Juvenal - Ancient Rome - Classical Literature Back to Top of Page Juvenal was a Roman poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature, the last and most powerful of all the Roman satirical poets. His biting �Satires� could be read as a brutal critique of pagan Rome, although their exaggerated, comedic mode of expression makes such an assumption at best debatable. Biography Back to Top of Page Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (known in English as Juvenal) was born in Aquino, a small town in the Lazio region of Italy, either the son or the adopted son of a rich freedman (freed slave). Trustworthy biographical information is extremely sparse. Some sources place his date of birth at 55 CE, and other traditions have him surviving for some time past the year of Hadrian's death (138 CE), but these dates are at best imprecise. As he did not dedicate his work, it is usually assumed that he did not have a patron and so may have been independently wealthy, although for a time it seems that he was also very poor and dependent on the charity of the rich people of Rome.

He became an officer in the army as a first step to a career in the administrative service of the Emperor Domitian, but grew embittered when he failed to obtain promotion. Most biographers have him living out a period of exile in Egypt, possibly due to a satire he wrote declaring that court favourites had undue influence in the promotion of military officers, or possibly due to an insult to an actor with a high level of court influence. It is not clear whether the banishing emperor was Trajan or Domitian, nor whether he died in exile or was recalled to Rome before his death (the latter seems the most likely). Writings Back to Top of Page Juvenal is credited with sixteen numbered poems, the last unfinished or at least poorly preserved, divided into five books. They are all in the Roman genre of �satura� or satire, wide-ranging discussions of society and social mores in dactylic hexameter. Book One, containing "Satires 1 - 5", which describe in retrospect some of the horrors of Emperor Domitian�s tyrannical reign, was probably issued between 100 and 110 CE.

The remaining books were published at various intervals up to an estimated date for Book 5 of about 130 CE, although firm dates are not known. Technically, Juvenal�s poetry is very fine, clearly structured and full of expressive effects in which the sound and rhythm mimic and enhance the sense, with many trenchant phrases and memorable epigrams. His poems attack both the corruption of society in the city of Rome and the follies and brutalities of mankind in general, and show a wrathful scorn towards all representatives of what Roman society of the time thought of as social deviance and vice. Satire VI, for example, more than 600 lines long, is a ruthless and vitriolic denunciation of the folly, arrogance, cruelty and sexual depravity of Roman women.

Juvenal�s "Satires" are the source of many well-known maxims, including �panem et circenses� (�bread and circuses�, with the implication that these are all that the common people are interested in), �mens sana in corpore sano� (�a sound mind in a sound body�), �rara avis� (�rare bird�, referring to a perfect wife) and �quis custodiet ipsos custodes?� (�who will guard the guardians themselves?� or �who will watch the watchers?�). The originator of the genre of verse satires is usually deemed to have been Lucilius (who was famed for his vitriolic manner), and Horace and Persius were also well-known proponents of the style, but Juvenal is generally considered to have taken the tradition to its height. However, he was clearly not that well known in Roman literary circles of the period, being all but unmentioned by his contemporary poets (with the exception of Martial) and completely excluded from Quintilian's 1st Century CE history of satire.

In fact, it was not until Servius, in the late 4th Century CE, that Juvenal received some belated recognition. Major Works Juvenal Biography - Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline Writers Juvenal Biography Juvenal was a famous ancient Roman poet who wrote the critically acclaimed the âSatiresâ. Read more about the life and works of this influential poet in the following article. Quick Facts Died on 130 AD Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis, popularly known as Juvenal, was a Roman poet active in the period between late 1st and early 2nd century AD. He was the author of the famous work, the âSatiresâ. There isnât much information about his life but the references to the known people of the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD in his works helps to fix the date of their composition. His writings follow the corrosive manner of Lucilius, who originated the genre of Roman satire and holds the poetic tradition that also included Horace and Persius.

Juvenal wrote around 16 poems in dactylic hexameter, in which he had covered an encyclopedic range of topics across the Roman world. His important work, the âSatiresâ, provide a critical source for the study of ancient Rome from a vast number of perspectives. Juvenal Childhood & Life The present available evidences aren’t enough to locate the precise details of Juvenal’s life. His well-known biography, “Vita Iuvenalis“ (Life of Juvenal) was actually nothing more than an inference from the “Satires” themselves. According to traditional biographies like “Vita Iuvenalis”, Juvenal was son of a rich freedman. It was said that he was a pupil of Quintillian, and to have practiced rhetoric till he was middle-aged, both as amusement and for legal purposes. He started his career of satirist in the later phase of his life. Few of the biographies put the location of his birth at Aquinum. Only one of these traditional biographies states that he was born in 55 AD.

