocis professione, non rebus, nihil 
 de pristina conversatione mutarunt. Res familiaris magis 
 aucta quam imminuta. Eadem ministeria servulorum, idem 
 apparatus convivii. In vitro et patella fictili aurum comeditur 
 et inter turbas et examina ministrorum, nomen sibi vindicant 
 solitarii. Qui vero pauperes sunt et tenui substantiola, 
 videnturque sibi scioli; pomparum ferculis similes procedunt 
 in publicum, ut caninam exerceant facundiam. Alii sublatis 
 
 " Cf. Horace, Sermones, II, 2, 31. 
 
 20 Epistle 52, 6. 
 
 21 Epistle 60, II.
 
 HIERONYMUS 9 1 
 
 in altum humeris, et intra se nescio quid cornicantes, stupen- 
 tibusque in terram oculis, tumentia verba trutinantur, ut 
 si praeconem addideris, putes incedere praefecturam. . . . 
 Quodque pudet dicere, sed necesse est, ut saltern sic ad nos- 
 trum erubescamus dedecus, publice extendentes manus, 
 pannis aurum tegimus: et contra omnium opinionem, plenis 
 sacculis morimur divites qui quasi pauperes viximus."^^ 
 
 In line with Hieronymus' criticisms of such pretence and 
 hypocrisy are also his strictures on women who use false hair, 
 who paint and plaster their faces till the course of an accidental 
 tear resembles a furrow made by a plow, who can never 
 realize that they have grown old, but make up as girls in the 
 very presence of their grandchildren: 
 
 "Illae Christianos oculos potius scandalizent, quae purpur- 
 isso et quibusdam fucis ora oculosque depingunt, quarum facies 
 gypseae et nimio candore deformes idola mentiuntur, quibus 
 si forte inprovidens lacrimarum stilla eruperit, sulco defluit, 
 quas nee numerus annorum potest docere, quod vetulae 
 sunt, quae capillis alienis verticem instruunt et praeteritam 
 iuventutem in rugis anilibus poliunt, quae denique ante 
 nepotum gregem trementes virgunculae conponuntur."^^ 
 
 Again : 
 
 " Quanto foedior, tanto pulchrior. Quid facit in facie 
 Christianae purpurissus et cerussa? quorum alterum ruborem 
 genarum labiorumque mentitur, alterum candorem oris et 
 colli: ignes iuvenum, fomenta libidinum, inpudicae mentis 
 indicia. Quomodo Here potest pro peccatis suis, quae lac- 
 rimis cutem nudat et sulcos ducit in facie?"^^ 
 
 Still again, he warns a correspondent, 
 
 " Fuge lasciviam puellarum, quae ornant capita, crines a 
 fronte demittunt, cutem poliunt, utuntur pigmentis, adstrictas 
 
 2^^ Epistle 125, 16. 
 " Epistle, 38, 3. 
 ^ Epistle 54, 7.
 
 92 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 habent manicas, vestimenta sine ruga, soccosque crispantes: 
 ut sub nomine virginali, vendibilius pereant."^^ 
 
 The foregoing illustrations may serve to show the nature of 
 Hieronymus' use of satire in his letters. In his controversial, 
 polemical works also, we find the satirical element present, 
 but in a somewhat different form. Hieronymus was not, 
 like so many of the early Christian writers, an apologist against 
 the pagan religions. It is, in fact, rather surprising how 
 little attention he paid to the relations between Christian 
 and pagan."^ His controversial writings were instead con- 
 fined to acrimonious disputes on points of doctrine with various 
 heretics, or those who had attacked his own pet beliefs. It 
 is a curious fact that rarely, if anywhere, can one find more 
 intolerance and bitterness displayed than between two op- 
 ponents within the early Christian Church. And Hieronymus' 
 controversies are no exception to this." In his books against 
 Jovinian, Rufinus, Vigilantius, and Helvidius, he exults in the 
 most extremely bitter invective, and contemptuous sarcasm 
 and scorn. Whereas in his letters he does not name the objects 
 of his most pointed references,^^ here he does not shrink in 
 the least from the employment of personal satire. 
 
 Perhaps the short book Contra Vigilantiiim is one of the 
 
 best examples of this kind of writing.^^ All the fabulous 
 
 monsters of the Old Testament and of pagan mythology, 
 
 and Hieronymus enumerates a list of them, must yield to 
 
 this new monster which has arisen in Gaul. Vigilantius 
 
 opposes the practice of vigils: therefore let him be known 
 
 rather as Dormitantius, — " tu vigilans dormis, et dormiens 
 
 scribis." ^^ He would abolish the reverent care and adoration 
 
 of holy relics : should they then be thrown on a dung-hill ? Were 
 
 25 Epistle 130, 18. 
 
 2^ Griitzmacher, Hieronymus, i, 275 ff. 
 
 2' Schanz, Geschichte, IV, i, 445. Milman, History of Christianity, 3, 334. 
 2^ See below, p. 99. 
 
 29 Milman, History of Christianity, 3, 335. Zockler, Hieronymus, Sein 
 Lehen und Wirken, 305. 
 ^° Contra Vigilantium, 6.
 
 HIERONYMUS 93 
 
 the emperors and bishops who have preserved these reUcs 
 not only sacrilegious but also fools? The phrase "vilissimus 
 pulvis" is frequently used in ironical deference to Vigilantius' 
 views on the subject of the ashes of dead martyrs; and such 
 epithets as "canis vivens,"^^ "insanum capict,''^^ and "te 
 lingua viperea et morsu saevissimo,"^^ are common, with "/w 
 prudentissimus et sapientissimus mortalium^'^" used to mean 
 exactly the same thing. 
 
 In the treatise against Helvidius, De perpetua virghiitate 
 Beatae Mariae liber, Hieronymus compares Helvidius with 
 the man who sought to immortalize himself by putting the 
 torch to the temple of Diana at Ephesus: 
 
 " Quis, te oro, ante hanc blasphemiam noverat, quis du- 
 pondii supputabat? Consecutus es quod volebas, nobilis es 
 factus in scelere. Ego ipse qui contra te scribo, cum in eadem 
 tecum urbe consistam, albus, ut aiunt, aterve sis, nescio."^'^ 
 
 Another opponent, Jovinian, one of the "premature Pro- 
 testants" who ventured to object to celibacy of the clergy 
 and other similar tenets of the Church, calls down on his own 
 head and those of his adherents the merciless abuse of Hierony- 
 mus. His build and complexion are against him, for he is a 
 ''formosus monachus, crassus, nitidus, dealbatus," one who 
 delights in white garments and a shining skin and complicated 
 dishes, — it is quite obvious that he prefers his belly to Christ.^*^ 
 His friends are dogs, pigs, and other animals. 
 
 " Quoscumque formosos, quoscumque calamistratos, quos 
 crine composito, quos rubentibus buccis videro, de tuo ar- 
 mento sunt, immo inter tuos sues grunniunt. . . . Et pro 
 magna sapientia deputas, si plures porci post te currant, 
 
 '1 Chapter 6. 
 
 ^2 Chapter 5. 
 
 ^3 Chapter 15. 
 
 ^* Chapter 11. 
 
 ^^ Adversus Helvidium 16; d. CatuWus g:^. 
 
 ^^ Adversus lovinianum, 1,40.
 
 94 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 quos gehennae succidiae nutrias? . . . Habes praeterea 
 in exercitu plures succenturiatos, habes scurras et velites in 
 praesidiis, crassos, comptos, nitidos, clamatores, qui te pugnis 
 calcibusque defendant. Tibi cedunt de via nobiles, tibi 
 osculantur divites caput. Nisi enim tu venisses, ebrii atque 
 ructantes paradisum intrare non poterant."^' 
 
 Hieronymus' books against Rufinus are "full of ferocious 
 attacks and unsparing mockery";^* they abound in cutting 
 irony and personalities, for the strife between these former 
 good friends was characterized by great acerbity on both 
 sides.^^ An example: 
 
 " O triremem locupletissimam, quae Orientalibus et Aegyptiis 
 mercibus Romanae urbis ditare venerat paupertatem! 
 
 Tu Maximus ille es 
 Unus qui nobis scribendo restituis rem. 
 
 Ergo nisi de Oriente venisses, eruditissimus vir haereret adhuc 
 inter mathematicos, et omnes Christiani quid contra fatum 
 dicerent, ignorarent. Merito a me quaeris de astrologia, 
 et coeli ac siderum cursu qui tantarum mercium plenam navem 
 detulisti. Fateor paupertatem, non sum ita ut tu in Oriente 
 ditatus. Te multo tempore Pharus docuit, quod Roma nes- 
 civit; instruxit Aegyptus quod Italia hucusque non habuit."^" 
 
 In another place he charges Rufinus with dishonesty and 
 mocks at his personal appearance and characteristics. With 
 gait like a tortoise and sobbing voice he advances to con- 
 ferences with his pupils. Putting on an air of the profoundest 
 learning, he utters the veriest trifles, and arrogates to himself 
 the position of a Longinus. A Nero posing as a Cato, he is 
 equal to the fabulous Chimaera of mythology: 
 
 " Testitudineo Grunnius incedebat ad loquendum gradu, et 
 
 per intervalla quaedam, vix pauca verba carpebat, ut eum 
 
 " Adversus lovinianum, 2, 36-37. 
 
 ^* Zockler, Hieronymus, Sein Lehen und Wirken, 259. 
 
 ^^ Schanz, Ceschichte, IV, i, 433. 
 
 *° Adversus Rufinum, 3, 29.
 
 HIERONYMUS 95 
 
 putares singultire, non proloqui. Et tamen cum mensa posita, 
 librorum exposuisset struem, adducto supercilio, contractisque 
 naribus, ac fronte rugata, duobus digituHs concrepabat, 
 hoc signo ad audiendum discipulos provocans. Turn nugas 
 meras fundere, et adversum singulos declamare; criticum 
 diceres esse Longinum, censoremque Romanae facundiae, 
 notare quern vellet, et de senatu doctorum excludere. Hie 
 bene nummatus, plus placebat in prandiis. Nee mirum, 
 si qui multos inescare solitus erat, facto cuneo cireumstrepen- 
 tium garrulorum, procedebat in publicum: intus Nero, foris 
 Cato. Totus ambiguus, ut ex contrariis diversisque naturis, 
 unum monstrum novamque bestiam diceres esse compactam, 
 iuxta illud poeticum. 
 
 Prima leo, postrema draco, media ipsa chimaera."" 
 
 In combating with all the strength and vigor of his ascet- 
 icism the strong tendency within the Church away from the 
 ideal of a celibate priesthood and celibacy in general, Hierony- 
 mus was wont to assume the aggressive and draw satirical 
 pictures of the married state/^ So in his book against Hel- 
 vidius he asks sarcastically how a married woman can find 
 time for religious duties in the midst of the turmoil of a house- 
 hold. Babies are crying, the servants are noisy, accounts 
 have to be figured up, and meanwhile her husband sends word 
 he is bringing friends home to dinner. The wife must fly 
 hither and thither like a swallow, to see if the dinner is pre- 
 paring, the dishes clean, the floor swept, — where is there an 
 opportunity for pious meditation and prayer in such a house- 
 hold? 
 
 " Idem tu putes esse diebus et noctibus vacare orationi, 
 vacare ieiuniis; et ad adventum mariti expolire faciem, gras- 
 sum frangere, simulare blanditias? Ilia hoc agit ut turpior 
 appareat, et naturae bonum infuscet iniuria. Haec ad specu- 
 
 ^ Lucretius, 5, 905. Hieronymus, Epistle 125, 10; cf. Thierry, St. 
 Jerome, 2, 41-5. 
 
 *2 Thierry, St. Jerome, 1 , 1 79 ff .
 
 96 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 lum pingitur, et in contumeliam artificis conatur pulchrior 
 esse quam nata est.^^ 
 
 " Inde infantes garriunt, familia perstrepit, liberi ab osculis et 
 ab ore dependent, computantur sumptus, impendia prae- 
 parantur. Hinc cocorum accincta manus carnes terit, hinc 
 textricum turba commurmurat; nuntiatur interim vir venisse 
 cum sociis. Ilia ad hirundinis modum lustrat universa 
 penetralia, si torus rigeat, si pavimenta verrerint, si ornata 
 sunt pocula, si prandium praeparatum. Responde, quaeso, 
 inter istaubi sit Dei cogitatio? Ethaefelicesdomus? Ceterum 
 ubi tympana sonant, tibia clamitat, lyra garrit, cymbalum 
 concrepat, quis ibi Dei timor? Parasitus in contumelia 
 gloriatur; ingrediuntur expositae libidinum victimae, et 
 tenuitate vestium nudae impudicis oculis ingeruntur. His 
 infelix uxor, aut laetatur et perit; aut offenditur, et maritusin 
 iurgia concitatur. Hinc discordia, seminarium repudii. Aut 
 si aliqua invenitur domus in qua ista non fiunt, quae rara 
 avis est; tamen ipsa dispensatio domus, liberorum educatio, 
 necessitas mariti, correctio servulorum, quam a Dei cogitate 
 non avocent? "•^* 
 
 The tone of satire which underlies this description is clear. 
 The author presents a picture which is partial and onesided, 
 for the purpose of emphasizing and deriding certain phases 
 of married life, as if other phases equally real did not exist 
 at all. 
 
 In the first book against Jovinian, Hieronymus quotes a 
 ■passage from Theophrastus' ^' De nuptiis,''^^ which is of a 
 decidedly satirical nature. No wise man ever marries, for 
 wives are a nuisance. They prevent their husbands from 
 
 *' Cf . Prudentius, Hamartigenia, 264 ff. : 
 
 Nee enim contenta decore 
 
 Ingenlto externam mentitur femina formam. 
 
 Ac velut artificis Domini manus inperfectum 
 
 Os dederit, etc. 
 ** Adversus Helvidium, 20. 
 *^ Perhaps derived from Seneca, cf. Adversus lovinianum, i, 49.
 
 HIERONYMUS 97 
 
 Studying. They have expensive tastes. They are jealous. 
 Their true character never appears till after marriage, whereas 
 anything else, from cattle to earthenware, can be examined 
 thoroughly before taking. They demand constant adulation 
 and indulgence. If one submits the control of his affairs 
 to his wife, she is a tyrant; if not, she complains of being 
 distrusted. Beautiful, she attracts lovers; ugly, she repels 
 her husband. A faithful slave makes a better housekeeper, 
 for he will obey orders, while a wife does as she pleases, not 
 as she is bidden. She must have constant attention and care. 
 Further, she is needless as a companion, for the wise man is 
 never lonely. To marry for the sake of children is foolishness: 
 the wise man cares nothing about the continuance of his name; 
 as a support in old age children are uncertain, for they may die 
 young or grow up wicked ; it is much more satisfactory to take 
 for one's heir a friend whom one can choose or discard, as one 
 cannot children. 
 
 The fact has been pointed out by Reich*"' that this passage 
 is really malapropos, for Hieronymus is arguing in favor of 
 women remaining single, while Theophrastus was seeking to 
 show, by depicting the faults and failings of the female sex, 
 that no wise man would marry. This curious "misfit" well 
 illustrates one side of our author's temperament. We may 
 say, with Reich, that he was so fond of such material descrip- 
 tive of life and manners that he would use it even when it only 
 partially suited his purpose. Forgetting for the moment his 
 previous point of view, Hieronymus continues somewhat in 
 the same tone as Theophrastus, with various historical ex- 
 amples of unhappy marriages, and adds the satirical reflection 
 that most of the troubles of mankind can be traced ultimately 
 to woman as a source; hence, as marriage can only be tested 
 by its outcome, a wise man should avoid it altogether, to be 
 on the safe side.^'' 
 
 ^^ Der Mimus, i, 756. 
 
 ^'' Adv. lovmiammi, i, 48.
 
 98 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Reich points out in much detail the many references by 
 Hieronymus to mimes and players, and the close connection 
 between some of his descriptions and certain types in the 
 contemporary mimes and comedies.^^ There is no doubt a 
 great deal of truth in this. It is hardly likely that in all his 
 satirical passages Hieronymus had some definite person in 
 mind, but rather that he was making a kind of composite 
 photograph, drawing material from more than one source. 
 And hence it is entirely natural that he should have been 
 influenced by popular comic portrayals of types, that even in 
 the description of the "clerical coxcomb" in the letter to 
 Eustochium there should be a reminiscence of a mimic type;^^ 
 but there must have been a groundwork of fact and real 
 personality behind these descriptions. Other evidence points 
 this way^"; and on no other supposition can we base an ade- 
 quate explanation of the extreme personal hostility with 
 which Hieronymus was regarded by so many of the contem- 
 porary churchmen. 
 
 Hieronymus, in short, was a satirist of ability. Abundant 
 proof that he read and enjoyed the classical satirists is afforded 
 by the numerous quotations from and references to these 
 writers, especially Horace and Persius.^^ He realized the 
 fact that in temperament and subject-matter and style of 
 treatment there was between him and the elder satirists no 
 small degree of kinship. He thus classes himself with Juvenal 
 and Horace^2; 
 
 Possum remordere, si velim, possum genuinum laesus in- 
 
 figere^^; et nos didicimiis litterulas. 
 
 Et nos saepe manum Jerulae subtraximus,^* 
 
 *^ Der Mimus, i, 747 ff., 763. 
 *^ Reich, Der Mimus, i, 764-5. 
 
 ^° See references to Ammianus Marcellinus and Sulpicius Severus; 
 above, p. 82 f. 
 
