Download Although Horace`s and Juvenal`s satires differed

Sarah Lynn Duquette
12/14/14
Humanities Essay
Horatian vs. Juvenalian Satire
Two of the most famous satiric authors, Horace and Juvenal, set the stage for all writers
of satire to come. Each of the authors had a style of writing that was set apart by the tone that
his piece had. Both Horace and Juvenal lampooned their subjects, but the ways that they used
lampoon were different. Horace used satiric elements such as self-deprecation and ridicule to
make his satire amusing, or funny and lighthearted. Juvenal, on the other hand, used different
satiric elements, sarcasm and hyperbole for example, to make his satire much darker and more
attacking.
Although Horace’s and Juvenal’s satires differed from each other, there were some
satiric elements common to both the Horatian and the Juvenalian pieces. One common element
in the two was lampoon. Both satires were designed to make fun of something; the Horatian
piece made fun of slave owners and the upper class, and the Juvenal’s piece made fun of Rome
and Romans. Such descriptions of Horace as a harlot in “My Slave is Free to Speak his Mind,”
and of the Roman dress trends in “Satire III” showed this lampooning. The main differences
between Horace’s and Juvenal’s satiric pieces were the severity and the ways in which they
lampooned their subjects.
In Horatian satire, the literary elements used are mainly incorporated for the purpose of
comic relief. One of these elements is self-deprecation. Horace’s satire portrayed the main
character, also named Horace, as a slightly despicable person. Despite the fact that the piece
was set during Saturnalia, a time when slaves could speak their minds as they wished, Horace
threatened to stone and punish Davus if he kept talking. In this way, Horace was creating a
negative persona for himself, allowing the reader to laugh at the bad character. The selfdeprecation in Horace’s satire included ridicule, another technique Horace used to make his
satire more amusing. The ridicule, or mockery for the purpose of amusement, was very light
hearted as opposed to dark and critical. Davus ridiculed Horace in the satire in most of what he
said, such as, “At Rome, you long for the country; when you are in the country, fickle, you extol
the absent city to the skies.” By using self-deprecation in the form of ridicule, Horace’s satire
was rather amusing.
Unlike the tone of Horatian satire, which is light and amusing, the tone of Juvenalian
satire is much more harsh and hurtful at times. Juvenal accomplished this tone by using
different satiric elements than Horace. For example, Juvenal’s satiric piece was laden with
hurtful sarcasm against Rome. In the piece, Juvenal criticizes everything possible about Rome,
from the professions to the clothing, and attacks it all with a very sarcastic tone. Along with the
sarcasm, Juvenal used many hyperboles to make everything about Rome seem much worse
than it actually was. For example, Juvenal described Rome’s “drunken bully” as being “twice
one’s size and fighting-mad as well.” He also stated that Rome stripped him of all money, and
that he was going to have to live off of scarce amounts of it. These, along with many other
exaggerations, made Rome and its inhabitants out to be a lot worse than they were. By using
hurtful sarcasm and untrue hyperboles, Juvenal’s satire was much more biting than Horace’s
lighthearted satire.
Juvenal and Horace, two pioneers of satirical writing, each used different types of satiric
elements to lampoon his subjects. Whereas Juvenal used sarcasm and hyperbole to write pieces
that attacked, Horace used ridicule and self-degradation to make his satire seem funny. The
goal of satire is to bring about change, and each type sought to change different things:
Horatian satire focused on smaller issues than Juvenalian satire did, such as the behavior of the
upper class rather than all of Roman society. These pieces of satire show that there are many
different options available for the use of authors, and that different available elements can help
to change different things. All of these elements can be seen in modern satire, attempting to
change similar problems to the problems in Juvenal’s and Horace’s times.