Many of these biographies agree on the fact that Juvenal spent a part of his life in exile, most probably because of insulting an actor with high levels of court influence. It further said that he was banished by Emperor Domitian. Most of these biographies place the location of his exile at Egypt except one which states that he went to Scotland for exile. Some of these biographies affirm that he died in exile while others avow that he was recalled to Rome. There are still uncertainties over the reliability of the content of these biographies. As such, it cannot be predicted as to how much content of these biographies is fiction or factual. The majority of the available details about him are mere deductions from his writings but some elements appear more substantial than others. Juvenal had never mentioned about a period of exile in his writings, but the fact of his exile was there in most of the surviving biographies. Many scholars consider the whole idea of exile an invention of later people. The “Satires” mentions about Egypt and Britain; which is probably why the idea that Juvenal was exiled in these locations has evolved. Some scholars, especially Gilbert Highet, believe that the exile actually took place and is factual.

These scholars also estimate a fix period for the exile, from 93 AD until 96 AD, when Nerva became Emperor. In 96 AD, when Domitian was assassinated, Juvenal returned to Rome. He had no money or career and had to live on the charity of the rich. Based on the autobiographical information provided in the “Satire 11”, his condition improved in few years and in later years of his life, he lived comfortably in Rome and also had a farm at Tibur. The later satires show a relative change in his tone and some elements of human kindness. Even though there is no exact reference to his death, he probably died in or after 127 AD. Works Juvenal was best known for his significant 16 satiric poems, collectively known as the “Satires”. These poems mainly describe about the life of Rome under the rule of various Emperors such as Domitian, Nerva, Trajan and Hadrian. These poems were published separately at intervals in five books. The first Book or the Book One had satires 1-5 which described the horrors of Domitian’s dictatorial reign.

It was published between 100 AD and 110 AD. The second Book contained a single enormous Satire 6 and had references to the year 115 AD. The third Book comprised of Satires 7, 8 and 9. This book opened with the praise of Emperor Hadrian who was said to be a great admirer of literature. He endowed a literary institute to help authors. The Book Four had Satires 10, 11 and 12. The last and final Book Five contained Satires 13-16. This book also had two references to the year 127 AD. These “Satires” are based on two prominent themes, the corruption of the society in Rome and the indulgences and the brutalities of the mankind. In the first Satire, Juvenal describes that the vice, crime and abuse of wealth had reached such a point that he could easily write satire but it was dangerous to lash out powerful men in their lifetime so he preferred taking examples from dead. However, he didn’t follow this principle uniformly and sometimes, made examples from living contemporaries.

In Satire 2, he mocks the passive male homosexuals and in Satire 9, he mocks on both active and passive homosexuals. The third Satire, a friend of Juvenal writes why he left the crowded and corrupt Rome. He said that Rome has been ruined by Greeks and other immigrants and he is abandoning his life of a dependent in the city to live in a peaceful and quiet country. In the Satire 4, he writes how the Domitian called his cabinet to discuss an idiotic petty problem of cooking a large turbot on an ordinary pan. In the fifth Satire, he mocks on a dependent man by describing the humiliation he has to face whenever his patron invites him to dinner. Satires 6, consists of a massive 600 line poem and ruthlessly speaks about the cruelty, arrogance and sexual depravity of Roman women. In the seventh Satire Juvenal describes the poverty and wretchedness of Roman intellects that were unable to receive decent rewards for their work. Satire 8 attacks on the craze of hereditary nobility.

Satire 10 is one of his best poems and describes how the ambitions of mankind like wealth, power, glory and personal beauty leads to disappointment or problems whereas the mankind should look forward to a sound mind in a sound body and a brave heart. The eleventh Satire shows how he invites an old friend to a quiet dinner and discusses the excessively showy feasts of rich people. Satire 12 is a small poem pointing out the difference between true and mercenary friendship. In Satire 13, he consoles a friend and sarcastically speaks how such misdeeds are common. The Satire 14, denounces those parents who teach avarice to their children. In Satire 15, he describes how a riot in Egypt tore a man into pieces and ate him showing that man is crueler than animals. In Satire 16, he declares that he will survey the privileges to professional soldiers but the poems remained incomplete after line 60. Influence For long time, Juvenal’s work remained forgotten till 200 AD when the Christian propagandist Tertullian started reading and quoting his works. Later, his works were read and studied by other Christian authors and pagan students of literature.

Juvenal was later imitated by many satirists like Giovanni Boccaccio, Nicolas Boileau and Lord Byron. His work, the “Satires” inspired many authors including Samuel Johnson who based his “London” on Satire 3 and his “The Vanity of Human Wishes” on Satire 10. The Roman Empire: in the First Century. The Roman Empire. Writers. Juvenal | PBS Historians were the journalists of the Roman age The last great Roman satirist, Juvenal (c.55 ï¿½ 127 AD) became famous for his savage wit and biting descriptions of life in Rome. The invisible man Little is known of Juvenalï¿½s life beyond his satire. His name only appears once, in a poem written to him by his friend, Martial. It is believed that Juvenal was born to a prosperous family in central Italy. After military service, it is thought that he began a career in the Roman civil service under the Emperor Domitian , where he failed to gain promotion. Bitter and twisted Stuck in this rut, he grew bitter and turned to satire.