 " Liibeck, Hieronymus quos noverit scriptores, 160-7; I93I 195-9- 
 
 ^2 Epistle 50, 5. 
 
 ^' Cf. Persius, i, 115. 
 
 "Juvenal, i, 15.
 
 HIERONYMUS 99 
 
 de nobis quogiie did potest 
 
 Faenum habet in cornu, longc fuge,^^ 
 
 But yet he did not wish to be called a satirist, or that his 
 strictures against vice should be classed as satire. The 
 reason which he gives for this is the strangely inadequate 
 reason that he does not mention names.^^ This, he main- 
 tains, is sufficient to prevent his most personal and detailed 
 attacks from being satire. In Epistle 22, 32 he says: " Vidi 
 nuper — nonien taceo, ne saturam putes — nobilissimam mulierum 
 Romanarum in basilica Beati Petri,'" etc. The only logical 
 inference to be drawn from "nomen taceo, ne saturam putes" 
 is that the use of the woman's name would, to his mind, have 
 caused him to be satirizing her, which, as it was, he avoided 
 doing. In Epistle 40, 2, he says: " Dico quosdam scelere, 
 periurio, falsitate, ad dignitatem nescio quam pervenisse. . . . 
 Quicquid dictum fuerit, in te dictum putas. In quodcumque 
 vitium stili mei miicro contorquetur, te clamitas designari, 
 conserta manu in ins vocas et satiricum scriptorem in prosa 
 stulte argtiis." Vallarsi's note on this, viz., that to say "he 
 writes prose satires" would be as absurd as to say "he 
 writes prose sonnets," because the satire must be in verse, 
 seems to me clearly to miss the point of the passage. It is 
 not the fact that he writes in prose that makes it seem foolish 
 to Hieronymus for anyone to call him a "satiricum scriptorem,'' 
 
 ^^ Horace, Sermones, I, 4, 34. 
 
 ^^ The use of personal names by a satirist may be due to either one of 
 two motives. Most obvious, of course, is the definite intention of satirizing 
 the given person. But this demands a considerable degree of security 
 for the satirist against the resentment of the person satirized. Lucilius 
 dared to attack living men; Juvenal did not. Juvenal, i, 153 ff. Then 
 again, the use of names may serve merely to give added vividness and 
 concreteness to the thought. The names may be real, or disguised, or 
 purely invented, like our "Mr. Gotrox," "The Newlyweds," etc. There 
 seem in fact to have been some stock names favored by satirists, as "No- 
 mentanus," for a spendthrift, "Novius," for an upstart, etc. See Wick- 
 ham's Horace, Vol. 2, pp. 9 ff. See also below, p. 123-4. It seems to be 
 the idea of Hieronymus that this use of names is actually an essential 
 characteristic of satire, as such.
 
 lOO LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 but the fact that he does not call anyone by name. " Quidam," 
 he says, "ad dignitatem nescio guam pervenerunt," and the 
 emphasis is on the indefiniteness of the pronouns. Again, at 
 the end of Epistle 52, he pleads against a harsh and unjust 
 contemporary opinion of himself: 
 
 "Non enim ut adversarii, sed ut amici scripsimus, nee 
 invecti sumus in eos, qui peccant, sed, ne peccent, monuimus. 
 Neque in illos tantum, sed et in nos ipsos severi iudices fuimus, 
 volentesque festucam de oculo alterius tollere nostram prius 
 trabem eiecimus. Nullum laesi, nullus saltim descriptione 
 signatus est, neminem specialiter meus sermo pulsavit: 
 generalis de vitiis disputatio est. Qui mihi irasci voluerit, 
 prius ipse de se, quod talis sit, confitetur."" 
 
 But we have seen that, in his controversial writings, Hier- 
 onymus does not hesitate to name the objects of his attacks; 
 and as for the rest, who would dream of saying that Horace's 
 famous ninth satire is any less a satire because the bore's 
 name is left out? 
 
 *'' Cf. Horace, Sermones, I, 4, 65-70.
 
 CLAUDIAN 
 
 Claudius Claudianus, a poet of classical caliber in post- 
 classical times, or "the posthumous child of the classical 
 world," as Mackail calls him,i was the most important literary 
 figure of his age. He was an Alexandrian by birth, and was 
 born about 374 a. d.^ He wrote in Greek in his early years; 
 and the high degree of excellence which he attained in Latin 
 is the all more remarkable because it was not his native 
 tongue. He came to Rome about 394 or 395 and attached 
 himself to wealthy and influential patrons. His first Latin 
 poem of which we have knowledge was a panegyric on Probi- 
 nus and Olybrius, consuls in 395. The excellence of his work 
 makes it probable indeed that he had written Latin poetry 
 before this occasion, but this was the first to be published.^ 
 He soon became a follower of Stilicho, the powerful and able 
 minister of the western Emperor Honorius, and remained 
 consistently loyal to him. Praise of Stilicho is the underlying 
 theme of almost all his important poems. He occupied 
 what amounted to a position of Poet Laureate at the imperial 
 court, and in spite of his partisanship in favor of Stilicho, his 
 poems are of considerable value in the reconstruction of the 
 history of the. period.^ The date of Claudian's death is un- 
 known ; but the absence of any work dating later than about 
 404 is best explained on the supposition that that year was 
 his last.^ He was then still a young man, aged barely thirty 
 years, and yet ranks among the greatest of Roman poets. 
 
 ^ Latin Literature, 267. 
 
 - Birt, Prolegomena to his edition of the text, pp. iii, xii. 
 ^Vollmer in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencydopddie, 3, 2652; Birt, Pro- 
 legomena, viii; Claudian, Carmina minora, 41, 13 ff. 
 
 ^ J. H. E. Crees, Claudian as an historical authority, 183 ff. 
 ^ Birt, Prolegomena, Ix. 
 
 loi
 
 102 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 There are two of the major works of Claudian which will 
 prove of special interest to students of satire in post-classical 
 Latin. These are the poems bearing the titles In Rufinum 
 and In Eutropium. Rufinus and Eutropius were successive 
 ministers of the eastern Emperor Arcadius, and thereby 
 rivals of Stilicho in world-politics. Hence they were naturally 
 subjects for the invective of Stilicho's client Claudian; and 
 both seem to have been of a character peculiarly fitting them 
 for satirical treatment. Rufinus was an unscrupulous tyrant, 
 and Eutropius a corrupt and ignoble politician.^ 
 
 The first of the two books against Rufinus begins with a 
 truly magnificent and lofty exordium which has a vein of very 
 powerful satire running through it. The poet has been troubled 
 with doubts of the existence of a divine government of the 
 universe as opposed to blind chance. Natural phenomena 
 and natural laws seemed to testify that such a government 
 existed: the darkness of human affairs and triumph of the 
 wicked had shaken this conviction. But at last all doubts 
 are set at rest. The overthrow of Rufinus proves beyond 
 shadow of question that the gods are both righteous and power- 
 ful. It is well that the unjust should sometimes be raised to 
 high power, that their fall may be more impressive and 
 terrible.'' Thus Claudian magnifies the personality, the evil 
 personality, of Rufinus, to a point where he seems almost 
 more than human, a being whose menacing shadow has 
 darkened the world, whose "bad eminence" entitles him to 
 be named in connection with primal, cosmic forces. By this 
 means the poet creates the desired impression at the very 
 outset, and leaves his readers prepared to hear the worst 
 possible things about Rufinus. 
 
 Saepe mihi dubiam traxit sententia mentem, 
 
 Curarent superi terras an nullus inesset 
 
 Rector et incerto fluerent mortalia casu. 
 ^ Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 3, 217, 
 360 flf. 
 
 ^ Cf. Horace, Carmina, II, 10, 9 ff. Juvenal, 10, 106.
 
 CLAUDIAN 103 
 
 Nam cum dispositi quaesissem foedera mundi 
 5 Praescriptosque mari fines annisque meatus , 
 
 Et lucis noctisque vices: tunc omnia rebar 
 
 Consilio firmata dei, qui lege moveri 
 
 Sidera, qui fruges diverso tempore nasci, 
 
 Qui variam Phoeben alieno iusserit igni 
 10 Compleri Solemque suo, porrexerit undis 
 
 Litora, tellurem medio libraverit axe. 
 
 Sed cum res hominum tanta caligine volvi 
 
 Aspicerem laetosque diu florere nocentes 
 
 Vexarique pios, rursus labefacta cadebat 
 15 Relligio causaeque viam non sponte sequebar 
 
 Alterius, vacuo quae currere semina motu 
 
 Affirmat magnumque novas per inane figuras 
 
 Fortuna, non arte regi, quae numina sensu 
 
 Ambiguo vel nulla putat vel nescia nostri. 
 20 Abstulit hunc tandem Rufini poena tumultum 
 
 Absolvitque deos. lam non ad culmina rerum 
 
 Iniustos crevisse queror; tolluntur in altum, 
 
 Ut lapsu graviore ruant. 
 
 In a high epic style, which serves to render the object of 
 his satire only the more important, the poet narrates to us how 
 the infernal powers, maliciously desiring to do harm to man- 
 kind, deliberated in council, and finally decided to send 
 Rufinus, a monster of vice, to bring woe upon the nations. 
 Megaera, most terrible of the Furies, thus describes his char- 
 acter, even confessing herself outdone in wickedness: 
 
 Est mihi prodigium cunctis immanius hydris, 
 
 90 Tigride mobilius feta, violentius Austris 
 
 Acribus, Euripi fulvis incertius undis 
 Rufinus, quem prima meo de matre cadentem 
 Suscepi gremio. Parvus reptavit in isto 
 Saepe sinu teneroque per ardua coUa volutus 
 
 95 libera quaesivit fletu linguisque trisulcis 
 
 MoUia lambentes finxe'runt membra cerastae. 
 Meque etiam tradente dolos artesque nocendi 
 Edidicit: simulare fidem sensusque minaces 
 Protegere et blando fraudem praetexere risu, 
 
 100 Plenus saevitiae lucrique cupidine fervens. 
 
 Non Tartesiacis ilium satiaret harenis 
 Tempestas pretiosa Tagi, non stagna rubentis 
 Aurea Pactoli; totumque exhauserit Hermum: 
 Ardebit maiore siti. Quam fallere mentes 
 8
 
 104 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 105 Doctus et unanimos odiis turbare sodales! 
 Talum progenies hominum si prisca tulisset, 
 Perithoum fugeret Theseus, offensus Orestem 
 Desereret Pylades, odisset Castora Pollux. 
 Ipsa quidem fateor vinci rapidoque magistram 
 
 1 10 Praevenit ingenio; nee plus sermone morabor: 
 
 Solus habet scelerum quidquid possedimus omnes. 
 Hunc ego, si vestrae res est accommoda turbae, 
 Regalem ad summi producam principis aulam. 
 Sit licet ipse Numa gravior, sit denique Minos, ' 
 
 115 Cedet et insidiis nostri flectetur alumni. 
 
 So the Fury visits Rufinus in his humble home and urges 
 him to action, holding glittering promises of great power 
 before him, and he starts on his evil career, A long and keenly 
 satirical description of his rise to power, and of his crimes 
 and excesses, follows. 
 
 His avarice was so great that it was insatiable, just as the 
 sea remains at a level in spite of the vast rivers which pour 
 into it. Wealth was a mere invitation to come and plunder: 
 a fertile field spelled destruction for its owner. 
 
 Cuicumque monile 
 
 Contextum gemmis aut praedia culta fuissent, 
 
 Rufino populandus erat, dominoque parabat 
 190 Exitium fecundus ager; metuenda colonis 
 
 Fertilitas: Laribus pellit, detrudit avitis 
 
 Finibus; aut aufert vivis aut occupat heres. 
 
 Congestae cumulantur opes orbisque ruinas 
 
 Accipit una domus; populi servire coacti 
 195 Plenaque private succumbunt oppida regno. 
 
 Quo vesane ruis? Teneas utrumque licebit 
 
 Oceanum, laxet rutilos tibi Lydia fontes, 
 
 lungatur solium Croesi Cyrique tiara: 
 
 Numquam dives eris, numquam satiabere quaestu. 
 200 Semper inops quicumque cupit.^ 
 
 Far better the simplicity of the ancients than the excessive 
 
 luxury of Rufinus: 
 
 215 Vivitur exiguo melius; natura beatis 
 
 Omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti. 
 Haec si nota forent, frueremur simplice cultu, 
 Classica non gemerent, non stridula fraxinus iret, 
 Non ventus quateret puppes, non machina muros. 
 
 * Cf. above; pp. 46 n., 77 n.
 
 CLAUDIAN 105 
 
 He was vindictive, savage, inflexible. In a blaze of indig- 
 nant denunciation Claudian portrays him as worse than the 
 proverbial types of cruelty: 
 
 Si semel e tantis poscenti quisque negasset, 
 225 Effera praetumido quatiebat corda furore. 
 
 Quae sic Gaetuli iaculo percussa leaena 
 
 Aut Hyrcana premens raptorem bclua partus 
 
 Aut serpens calcata furit? lurata deorum 
 
 Maiestas teritur; nusquam revercntia mensae. 
 230 Non coniunx, non ipse, simul non pignora caesi 
 
 Sufficiunt odiis; non extinxisse propinquos, 
 
 Non notos egisse sat est; excindere cives 
 
 Funditus et nomen gentis delcre laborat. 
 
 Nee ccleri pcrimit Icto; crudelibus ante 
 235 Suppliciis fruitur; cruciatus, vincla, tenebras 
 
 Dilato mucrone parat. 
 
 245 Non flectitur annis, 
 
 Non aetate labat: iuvenum rorantia colla 
 
 Ante patrum vultus striata cecidere secuti; 
 
 Ibat grandaevus nato moriente superstes 
 
 Post trabeas exul. Quis prodere tanta relatu 
 250 Funera, quis caedes possit deflere nefandas? 
 
 Quid tale immanes umquam gessisse feruntur 
 
 Vel Sinis Isthmiaca pinu vel rupe profunda 
 
 Sciron vel Phalaris tauro vel carcere Sulla? 
 
 O mites Diomedis equi! Busiridis arae 
 255 Clementes! lam Cinna pius, iam Spartace segnis 
 
 Rufino collatus eris! 
 
 To contrast with this, Stilicho is praised, — the saviour of 
 Rome, as noble as Rufinus is base; and the book closes with 
 the rumblings of the coming conflict. 
 
 Meanwhile (Book 2), the East itself is invaded by barbarians 
 from across the frozen Danube. Desolation marks their path 
 as they approach Constantinople. From within Rufinus 
 rejoices, with pure love of evil, at their devastation, and is 
 grieved only that he himself is not the agent of death. 
 
 Obsessa tamen ille ferus laetatur in urbe 
 Exsultatque malis summaeque ex culmine turris 
 Impia vicini cernit spectacula campi: 
 Vinctas ire nurus, hunc in vada proxima mergi
 
 I06 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 65 Seminecem, hunc subito percussum vulnere labi 
 
 Dum fugit, hunc animam portis efflare sub ipsis: 
 
 Nee canos prodesse seni puerique cruore 
 
 Maternos undare sinus. Inmensa voluptas 
 
 Et risus plerumque subit; dolor afficit unus, 
 70 Quod feriat non ipse manu. 
 
 And now Stilicho, leading a host like that of Xerxes, drawn 
 from both West and East, draws near. Rufinus is terrified, 
 and as a last resort artfully prevails on his master Arcadius 
 to bid Stilicho withdraw. Though astounded and mortified, 
 Stilicho obeys; but the eastern legions, now ordered to Con- 
 stantinople, remain intensely loyal to him, and with one mind 
 plot vengeance on Rufinus. 
 
 "Now Claudian with powerful irony shows us Rufinus 
 triumphant, exulting with his satellites, and on the eve of his 
 murder dreaming of winning the purple."^ It is a most 
 dramatic scene where the ambitious man, ignorant of his 
 impending fate, is surrounded by armed foes at the very 
 moment when he stretches out his hand for the imperial power. 
 
 380 Cingi se fervidus ille 
 
 Nescit adhuc graviterque adprensa veste morantem 
 Increpat Augustum: scandat sublime tribunal, 
 Participem sceptri, socium declaret honoris — 
 Cum subito stringunt gladios; vox desuper ingens 
 
 385 Infremuit: "Nobis etiam, deterrime, nobis 
 
 Sperasti famulas imponere posse catenas? 
 Unde redi nescis? Patiarne audire satelles, 
 Qui leges aliis libertatemque reduxi? 
 Bis domitum civile nefas, bis rupimus Alpes. 
 
 390 Tot nos bella docent nulli servire tyranno." 
 
 Then Rufinus is slain and torn to pieces by the soldiery, — 
 all of which is depicted "with the savage coolness of an anato- 
 mist."io 
 
 The poem ends in a manner worthy of its beginning. Just 
 
 as we saw the council of evil deities which set in motion 
 
 Rufinus' career, so we follow his soul down into the lower 
 
 ^ Crees, Claudian as an historical authority, 66. 
 
 " Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall, 3, 229 note.
 
 CLAUDIAN 107 
 
 world. The souls of those who had suffered beneath his 
 oppression drag him before the judgment seat of Rhadaman- 
 thus, who thus addresses him "visu severo:" 
 
 Hue superum labes, hue insatiabilis auri 
 
 Proluvies pretioque nihil non ause parato, 
 500 Quodque mihi summum scelus est, hue improbe legum 
 
 Venditor, Aretoi stimulator perfide Martis! 
 
 Cuius ob innumeras strages angustus Averni 
 
 lam sinus et plena lassatur portitor alno. 
 
