The Satires
Rome's angriest poet on the city, women, patrons and the vanity of human wishes, in Gifford's couplets.
What this poem is
The Satires (Latin: Saturae) are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written between 100–127 A.D.
The Satires address perceived threats to society, such as socially ascendant foreigners, infidelity, and the extreme excesses of the Roman aristocracy. Juvenal's audience was highly educated, and his dense poems are laced with historical and mythological allusions.
The first book of Satires probably dates to 100 AD. The fifth book likely dates to a point after 127, because of a reference to the Roman consul Lucius Aemilius Juncus in Satire 15. Between these two books, Juvenal wrote seven additional satires that are organized in three books. Satire 6 was written shortly after the first book and serves as a companion piece.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article “Satires (Juvenal)” (revision 1370062425), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. Laurel's own notes and measurements are not from Wikipedia.
Measured across the book
Across its 5,605 lines, 96% of stressed syllables fall on the beat (95% interval 96% to 96%). Alliteration runs at 1.03 times what shuffling the words would give (0.35 observed against 0.34 expected). 5% of the lines have a feminine ending.
Baselines and intervals are described in the methods.
Contents
About this text
Public domain. Text from The Satires, Project Gutenberg ebook #50657. Free to read, print, copy and reuse.