His first piece, in which he claimed that court favorites had too much say in the promotion of officers, caused trouble. His property was confiscated and he was banished to Egypt. In 96 AD, after Domitian was murdered, Juvenal returned to Rome. With no money or career, he struggled to survive and was forced to live on the reluctant generosity of the upper classes. The Satires Between 100 and 127 AD, he published five books containing 16 satiric poems. The Satires, as they became known, attacked cruelty, foolishness and the corruption of Roman society. The most famous of these works was the third satire. In this, a man is leaving a Rome he finds crowded and full of foreigners to live in a small, sleepy provincial town: Juvenal contrasts the corruption of the city with the older, simpler way of life still found in the countryside. Savage humor Juvenal was the most savage of all the Roman satirists. He wrote of his work that ï¿½indignation creates my poetry.ï¿½ He took aim at women, homosexuals, intellectuals and the nobility.

In the fourth satire, he tells how the Emperor Domitian summoned his top advisers to solve a ludicrous problem ï¿½ how to cook a fish too large for any pan. Together, the 16 satires paint a vivid picture of the Rome he knew, its people, their lives and the everyday sights and sounds. He pinpoints their weaknesses with unflinching accuracy. Although brutal at times, Juvenalï¿½s writing brings Rome to life and some of his phrases ï¿½ such as ï¿½bread and circusesï¿½ and ï¿½Who shall guard the guards?ï¿½ ï¿½ are still used today. Where to next: The Social Order in Ancient Rome ï¿½ Plebeians Origin of the Roman Satire Genre By N.S. Gill Updated February 19, 2016.

" Martial , complaining that a fellow poet has copied all his activities, lists the genres in descending order of nobility (and size): epic , tragedy, lyric, satire, elegy, and epigram." -from Michael Coffey's Roman Satire, p.5 Roman literature began as an imitation of the Greek literary forms, from the epic stories of Greek heroes and tragedy to the poem known as an epigram. It was only in satire that the Romans could claim originality, since the Greeks never split satire off into its own genre. Satire, as invented by the Romans, had a tendency from the beginning towards social criticism -- some of it quite nasty -- which we still associate with satire. But the defining characteristic of Roman satire was that it was a medley, like a modern revue. Types of Satire Menippean Satire The Romans produced two types of satire. Menippean satire was frequently a parody, blending prose and verse. The first use of this was the Syrian Cynic philosopher Menippus of Gadara (fl. continue reading below our video Test Your General Science Knowledge 290 B.C.). Varro (116-27 B.C.) brought it into Latin.

The Apocolocyntosis (Pumpkinification of Claudius ), attributed to Seneca , a parody of the deification of the drooling emperor, is the only extant Menippean satire. We also have large segments of the Epicurean satire/novel, Satyricon, by Petronius. Verse Satire The other, and more important type of satire, was the verse satire. Satire unqualified by "Menippean" usually refers to the verse satire. It was written in dactylic hexameter meter, like epics . [See Meter in Poetry.] Its stately meter partly accounts for its relatively high place in the hierarchy of poetry quoted at the beginning. Founder of the Genre of Satire Although there were earlier Latin writers instrumental in developing the genre of satire, the official founder of this Roman genre is Lucilius , of whom we have only fragments. Horace, Persius, and Juvenal followed, leaving us many complete satires about the life, vice, and moral decay they saw around them. Antecedents of Satire Attacking the foolish, a component of ancient or modern satire, is found in Athenian Old Comedy whose sole extant representative is Aristophanes.

The Romans borrowed from him and other then extant Greek writers of comedy, Cratinus and Eupolus, according to Horace . The Latin satirists also borrowed attention-grabbing techniques from Cynic and Skeptic preachers whose extemporaneous sermons, called diatribes, could be embellished with anecdotes, character sketches, fables, obscene jokes, parodies of serious poetry, and other elements also found in Roman satire. Roman Literature Roman literature This section discussed the development of Roman literature and its influence on European culture. Roman literature was limited to a few writings for about five centuries after the founding of Rome. It may be said that the "Law of the Twelve Tables," prepared about 450 B. c. and hung up in the Forum, was the first prose composition of importance. The earliest writings were fashioned almost exclusively after Greek models and their lyric, heroic, and dramatic meters came from the Greeks. Rome had elementary schools as early as 450 B.C., where reading, arithmetic, writing, and music were taught. Many of the teachers were Greeks and the children of wealthy families were sent to Greece to complete their education, but excellent higher schools and colleges were later established in all the Roman cities.

Roman literature owed much to Greek civilization. When the Romans became rulers of Greece they recognized the superiority of Greek literature and learning, and sought to emulate it. The first translation of Greek classics into Roman was made by a Grecian slave who came to Rome about 250 B.C.. He also wrote and acted plays inspired by Greek writings, and so at first Roman literature consisted merely of works copied or transkated from the Greek. In time, however, Roman writers began to produce original works in their own language, though Greek literature was still used as the model of what constituted good writing. One of the first works of Roman literature was "The Origines," a work written by Marcus Portius Cato in the 2d century. It consists principally of a history of the origin of Rome and several other cities of Italy. Ennius, a Roman of the same period, introduced a new style of literature, somewhat resembling the Grecian. His writings are largely poetical history and his "Annals," a poetical history of Rome, was for two centuries the national poem. He was honored by having his bust placed in the tomb of Scipio.