 Quid demens manifesta negas? En peetus inustae 
 505 Deformant maeulae vitiisque inolevit imago 
 
 Nee sese commissa tegunt. Genus omne dolorum 
 
 In te ferre libct: dubio tibi pendula rupes 
 
 Inmineat lapsu, volueer te torqueat axis. 
 
 Te refugi fallant latices atque ore natanti 
 510 Arescat decepta sitis dapibusque relictis 
 
 In tua mansurus migret praecordia vultur. 
 
 Quamquam omnes alii, quos haec tormenta fatigant, 
 
 Pars quota sunt, Rufine, tui! Quid tale vel audax 
 
 Fulmine Salmoneus vel lingua Tantalus egit 
 515 Aut inconsulto Tytlos deliquit amore? 
 
 . Cunctorum si facta simul iungantur in unum, 
 
 Praecedes numero. Cui tanta piacula quisquam 
 
 Supplicio conferre valet? Quid denique dignum 
 
 Omnibus inveniam, vincant cum singula poenas? 
 520 Tollite de mediis animarum dedecus umbris. 
 
 Aspexisse sat est. Oculis iam parcite nostris 
 
 Et Ditis purgate domos. Agitate flagellis 
 
 Trans Styga, trans Erebum, vacuo mandate barathro 
 
 Infra Titanum tenebras infraque recessus 
 525 Tartareos nostrumque Chaos, qua noctis opacae 
 
 Fundamenta latent; praeceps ibi mersus anhelet, 
 
 Dum rotat astra polus, feriunt dum litora venti. 
 
 The In Rufinum is thus seen to be a combination of the 
 satirical and the epic. To satirize Stilicho's enemy is the 
 central motive of the poem, and the use of the epic style and 
 epic paraphernalia actually strengthens and helps the satire. 
 The introduction of supernatural machinery not only raises 
 the theme above a petty intrigue and rivalry between two 
 imperial officials: it makes one conceive of Rufinus as more 
 than an ordinary bad man, as a monster, who is encouraged
 
 I08 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 and aided by the powers of hell, and thus stands out in blacker 
 relief than otherwise. 
 
 Moreover, the narration of the ultimate fate after death of 
 Rufinus as part of a satirical work gains in interest when we 
 recall the treatment of such a topic in earlier satire. Seneca's 
 Apocolocyntosis is devoted to nothing but such a theme; and, 
 although the style of treatment is very dissimilar, being in 
 the one case burlesque and comical — in the other lofty and 
 serious, it remains true that this part also had its satirical 
 value, and forms a fitting climax to the poem viewed purely 
 from the satirical standpoint. ^^ 
 
 The fall of Rufinus was followed by the ascendancy of the 
 eunuch Eutropius, who had, in fact, as chief chamberlain, 
 measured himself with success against Rufinus in the matter of 
 the Emperor's marriage. He proved to be no less venal, 
 and more contemptible, than his predecessor had been, and 
 the In Eutropium of Claudian is a companion piece to his 
 In Rufinum. 
 
 This is really to be divided into three parts, as Birt^^ 
 points out, for the Praefatio to the second book appears to be 
 a later composition than the second book proper, after the 
 issue had been decided. 
 
 The keynote of this satire is struck in the opening lines. 
 
 "A eunuch consul!" is the ironical exclamation of the poet. 
 
 ^Tis the shame of earth and heaven. What new prodigies 
 
 and marvels will follow this? Doubtless we shall next be 
 
 taking felons from our prisons and elevating them to high 
 
 office. 
 
 Semiferos partus metuendaque pignora matri 
 Moenibus et mediis auditum nocte luporum 
 Murmur et attonito pecudes pastore locutas 
 Et lapidum duras hiemes nimboque minacem 
 
 ^1 One sees also certain likenesses to Juvenal's tenth satire, which 
 describes the fall of Sejanus, another imperial minister. Cf. Birt, Zwei 
 politische Satiren des alien Rom, 60-61. 
 
 12 Zwei politische Satiren, 49 ff.
 
 CLAUDIAN 109 
 
 5 Sanguineo rubuisse lovem puteosque cruore 
 
 Mutatos binasque polo concurrere lunas 
 Et geminos soles mirari dcsinat orbis. 
 Omnia cesserunt eunucho consulc monstra. 
 Heu terrae caelique pudor! Trabeata per urbes 
 
 ID Ostentatur anus titulumque effeminat anni. 
 
 Pandite pontifices Cumanae carmina vatis, 
 Fulmineos sellers Etruria consulat ignes 
 Inmersumque nefas fibris exploret haruspex, 
 Quae nova portendant superi. Nilusne meatu 
 
 15 Devius et nostri temptat iam transfuga mundi 
 
 Se rubro miscere mari? Ruptone Niphate 
 Rursum barbaricis Oriens vastabitur armis? 
 An morbi ventura lues? An nulla colono 
 Responsura seges? Quae tantas expiet iras 
 
 20 Victima? Quo diras iugulo placabimus aras? 
 
 Sic omnia nobis, 
 Hoc regni, Fortuna, tenes? Quaenam ista iocandi 
 25 Saevitia? Humanis quantum bacchabere rebus? 
 
 Si tibi servili placuit foedare curules 
 Crimine, procedat laxata compede consul, 
 Rupta Quirinales sumant ergastula cinctus; 
 Da saltern quemcumque virum. 
 
 If we must be ruled by a slave, let it be one who has served 
 but one master. The owners of Eutropius are as the waves 
 of the sea, or the sands of Libya. He was not worth keep- 
 ing, was constantly sold, and at last even given away: 
 
 Omnes paenituit pretii venumque redibat 
 Dum vendi potuit. Postquam deforme cadaver 
 Mansit et in rugas totus defluxit aniles, 
 40 lam specie doni certatim limine pellunt 
 
 Et foedum ignaris properant obtrudere munus. 
 
 The base condition of his early years is depicted. Claudian 
 satirically puts into his mouth a lament on being discarded by 
 his first owner, which parodies the traditional lament of the 
 deserted wife or mistress in the erotic poets (w. 66 ff.). Fi- 
 nally after various unenviable vicissitudes, the future patri- 
 cian and consul becomes the servant of a great lady, — to 
 comb her hair, to hold the silver basin, and wield the fan of 
 peacocks* feathers.
 
 no LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 105 Eous rector consulque futurus 
 
 Pectebat dominae crines et saepe lavanti 
 Nudus in argento lympham gestabat alumnae. 
 Et cum se rapido fessam proiecerat aestu 
 Patricius roseis pavonum ventilat alis. 
 
 His appearance corresponded with his character: pre- 
 maturely old, wrinkled, and tremulous, partly bald, a hor- 
 rible sight, — too weak for manual labor, too vile for positions 
 of trust, — this is he who became ruler, after being scorned 
 by very slaves. 
 
 Est ubi despectus nimius iuvat. Undique pulso 
 
 Per cunctas licuit fraudes impune vagari 
 140 Et fatis aperire viam. Pro! quisquis Olympi 
 
 Summa tenes, tanto libuit mortalia risu 
 
 Vertere? Qui servi non est admissus in usum, 
 
 Suscipitur regnis, et quern privata ministrum 
 
 Dedignata domus, moderantem sustinet aula. 
 145 Ut primum vetulam texere palatia vulpem, 
 
 Quis non ingemuit? Quis non inrepere sacris 
 
 Obsequiis doluit totius venale cadaver? 
 
 Ipsi quin etiam tali consorte fremebant 
 
 Regales famuli, quibus est inlustrior ordo 
 150 Servitii, sociumque diu sprevere superbi. 
 
 Nothing is worse than a base-born slave suddenly become 
 
 powerful, and a eunuch worst of all. But though deprived of 
 
 manhood, he retained his vices, and chief was his greed of 
 
 gold. Honors and offices were sold at regular prices by one 
 
 who had been so often sold himself: 
 
 Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum: 
 Cuncta ferit dum cuncta timet, desaevit in omnes 
 Ut se posse putent, nee belua taetrior uUa 
 Quam servi rabies in libera terga furentis; 
 185 Agnoscit gemitus et poenae parcere nescit, 
 
 Quam subiit, dominique memor, quern verberat, odit. 
 Adde, quod eunuchus nulla pietate movetur 
 Nee generi natisve cavet. Clementia cunctis 
 In similes, animosque ligant consortia damni; 
 190 Iste nee eunuchis placidus. Sed peius in aurum 
 
 Aestuat; hoc uno fruitur succisa libido. 
 Quid nervos secuisse iuvat? Vis nulla cruentam 
 Castrat avaritiam. Parvis exercita furtis 
 Quae vastare penum neglectaque sueverat arcae
 
 CLAUDIAN III 
 
 195 Clausa remoliri, nunc ubcriore rapina 
 
 Peccat in orbe manus. Quidquid se Tigris ab Hacmo 
 Dividit, hoc certa proponit merce locandum 
 Institor imperii, caupo famosus honorum. 
 Hie Asiam villa pactus regit; ille redemit 
 
 200 Coniugis ornatu Syriam; dolet ille paterna 
 
 Bithynos mutasse domo. Subfixa patenti 
 Vestibule pretiis distinguit regula gentes. 
 Tot Galatae, tot Pontus eat, tot Lydia nummis; 
 Si Lyciam tenuisse velis, tot millia ponas, 
 
 205 Si Phrygas, adde; parum! Propriae solacia sort! 
 
 Communes vult esse notas et venditus ipse 
 Vendere cuncta cupit. Certantum saepe duorum 
 Diversum suspendit onus; cum pondere index 
 Vergit, et in geminas nutat provincia lances. 
 
 Was it for this, for the profit of Eutropius, that Roman 
 armies subdued and annexed the East? To the shame of 
 Mars and the scorn of Enyo, he dons arms and plays the war- 
 rior. The Goths rejoice, and plunder Greece, Asia, and Syria 
 with impunity, while he returns in pretended triumph, the 
 shameless hypocrite: 
 
 Placet ipse sibi laxasque laborat 
 
 Distendisse genas fictumque inflatus anhelat, 
 260 Pulvere respersus tineas it solibus ora 
 
 Pallidior, verbisque sonat plorabile quiddam 
 
 Ultra nequitiam fractis et proelia narrat 
 
 Perque suam tremula testatur voce sororum; 
 
 Defecisse vagas ad publica commoda vires; 
 265 Cedere livori nee sustentare procellas 
 
 Invidiae; mergique fretis spumantibus orat. 
 
 Exoretque utinam! 
 
 Never before was a eunuch consul, magistrate, and general. 
 A sight at once more ridiculous than comedy, more grave than 
 
 tragedy : 
 
 Nil adeo foedum, quod non exacta vetustas 
 
 Ediderit longique labor eommiserit aevi. 
 
 Oedipodes matrem, natam duxisse Thyestes 
 290 Cantatur, peperit fratres locasta marito 
 
 Et Pelopea sibi. Thebas ac funera Troiae 
 
 Tristis Erechthei deplorat scena thcatri. 
 
 In volucrem Tereus, Cadmus se vertit in anguem, 
 
 Scylla novos mirata canes. Hunc arbore figit,
 
 112 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 295 Elevat hunc pluma, squamis hunc fabula vestit, 
 
 Hunc solvit fluvio. Numquam spado consul in orbe 
 Nee iudex ductorve fuit. Quodcumque virorum 
 Est decus, eunuchi scelus est. Exempla creantur 
 Quae socci superent risus luctusque cothurni. 
 
 Such a disgrace is not credited, at first, by the people: 
 
 Fama prius false similis vanoque videri 
 
 Ficta ioco; levior volitare per oppida rumor 
 
 Riderique nefas: veluti nigrantibus alis 
 
 Audiretur olor, corvo certante ligustris. 
 350 Atque aliquis gravior morum: "si talibus" inquit 
 
 "Creditur et nimiis turgent mendacia monstris, 
 
 lam testudo volat, profert iam cornua vultur; 
 
 Prona petunt retro fluvii iuga; Gadibus ortum 
 
 Carmani texere diem; iam frugibus aptum 
 355 Aequor et adsuetum silvis delphina videbo; 
 
 Jam cochleis homines iunctos et quidquid inane 
 
 Nutrit ludaicis quae pingitur India velis," 
 
 Subicit et mixtis salibus lascivior alter: 
 
 "Miraris? nihil est, quod non in pectore magnum 
 360 Concipit Eutropius. Semper nova, grandia semper 
 
 Diligit et celeri degustat singula sensu. 
 
 Nil timet a tergo; vigilantibus undique curls 
 
 Nocte dieque patet; lenis facilisque moveri 
 
 Supplicibus mediaque tamen mollissimus ira 
 365 Nil negat et sese vel non poscentibus offert. 
 
 Quidlibet ingenuo subigit traditque fruendum; 
 
 Quidquid amas, dabit ilia manus; communiter omni 
 
 Fungitur officio gaudetque potentia flecti. 
 
 Hoc quoque conciliis peperit meritoque laborum, 
 370 Accipit et trabeas argutae praemia dextrae." 
 
 Up to this point the book has been pure satire. Now the 
 inevitable Stilicho appears, and the remainder of the book is 
 taken up by an appeal to him by the spirit of Rome to put an 
 end to such an intolerable situation. 
 
 Book 2 is written after the fall of Eutropius from his high 
 estate. The expected has happened. The omens have been 
 fulfilled. Yet had there been no omens, had Eutropius even 
 been blessed with favorable ones, 'twere a disgrace to have 
 so honored him.
 
 CLAUDIAN 113 
 
 40 Utque semel patult monstris iter, omnia tempus 
 
 Nacta suum properant: nasci turn decolor imber 
 Infantumque novi voltus et dissona partu 
 Semina, turn lapidum fletus armentaque vulgo 
 Ausa loqui mediisque ferae se credere muris; 
 
 45 Turn vates sine more rapi lymphataque passim 
 
 Pectora terrifici stimulis ignescere Phoebi. 
 Fac nullos cecinisse deos: adeone retusi 
 Quisquam cordis erit, dubitct qui partibus illis 
 Affore fatalem castrati consulis annum? 
 
 50 Sed quam caecus inest vitiis amor! Omne futurum 
 
 Despicitur suadentque brevem praesentia fructum 
 Et ruit in vetitum damni sccura libido, 
 Dum mora supplicii lucro serumque quod instat 
 Creditur. Haut equidem contra tot signa Camillo 
 
 55 Detulerim fasces, nedum (pro sexus!) inerti 
 
 Mancipio, cui cuncta licet responsa iuberent 
 Hortantesque licet sponderent prospera divi, 
 Turpe fuit cessisse viros. 
 
 The disgrace of his rule is accentuated by ironical compari- 
 sons: 
 
 Spado Romuleo succinctus amictu 
 63 Sedit in Augustis laribus. 
 
 Subter adulantes tituli nimiaeque leguntur 
 80 Vel maribus laudes: claro quod nobilis ortu 
 
 (Cum vivant domini), quod maxima proelia solus 
 Impleat (et patitur miles!), quod tertius urbis 
 Conditor (hoc Byzas Constantinusque videbunt!). 
 
 Now the "creaking mythological machinery" of epic Is 
 employed. Mars, observing the world with a cruel smile, 
 bids Bellona stir to revolt a band of Gothic colonists in Phry- 
 gia. This is accomplished in a way similar to the rousing of 
 Turnus in the Aeneid.^^ The turreted crown falls from the 
 head of Cybebe; and, recognizing the fulfilment of an old 
 prophecy, she bids farewell to the land. 
 
 Eutropius, while publicly minimizing the importance of the 
 revolt, secretly tries to bribe the Goths, but, emboldened by 
 success, they haughtily refuse. He is forced to call a council 
 
 " Book 7, 415 ff.
 
 114 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 to deal with the situation. It is a council worthy of such a 
 premier: a most contemptuous passage^"* describes them, — 
 
 their chief a cook: 
 
 luvenes venere protervi 
 Lascivique senes, quibus est insignis edendi 
 Gloria corruptasque dapes variasse decorum, 
 Qui ventrem invitant pretio traduntque palato 
 
 330 Sidereas lunonis aves et signa loquendi 
 
 Gnara coloratis viridis defertur ab Indis, 
 Quaesitos trans regna cibos, quorumque profundam 
 Ingluviem non Aegaeus, non alta Propontis, 
 Non freta longinquis Maeotia piscibus explent. 
 
 335 Vestis odoratae studium; laus maxima risum 
 
 Per vanos movisse sales minimeque viriles; 
 Munditiae; compti vultus; onerique vel ipsa 
 Serica. Si Chunus feriat, si Sarmata portas, 
 Solliciti scaenae; Romam contemnere sueti 
 
 340 Mirarique suas, quas Bosphorus obruat, aedes; 
 
 Saltandi dociles aurigarumque periti. 
 Pars humili de plebe duces. Pars compede suras 
 Cruraque signati nigro liventia ferro 
 lura regunt, facies quamvis inscripta repugnet 
 
 345 Seque suo prodat titulo. Sed prima potestas 
 
 Eutropium praefert Hosio subnixa secundo. 
 Dulcior hie sane cunctis prudensque movendi 
 luris et admoto qui temperet omnia fumo, 
 Fervidus, accensam sed qui bene decoquat iram. 
 
