A Juvenal Satire

So, in response to my earlier post, I think it would be interesting to draw a parallel. In a history class here at BYU, we have been studying the writer Juvenal, a Roman who lived during the height of the Roman Empire's dominance. He is the father of satire, and one of his writings complains about many of the same points that I mentioned in my post about the United States. Let's see a few...

Hunger / Poverty
It's not surprising to see Juvenal talk about real poverty. He tells a story of a man named Codrus who suffered from want. "Poor Codrus had nothing, it is true: but he lost that nothing, which was his all; and the last straw in his heap of misery is this, that though he is destitute and begging for a bite, no one will help him with a meal, no one offer him lodging or shelter." He talks about the unfairness of the wealth of those outside of Rome, while in the great empire's capital they "perish for want of sleep...for who but the wealthy get sleep in Rome?" He goes into great detail, but it suffices to say that there is a lot of this in Rome, around our very communities and not too far from our homes.

Violence
We all know about the Coliseum, and the gladiator fights there, among other things. Juvenal mentions that once-good men now "hold shows of their own, and win applause by slaying whomsoever the mob...bids them slay," showing a kind of de-evolution. I think this happens all too often here in the USA. For starters, our culture is saturated more than ever with a love of blood and violence. That can easily rub off and take away our ability to recognize good humanity.

Dishonesty
Juvenal talks about men always trying to be something they aren't, mostly to impress their friends and neighbors. Sometimes, people will even take advantage of others to improve themselves. He states that, "In Rome, every one dresses smartly, above his means, and sometimes something more than what is enough is taken out of another man's pocket." There is a great falseness about the greatness of Rome, and though it seems nice on the outside, it is apparently just barely contained poverty and corruption. Sometimes that describes how our "American Dream" may really be perceived. "A man's word is believed in exact proportion to the amount of cash which he keeps in his strong-box," and that reflects in many of the lead innovators and celebrities of the day.

Immorality
This isn't a new problem; in fact, the wide-spread presence of immorality in a culture usually is a sign of its nearing fall. Here Juvenal says that to a Roman, "there is nothing sacred to his lusts: not the matron of the family, nor the maiden daughter, not the as yet unbearded son-in-law to be...if none of these be there, he will debauch his friend's grandmother." There is such an eager immorality in our country as well, and I hope that people can go back to the traditional values soon.

Intolerance
This seemed to be another problem for Juvenal's Rome. He says, "And what of this, that the poor man gives food and occasion for jest if his cloak be torn and dirty...?" He hates the fact that tolerance is based on material wealth. Juvenal bemoans, "Of all the woes of luckless poverty none is harder to endure than this, that it exposes men to ridicule." It's very unfair, and can still be seen all over America. We judge people by what they have or where they come from, not who they are.