The writings of Plautus belong to the early part of the 2d century, and are noted for their vigorous and brilliant wit. Terence, a learned and graceful humorist, who flourished about the middle of the 2d century, turned attention to greater refinement and more cultured forms of expression. The Latin tragedies of the early Roman period were copied from the masterpieces of Sophocles and Euripides. Their comedies were translated from Aristophanes and other writers, their philosophy was borrowed from the Portico and the Academy, and their orators, even in the palmiest days, proposed to pattern after the speeches of Demosthenes and Lysias. To the 1st century B. C. belong the illustrious names of Varro, Cicero, Virgil , Horace , Livy, and Sallust. Varro founded large libraries and a museum of sculpture, cultivated the fine arts; and sought to awaken literary tastes among his countrymen. He wrote on history, theology, philosophy, and agriculture. Cicero is the most eloquent of all the Romans.

He ranked high as an essayist, orator, and letter writer; his principal productions include his four orations on the "Conspiracy of Cataline." The Roman schools used his orations for lessons and many of his essays still are familiar Latin text-books. Virgil and Horace are known as poets of the Augustan age. Virgil's "Aeneid" is modeled after the Homeric poems. Livy write 42 volumes of Roman history, beginning with the fabulous landing of Aeneas in Italy (also the subject of the Aenid by Virgil ), and closing with the death of Drusus in the year 8 B. c. Sallus is another historian of eminence, his most noted writings embracing the "Conspiracy of Cataline" and the "Jugurthine War." The noted writers of the 1st century A. D. include Seneca , Juvenal , Tacitus, and the two Plinys. Seneca was a brilliant orator, poet, and Stoic philosopher. His writings are remarkable for their moral purity.

They include "Ethical Essays," "Tragedies," and "Instructive Letters." Juvenal produced works remarkable for their satire and eloquence. Tacitus wrote in a grave and stately, though sometimes sarcastic, style. His writings include "History of Rome," "Life of Agricola," and a treatise on Germany. Pliny the Elder is the author of "Natural History," a work of 37 volumes, covering the whole range of scientific knowledge of his time. Pliny the Younger was a charming letter writer; his writings extant include the "Epistles" and the "Eulogium upon Trajan." Quintilian was the most eminent rhetorician and literary critic of Rome. As Roman power declined so did its civilization, and towards the end of the Empire, there were fewer literary works of note produced. As well, many works were lost completely during the destruction that befall the Roman cities at the hands of the barbarians. Some Latin books survived but they were hidden for centuries, the only surviving copies held in Constantinople. When that city fell to the moslems, many of the inhabitants fled as refugees to western Europe and some brought books with them.

As a result, many books from the Roman period were reintroduced into western Europe after 1453 A.D. sparking renewed interest in ancient learning and Roman philosophy by European intellectuals. This rediscovery of ancient learning contributed to the Renaissance, that rebirth of the arts and learning which followed the dark centuries of semi-barbarism which followed the end of the The Roman Empire . Ancient Roman Literature, Poetry, Drama - Crystalinks Ancient Roman Literature Roman Poets Formal Latin literature began in 240 BC, when a Roman audience saw a Latin version of a Greek play. The adaptor was Livius Andronicus, a Greek who had been brought to Rome as a prisoner of war in 272 BC. Andronicus also translated Homer's Greek epic the Odyssey into an old type of Latin verse called Saturnian. The first Latin poet to write on a Roman theme was Gnaeus Naevius during the 200s BC. He composed an epic poem about the first Punic War, in which he had fought. Naevius's dramas were mainly reworkings of Greek originals, but he also created tragedies based on Roman myths and history. Other epic poets followed Naevius.

Quintus Ennius wrote a historical epic, the Annals (soon after 200 BC), describing Roman history from the founding of Rome to his own time. He adopted Greek dactylic hexameter, which became the standard verse form for Roman epics. He also became famous for his tragic dramas. In this field, his most distinguished successors were Marcus Pacuvius and Lucius Accius. These three writers rarely used episodes from Roman history. Instead, they wrote Latin versions of tragic themes that the Greeks had already handled. But even when they copied the Greeks, they did not translate slavishly. Only fragments of their plays have survived. Latin literature was at its height from 81 BC to AD 17. This period began with the first known speech of Cicero and ended with the death of Ovid . We know much more about early Latin comedy, because we have 20 complete plays by Plautus and 6 by Terence.These men modeled their comedies on Greek plays known as New Comedy. But they treated the plots and wording of the originals freely. Plautus scattered songs through his plays and increased the humor with puns and wisecracks, plus comic actions by the actors.