 350 Considunt apices gemini dicionis Eoae, 
 
 Hie cocus, hie leno, defessi verbere terga, 
 Servitio, non arte pares, hie saepius emptus, 
 Alter ad Hispanos nutritus verna Penates.'^ 
 
 Eutropius calls them from their accustomed pleasures to the, 
 matter in hand. Suddenly Leo, a former worker in wool 
 now the Ajax of Eutropius, boldly volunteers to "shear" 
 the rebel chief: 
 
 Emicat extemplo cunctis trepidantibus audax 
 Crassa mole Leo, quern vix Cyclopia solum 
 Aequatura fames, quem non ieiuna Celaeno 
 Vinceret; hinc nomen fertur meruisse Leonis. 
 380 Acer in absentes linguae iactator, abundans 
 
 Corporis exiguusque animi, doctissimis artis 
 
 " Cf. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, 2, 541. 
 " Observe the pun on iuris, 348.
 
 CLAUDIAN 115 
 
 Quondam lanificae, moderatur pectinis unci. 
 Non alius lanam purgatis sordibus aeque 
 Praebuerit calathis, similis nee pinguia quisquam 
 
 385 Vellera per tenues ferri producere rimas. 
 
 Tunc Aiax erat Eutropii lateque fremebat, 
 Non septem vasto quatiens umbone iuvencos, 
 Sed, quam perpetuis dapibus pigroque sedili 
 Inter anus interque colos oneraverat, alvum. 
 
 390 Adsurgit tandem vocemque expromit anhelam: 
 
 "Quis novus hie torpor, socii? quonam usque sedemus 
 Femineis clausi thalamis patimurque periclum 
 Gliscere desidia? Graviorum turba malorum 
 Texitur, ignavis trahimus dum tempora votis. 
 
 395 Me petit hie sudor. Numquam mea dextera segnis 
 
 Ad ferrum. Faveat tantum Tritonia eoeptis, 
 Inceptum peragetur opus. lam cuneta furore 
 Qui gravat, efficiam leviorem pondere lanae 
 Tarbigilum tumidum, desertoresque Gruthungos 
 
 400 Ut miseras populabor oves et pace relata 
 
 Pristina restituam Phrygias ad stamina matres.''^^ 
 
 The army advances, a confused, planless horde, and is 
 speedily routed by the Goths. The mighty Leo, fleeing for 
 his life, is too heavy a load for his horse, he is thrown into the 
 mire (like the swine formerly butchered by his friend Hosius), 
 and is at last scared to death by the rustling of the wind in 
 
 the trees: 
 
 440 Ipse Leo damma eervoque fugacior ibat 
 
 Sudanti tremebundus equo: qui pondere postquam 
 Decidit, implieitus limo cunctantia pronus 
 Per vada reptabat. Caeno subnixa tenaci 
 Mergitur et pingui suspirat corpore moles 
 
 445 (More suis, dapibus quae iam devota futuris 
 
 Turpe gemit, quotiens Hosius mucrone corusco 
 Armatur cingitque sinus secumque volutat, 
 Quas figat verubus partes, quae frusta ealenti 
 Mandet aquae quantoque eutem distendat eehino: 
 
 450 Flagrat opus; crebro pulsatus perstrepit ietu; 
 
 Contexit varius penetrans Chalcedona nidor). 
 Ecce levis frondes a tergo eoneutit aura: 
 Credit tela Leo; valuit pro vulnere terror 
 Implevitque vieem iaeuli vitamque nocentem 
 
 ^^ An excellent example of the burlesque resulting from the mixture of 
 epic style with a comic subject is to be seen in " Emicat . . . crassa mole 
 Leo."
 
 Il6 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 455 Integer et sola formidine saucius efflat. 
 
 Quis tibi tractandos pro pectine, degener, enses, 
 
 Quis solio campum praeponere suasit avito? 
 
 Quam bene texentum laudabas carmina tutus 
 
 Et matutinis pellebas frigora mensis! 
 460 Hie miserande iaces; hie, dum tua vellera vitas, 
 
 Tandem fila tibi neverunt ultima Parcae. 
 
 Panic fills the city; there is no hope save in Stilicho; the 
 scales fall from eyes of those who had so long obeyed Eutro- 
 pius, and the lictors shudder at the thought of bearing the 
 fasces of such a consul. Now Aurora, garbed in mourning, 
 closes the book with a flattering appeal to Stilicho for aid, 
 corresponding to the close of Book i. 
 
 The Praefatio to Book 2, which Birt regards as really a 
 third division of the poem as a whole, consists of seventy-six 
 lines of elegiacs, and is not so much of a satirical nature as 
 it is a song of triumph and exultation at the final disgrace and 
 banishment to Cyprus of Eutropius, The poet, however, can- 
 not refrain from a few sarcastic apostrophical remarks, as 
 
 Miror cur, aliis qui pandere fata solebas 
 
 Ad propriam cladem caeca Sibylla taces? 
 lam tibi nulla videt fallax insomnia Nilus 
 40 Pervigilant vates nee, miserande, tui. 
 
 55 lam non Armenios iaculis terrebis et arcu, 
 
 Per campos volucrem non agitabis equum; 
 Dilecto caruit Byzantius ore senatus; 
 Curia consiliis aestuat orba tuis: 
 Emeritam suspende togam, suspende pharetram; 
 60 Ad Veneris partes ingeniumque redi. Etc. 
 
 Certain resemblances and differences between the In Rufi- 
 num and the In Etitropium deserve mention. Both poems are 
 based on the same motive, — to satirize enemies of Stilicho, 
 and the similarity is carried further by the fact that both the 
 enemies held the same position, prime minister to the eastern 
 Emperor. Occasion is found in both poems for the praise of 
 Stilicho. The style of epic writing, also, is employed in both:
 
 CLAUDIAN 117 
 
 in both Mars views the scene from the snowy diffs of Haemus, 
 and talks with Bellona. 
 
 But there is a distinct difference in the tone of the two 
 poems. The invective against Rufinus depends more on the 
 epic element for effectiveness, and the style is more lofty and 
 sustained. The satire is denunciation, never ridicule. There 
 is no descent to burlesque or comedy. It is a serious piece 
 of work, from the thoughtful and beautiful exordium to the 
 impressive final damnation of the criminal. 
 
 With the satire against Eutropius the case is somewhat 
 different. Plays upon words are frequent.^'' Eutropius is 
 not presented as terrible, but as disgusting. The pompous 
 manner of the epic narrative is often applied to trifles, which 
 are really comical and ridiculous, such as the speech of Leo, 
 and his flight after the battle. To put the matter in a nut- 
 shell we may use Claudian's own words: 
 
 Exempla creantur 
 Quae socci superent risus luctusque cothurni. 1* 
 
 Theodor Birt, in his careful analysis of the In Eutropium, 
 
 finds many points of resemblance to Juvenal. ^^ Eutropius as 
 
 a monstrum finds precedent in Juvenal 4, 2, where the same 
 
 epithet is applied to Crispinus. Juvenal's words, addressed 
 
 to Mars, 
 
 O pater urbis, 
 
 Uncle nefas tantum Latiis pastoribus? Unde 
 
 Haec tetigit, Gradive, tuos urtica nepotes? 
 
 Traditur ecce viro clarus genere atque opibus vir, 
 
 Nee galeam quassas nee terram cuspide pulsas 
 
 Nee quereris patri?-" 
 
 are clearly reflected by Claudian's 
 
 Subrisit crudele pater cristisque micantem 
 
 Quassavit galeam; etc.^^ 
 " Cf. Birt, Zwei politische Satiren des alien Rom, 44, 45 n. 
 '* In Eutropium i, 298 f. 
 
 19 Zwei politische Satiren, 52 ff. Cf. Boissier, La fin du paganistne, 2, 
 286. 
 
 20 Juvenal 2, 126-131. 
 
 21 In Eutropium 2, 108-9.
 
 Il8 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 and 
 
 Tunc adamante gravem nodisque rigentibus hastam, 
 
 Telum ingens nullique deo iaculabile torsit. 
 Fit late ruptis via nubibus. Ilia per auras 
 Tot freta, tot montes uno contenta volatu 
 Transilit et Phrygiae mediis affigitur arvis. 
 Sensit humus. Gemuit Nysaeo palmite felix 
 Hermus et aurata Pactolus inhorruit urna 
 Totaque summissis fleverunt Dindyma silvis.^^ 
 
 What Juvenal suggests, Claudian amplifies. 
 
 And perhaps In the In Eutropium, 2, 329-334. we may see a 
 resemblance to Juvenal, i, 140-143. In fact, here, the epithet 
 longinqiiis piscibus used in connection with the waters of the 
 Propontis and the Maeotis, sounds somewhat exaggerated 
 from the viewpoint of Constantinople, where the scene is laid, 
 but quite natural from the viewpoint of a Roman satirist.^' 
 
 Birt's arguments in favor of Claudian as an imitator of 
 Lucilius may be thus summarized: 
 
 1. It was possible, for we know from other writers, e. g., 
 Ausonius, that Lucilius was read in the fourth century. 
 
 2. Claudian's relation to Stilicho was similar to that of 
 Lucilius to Scipio.'* 
 
 3. Certain fragments in the 26th book of Lucilius may be 
 taken to be parts of a satire dealing with the Numantian War. 
 In this the Roman armies were at first defeated by a bar- 
 barian, as in Claudian the army of Leo was defeated by the 
 Goths. Scipio's inefficient predecessor Lepidus is the counter- 
 part of Eutropius, surrounded by eating and drinking satel- 
 lites ; his army is dispersed by the wind, — the wind which fright- 
 ens Leo to death. Other passages seem to refer to some 
 character quite like Eutropius in fitness only for humble and 
 base offices.^" 
 
 '^ In Eutropium, 2, 166-173. 
 
 23 Cf. Juvenal, 4, 41 ff. For further discussion of similarities in thought 
 or phrase the reader is referred to Birt, 1. c. 
 2^ Horace, Sermones, II, i, 16 f. 
 25 Birt, Zwei politische Satiren, 1 12-123.
 
 CLAUDIAN 119 
 
 But this is mostly based on conjecture, and on a straining 
 of coincidences in phraseology. No such satire on the Nu- 
 mantian War is recognized by Marx in his edition of Lucilius. 
 In fact, Birt himself frankly admits that his evidence is scarce- 
 ly sufficient to convince a reluctant reader.-'' It seems best 
 to take the suggestion that Claudian followed a definite 
 Lucilian model in writing the In Eutropium as merely a 
 suggestion, and not an actual demonstrable fact.-^ 
 
 A passage of vivid satirical characterization of Gildo, the 
 Count of Africa, is to be found in the unfinished poem De 
 Bello Gildonico, part of the speech of Africa before the as- 
 sembled gods, denouncing Gildo. His avarice, luxury, lust, 
 insolence, and cruelty are dilated on in words comparable to 
 those applied to Rufinus and Eutropius. 
 
 Quod Nilus et Atlas 
 
 Dissidet, occiduis quod Gadibus arida Barce 
 160 Quodque Paraetonio secedit litore Tingi, 
 
 Hoc sibi transcripsit proprium. Pars tertia mundi 
 
 Unius praedonis ager. Distantibus idem 
 
 Inter se vitiis cinctus: quodcumque profunda 
 
 Traxit avaritia, luxu peiore refundit. 
 165 Instat terribilis vivis, morientibus heres, 
 
 Virginibus raptor, thalamis obscenus adulter. 
 
 Nulla quies: oritur praeda ccssante libido; 
 
 Divitibusque dies et nox metuenda maritis. 
 
 Quisquis vel locuples pulchra vel coniuge notus, 
 170 Crimine pulsatur false; si crimina desunt, 
 
 Accitus conviva perit. Mors nulla refugit 
 
 Artificem: varios sucos spumasque requirit 
 
 Serpentum virides et adhuc ignota novcrcis 
 
 Gramina. Etc. 
 
 In the speech of Roma, in the same poem, there occurs in 
 the midst of her complaints an ironical passage similar to 
 In Eutropium i, 210 ff.: 
 
 ^ Birt, p. 124. 
 
 ^' See Giithling, Bursians Jahresbericht, 76, 248 ff. Marx, Deutsche 
 Literaturzeitung, 1888, 662. Stowasser, Zeitschrift fiir die oesterreichis- 
 chen Gymnasien, XXXIX, 984. But also Jeep, Berliner Philologische 
 Wochenschrift, 1890, 664, 
 
 9
 
 120 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Ideone tot annos 
 Flebile cum tumida bellum Carthagine gessi? 
 Idcirco voluit contempta luce reverti 
 Regulus? Hoc damnis, genitor, Cannensibus emi? 
 
 80 Incassum totiens lituis navalibus arsit 
 
 Hispanum Siculumque fretum vastataque tellus 
 Totque duces caesi ruptaque emissus ab Alpe 
 Poenus et attonitae iam proximus Hannibal urbi? 
 Scilicet ut domitis frueretur barbarus Afris, 
 
 85 Muro sustinui Martem noctesque cruentas 
 
 Collina pro turre tuli? Gildonis ad usum 
 Carthago ter victa ruit? Hoc mille gementis 
 Italiae clades impensaque saecula bello, 
 Hoc Fabius fortisque mihi Marcellus agebat, 
 
 90 Ut Gildo cumularet opes? Etc. 
 
 Claudlan's minor poems include several examples of epi- 
 grammatic, pungently satirical writing. Such is one addressed 
 to a critic of his verses who was afflicted with gout: 
 
 Quae tibi cum pedibus ratio? quid carmina culpas? 
 
 Scandere qui nescis, versiculos laceras? 
 "Claudicat hie versus; haec" inquit "syllaba nutat," 
 
 Atque nihil prorsus stare putat podager.^* 
 
 Of real Catullan wit is: 
 
 Manlius indulget somno noctesque diesque; 
 
 Insomnis Pharius sacra profana rapit. 
 Omnibus hoc, Italae gentes, exposcite votis, 
 
 Manlius ut vigilet, dormiat ut Pharius.^* 
 
 Carmina minora, 43 and 44, against a certain Curetius, 
 dissolute son of a lying astrologer, which Birt^^ characterizes 
 as " satirici atque lascivientis generis,'^ are rather obscene than 
 satirical. 
 
 ^* Carmina minora, 13. 
 -^ Carmina minora, 21. 
 ^^ Prolegomena, Ixi.
 
 S. PAULINI EPIGRAMMA 
 
 The poem which bears the above title was for a long time 
 wrongly attributed to the rhetorician Claudius Marius Victor. 
 Beyond the mere name Paulinus, there is no evidence as to the 
 authorship. The date is set by Schenkl, from various his- 
 torical allusions in the poem, at 408 A. d.^ In any case, the 
 author was a man of some poetical ability. Reminiscences 
 of Vergil are frequent in his verses, which are constructed in a 
 correct and pleasing manner. The dialogue form into which 
 the content is thrown makes an attractive picture, and one 
 could wish that the bell for evening prayer had not rung quite 
 so soon, to break up the party .^ 
 
 The poem describes a conversation between a young man, 
 Salmon, an elderly, unnamed monk, and Thesbon, a neighbor. 
 Salmon, who is apparently revisiting the monastery where he 
 had been educated, is met by the old monk and escorted by 
 him to the nearby dwelling of Thesbon, where, on a grassy 
 seat in a shady spot, the three prepare to renew their former 
 friendship. 
 
 The talk soon develops into a satire upon the moral defects 
 of the times, upon the vices which are more dangerous than 
 the barbarian invaders, upon a distorted sense of values, 
 upon the pursuit of vain and unprofitable knowledge, upon 
 the luxury, the excessive attention to personal appearance, 
 and the frivolity, of the female sex, without at the same time 
 exculpating men from blame. ^ 
 
 In answer to a question as to the state of affairs in the land, 
 
 ^ Prooemium to his edition of the text, in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesias- 
 ticorum Laiinorum, Vol. XVI, 501. 
 
 ^ Manitius, Geschichte, 164 f. Ebert, Geschichte, 320 f. 
 ^ Ampere, Histoire litteraire de la France, 2, 154. 
 
 121
 
 122 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Salmon replies, "We are oppressed by the attacks of the 
 Sarmatians, the Vandals, and the Alans, yet there is another 
 foe, more dangerous because more concealed. Alas, we seek 
 to repair the devastation of our material goods, but pay no 
 attention to our spiritual welfare. As we were, so we remain, 
 nothing receives honor save riches, whatever seems to be to 
 our advantage we consider right, and dignify the very vices 
 with the names of good qualities." 
 
 Fuimus qui, nunc semper sumus isdem 
 
 Sub vitiis nullo culparum fine manentes. 
 
 Qui prius in noctem prandebat, nunc quoque potans 
 
 Continuat soles nullo discrimine lychnis. 
 35 Moechus erat Pedius: moechatur, durat in isdem 
 
 Leprae dum fervis; livebat Polio: livet; 
 
 Albus, cunctorum quondam captator honorum, 
 
 Orbis in excidio minus ambitione laborat? 
 
 Nil sanctum nobis nisi quaestus et illud honestum est 
 40 Utile quod fuerit; vitiisque vocabula recti 
 
 Indimus et parci cognomen sumit avarus.* 
 
 Others, he adds, who would not yield to the attractions of 
 open vice, are led away into vain pursuits which masquerade 
 as virtues. They seek the causes of things, study the move- 
 ments of the stars, and presumptuously pry into the secrets 
 of the Almighty. 
 
 In reply to a suggestion that the faults of men are com- 
 paratively venial, while it is the "feminei furores" which 
 make society what it is, Salmon breaks out into a sharp, 
 contemptuous invective against the female sex. Yet all the 
 while he admits the ultimate responsibility of men, in the 
 attempt to please whom women have become what they are. 
 They wear costly jewels, they paint their faces, they neglect 
 the Bible for pagan love poems and theatrical shows. 
 