Terence's plays were more polite in tone, dealing with domestic situations. His works provided the chief inspiration for French and English comedies of the 1600s, and even for modern American comedy. The prose of the period is best known through On Agriculture (160 BC) by Cato the Elder. Cato also wrote the first Latin history of Rome and of other Italian cities. He was the first Roman statesman to put his political speeches in writing as a means of influencing public opinion. Early Latin literature ended with Gaius Lucilius, who created a new kind of poetry in his 30 books of Satires (100s BC). He wrote in an easy, conversational tone about books, food, friends, and current events. In the early AD 100s, Juvenal perfected the biting form of satire that has influenced many later writers. Ancient thinkers wrote verse about what they observed in nature. They are generally referred to as Presocratic Philosophers. Many aspects of culture were still without distinct form then, during the Archaic Age of Ancient Greece.

The origin of drama is mired in legend, but to the best of our information, drama seems to have arisen as part of religious worship and the word tragedy appears to come from the word goat song. The first element in Greek tragedy was the chorus, which danced and sang poetry created by the dramatist at the religious festivals. Actors came later, with the great tragedians. The man credited with creating the epics we know of as the Iliad and Odyssey, (whom we refer to as Homer) was a rhapsode, a person who accompanied his improvised performances with a musical instrument. Oral Epics or World Folk Epics Epic poetry came to be distinguished by its distinct (epic) meter. Lyric poetry, developed according to legend, by Terpander, was poetry accompanied by a lyre. Epigrams were composed for funerals. It was an epigrammatist, Mimnermus of Smyrna, who is credited with developing the elegiac meter that was used for love poetry (elegies). The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, and one of the major forms of narrative literature. It retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons.

In the West, the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Nibelungenlied; and in the East, the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Shahnama are often cited as examples of the epic genre. The first epics are associated strongly with preliterate societies and oral poetic traditions. In these traditions, poetry is transmitted to the audience and from performer to performer by purely oral means. World folk epics are those epics which are not just literary masterpieces but also an integral part of the world view of a people. They were originally oral literatures, which were later written down by either single author or several writers. Studies of living oral epic traditions in the Balkans by Milman Parry and Albert Lord demonstrated the paratactic model used for composing these poems. What they demonstrated was that oral epics tend to be constructed in short episodes, each of equal status, interest and importance. This facilitates memorization, as the poet is recalling each episode and using them to recreate the entire epic as they perform it. Parry and Lord also showed that the most likely source for written texts of the epics of Homer was dictation from an oral performance.

Epics in Literate Societies Literate societies have often copied the epic format, and the earliest known European example is Virgil's Aeneid, which follows both the style and subject matter of Homer. Other obvious examples are Tulsidas' Sri Ramacharit Manas, following the style and subject matter of Valmiki's Ramayana,. and the Persian epic Shahnama by Ferdowsi. Epigrams An epigram is a short poem with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement. They are among the best examples of the power of poetry to compress insight and wit. Roman epigrams owe much to their Greek predecessors and contemporaries. Roman epigrams, however, were more often satirical than Greek ones, and at times used obscene language for effect. Latin epigrams could be composed as inscriptions or graffiti, such as this one from Pompeii, which exists in several versions and seems from its inexact meter to have been composed by a less educated person. Its content, of course, makes it clear how popular such poems were: Admiror, O paries, te non cecidisse ruinis qui tot scriptorum taedia sustineas.

I'm astonished, wall, that you haven't collapsed into ruins, since you're holding up the weary verse of so many poets. However, in the literary world, epigrams were most often gifts to patrons or entertaining verse to be published, not inscriptions. Many Roman writers seem to have composed epigrams, including Domitius Marsus, whose collection 'Cicuta' (now lost) was named after the poisonous hemlock tree for its biting wit, and Lucan, more famous for his epic Pharsalia. Authors whose epigrams survive include Catullus, who wrote both invectives and love epigrams -- his poem 85 is one of the latter. Odi et amo. Quare id faciam fortasse requiris. Nescio, sed fieri sentio, et excrucior. I hate and I love. Perhaps you're asking how I do this? I don't know, but I feel it happening, and it's torture. The master of the Latin epigram, however, is Martial. His technique relies heavily on the satirical poem with a joke in the last line, thus drawing him closer to the modern idea of epigram as a genre.

Here he defines his genre against a (probably fictional) critic (in the latter half of 2.77): Disce quod ignoras: Marsi doctique Pedonis saepe duplex unum pagina tractat opus. Non sunt longa quibus nihil est quod demere possis, sed tu, Cosconi, disticha longa facis. Learn what you don't know: one work of (Domitius) Marsus or learned Pedo often stretches out over a doublesided page. A work isn't long if you can't take anything out of it, but you, Cosconius, write even a couplet too long. Prose History, as developed by Herodotus, was a (prose) story about whatever Herodotus set his inquiring mind to. In ancient Rome, satire was a recognized and somewhat defined literary verse genre. It was the only genre the Romans claimed as their own invention. Some early novels fell within the genre of (Menippean) satire. During the reign of Augustus many commentators proclaimed the arrival of a new Golden Age as Romans returned to traditional values.

These values included religion, family, and an appreciation of the Italian countryside and its agrarian roots. Writers and artists from all parts of Italy came to Rome, where generous patronage helped to encourage extraordinary achievements. The Augustan peace and the prosperity that accompanied it brought about the revival of patriotic literature that hailed the triumphs of Rome, its people, and its new leader. Golden Age The Golden Age of Roman Drama dates to B.C. 240 when Livius Andronicus - Titus Livy - adapted a Greek comedy and tragedy for performance on a Roman stage. This was not only the beginning of Greek drama in Rome, but of formal Latin literature. This coincides with the end of the first Punic War (264-241) which is relevant because with the Punic War, Romans came into contact with the Greeks of Southern Italy and Sicily. Instead of being concerned entirely with mastering their physical world, the Romans were now becoming a world power. In addition to adapting Greek drama, Livy also translated the Odyssey into Latin. Titus Livy Gnaeus Naevius Gnaeus Naevius was the first native Roman dramatist.

He had served in the first Punic War and wrote a Bellum Punicum (Punic War). He was interested in the Trojan cycle. He also wrote plays on Roman themes and is thus the inventor of the fabula praetexta - Roman historical play. He also wrote comedies (fabulae palliatae). Naevius was imprisoned for being outspoken, wrote two plays while confined, apologized, was released, did it again, and went into exile in Utica where he died. Gnaeus Naevius (c. 264 - 194 BC), was a Latin epic poet and dramatist. There is great uncertainty in regard to his life. From the expression of Gellius (1. 24. I) characterizing his epitaph as written in a vein of Campanian arrogance it has been inferred that he was born in one of the Latin communities settled in Campania. But the phrase Campanian arrogance seems to have been used proverbially for gasconade; and, as there was a plebeian gens Naevia in Rome, it is quite as probable that he was by birth a Roman citizen.

He served either in the Roman army or among the socii in the first Punic War, and thus must have reached manhood before 241. His career as a dramatic author began with the exhibition of a drama in or about the year 235, and continued for thirty years. Towards the close he incurred the hostility of some of the nobility, especially, it is said, of the Metelli, by the attacks which he made upon them on the stage, and at their instance he was imprisoned (Plautus, Mu. Glor. 211). After writing two plays during his imprisonment, in which he is said to have apologized for his former rudeness (Gellius iii. 3. 15), he was liberated through the interference of the tribunes of the commons; but he had shortly afterwards to retire from Rome (in or about 204) to Utica. It may have been during his exile, when withdrawn from his active career as a dramatist, that he composed or completed his poem on the first Punic war. Probably his latest composition was the epitaph already referred to, written like the epic in saturnalian verse.

As distinguished from Livius Andronicus, Naevius was a native Italian, not a Greek; he was also an original writer, not a mere adapter or translator. If it was due to Livius that the forms of Latin literature were, from the first, moulded on those of Greek literature, it was due to Naevius that much of its spirit and substance was of native growth. Like Livius, Naevius professed to adapt Greek tragedies and comedies to the Roman stage. Among the titles of his tragedies are Aegisthus, Lycurgus, Andromache or Hector Proficiscens, Equus Trojanus, the last named being performed at the opening of Pompey's theatre (55). The national cast of his genius and temper was shown by his deviating from his Greek originals, and producing at least two specimens of the fabula praetexta (national drama) one founded on the childhood of Romulus and Remus (Lupus or Alimonium Romuli et Remi), the other called Clastidium, which celebrated the victory of Marcus Claudius Marcellus over the Celts (222).

But it was as a writer of comedy that he was most famous, most productive and most original. While he is never ranked as a writer of tragedy with Ennius, Pacuvius or Accius, he is placed in the canon of the grammarian Volcacius Sedigitus third (immediately after Caecilius and Plautus) in the rank of Roman comic authors. He is there characterized as ardent and impetuous in character and style. He is also appealed to, with Plautus and Ennius, as a master of his art in one of the prologues of Terence. His comedy, like that of Plautus, seems to have been rather a free adaptation of his originals than a rude copy of them, as those of Livius probably were, or an artistic copy like those of Terence. The titles of most of them, like those of Plautus, and unlike those of Caecilius and Terence, are Latin, not Greek.

He drew from the writers of the old political comedy of Athens, as well as from the new comedy of manners, and he attempted to make the stage at Rome, as it had been at Athens, an arer, a of political and personal warfare. A strong spirit of partisanship is recognized in more than one of the fragments; and this spirit is thoroughly popular and adverse to the senatorial ascendancy which became more and more confirmed with the progress of the second Punic war. Besides his attack on the Metelli and other nembers of the aristocracy, the great Scipio is the object of a censorious criticism on account of a youthful escapade attributed to him. Among the few lines still remaining from his lost comedies, we seem to recognize the idiomatic force and rapidity of movement characteristic of the style of Plautus. There is also found that love of alliteration which is a marked feature in all the older Latin poets down even to Lucretius. In one considerable comic fragment attributed to himthe description of a coquettethere is great truth and shrewdness of observation. But we find no trace of the exuberant comic power and geniality of his great contemporary.