 * With verses 39-41 cf. Horace, Epistles, I, i , 52-54; 65-66, and especially 
 Sermones, I, 3, 49 flf., 55 flf., where the condition is the reverse, a man's 
 failings being exaggerated. The pendulum has swung to the other extreme. 
 Tolerance of faults is carried too far, and the overlooking of serious defects 
 is as much to be condemned as the intolerance of venial ones.
 
 S. PAULINI EPIGRAMMA 1 23 
 
 55 Ante diem, Thesbon, tenebris nox umida condet 
 
 Quam possim mores huius percurrere turbae, 
 Quae, cum lege Dei vivant sub lege virorum 
 Pro pudor baud umquam sine nostro crimine peccant. 
 Nam nisi deliciis faciles traheremur earum, 
 
 60 Haut illas vitiis vellemus vivere nostris; 
 
 Nee rigidas auro vestes nee vellera Serum 
 Nee lapides, toto quos fert mercator ab orbe, 
 Fundorum pretiis emcrcnt. Suspiria maesti 
 lungimus et vanas non est pudor addere curas, 
 
 65 Si gravis ignotis processit Lesbia gemmis 
 
 Et decies Passiena novo radiavit in ostro. 
 lam si mutatis studeant occurrere formis 
 Atque viris alios aliosque opponere vultus, 
 Nonne error noster? Quid agunt in corpore casto 
 
 70 Cerussa et minium centumque venena colorum?* 
 
 Mentis honor morumque decus sunt vincula sancti 
 Coniugii; si forma placet, venientibus annis 
 Cedet amor: sola est senium quae nescit honestas. 
 lam quod perpetuis discursibus omnia lustrant 
 
 75 Quod pascunt, quod multa gerunt, quod multa locuntur, 
 
 Non vitium nostrum est? Paulo et Solomone relicto 
 Aut Marc cantatur Phoenissa aut Naso Corinna. 
 Nonne cavis distent penetralia nostra theatris? 
 Accipiunt plausus lyra Flacci et scaena Marulli. 
 
 80 Nos horum, nos causa sumus, nos turpiter istis 
 
 Nutrimenta damus flammis — culpetur honesti 
 Inproba nupta viri nummo decerpere nummum? — 
 Nam sicut speculo rcferunt accepta tenaci 
 Ingenio similes morisque exempla secuntur. 
 
 85 Cur solida infelix damnatur femina culpa, 
 
 Cum placeat stolido coniunx vitiosa marito? 
 Unus ubique hostis diffuso turbine saevit: 
 Nee mirum est vinci belli terrore subactos. 
 
 The satirical portion of the poem closes here. After a 
 partly fragmentary passage, Salmon in his turn inquires about 
 local affairs, but is prevented from receiving a reply by the 
 approach of the hour for evening worship, and so the poem 
 ends. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that the poet names definite persons 
 
 as examples of qualities which he censures. E. g., v. 35 
 
 ^ Cf. Hieronymus, Epistle 54, 7 — Quid facil in facie Chrislianae pur- 
 purissus et cerussa?
 
 124 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 "Pedius;" v. 36 "Polio;" v. 37 "Albus;" v. 65 "Lesbia;" 
 V. 66 "Passiena." This is the method of Horace, Persius, 
 and Juvenal, as in Horace, Sermones, I, 4, 109 ff. (which 
 includes "Albi filius"), I, i, 101-2, etc.; as in Persius, i, 85 
 (Pedius); 2, 14; 2, 19, etc.; as in Juvenal, 6, 387; 7, 176 
 (Polio); 2, 36; 2, 68, etc.
 
 ORIENTIUS 
 
 The Commonitorium of Orientius is an elegiac poem in two 
 book, of 6i8 and 418 verses respectively/ written in southern 
 France not long after the barbarian invasions of 406 A. d.^ 
 The author is probably identical with the Bishop Orientius 
 of Auch.^ 
 
 The poem is, as its name implies, a book of advice, instruc- 
 tion, and warning, written in a tone of high seriousness and 
 by an elderly man who considered himself well qualified to 
 speak.^ The style is somewhat discursive, yet sincere and 
 comparatively free from artificialities. The author is addres- 
 sing, in general, a single hypothetical reader, to whom he 
 directs his advice and admonitions.^ 
 
 His tone is usually a temperate, kindly, didactic tone. In 
 many cases he expounds at length the course that the true 
 Christian should follow, or says merely, "Such and such a 
 habit is bad; avoid it." E. g., 
 
 2, 41 Fallere crede nefas! durat sententia dicens: 
 
 Os, quod mentitur, morte animum perimit. 
 ^ The elegiac couplet, as well as the straightforward hexameter verse 
 of Vergil's Georgics and Horace's Ars Poetica, had been already used as a 
 form for didactic poetry, — e. g. Ovid's Ars Amatoria, etc. The employ- 
 ment of this verse for this purpose can probably be traced ultimately to 
 the gnomic poetry of the Greeks, with its inculcation of maxims and aphor- 
 isms. 
 
 2 Robinson Ellis, Praejatio to his edition of the text in the Corpus 
 Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, 16, 193 f. Ebert, Geschichte, 410, 
 note 2, sets the date of composition at 430. 
 
 ^ Manitius, Geschichte, 193. Histoire Literaire de la France, 2, 251 ff. 
 * Commonitorium, i, 405-6. Ebert, Geschichte, 410. 
 ^E. g. I, 15-16: 
 
 Ergo, age, da pronas aures sensumque vacantem: 
 Vita docenda mihi est, vita petenda tibi. 
 and 2, I 
 
 Si monitis gradiare meis, fidissime lector, etc. 
 
 125
 
 126 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Et quod erit verax semper dixisse memento, 
 Et non quod non est sermo tuus resonet. 
 
 But we shall see that also, in other cases, when discussing 
 vices, the poet adopts a satirical point of view and makes use 
 of a satirical style. He forgets, apparently, whom he is 
 supposed to be really talking to, and provides himself with a 
 fictitious opponent, in order to give his arguments added 
 concreteness and vividness.^ 
 
 In Book I, 483 ff., Orientius dwells on that favorite topic 
 of ancient moralists, the greed of gain. Everywhere, he 
 says, prevails this root, cause, head, fount, and origin of evil. 
 It leads men to pervert the gifts of God, and to brave the 
 perils of the dreadful sea. 
 
 Nee cura leviore dehinc vitare memento 
 
 Unius innumerum crimen avaritiae. 
 485 Omnibus in terris, quas sol videt, aequora claudunt, 
 
 Quasque dies adeunt, quasque tegunt tenebrae, 
 Ignoto nobis quidquid diffunditur orbe, 
 
 Omnibus in regnis, omnibus in populis, 
 Infectis morbo multorum mentibus haec est 
 490 Radix causa caput fons et origo mali. 
 
 Innocuos quidquid Dominus formarat in usus, 
 
 Haec male mutatis perdidit officiis.' 
 Quid quereris diros portus ventosque furentes, 
 
 Tristis famosis aequora naufragiis?^ 
 
 The love of gold, he continues, leads to any crime. Why 
 not be satisfied with what is really enough? Does drink 
 from a jeweled cup satisfy thirst more than from the palm of 
 the hand, or food taste better from a crystal dish than from a 
 
 * E. g. I, 337 ff., 535; 2, 62, etc. Sometimes in the plural, as, i, 501, 
 avari. Cf. TertuUian, De Pallio, above, p. 20; Ambrosius, De Nabuthae, 
 above, p. 81. This is the same stylistic device which appears so frequently 
 in writers like Horace, for instance, who will begin a poem by addressing 
 Maecenas, and later bring in a tu or a te which does not refer to Maecenas 
 at all, or indeed to any definite personality. 
 
 ' Cf. Prudentius, Hamartigenia, 306 f. 
 
 Perversum ius omne viget dum quicquid habendum 
 Omnipotens dederat studia in contraria vertunt. 
 
 * Cf. Ambrosius, De Helta etieiunio, 19, 71, above, p. 77, and references.
 
 ORIENTIUS 127 
 
 common plate?^ This naturally leads to a reflection on the 
 vanity of worldly goods, resembling that of Ambrosius, 
 De Nabuthae, i, 2. 
 
 In Book 2, 13 ff., Orientius condemns the tendency of the 
 time toward lax moral standards and the too ready con- 
 doning of faults: 
 
 Praecipuus labor est blandam contemnere laudem, 
 Quae trahit in praeceps ambitiosa homines, 
 15 Et semper tacito festinat ad intima motu 
 
 Visceribusque ipsis pestis acerba sedet. 
 Omnia dum volumus, facimus quaecumque, probari, 
 
 Utque suis nullus non faveat vitiis, 
 Lenito titulo parcum se dicit avarus, 
 20 Acris velatur nomine saevitia, 
 
 Ac studiis totis et tota nitimur arte, 
 
 Ut quidquid loquimur vel facimus placeat.^° 
 
 In Book 2, 93 ff., there is a satirical picture of the kind of 
 life a person has to lead who seeks favor or advancement at 
 the hands of the rich and great. How shall he gain his ends? 
 He must be prepared to suffer rain, cold, hunger, and blows. 
 He must run about all over the city till late at night. Even 
 so he must arise again at early dawn, to wait for the opening 
 of his patron's door. And if even the hard stone benches 
 are powerless to keep him awake, he may be forestalled in his 
 entry by a rival who has come later than he. Or perchance 
 he may be driven away by a lictor. Then let him pray that 
 he may escape with a whole skin. Or suppose that by bribing 
 the doorkeeper he gains admittance. What will his smooth 
 words and servile bearing advantage him? Money alone is 
 the key to success. He who offers words will receive empty 
 words in return. Or even suppose that one attains office, 
 and the year is distinguished by his name, — 'tis a brief period 
 at best, and in the crowd of those who hurry to succeed him 
 he is soon forgotten. 
 
 ^The old Stoic-Cynic doctrine. Cf. Horace, Sermones, I, i, 49 ff- 
 Paulinus Nolanus, XXXII, 42 ff. 
 
 1" Cf. 5. Paulini Epigramma 41 — par ci cognomen sumit avarus, with note; 
 above, p. 122.
 
 128 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 An tibi si fragiles mundi quaerantur honores, 
 Munere quo speres emeruisse hominem? 
 95 Quidquid id est variis quod vexat corpora saevis, 
 
 Dum celeri vitam currimus in stadio: 
 Contemptum pluvias frigus ieiunia rixas 
 
 Contento poteris sustinuisse animo, 
 Discurrens urbem totis lustrare diebus 
 100 Vix media fessus nocte radire domum, 
 
 Continuoque iterum prima consurgere luce 
 
 Ut clausas possis primus adire fores. 
 Et cum te tenuis per dura sedilia somnus 
 Compulerit fessum deposuisse caput, 
 105 Ille prior forsan qui serior adfuit ibit, 
 
 At tua pulsabit stulta querella notos. 
 Aut si lictorem tanget vox clarior, opta 
 
 Ut bene submotus nee male caesus eas. 
 Sed fac quod rarum est, ut victus ianitor auro 
 no Ac precibus tandem dicat "adire potes." 
 
 Ingrederis lingua blandus vultuque modestus, 
 
 Corpore subiectus: nil tamen ista iuvant. 
 Omnis honor pretii est: ibis pro pondere numi 
 Carta seu foliis sive petes tabulis. 
 115 Nam si cessarit dives manus, irrita res est, 
 
 Et si verba dabis, tu quoque verba feres. Etc. 
 
 The satirical tone of this passage is especially distinct. We 
 are at once reminded of similar descriptions in Juvenal (5, 
 19 ff.), and Martial (5, 22), while Orientius' ''omnis honor 
 pretii est'' is an echo of Juvenal's ''omnia Romae cum pretio" 
 (3, 183). Such a passage as this is more or less conventional, 
 and is not entirely in harmony with the general character of 
 the work as "a spiritual testament left to his parish by an old 
 and wise priest. "^^ A little parish in the south of France 
 during the barbarian invasions would have small need of 
 such advice. The picture corresponds more to conditions in 
 the capital city, with its references to "urbem" (99) and 
 "lictorem" (107) and consulships. 
 " Manitius, Geschichte, 199.
 
 RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS 
 
 One of the most interesting poets of the late Roman period 
 is Claudius Rutilius Namatianus, whose two books of elegiac 
 verses, De Reditu Suo, survive unfortunately only in a muti- 
 lated form. The date of composition is fixed at A. u. c. 
 1169 = 416 A. D. by I, 135 f., — 
 
 Quamvis sedecies denis et mille pcractis 
 Annus praeterea iam tibi nonus eat. 
 
 The writer was a native of Gaul (i, 20), but had held the 
 offices of magister officiis (i, 563) and prefect of the city (i, 
 157 ff.) at Rome. Whether he was a pagan, as has been in- 
 ferred from various references to Christian monks, or an 
 unorthodox Christian^ is not a question of great importance. 
 
 The journey described in the poem was that from Rome to 
 Gaul, made for the sake of examining, and taking steps to 
 repair, the damage done by the Goths to the poet's property. 
 Were the conclusion of the poem extant, we might be able to 
 locate this with some certainty, but as it is, we are not. The 
 journey was a leisurely one, by sea along the Italian coast, as 
 the recent devastation of Tuscany had rendered land travel 
 inconvenient and difficult. 
 
 The poem is in the main a delightful, idyllic description of 
 the events of the journey; the varying weather, the historical 
 localities observed, the frequent halts made, friends met, 
 diversions enjoyed, etc. Through the whole poem, expressed 
 at length, in fact, near the beginning, breathes a spirit of in- 
 tense affection for and loyalty to the city of Rome and her 
 ancient institutions, and of faith in her ability to survive the 
 
 ^ The possibility of this, although his argument is not entirely convincing, 
 was pointed out by H.[Schenk:l in the Rheinisches Museum, 66(1911), 
 
 393 ff- 
 
 129
 
 130 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 shocks of barbarian invasion and remain the mistress of the 
 world. 
 
 The claim of the poem to be "half satire "^ arises partly 
 from the resemblance of its theme to the journeyings which 
 furnished both Lucilius and Horace with material for satires, 
 and partly from a number of comments or digressions of a 
 satirical character, ranging from a comparison of gold with 
 iron to a scornful characterization of the Christian monks, 
 and a bitter denunciation of Stilicho. These satirical pas- 
 sages are entirely casual, being suggested by some place seen, 
 or experience met with, in the course of the journey. 
 
 In one of these passages Rutilius holds up to execration 
 the family of the Lepidi, who throughout the centuries had 
 won an evil fame by rebellions and crimes. The poet is not 
 sure whether character is transmitted with family name, or 
 whether by some strange fatality the same name should chance 
 to have become identified with a certain character: 
 
 1,295 Inter castrorum vestigia sermo retexit 
 
 Sardoam Lepido praecipitante fugam. 
 Littore namque Cosae cognatos depulit hostes 
 
 Virtutem Catuli Roma secuta ducis. 
 lUe tamen Lepidus peior civilibus armis, 
 300 Qui gessit sociis impia bella tribus 
 
 Qui libertatem Mutinensi Marte receptam 
 
 Obruit auxiliis urbe pavente novis. 
 Insidias paci moliri tertius ausus 
 Tristibus excepit congrua fata reis. 
 305 Quartos, Caesareo dum vult irrepere regno, 
 
 Incesti poenam solvit adulterii. 
 Nunc quoque — sed melius de nostris fama queretur; 
 
 Index posteritas semina dira notet! 
 Nominibus certos credam decurrere mores? 
 310 Moribus an potius nomina certa dari? 
 
 Quidquid id est, mirus Latiis annalibus ordo, 
 Quod Lepidum totiens recidit ense malum. 
 
 The sight of Ilva, famous for its mines, gives occasion for a 
 
 2 Baumgartner, Die lateinische und griechische Literatur der christlichen 
 Volker, 191.
 
 RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS I3I 
 
 satirical, philosophical reflection on the real worthlessness of 
 gold, and the crimes it has caused: 
 
 1,355 Pliis confert populis ferri fecunda creatrix 
 
 Quam Tartesiaci glarea fulva Tagi. 
 Materies vitiis aurum letale parandis: 
 
 Auri caecus amor ducit in omne nefas. 
 Aurea legitimas expugnant munera taedas, 
 360 Virgineosque sinus aureus imber emit. 
 
 Auro victa fides munitas decipit urbes, 
 
 Auri flagitiis ambitus ipse furit. 
 At contra ferro squalentia rura coluntur; 
 Ferro vivendi prima reperta via est. 
 365 Secula semideum ferrati nescia Martis 
 
 Ferro crudeles sustinuisse feras. 
 Humanis manibus non sufficit usus inermis, 
 
 Si non sint aliae ferrea tela manus. 
 His mecum pigri solabar taedia venti 
 370 Dum resonat variis vile ccleuma modis.^ 
 
 The excessive watchfulness of a Jewish caretaker, who 
 considered that the travellers were damaging property, 
 causes Rutilius to utter an extremely bitter tirade against 
 the Jews, their customs and religion, closing with the heartfelt 
 wish that Titus had never taken Jerusalem and disseminated 
 such a pest upon the world: 
 
 Namque loci querulus curam ludaeus agebat, 
 Humanis animal dissocialc cibis. 
 1 1385 Vexatos frutices, pulsatas imputat algas, 
 
 Damnaque libatae grandia clamat aquae. 
 Reddimus obscenae convicia debita genti, 
 
 Quae genitale caput propudiosa metit. 
 Radix stultitiae, cui frigida sabbata cordi, 
 390 Sed cor frigidius religione sua! 
 
 Septima quaeque dies turpi damnata veterno, 
 
 ^ Cf. Vergil, Aeneid, 3, 56 f. 
 
 Quid non mortalia pcctora cogis, 
 Auri sacra fames! 
 Horace, Carmina, HI, 24, 48 f., 
 
 aurum et inutile 
 Summi materiem mali, 
 Prudentius, Hamartigenia, 258. 
 
 Inde seges scelerum radix et sola malorum.
 
 132 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Tanquam lassati mollis imago dei. 
 Cetera mendacis deliramenta catastae 
 Nee pueros omnes credere posse reor. 
 395 Atque utinam nunquam ludaea subacta fuisset 
 
 Pompeii bellis imperioque Titi! 
 Latius excisae pestis contagia serpunt, 
 Victoresque suos natio victa premit.* 
 
 Passing the island of Capraria, Rutilius gives vent to his 
 scorn of the monks, a settlement of whom is located there. 
 They shun the light, and wish to live alone. What perverse 
 folly, to make oneself miserable through fear of being so! 
 Perhaps they are suffering some destined punishment: perhaps 
 they are afflicted with an excess of bile, like Bellerophon. 
 
 Processu pelagi iam se Capraria toUit; 
 1,440 Squalet lucifugis insula plena viris. 
 
 Ipsi se monachos Graio cognomine dicunt, 
 
 Quod soli nullo vivere teste volunt. 
 Munera fortunae metuunt, dum damna verentur. 
 Quisquam sponte miser, ne miser esse queat? 
 445 Quaenam perversi rabies tarn stulta cerebri, 
 
 Dum mala formides, nee bona posse pati? 
 Sive suas repetunt fatorum ergastula poenas 
 
 Tristia seu nigro viscera felle tument. 
 Sic nimiae bills morbum assignavit Homerus 
 450 Bellerophonteis sollicitudinibus. 
 
 Nam iuveni offenso saevi post tela doloris 
 Dicitur humanum displicuisse genus. 
 
 Another outbreak against the monks occurs on passing the 
 isle of Gorgon. Here a promising young man, of good family 
 and prospects, a friend of Rutilius, had immured himself in 
 monastic life. To Rutilius this was nothing less than a 
 catastrophe, and he mingles his pity for the misguided youth 
 with severe scorn of the tribe of monks: 
 
 1,515 Assurgit ponti medio circumflua Gorgon, 
 
 Inter Pisanum Cyraicumque latus. 
 Adversus scopulus damni monumenta recentis: 
 
 Perditus hie vivo funere civis erat. 
 Noster enim nuper iuvenis, maioribus amplis, 
 
 ^ Cf. Juvenal, 14, 96 ff. Horace, Epistles, II, i, 156. See Vessereau's 
 edition of Rutilius, p. 289 ff.
 
 RUTILIUS NAMATIANUS 1 33 
 
 520 Nee censu inferior coniugiove minor, 
 
 Impulsus fiiriis homines terrasque reliquit, 
 
 Et turpem latebram credulus exul agit. 
 
 Infelix putat illuvie caelestia pasci, 
 
 Seque premit laesis saevior ipse deis. 
 
 525 Num, rogo, deterior Circeis secta venenis? 
 
 Tunc mutabantur corpora, nunc animi. 
 
 And finally we have in Book 2, 41 fF., a bitter attack on 
 Stilicho as betrayer of his country, in treating with the Goths, 
 and in burning the ancient Sibylline books; ascribing to him 
 the motive of desiring to "survive the Roman nation." Such a 
 crime was worse than the crimes of Althea or Nisus, worse 
 than the matricide of Nero, for he slew only his own mother, 
 while Stilicho attacked the mother of the world. Speaking 
 first of the way in which the natural advantages of Italy 
 seem to insure it against invasion, he goes on: 
 
 Quo magis est facinus diri Stilichonis acerbum, 
 
 Proditor arcani quod fuit imperii. 
 Romano generi dum nititur esse superstes, 
 
 Crudelis summis miscuit ima furor, 
 45 Dumque timet quidquid se fecerat ipse timeri, 
 
 Immisit Latiae barbara tela neci. 
 Visceribus nudis armatum condidit hostem, 
 
 Illatae cladis liberiore dolo. 
 Ipsa satellitibus pellitis Roma patebat, 
 50 Et captiva, prius quam caperetur, erat. 
 
 Nee tantum Geticis grassatus proditor armis; 
 
 Ante Sibyllinae fata cremavit opis. 
 Odimus Altheam consumpti funere torris; 
 
 Niseum crinem flere putantur aves. 
 55 At Stilicho aeterni fatalia pignora regni 
 
 Et plenas voluit praecipitare colos. 
 Omnia Tartarei cessent tormenta Neronis; 
 
 Consumat Stygias tristior umbra faces. 
 Hie immortalem, mortalem perculit ille; 
 60 Hie mundi matrem, perculit ille suam.^ 
 
 Resemblance of the De Reditu Siio to Horace's description 
 of his journey to Brundisium is not very close. There are, it 
 is true, some external points of similarity. Both narrate a 
 
 ^ Cf. Claudian, In Rufinum 2, 512 ff.
 
 134 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 journey, and tell us their route, mention experiences and diver- 
 sions met with, refer to friends, etc. There is also some 
 Horatian reminiscence in Rutilius, i, 491 ff., — 
 
 O quam saepe malis generatur origo bonorum! 
 
 Tempestas dulcem fecit amara moram. 
 Victorinus enim, nostrae pars maxima mentis® 
 Congressu explevit mutua vota suo. 
 
 Hunc ego complexus ventorum adversa fefelli, 
 510 Dum videor patriae iam mihi parte frui. 
 
 But Rutilius' style is more serious and lofty than Horace's. 
 He is prone to reflect on the greatness of the past and on prob- 
 lems of the present, in a way alien to the rapid, easy tale of the 
 journey to Brundisium. Horace wrote in a more humorous, 
 intimate, everyday manner. The lines of burlesque epic or 
 dramatic style^ which we find scattered through his satire 
 have no counterpart in Rutilius. He does not indulge in the 
 long descriptions or thoughtful, erudite allusions, so frequent 
 in Rutilius.^ We may say, in general, that while the travel 
 satires of Lucilius and Horace may have furnished Rutilius 
 a hint and a suggestion for the composition of his own poem, 
 he was far from imitating them in style. 
 
 ® Cf. Horace, Sermones, I, 5, 39 fif., also Carmina, I, 3, 8 animae dimidium 
 meae. 
 
 ^9, 10; 24, 51 ff.; 73-4; etc. 
 
 * Vessereau, 326. <
 
 LUCILLUS 
 
 LuciLLUS, about 400 a. d., is known to us only from a ref- 
 erence by Rutilius Namatianus in his poem De Reditu Suo. 
 He appears to have held some political administrative office^ 
 and to have won praise for his strict integrity in managing 
 public affairs. Besides this he was a satirist, one whom 
 Rutilius deems worthy to compare with Turnus and Juvenal : 
 
 Huius vulnificis satira ludente Camenis 
 Nee Turnus potior, nee luvenalis erit. 
 1,605 Restituit veterem eensoria lima pudorem 
 
 Dumque malos carpit, praecipit esse bones. 
 
 We may judge from this that his satire was Juvenalian in 
 style — vulnificis Camenis; but that also he was a constructive 
 critic of his fellow men, not only indicating their faults, but 
 instructing them by moral precepts to live rightly .^ 
 
 ^ De Reditu Suo, i, 612 ff. 
 
 ^ Vessereau, Claudius Rutilius Namatianus, p. 248 flf. Ribbeek, 
 Geschichte der romischen Dichtung, 3, 368. 
 
 10 135
 
 APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 
 
 C. SoLLius Apollinaris Sidonius, "the most interesting 
 literary figure of the fifth century," was born about 430, at 
 Lyons. He was of a family occupying a high social position, 
 and himself held both secular and ecclesiastical offices of 
 importance. He was " praefectiis tirbis,^' and later Bishop of 
 Clermont-Ferrand. The date of his death is not fixed with 
 certainty, but seems to have been in the 480's.^ Sidonius 
 was an ardent devotee of literature and rhetoric. His poems 
 contain many classical, mythological allusions, and his letters 
 were written with the letters of Pliny the Younger and Sym- 
 machus in mind as models. Although a Christian, he pre- 
 served largely the classical pagan atmosphere about his 
 writings. 
 
 In one of his letters,^ Sidonius tells the story of a satire, 
 and the excitement it caused, that is worth recounting some- 
 what in detail. It was at Aries, 'Hemporihus Augusti Maior- 
 iani" (457-461). There suddenly appeared an anonymous 
 writing, full of biting satirical verses, which did not indeed 
 mention any names, but severely attacked vices, and, even 
 more, individuals. The allusions were so evident, in fact, 
 that certain men were angered by them, and took the lead in 
 attempting to discover the author. One Catullinus passed 
 through the city, on a return from a visit to his friend Sidonius, 
 and on hearing portions of the poem, showed so much amuse- 
 ment that it was inferred that he must be familiar with the 
 whole; hence, that Sidonius must have been the author and 
 have read it to him, previously. Consequently, when Sidonius 
 
 ^ Ebert, Geschichte, 421 note. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, 3, 317 
 note. 
 
 2 Book I, Epistle 11. 
 
 136
 
 APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 1 37 
 
 next appeared at Aries, he was saluted with unusual fervor by- 
 some, treated coldly by others, and openly avoided by still 
 others. On inquiry he discovered that he was accused of 
 being a satirist. In astonishment he asked if the verses had 
 appeared in his handwriting; if not, it was a little early to 
 condemn him. 
 
 The next day the Emperor gave a banquet, and the guests 
 included both Sidonius and Paeonius, the person hardest hit 
 by the anonymus satirist. During the conversation so much 
 friction was apparent between Paeonius and others that some- 
 one remarked, " Gentlemen, your squabbles give a fine opening 
 for some satirist." 
 
 On this Maiorianus, turning to Sidonius, said, "I hear, 
 Count Sidonius, that you are writing satire." 
 
 "I hear so too, my lord," replied Sidonius. 
 
 "Well," said the Emperor, "I hope you will spare me." 
 
 "I spare myself," said Sidonius, "when I refrain from 
 what is forbidden." 
 
 "And what shall we do," queried the Emperor then, "with 
 those who molest you?" 
 
 Sidonius answered, "My lord Emperor, let my accuser, 
 whoever he may be, accuse me publicly. If he proves his 
 charge, I am ready to pay the penalty; but if he fails (as he 
 probably will) to make good his case, then may I be permitted 
 to write what I like against him." 
 
 Paeonius, though uneasy, dared raise no objection to this, 
 and the Emperor consented, stipulating only that Sidonius 
 should at once, extemporaneously, make his request in verse. 
 This he did, to this effect: 
 
 Scribere me satiram qui culpet, maxime princeps, 
 Hanc rogo decernans aut probet aut timeat. 
 
 The Emperor then formally gave Sidonius carte blanche 
 for his writings, remarking that he did not approve of such 
 accusations being brought against innocent noblemen by 
 private enemies.
 
 138 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 When the dinner broke up, Paeonius, completely crushed, 
 came to Sidonius and humbly besought him to pardon his 
 offence and not write a satire about him, which Sidonius 
 graciously promised not to do, and so the episode ended, to 
 the complete glory of Sidonius and the discomfiture of his 
 enemies. 
 
 It is a matter of regret that this famous satire Is lost to us. 
 But the story shows its general nature fairly clearly, and 
 Hodgkin^ is undoubtedly right in saying that Sidonius was 
 most probably the author of it, after all. He implies the 
 contrary, it is true, and affects to consider it a most unjust 
 charge, but the very exaggeration of this attitude, of the 
 astonishment which he professed to feel, the general tone of 
 quiet enjoyment and satisfaction at the situation pervading 
 the whole letter, together with his attitude toward Paeonius, 
 shown in his resume of the latter's career, all tend to show 
 that he was really the author, though he would not own up 
 to it. Certainly there is much more spice in the affair, if 
 we adopt this view, than otherwise. 
 
 We know too that Sidonius could be satirical, if he felt 
 so inclined. Carmen XII, of his poems, is a satire on the 
 Burgundians with whom he was thrown in contact, in spite of 
 his modest disavowal of such a title for his verses, in the last 
 line. This was addressed to his friend Catullinus, the same 
 who appeared in the story above related. Mr. Hodgkin's 
 verse rendering* reproduces admirably the spirit of the origi- 
 nal, which is in the hendecasyllabic meter: 
 
 Ah me, my friend, why bid me, e'en if I had the power, 
 To write the Hght Fescennine verse, fit for the nuptial bower? 
 Do you forget that I am set among the long-haired hordes, 
 That daily I am bound to bear the stream of German words, 
 That I must hear, and then must praise with sorrowful grimace 
 (Disgust and approbation both contending in my face), 
 Whate'er the gormandizing sons of Burgundy may sing, 
 
 ' Italy and her Invaders, 3, 415. 
 * Italy and her hivaders, 3, 363.
 
 APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS 1 39 
 
 While they upon their yellow hair the rancid butter fling? 
 
 Now let me tell you what it is that makes my lyre be dumb: 
 
 It cannot sound when all around barbarian lyres do hum. 
 
 The sight of all those patrons tall (each one is seven foot high), 
 
 From my poor Muse makes every thought of six-foot meters fly. 
 
 Oh! happy are thine eyes, my friend: thine ears, how happy those! 
 
 And oh! thrice happy I would call thine undisgusted nose. 
 
 'Tis not round thee that every morn ten talkative machines 
 
 Exhale the smell of onions, leeks, and all their vulgar greens. 
 
 There do not seek thy house, as mine, before the dawn of day, 
 
 So many giants and so tall, so fond of trencher-play 
 
 That scarce Alcinous himself, that hospitable king, 
 
 Would find his kitchen large enough for the desires they bring. 
 
 They do not, those effusive souls, declare they look on thee 
 
 As father's friend or foster-sire — but alas! they do on me. 
 
 But stop, my Muse! pull up! be still! or else some fool will say 
 
 "Sidonius writes lampoons again." Don't you believe them, pray! 
 
 The original is as follows: 
 
 Quid me, etsi valeam, parare carmen 
 
 Fescenninicolae iubes Diones 
 
 Inter crinigeras situm catervas 
 
 Et Germanica verba sustinentem, 
 5 Laudantem tetrico subinde vultu 
 
 Quod Burgundio cantat esculentus, 
 
 Infundens acido comam butyro? 
 
 Vis dicam tibi, quid poema frangat? 
 
 Ex hoc barbaricis abacta plectris 
 10 Spernit senipedem stilum Thalia, 
 
 Ex quo septipedes videt patronos. 
 
 Felices oculos tuos et aures 
 
 Felicemque libet vocare nasum, 
 
 Cui non allia sordidaeque caepae 
 15 Ructant mane novo decem apparatus 
 
 Quern non ut vetulum patris parentem 
 
 Nutricisque virum die nee orto 
 
 Tot tantique petunt simul Gigantes 
 
 Quot vix Alcinoi culina ferret. 
 20 Sed iam Musa tacet tenetque habenas 
 
 Faucis hendecasyllabis iocata, 
 
 Ne quisquam satiram vel hos vocaret.
 
 SECUNDINUS 
 
 From a letter of Apollinaris SIdonius/ addressed to his 
 friend Secundinus, we learn that the latter was a writer of 
 satirical verses. Sidonius refers first to certain hexameter 
 poems written by him, which, however, dealt with pleasant 
 subjects, being marriage hymns, descriptions of royal hunts, 
 etc. But recently Secundinus had written a different sort of 
 poem. In form it seems to have been an alternation of verses 
 consisting of three trochees with hendecasyllabic verses — tri- 
 plicibus trochaeis nuperin metrum hendecasyllahiimcompaginatis. 
 These verses were full of spice, wit, and sarcasm, but the 
 author was apparently handicapped in the exertion of his full 
 powers by the fact that he was satirizing actual personalities 
 of the day. Sidonius compares with Secundinus' verses a 
 veiled hit at the Emperor Constantine composed by the consul 
 Ablabius, and affixed to the gates of the Palatine: 
 
 Saturni aurea saecla quis requirat? 
 Sunt haec gemmea, sed Neroniana. 
 
 Por at that time, he says, Constantine was suspected of having 
 caused the death of his wife Fausta and his son Crispus. 
 Sidonius tells us nothing more definite about this satire 
 of Secundinus, but urges him to continue to devote his energy 
 to that branch of writing. He can find plenty of material 
 in the vices of the rulers of the state. From these references 
 it has been conjectured- that the object of Secundinus' satire 
 may have been Gundobad, king of Burgundy from 478 to 516. 
 
 1 Book 5, Epistle 8. 
 
 * Histoire Litter aire, 2, 503. 
 
 140
 
 LAMPRIDIUS 
 
 Apollinaris Sidonius, in a letter to his friend Lupus/ 
 makes us acquainted with Lampridius, who seems to have 
 been a Hterary man of some versatility. It was shortly after 
 the death of Lampridius — he had been murdered in his own 
 house by a band of robbers — that the letter was written, and 
 in it Sidonius comments at some length on his dead friend's 
 character, and literary work. He wrote, it seems, all kinds of 
 poetry — epic, lyric, bucolic, georgic, tragedy and comedy as 
 well, and also satires and declamatory orations.^ 
 
 ^ "Arpinas modo quern (i. e. Lampridius) tonante lingua 
 
 Ditat, nunc stilus aut Maronianus 
 
 Aut quo tu Latium beas, Horati, 
 
 Alcaeo melior lyristes ipso, 
 
 Et nunc inflat epos tragoediarum 
 
 Nunc comoedia temperat iocosa 
 
 Nunc flammant satirae et tyrannicarum 
 
 Declamatio controversiarum. §3. 
 