He was not only the oldest native dramatist, but the first author of an epic poem (Bellum Punicum) which, by combining the representation of actual contemporary history, with a mythical background, may be said to have created the Roman type of epic poetry. The poem was one continuous work, but was divided into seven books by a grammarian of a later age. The earlier part of it treated of the mythical adventures of Aeneas in Sicily, Carthage and Italy, and borrowed from the interview of Zeus and Thetis in the first book of the Iliad the idea of the interview of Jupiter and Venus; which Virgil has made one of the cardinal passages in the Aeneid. The later part treated of the events of the first Punic war in the style of a metrical chronicle. An important influence in Roman literature and belief, which had its origin in Sicily, first appeared in this poem the recognition of the mythical connection of Aeneas and his Trojans with the foundation of Rome.

The few, remaining fragments produce the impression of vivid and rapid narrative, to which the flow of the native Saturnian verse, in contradistinction to the weighty and complex structure of the hexameter, was naturally adapted. The impression we get of the man is that, whether or not he actually enjoyed the full rights of Roman citizenship, he was a vigorous representative of the bold combative spirit of the ancient Roman commons. He was one of those who made the Latin language into a great organ of literature. The phrases still quoted from him have nothing of an antiquated sound, while they have a genuinely idiomatic ring. As a dramatist he worked more in the spirit of Plautus than of Ennius, Pacuvius, Accius or Terence; but the great Umbrian humorist is separated from his older contemporary, not only by his breadth of comic power, but by his general attitude of moral and political indifference. The power of Naevius was the more genuine Italian gift the power of satiric criticism which was employed in making men ridiculous, not, like that of Plautus, in extracting amusement from the humours, follies and eccentricities of life.

Although our means of forming a fair estimate of Naevius are scanty, all that we do know of him leads to the conclusion that he was far from being the least among the makers of Roman literature, and that with the loss of his writings there was lost a vein of national feeling and genius which rarely reappears. Mime We don't know when mime first came to Rome, but by 211, the Romans were watching mimic actors. Mimes were normal parts of the Floralia (an annual festival from 173) which was first celebrated in 238. The word mime is from the Greek mimeisthai (to imitate). Romans often called mimic actors planipes (with bare feet) (Duckworth p. 14). The bare feet let the mimic actors, male and female, move around better than actors wearing tragedy's cothurnus (buskin) or comedy's soccus (slipper). In ancient Greece and ancient Rome, a mime is a farcical drama characterized by mimicry and ludicrous representations of characters, or the script for such a performance. In 204 Cato brought Ennius to Rome, where he he worked as a teacher and writer.

He wrote poems called Saturae and an epic, the Annales. Ennius replaced the dactylic hexameter of Greek epic with the Saturnian Latin meter. He wrote comedies, and fabulae praetextae, and most of all, tragedy. Plautus (T. Maccius Plautus [254-184]) was an Umbrian. At Rome he acted as a clown in Atellan farces. His name Maccius may come from this occupation. Plautus may also be a stage name and a variation on the word planipes. Plautus worked in the theater in some capacity and may hace been a stage hand or carpenter. Duckworth provides a rough chronology of his comedies: Asinaria, Mercator, Miles Gloriosus around 205 B.C., Cistellaria, before 201. Stichus (200 B.C.) Aulularia and Curculio before 191. Pseudolus (191) and then Bacchides, followed by Casina in 185 or 184.

An Insubrian Gaul, Caecilius Statius was a friend of Ennius and according to Volcacius Sedigitus, was the best of the Roman comic poets. Caecilius stuck close to Greek originals, but was not a literal translator. Horace praised Caecilius for his gravitas. Varro praised him plot construction. Although an argument from silence, Caecilius may have introduced the idea of avoiding contamination -- meaning following only one Greek original (Duckworth, p.48). Marcus Pacuvius Pacuvius was the nephew of Ennius. We know of thirteen of his tragedies. His ancient reputation was "learned." Cicero considered Pacuvius the greates tragic poet of Rome. Marcus Pacuvius (c. 220-130 BC) was the greatest of the tragic poets of ancient Rome prior to Accius. He was the nephew and pupil of Ennius, by whom Roman tragedy was first raised to a position of influence and dignity.

In the interval between the death of Ennius (169) and the advent of Accius, the youngest and most productive of the tragic poets, Pacuvius alone maintained the continuity of the serious drama, and perpetuated the character first imparted to it by Ennius. Like Ennius he probably belonged to an Oscan stock, and was born at Brundisium, which had become a Roman colony in 244. Hence he never attained to that perfect idiomatic purity of style, which was the special glory of the early writers of comedy, Naevius and Plautus. Pacuvius obtained distinction also as a painter; and Pliny the Elder (Nat. Hist. xxxv) mentions a work of his in the temple of Hercules in the Forum Boarium.