 Sidonius praises his ability as a writer: he was keen and 
 polished in his rhetoric, exact and fluent in his versification, 
 "in materia controversiali fortis et lacertosus; in satirica sol- 
 licitiis et mordax; in tragica saevus et flehilis; in comica ur- 
 banus multijormisgiie; in fescennina vernans verbis, aestiians 
 votis; in bucolica vigilax parens carminabundus ; in georgica 
 sic rusticans multum, quod nihil riisticus.''^ 
 
 It is obvious that from all this rather extravagant praise 
 we can disentangle no real clue as to the nature of the satirical 
 works referred to. It is fair to infer that they were in verse 
 form^ but we cannot prove anything about the subject matter: 
 
 1 Book 8, Epistle 11. 
 
 * Because Sidonius divides his works into orationes and poemata, §5. 
 
 141
 
 142 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 whether he was satirizing definite, concrete, contemporary 
 evils, or more general, long-standing failings of mankind, 
 such as avarice. But the wide range of his poetical activity, 
 coupled with his reverence for ancient models^ makes it probable 
 that his satires were not due to his own personal ira et studium, 
 but were a product of a desire to try his hand at all sorts of 
 literary categories. In this case their subject matter would 
 more likely have been general and universal than concrete 
 and particular. 
 
 '§8.
 
 SALVIANUS 
 
 The exact dates for the life of Salvianus cannot be told 
 with certainty. He seems to have been born, however, 
 between the years 400 and 405, and it is known that he was 
 still living when Gennadius wrote his De Viris Illustribus, 
 not later than 496. ^ Thus the span of his life may be taken 
 to coincide roughly with the fifth century of our era. He 
 was born at Treves,^ married, but afterwards embraced an 
 ascetic life, like Paulinus of Nola, and was long a resident of a 
 monastery, probably at Lerius. Later he went to Marseilles, 
 became a priest, and it was there that he produced his various 
 literary works. 
 
 The longest and most important of the extant writings of 
 Salvianus is the De Gubernatione Dei, in eight books, of which 
 the last is unfinished. This work was written "to justify the 
 ways of God to man."^ That is, it was written to combat 
 a view gaining ground in the middle of the fifth century, that 
 the value of Christianity was a sham, since the Roman world, 
 when pagan, had been strong, prosperous, and happy, while 
 now, after the universal adoption of the Christian religion, 
 it was being overrun by barbarians and suffering all kinds of 
 troubles. How was this indisputable fact to be explained? 
 queried the doubters. It must be that a great mistake had 
 been made: it could not be true that God takes an interest in 
 and actively directs the course of human affairs. 
 
 To this Salvianus replies that most people are only sham 
 Christians, that the Roman world in general is absolutely 
 and thoroughly corrupt and depraved, so that its misfortunes 
 
 ^ Chapter 68: vivii usque hodie in senectute bona. 
 2 ? Cf. De Gubernatione Dei, 6, 13, 72. 
 ^ Ampere, Histoire Litteraire de la France, 2, 169. 
 
 143
 
 144 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 are nothing more than a just punishment for its sins; and 
 that man, having deliberately neglected and disobeyed the 
 mandates of God, has no ground for complaint that God has 
 neglected him. 
 
 Such a treatment of such a theme naturally affords to a 
 skilful and earnest writer many opportunities for vivid pic- 
 tures of contemporary manners and morals, — pictures which 
 are often as vivid in their coloring as those of JuvenaH and 
 which, if trustworthy,^ furnish an invaluable source for the 
 study of social conditions under the late Roman Empire. 
 There is, as might be expected, since the author is a theologian, 
 much reliance on citations from the Scriptures, and the work 
 is dominated throughout by the half-dialogue style which 
 continually introduces possible objections, questions, and 
 counter-arguments with an inquis, and is fond of expressing 
 itself as much by rhetorical questions as by positive state- 
 ments. Whatever may have been the depth of Salvianus' 
 feeling, he was unable to put it into words with the force and 
 eloquence of an Ambrose or a Jerome. The effectiveness of 
 his denunciations is weakened by the prolixity of his style.^ 
 
 But in spite of this it will be worth our while to examine 
 some of the pictures of social and moral corruption which 
 Salvianus draws, to observe his choice of topics, his manner of 
 treatment, and to see in what way, and to what extent, his 
 style may be classed as satirical. His descriptions are at 
 least lively and detailed. "The sharpest word was not too 
 sharp for him, to characterize the Christian world in general 
 
 * Norden, Die Lateinische Liter atur im Ubergang vom AUertum zum 
 Mittelalter, in Die Kultur der Gegenwart, I, VIII, 3d ed., p. 510. 
 
 * A matter open to question, to say the least. Salvianus' tendency to 
 sweeping general statements leads one to fear that he may be exaggerating. 
 Cf. Boissier, La fin du paganisme, 2, 477, 489, and Archer in the Encyclo- 
 peda Britannica, nth ed., s. v. Salvian. 
 
 *A fact which Salvianus himself realizes: Arbitror, immo certus sum 
 fastidiosam plurimis stili huius prolixitatem fore, etc. Book 8, init. Cf. 
 Ebert, Geschichte, 464.
 
 SALVIANUS 145 
 
 as a cesspool of vices."'^ He makes no distinctions of national- 
 ity, social position, or occupation. Salvianus may have been 
 "a fifth century socialist," as he has been called,^ but his satire 
 is not directed against any class of society in particular. 
 Rich and poor, clergy and laity, nobility and slaves, whether 
 in Gaul, Spain, or Africa, receive equally severe denunciation 
 from his fluent pen. Society in general is afiflicted. Avarice 
 and drunkenness are mentioned as "those two especial and 
 wide-spread evils, "^ Never did there exist a Roman state 
 free from fraud, deceit, and perjury.^" 
 
 With bitterest sarcasm he points out how great is man's 
 failure to obey the injunctions of the Saviour. "We are so 
 far from giving up the other things along with our tunics 
 that, if we can by any possible means, we will take away 
 from our enemy both his tunic and his pallium. For so 
 devotedly do we obey the mandates of the Lord, that it is 
 not enough for us not to yield to our adversaries even in 
 respect to the smallest part of our raiment, unless, as far as 
 in us lies, if conditions allow, we wrest everything from them. 
 ... Or where is there anyone, who, if he received one blow, 
 would not return many for the one? ... So far are we from 
 doing good to others with inconvenience for ourselves, that we 
 all, for the most part, measure our own benefits by the dis- 
 advantages involved to other people. "^^ 
 
 "You will more easily find men who swear falsely, and 
 more of them," says Salvianus, "than men who 'swear not 
 at air. "^2 "Where are those who love their enemies, who do 
 good to them that persecute them, who overcome evil with 
 
 ^ Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, i, 67. Also Histoire Litteraire, 
 2, 530; Ampere, Histoire Litteraire de la France, 2, 170; Boissicr, La fin du 
 paganisme, 2, 480. 
 
 * Archer. 
 
 ^6, 13. 
 
 ^»7. 15- 
 " 3> 6. 
 '^ 3. 8.
 
 146 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 good, who turn the other cheek, who yield their goods without 
 a struggle to the plunderer? . . . For indeed, with all our 
 zeal, and all our strength, not only do we not do as we are 
 bidden, but even we do the opposite of what we are bidden. 
 For God bids that we should all be charitable one to another: 
 we injure each other with mutual hostility. God bids that 
 all men should give their goods to the poor: they actually 
 attack the property of others. God bids that everyone who 
 is a Christian should keep even his glances pure: where is 
 there one who does not involve himself in the mire of 
 fornication ?"i^ 
 
 "The very barbarians, in the same nation, at least, live at 
 peace among themselves: almost all Romans persecute each 
 other. For what citizen is not envious of his fellow? Who 
 displays the fullness of charity to his neighbor? . . . Who is 
 as near in heart as he is by blood, who is not on fire with the 
 lurid flames of ill-will, whose spirit is not dominated by rancor, 
 to whom is another's prosperity not a torture? Who does 
 not regard another's advantage as his own disadvantage?^^ 
 Who is so satisfied with his own happiness that he is willing 
 another should be happy? A new and monstrous evil is 
 abroad : it is a small matter to one if he himself is happy, 
 unless his neighbor is unhappy. "^^ 
 
 Even in its present perilous and miserable state the Roman 
 
 world is reckless and wicked. Vice does not require a soil 
 
 of peace and security in which to flourish. In the impending 
 
 wrack and ruin vice and crime alone are unharmed. "Who 
 
 thinks of the circus when a life of slavery is staring him in 
 
 the face, who laughs while fearing death? We make sport 
 
 while in fear of captivity, and placed under the dread of 
 
 death we laugh. You would think the whole Roman people 
 
 had in some way become affected by the Sardinian herbs; 
 
 "3.9- 
 
 '^ Quis non bonum alterius malum suum credit? Cf. Ambroslus, De 
 Nabuthae, 3, 11 : damnum vestrum creditis quicquid alienum est. 
 '' 5. 4-
 
 SAL VI ANUS 147 
 
 death and laughter go hand in hand. And so In almost all 
 parts of the world tears follow close after our laughter, and 
 there comes upon us even now that word of our Lord ' Woe 
 to ye who laugh, for ye shall weep'."^'' 
 
 Concrete and localized examples are drawn from the con- 
 ditions prevailing in various cities of Gaul on the eve of their 
 capture by the barbarians. In Treves, and in Cologne^^ 
 depravity and wickedness had reached such a point that these 
 cities might be said to have perished,, for all practical purposes, 
 before the invaders captured them. "The leaders of the 
 state reclined at feasts, forgetful of honor, forgetful of age, 
 forgetful of vocation, forgetful of their own names, gorged 
 with food and dissolved in wine, with mad shouts and furious 
 revelry, — nothing less than their senses, nay, since they were 
 almost always in that state, their senses were less than nothing. ^^ 
 . . . "Was not this the same ruin equally of material goods 
 and character? For omitting the other things, since every- 
 thing had fallen a victim to the two vices of avarice and 
 drunkenness (especial and universal in that place), to such 
 an extent finally did they carry their mad greed for wine, 
 that the chiefs of the city did not even arise from their ban- 
 quets when the enemy were actually entering. ... I saw 
 there lamentable things : there was nothing to choose between 
 the young and the old. There was the same vulgarity, the 
 same frivolity; everything at the same time — luxury and 
 drinking and ruin; everybody was equally engaged in sport, 
 and drunkenness, and adultery: men full of years and honors 
 gave themselves up to wantonness at the banquets, almost 
 too weak to retain life, but very mighty toward the wine, 
 infirm for walking, but powerful for drinking, swaying and 
 trembling in their steps, but masters of the dance. "^'•' 
 
 ^^ Luke, 6, 25. 7, 1,6. 
 
 1' The cities are not named, but have been so Identified. 
 18 6, 13, 74. 
 
 ^^ 6, 13, 77-8. With the thought of the last sentence cf. Juvenal, 6, 
 95 ff., where also circumstances alter cases.
 
 148 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 Salvianus refutes the objection that possibly the bulk of 
 the wickedness of the world may be confined to the lower 
 classes, from whom little better could be expected. For 
 men of rank and wealth are equally bad, even worse, for they 
 add to their other vices that of hypocrisy. What they con- 
 demn in others, they practise secretly themselves. "I deny 
 that there is anyone, no matter how great a crime he is guilty 
 of, who will concede that he ought to be punished. From 
 this it can be seen how unjust and wicked it is for us to be 
 severe on others and indulgent to ourselves; harsh to others, 
 lax to ourselves. On the same charge we punish others and 
 forgive ourselves. It is an intolerable presumption and 
 arrogance. "20 "What rich or noble man is there who pre- 
 serves his innocence, or restrains his hands from all crimes? 
 Though I need not have said 'from all crimes', — would that 
 they even refrained from the greatest crimes. . . . Let us 
 see if anyone is free from those two chief evils, as they may 
 be called, that is, either from murder, or from rape. For 
 who is there who is not bloody from the slaying of a human 
 being, or stained with vile impurity? Even one of these 
 suffices for eternal punishment, but hardly any man of wealth 
 has not committed both.''^^ 
 
 Such a sweeping statement naturally raises doubts as to its 
 own accuracy. But Salvianus viewed the world he lived in 
 through dark glasses. Of the Christian Church he says, 
 "Except a very few who flee from evils, what else is almost 
 the whole body of Christians than a sink of iniquity {sentina 
 vitiorum)? For whom will you find in the Church who is 
 not a drunkard or a spendthrift or an adulterer or a seducer 
 or a kidnapper or a gambler or a robber or a murderer? And 
 what is worse than all this, almost all these things without 
 cessation. ... I will say much more: you will more easily 
 find men guilty of all evils than not of all, more easily of the 
 
 ^^^ 4, 2. Cf. Horace, Sermones, I, 3, 20-25. 
 
 ''^3. 10, 55.
 
 SALVIANUS 149 
 
 greater crimes than of the lesser, that Is, more easily those 
 who have committed the greater crimes along with the lesser 
 than those who have committed only the lesser, without the 
 greater. "22 
 
 And again, he attacks the clergy in a manner reminding us 
 of the satire of Jerome. — Their boasted sanctity is a sham, 
 they have changed their name but not their life, their dress 
 but not their thoughts, and they think the sum of divine 
 worship lies in a costume worn, not in deeds. They are not 
 satisfied with their change, but become ambitious for worldly 
 honors they lacked before. They pass by what is permitted 
 and commit what is forbidden: they refrain from marriage 
 but do not refrain from rape.2'' 
 
 It is much worse, comments Salvianus, when evil is done 
 by one whose position makes him conspicuous and likely to 
 serve as an example. "A theft is a bad deed in every man; 
 but without doubt a senator who commits a theft is more to 
 be condemned than some person of lowly station. To all 
 men is fornication forbidden; but it is much worse if one of 
 the clergy commits fornication than if one of the people." 24 
 
 Theatrical shows, a favorite object of censure for Christian 
 moralists of all ages, do not escape condemnation by Sal- 
 vianus. In fact, many forms of vice and crime, he says, one 
 can discuss objectively, but the things done in the theater 
 cannot even be named by a good man without shame. The 
 impurities of the stage are in a class by themselves. One is 
 not corrupted if one chances to witness a robbery, or to hear 
 a blasphemous utterance; but in the theater both actors and 
 audience are equally guilty.2^ And we even dedicate to Christ 
 
 223, 9-44-45- 
 
 23 5, 10, 52-55. 
 
 2^ 4, 12, 57-58. Baluzius compares Juvenal, 8, 140 f. : 
 
 Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se 
 Crimen habet quanto maior qui peccat habetur. 
 
 =^^6, 3. 6, II.
 
 I50 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 — O monstrous madness — the spectacles of the circus and the 
 mime, a base and filthy sacrifice. How can we expect Heaven's 
 favor for our state? The churches are empty, the theaters 
 are filled. If one comes to church, not knowing there are 
 games, and hears of them, he leaves at once for the circus.^^ 
 The people are so steeped in the love of such things that the 
 first request of the people of Treves, after the destruction of 
 their city, was for the establishment of a circus! "Where 
 would you put it," demands Salvianus with bitterest irony, 
 "perhaps above the tombs and ashes, above the bones and 
 blood of the dead? For what part of the city is free from all 
 these? Where was blood not shed, or bodies piled up, or the 
 mutilated limbs of the slaughtered? Everywhere is the ap- 
 pearance of a captured city, everywhere the horror of cap- 
 tivity, everywhere the presentment of death. The wretched 
 remnants of the people huddle above the heaps of their dead, 
 and you call for a circus; the state is black from its burning, 
 and you assume the countenance of festivity ; all are mourning, 
 you are joyful.'-^ 
 
 The relations between the sexes are shown to be no less 
 terrible than those described by Juvenal. We have already 
 noticed the author's frank outright statement that practi- 
 cally no "nobilis" or "dives'' was innocent of both murder 
 and rape, and his equally bold challenge to produce a pro- 
 fessing Christian who was not an adulterer, etc. He dwells 
 on the subject again, having the following to say of Aquitania: 
 "Among the Aquitanian states indeed, what one has not 
 been, in its richest and most fashionable part, practically a 
 brothel? What man of position and wealth has not lived in 
 the mire of lust? Who has not plunged himself into the 
 abyss of the vilest licentiousness? Who has rendered to his 
 wife a husband's fidelity? In fact, as far as concerns the 
 submission to his desires, who has not reduced his wife to 
 
 ^' 6, 7, 38. 
 "6, 15,89.
 
 SALVIANUS 151 
 
 the level of a servant-maid, and degraded the sacrament of 
 honorable marriage to the point where no one in the household 
 should seem to be less valued in the eyes of the husband than 
 she who was, from the dignity of matrimony, the head?"-^ 
 
 But by far the most fiery, vigorous, and unrestrained de- 
 nunciation of the whole work is that levelled at the people of 
 the province of Africa. Most nations, says Salvianus, have 
 some especial failing, but it is usually in a measure balanced 
 by some good characteristic. For example, the Goths are 
 treacherous, but chaste; the Alans unchaste, but not so treach- 
 erous; the Franks mendacious, but hospitable; the Saxons 
 extremely cruel, but admirably chaste. But among the 
 Africans no good qualities can be found at all. "Si accusanda 
 est inhumanitas, inhiimani sunt; si ebrietas, ehriosi; si falsitas, 
 fallacissimi; si dolus , fraiiduleyitissimi; si cupiditas, cupidissimi; 
 si perfidia, perfidissimi.'' "I do not include their impurity 
 and irreverence with all these things, because in the wicked- 
 nesses that I have mentioned they surpass the crimes of other 
 nations, but in these respects they surpass even their own."^^ 
 
 Then in more detail he enlarges upon the sexual immorality 
 of the Africans. It is enormous, it is almost incredible that 
 these people can be really human beings: it is as rare and un- 
 heard of for an African not to be unchaste as for him not to be 
 an African .^*^ "For I see a state as it were saturated with 
 vices, I see a city teeming with all kinds of wickedness, full 
 indeed of people, but more so of evil, full of wealth, but more 
 so of vice,^^ men outdoing each other in turn in the baseness 
 of their crimes, some contesting in greed, others in impurity, 
 some feeble from drink, others stuffed with undigested food, 
 
 287,16. 
 
 "7. 15-64. 
 
 ^° 7, 16, 66. 
 
 ^1 There is an untranslatable word-play here: video urbem . . . 
 plenani quidem turbis, sed magis tiirpiludinibus, plenam divitiis, sed magis 
 vitiis," etc. 
 
 li
 
 152 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUB'^EQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 these crowned with garlands, those smeared with unguents, 
 all lost in a varying dry-rot of luxury, not all indeed intoxi- 
 cated with wine, but yet all drunk with evil deeds."^^ And 
 further: "As far as concerns the common people, who in 
 that so innumerable number has kept himself chaste? Chaste 
 do I say? Who has not been a seducer and an adulterer? 
 and that without cessation or end? . . . No matter how 
 diligently you might seek among those thousands, hardly 
 even in the Church could you find a chaste person. "^^ 
 
 Enough examples have been adduced to show the nature 
 of the De Gubernatione Dei, as far as concerns the material 
 illustrative of moral and social conditions contained therein. 
 The style is highly rhetorical and monotonous, there are 
 repetitions, and the material might have been arranged and 
 dealt with in a more logical and compact manner. But with 
 all these defects, the work has its points of interest. The 
 descriptions of contemporary conditions, though unrestrained 
 and overdrawn, are deadly in earnest and represent a type of 
 satirical writing far removed, in its crudity, from the able 
 verses of Juvenal, but equally sincere, if not more so. 
 
 Another work of Salvianus which demands our attention 
 for a moment is the work in four books Adversus Avaritiam, 
 or, as the manuscript authority calls it, Timothei ad ecclesiam 
 catholicam. This was written under the pseudonym of 
 Timotheus, but there is no doubt that Salvianus was the 
 author, from references in his own other writings. This work 
 has been called a satire f* and the author's motive in writing 
 it, as described by himself in a letter to his friend Salonius,'^ 
 is strikingly like the motive avowed by Juvenal in his first 
 satire; "Now therefore that writer whom we are speaking of, 
 seeing the serious and manifold diseases (morbos) of almost 
 
 '2 7, 16, 70. 
 
 ''7. i7> 75- 
 
 '* Histoire Littcraire, 2, 524. Cf. Ampere, Histoire Litteraire de la France 
 
 2, 168. 
 
 '^ Epistle 9.
 
 '"" SALVIANUS 153 
 
 all Christians, and how that by all in the Church not only 
 were all things not counted of less value than God, but almost 
 everything of more value: for it is evident that the drunken 
 reject God in their drunkenness, and the greedy in their 
 greed, and the lustful in their lusts, and the bloodthirsty in 
 their bloodshed, and nearly all men in all these: and this is all 
 the more serious, because not only are these things most 
 outrageously and continually done, but they are not even 
 remedied afterwards by repentance," etc., " . . . . and since, 
 the marrow of his bones being aflame with sacred zeal, he 
 could not do otherwise in such a ferment, he burst into a cry 
 of pain" (iti vocem doloris ertipit). 
 
 But as a matter of fact, a study of the work fails to show 
 evidence for calling it satirical. It is labelled "Against avar- 
 ice," but of avarice in the ordinary sense of the word, in that 
 employed by Horace, for instance, there is no mention, and 
 consequently no censure. Indeed, we may fairly infer that 
 parsimony in the possessor of great wealth would not have 
 been counted so great an evil, but even a positive merit, in 
 Salvianus' eyes, — provided the wealthy man bequeathed his 
 property to the Church .^"^ The main thesis of the whole 
 work, which would have been twice as effective if half as long, 
 is an appeal to rich men to devote their property to the 
 service of God, instead of spending it on secular affairs. All 
 men are sinners to a greater or less degree, the author argues, 
 and in any case are so much indebted to God for blessings re- 
 ceived that all their property would be small enough an offering 
 in return. Much wealth endangers the future salvation of 
 its possessor, as no rich man can possibly go to heaven; and 
 this fact should outweigh all such foolish sentiments as the 
 desire to leave one's children provided for, etc. 
 
 There are occasional passages where Salvianus adopts a 
 somewhat satirical manner. For example, in Book 3, chapters 
 
 ^^ Adversus Avaritiam, 4, 6.
 
 154 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 19-20, is an ironical description of the hypocritical relatives 
 of the rich man, eagerly waiting for him to die, and grumbling 
 at his delay. "You see these men, of the most rich and splen- 
 did mode of life, weeping, with sad faces and joyous attire, 
 displaying to you countenances composed into a sorrowful 
 expression, purchasing with their imaginary grief your heri- 
 tage. Who would not be moved by so great dutifulness, by 
 such grief? or how, when you see such things as these, can 
 you not forget yourself? For you see the tears they squeeze 
 out, the simulated sighs, the pretended anxiety, not hoping 
 that you will recover, but waiting until you die; you see the 
 eyes of all fixed upon you, as if finding fault with the slowness 
 of your decease. . . . See them, longing for your heritage 
 and already dividing your substance among themselves; they 
 who do not love you, but your patrimony, who even curse you, 
 through eagerness for your goods. For while they impatiently 
 thirst for your property, they hate you, and look upon your 
 presence as a rival and opponent to themselves, regard the 
 fact that you still live as an obstacle and stumbling-block 
 to their greed." 
 
 Such a description as this is of course real satire, against 
 a certain form of avarice, and reminds us more of Horace 
 that the satire of the De Guhernatione Dei. But it is only 
 introduced by the way, to show the ingratitude and lack of 
 appreciation of the sort of heirs who generally inherit one's 
 property, and hence the advantage of devoting it rather to 
 some holy purpose. But, contrary to what one might suppose, 
 the work as a whole is not a satire against avarice.
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 That type of writing which we are accustomed to call 
 "satirical" did not perish utterly with the palmy days of 
 Roman literature any more than it sprang into existence, 
 full-fledged and unconnected with previous writings, with 
 that age. As we have seen, there continued to be, from time 
 to time, in the centuries following the time of Juvenal, various 
 avowedly satirical poets, whose works have vanished, so that 
 they are mere names to us, but who were classed by their 
 contemporaries — for publication at least — with the great 
 masters of satire of an earlier day. And we need not neces- 
 sarily assume that the loss of their writings indicates inferiority. 
 Too much inferior writing has survived, and superior perished, 
 to justify that. But they were not, perhaps, widely circulated, 
 there was less chance of the preservation of one out of few 
 copies than one out of many, interest in literature was grad- 
 ually declining, and so for one reason or another the satires of 
 Tetradius, Lucillus, Secundinus, and the others, were lost. 
 
 In the great world-wide conflict attendant on the rise and 
 establishment of a new religion, satire proved to be a favorite 
 weapon in the hands of its apologists. Keen minds trained in 
 rhetoric or the law were quick to seize upon the inconsistencies 
 and immoralities of the hoary collection of heathen myths and 
 legends as fit subjects for satirical treatment. The con- 
 notation of the word will not allow us, perhaps, to speak of 
 these apologetical writings as "satires," but it is entirely 
 justifiable to regard them as to a large extent satirical, — as 
 works in which a satirical style and satirical treatment, were 
 elements much relied on for effectiveness. 
 
 Again, after the heat of this conflict was over, after Chris- 
 tianity had become the predominant religious faith in the 
 
 155
 
 156 LATIN SATIRICAL WRITING SUBSEQUENT TO JUVENAL 
 
 empire, writers of a satirical turn of mind once more directed 
 their energies against vice and wickedness and folly. Some- 
 times it is possible to point out a definite spot in the satires of 
 Horace or of Juvenal which may have afforded a text or a 
 suggestion to another author. Sometimes it is a faint echo 
 of phraseology, a similar stylistic device, or the same general 
 tone, which stimulates our recollection. Prudentius' attacks 
 on gladiatorial shows, and his disquisitions on the luxury 
 which pandered to all five senses of the body, remind us of the 
 ancient satirists, and so oftentimes do the keen and clever 
 diatribes against luxury and avarice of Hieronymus and 
 Ambrosius.^ The same thoughts kept cropping out, and it 
 would be strange indeed if in the expression of these thoughts 
 we did not find resemblance. The main difference is that 
 instead of grouping their thoughts of this nature into one "far- 
 rago^' and calling it "a satire," these writers were content to 
 incorporate them in larger works, works partly of another na- 
 ture, and called by other names. Perhaps this was more ef- 
 fective, as to call a man a writer of satire in those days was 
 not always to increase his popularity. 
 
 Nor did the element of personal satire fail to manifest itself. 
 We have still two anonymous " carmina'' which attack indi- 
 vidual representatives of the dying paganism; we have Clau- 
 
 ^ The Christian preacher who, like Ambrosius, employs the pen of satire, 
 is really the successor of the wandering Stoic or Cynic philosopher who 
 preached on the street-corners in classical timees. He has a more definite 
 status in society, and the prestige of the organization of which he is a 
 member does its share in attracting his audience; but the "sermon," as a 
 moral discourse, is not so far from the " sermo" as Horace used the word. 
 One needs merely to remember such a passage as the words of Stertinius 
 in Horace, Serm, H, 3, 77-81, to realize the similarity: 
 
 Audire atque togam iubeo componere, quisquis 
 
 Ambitione mala aut argenti pallet amore, 
 
 Quisquis luxuria tristive superstitione 
 80 Aut alio mentis morbo calet; hue propius me 
 
 Dum doceo insanire omnis vos ordine, adite.
 
 CONCLUSION 157 
 
 dian's brilliant epic-satirical poems against Rufinus and 
 Eutropius, and Rutilius Namatianus' attack on Stilicho; not 
 to mention such productions as the ^^ Contra Vigilantium" 
 of St. Jerome. 
 
 We must not fall into the easy error of believing that after 
 the Golden Age, or even after the Silver Age, of Latin litera- 
 ture, nothing worth while was produced. Post-classical 
 Latin has received less than its due attention, but it has its 
 points, after all, and will in time receive its proper valuation; 
 and readers will see that in this field, as well as in the earlier, 
 the element of satirical writing occupies no unimportant place.
 
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 INDEX 
 
 Abuccius, 9. 
 
 Ambrosius, 49, 50, 156; 
 
 life, 70-71; De Tohia, 71 ff.; 
 De Helta et leiunio, 73 ff.; De 
 Nabuthae, 77 ff. 
 
 Apollinaris Sidonius, 140, 141; 
 life, 136; and the anonymous 
 satire, 136 ff.; poem on the 
 Burgundians, 138 f. 
 
 Apuleius, 
 
 satires, 14; Metamorphoses, 14 ff. 
 
 Arnobius, 
 
 life and nationality, 31; Adversus 
 Nationes, 31 ff.; St. Jerome's 
 judgment on, 36; value of his 
 work, 36. 
 
 Ausonius, 37 ff.; 
 
 letter to Tetradius, 37-38; Epi- 
 grams, 38; and Lucilius, 38-39; 
 and Horace, 39. 
 
 Bion of Borysthenes, 3. 
 
 Carmen ad Senator em, 61 ff., 
 
 156. 
 Carmen contra Paganos, 57 ff., 
 
 156. 
 
 Claudian, 
 
 life and nationality, 1 01; In 
 Rufimim, 102-108, 157; In Eutro- 
 pium, 108-116, 157, compared 
 with the In Rufinum, 116-117; 
 and Juvenal, 117-118; and Lucil- 
 ius, Birt's argument, 118-I19; 
 De Bel Gildonico, 119; Carmina 
 minorla, 120. 
 
 Comm odianus, 
 
 life and nationality, 26-27; Car- 
 men Apologeticum, 27; Instruc- 
 itones, 27 ff. 
 
 Conington, John, 
 
 on originality of Roman satire, 
 
 2-3- 
 
 Cornutus, 3; 
 
 a satirist (?), 9 note. 
 
 Cresconius, 69. 
 
 Crispinus, 7-8. 
 
 Dryden, John, 
 on satire, 4. 
 
 Fictitious interlocutor, 20, 29, 
 32, 81, 126. 
 
 Hieronymus, 
 
 judgment on Arnobius, 36; life, 
 82; letter to Eustochium, 83 fiF.; 
 controversial writings, 92 ff.; 
 Contra Vigilantium, 92-93; Ad- 
 versus Helvidium, 93, 95; Adversus 
 lovinianum, 93-94, 96; Adversus 
 Rufinum, 94; and contemporary 
 mimes, 98; as a satirist, 98 ff. 
 
 Horace, 
 
 on Roman satire, 2, 4; influenced 
 by Greek philosophical moralists, 
 3; not the only satirist of his time, 
 7 ff.; a reformer, 70. 
 
 loannes Lydus, ii. 
 
 Julius Caesar, 
 Anticatones, 9. 
 
 Juvenal, 
 
 spirit of, 4, 70. 
 
 Lampridius, 141. 
 
 Lenaeus, 9, 12. 
 
 Lucian, 
 
 Aomtos r) ovos, 14. 
 
 Lucilius, 5, 7, 12; 
 
 dependent on the Greek Old 
 Comedy, 2. 
 
 Lucilius, 135, 155- 
 
 Lucius of Patrae, 
 
 Mera/Aop^wcreis of, 1 5. 
 Maximus of Tyre, 3. 
 Musonius, 4. 
 Old Comedy, 
 
 and Roman satire, i, 2. 
 
 164
 
 INDEX. 
 
 16.=; 
 
 Orbilius Pupilius Beneven- 
 tanus, 9. 
 
 Orientius, 
 
 life, 125; Commonitoriwn, 125 ff. ; 
 and Juvenal, 128. 
 
 Paulinus of Nola, 64 ff. ; 
 and Prudentius, 68. 
 
 Petronius, 
 
 as a satirist, 7, 9, 11. 
 
 Philo, 4. 
 
 Pliny the Younger, 12. 
 
 Plutarch, 4. 
 
 Prudentius, 
 
 life and nationality, 43; Psycho- 
 machia, 43-44; Apotheosis, 44- 
 45; Hamarligenia, 45-49; Contra 
 Symmachum, 49 ff. ; and Juvenal, 
 
 46, 49.51. 
 QuintiHan, 
 
 on satire as a Roman invention, 
 
 2, 6. 
 RutiHus Namatianus, 11, 135, 
 
 157; 
 
 life, 129; De Reditu Suo, 129 ff., 
 
 as a satire, 130 ff., and Horace, 
 
 133-134- 
 
 Salvianus, 
 
 life, 143; De Guhernatione Dei, 
 143 ff.; and Juvenal, 144, 152; 
 Adversus Avaritiam, 152 ff.; and 
 Horace, 154. 
 
 Satira, 
 
 origin and early use of word, i ; 
 use by Horace, i; definition of 
 Suetonius (Diomedes), i. 
 
 Satire, 
 
 as a Roman invention, 2; in- 
 fluenced by Old Comedy, 2, by 
 Greek popular philosophy, 3; 
 
 difficulty of exact definition of, 5; 
 fundamental ba.sis of, 5; as a 
 "carmen maledicum," 6; subse- 
 quent to Juvenal, 9-10, 155 ff.; 
 and preaching, 70, 156 note; use 
 of personal names in, 99 note, 
 123 f. 
 
 Secundinus, 140, 155. 
 
 Seneca, 
 
 satire on Claudius, 5, 7, 9, 108; 
 Epistle 86, 6. 
 
 Sentius Augurinus, 12. 
 
 Sevius Nicanor, 9. 
 
 Silius (Proculus?), 12. 
 
 S. Paulini Epigramma, 121; 
 and Horace, 122 note. 
 
 St. Jerome. See Hieronymus. 
 
 Sulpicia, 42. 
 
 Superstition, 36 note. 
 
 Symmachus, 
 Relatio, 49 ff. 
 
 Teles, 3. 
 
 Tertullian, 
 
 life and nationality, 16; style, 
 16, 25; De Pallio, 17 ff.; Apolo- 
 geticum, 21 ff.; Adversus Nationes, 
 23 note; Adversus Valentinianos, 
 23 f. ; De Spectaculis, 24; De 
 Cultii Feminarum, 24; De Pudi- 
 citia, 24; De leiuniis, 24. 
 
 Tetradius, 41, 155. 
 
 Theophrastus, 
 De Nuptiis, 96 f. 
 
 Trebonius, 9. 
 
 Turnus, 11-12. 
 
 Varro, 20. 
 
 Varro Atacinus, 7. 
 
 Vergilius Romanus, 12-13.
 
 7 9 2 3
 
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