He was less productive as a poet than either Ennius or Accius; and we hear of only about twelve of his plays, founded on Greek subjects (among them the Antiope, Teucer, Armorum Judicium, Dulorestes, Chryses, Niptra, &c., most of them on subjects connected with the Trojan cycle), and one praetexta (Paulus) written in connexion with the victory of Lucius Aemilius Paulus at the battle of Pydna (168), as the Clastidium of Naevius and the Ambracia of Ennius were written in commemoration of great military successes. He continued to write tragedies till the age of eighty, when he exhibited a play in the same year as Accius, who was then thirty years of age. He retired to Tarentum for the last years of his life, and a story is told by Aulus Gellius (xiii. 2) of his being visited there by Accius on his way to Asia, who read his Atreus to him.

The story is probably, like that of the visit of the young Terence to the veteran Caecilius, due to the invention of later grammarians; but it is invented in accordance with the traditionary criticism (Horace, Epp. ii. 1. 5455) of the distinction between the two poets, the older being characterized rather by cultivated accomplishment (doctus), the younger by vigour and animation (altus). Pacuvius's epitaph, said to have been composed by himself, is quoted by Aulus Gellius (i. 24), with a tribute of admiration to its "modesty, simplicity and fine serious spirit": Adulescens, tam etsi properas, to hoc saxum rogat Ut sese aspicias, deinde quod scriptum 'st legas Hic Bunt poetae Pacuvi Marci sita Ossa. Hoc volebam nescius ne esses. Vale.

Cicero, who frequently quotes from him with great admiration, appears (De optimo genere oratorum, i.) to rank him first among the Roman tragic poets, as Ennius among the epic, and Caecilius among the comic poets. The fragments of Pacuvius quoted by Cicero in illustration or enforcement of his own ethical teaching appeal, by the fortitude, dignity, and magnanimity of the sentiment expressed in them, to what was noblest in the Roman temperament. They are inspired also by a fervid and steadfast glow of spirit and reveal a gentleness and humanity of sentiment blended with the severe gravity of the original Roman character. So far too as the Romans were capable of taking interest in speculative questions, the tragic poets contributed to stimulate curiosity on such subjects, and they anticipated Lucretius in using the conclusions of speculative philosophy as well as of common sense to assail some of the prevailing forms of superstition. Among the passages quoted from Pacuvius are several which indicate a taste both for physical and ethical speculation, and others which expose the pretensions of religious imposture. These poets aided also in developing that capacity which the Roman language subsequently displayed of being an organ of oratory, history and moral disquisition.

The literary language of Rome was in process of formation during the 2nd century B.C., and it was in the latter part of this century that the series of great Roman orators, with whose spirit Roman tragedy has a strong affinity, begins. But the new creative effort in language was accompanied by considerable crudeness of execution, and the novel word-formations and varieties of inflexion introduced by Pacuvius exposed him to the ridicule of the satirist Lucilius, and, long afterwards, to that of his imitator Persius. But, notwithstanding the attempt to introduce an alien element into the Roman language, which proved incompatible with its natural genius, and his own failure to attain the idiomatic purity of Naevius, Plautus or Terence, the fragments of his dramas are sufficient to prove the service which he rendered to the formation of the literary language of Rome as well as to the culture and character of his contemporaries. Fragments in O. Ribbeck, Fragmenta scaenicae romanorum poesis (1897), vol. i. ; see also his Remische Tragodie (1875) ; L.

Muller, De Pacuvii fabulis (188) ; W. S. Teuffel, Caecilius Statius, Pacuvius, Attius, Afranius (1858); and Mommsen, History of Rome, bk. iv. ch. 13. Lucius Accius Lucius Accius, a Roman tragic poet, the son of a freedman, was born at Pisaurum in Umbria, in 170 BC. The year of his death is unknown, but he must have lived to a great age, since Cicero (Brutus, 28) speaks of having conversed with him on literary matters. He was a prolific writer and enjoyed a very high reputation (Horace, Epistles, ii. i, 56; Cicero, Pro Plancio, 24). The titles and considerable fragments (about 700 lines) of some fifty plays have been preserved. Most of these were free translations from the Greek, his favorite subjects being the legends of the Trojan war and the house of Pelops.

The national history, however, furnished the theme of the Brutus and Decius--the expulsion of the Tarquins and the self-sacrifice of Publius Decius Mus the younger. The fragments are written in vigorous language and show a lively power of description. Accius wrote other works of a literary character: Didascalicon and Pragmaticon libri, treatises in verse on the history of Greek and Roman poetry, and dramatic art in particular; Parerga and Praxidica (perhaps identical) on agriculture; and an Annales. He also introduced innovations in orthography and grammar. A saying attributed to Accius was oderint dum metuant ("let them hate, as long as they fear"), later a famous motto of Caligula.

Question: Which Roman poet's famous work is known simply as "SATIRES" ?
Answer: JUVENAL