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Juvenal · Satires §8.206-8.275

Degenerate Nobles and Lowborn Saviors of Rome

Passage 28 of 50 · Latin

Summary

Juvenal criticizes noblemen like Gracchus who degrade themselves in the arena and the tyrant Nero, contrasting them with lowborn heroes like Cicero, Marius, and the Decii who saved Rome. He concludes that individual virtue, not ancestry, is what truly matters.

§8.206erigit et tota fugit agnoscendus harena.
He raises himself and flees, to be recognized over the whole arena.
§8.207credamus tunicae, de faucibus aurea cum se §8.208porrigat. et longo iactetur spira galero.
Let us believe his tunic, since the golden ribbon extends from his throat and the spiral cord is tossed from his long cap.
§8.209ergo ignominiam graviorem pertulit omni §8.210vulnere cum Graccho iussus pugnare secutor.
Therefore, the pursuer ordered to fight with Gracchus bore a disgrace heavier than any wound.
§8.211Libera si dentur populo suffragia, quis tam §8.212perditus ut dubitet Senecam praeferre Neroni?
If free votes were given to the people, who would be so lost as to hesitate to prefer Seneca to Nero?
§8.213cuius supplicio non debuit una parari §8.214simia nec serpens unus nec culleus unus.
For whose punishment not a single ape, nor a single serpent, nor a single sack ought to have been prepared.
§8.215par Agamemnonidae crimen, sed causa facit rem §8.216dissimilem: quippe ille deis auctoribus ultor §8.217patris erat caesi media inter pocula, sed nec §8.218Electrae iugulo se polluit aut Spartam §8.219sanguine coniugii, nullis aconita propinquis §8.220miscuit, in scaena numquam cantavit Orestes,
The crime of Agamemnon's son was equal, but the cause makes the matter different; for he, under the authority of the gods, was the avenger of his father slain in the midst of cups, but he neither defiled himself with the throat of Electra, nor Sparta with the blood of marriage, nor did he mix aconite for any relatives; Orestes never sang on the stage, nor did he write a Troica.
§8.221Troica non scripsit, quid enim Verginius armis §8.222debuit ulcisci magis aut cum Vindice Galba, §8.223quod Nero tam saeva crudaque tyrannide fecit?
For what ought Verginius rather to have avenged with arms, or Galba with Vindex, than what Nero did with such savage and cruel tyranny?
§8.224haec opera atque hae sunt generosi principis artes, §8.225gaudentis foedo peregrina ad pulpita cantu §8.226prostitui Graiaeque apium meruisse coronae,
These are the works and these the arts of a noble prince, delighting to prostitute himself with foul song on foreign stages and to have earned the celery of a Greek crown.
§8.227maiorum effigies habeant insignia vocis, §8.228ante pedes Domiti longum tu pone Thyestae §8.229syrma vel Antigones vel personam Melanippes, §8.230et de marmoreo citharam suspende colosso.
Let the statues of your ancestors have the insignia of your voice: before the feet of Domitius place the long robe of Thyestes, or the mask of Antigone or Melanippe, and suspend your lyre from his marble colossus.
§8.231Quid, Catilina, tuis natalibus atque Cethegi §8.232inveniet quisquam sublimius? arma tamen vos
What, Catiline, will anyone find more sublime than your birth and that of Cethegus?
§8.233nocturna et flammas domibus templisque paratis, §8.234ut bracatorum pueri Senonumque minores, §8.235ausi quod liceat tunica punire molesta.
Yet you prepare nocturnal arms and flames for houses and temples, like the sons of the trousered Gauls and descendants of the Senones, daring what it is lawful to punish with the burning tunic.
§8.236sed vigilat consul vexillaque vestra coercet; §8.237hic novus Arpinas, ignobilis et modo Romae §8.238municipalis eques, galeatum ponit ubique §8.239praesidium attonitis et in omni monte laborat,
But the consul is watchful and restrains your banners; this new man from Arpinum, ignoble and lately a municipal knight at Rome, places a helmeted guard everywhere for the astonished citizens and labors on every hill.
§8.240tantum igitur muros intra toga contulit illi §8.241Leucade, quantum §8.242Thessaliae campis Octavius abstulit udo §8.243caedibus adsiduis gladio; sed Roma parentem, §8.244Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit.
Therefore, within the walls the toga brought as much to him as Octavius carried away from Leucas and the fields of Thessaly with a sword wet with continual slaughters; but a free Rome called Cicero her parent, called him the father of his country.
§8.245Arpinas alius Volscorum in monte solebat §8.246poscere mercedes alieno lassus aratro, §8.247nodosam post haec frangebat vertice vitem, §8.248si lentus pigra muniret castra dolabra;
Another man of Arpinum used to demand wages on the mountain of the Volscians, tired by another's plow; after this, he used to break the knotty vine-staff with his head, if he was slow in fortifying the camp with a sluggish axe.
§8.249hic tamen et Cimbros et summa pericula rerum §8.250excipit et solus trepidantem protegit urbem.
Yet this man sustained both the Cimbri and the greatest perils of the state and alone protected the trembling city.
§8.251atque ideo, postquam ad Cimbros stragemque volabant §8.252qui numquam attigerant maiora cadavera corvi, §8.253nobilis ornatur lauro collega secunda.
And therefore, after the crows, which had never touched larger corpses, flew to the Cimbri and the slaughter, his noble colleague was adorned with the second laurel.
§8.254Plebeiae Deciorum animae, plebeia fuerunt §8.255nomina; pro totis legionibus hi tamen et pro §8.256omnibus auxiliis atque omni pube Latina §8.257sufficiunt dis infernis Terraeque parenti; §8.259Ancilla natus trabeam et diadema Quirini §8.260et fasces meruit, regum ultimus ille bonorum.
The souls of the Decii were plebeian, plebeian were their names; yet these suffice for whole legions and for all the auxiliaries and all the Latin youth for the infernal gods and mother Earth; The son of a handmaid won the trabea, the diadem of Quirinus, and the fasces, he, the last of the good kings.
§8.261prodita laxabant portarum claustra tyrannis §8.262exulibus iuvenes ipsius consulis et quos §8.263magnum aliquid dubia pro libertate deceret, §8.264quod miraretur cum Coclite Mucius et quae §8.265imperii fines Tiberinum virgo natavit: §8.266occulta ad patres produxit crimina servus §8.267matronis lugendus, at illos verbera iustis §8.268adficiunt poenis et legum prima securis.
The sons of the consul himself were loosening the betrayed bars of the gates for the exiled tyrants—men whom some great deed would have become for the sake of doubtful liberty, which Mucius along with Cocles might admire, and the maiden who swam across the Tiber, the boundary of our empire: a slave, to be mourned by matrons, brought the hidden crimes before the senators; but scourges affected those boys with just punishments, and the first axe of the laws.
§8.269Malo pater tibi sit Thersites, dummodo tu sis §8.270Aeacidae similis Vulcaniaque arma capessas, §8.271quam te Thersitae similem producat Achilles,
I prefer that your father be Thersites, provided that you are like the grandson of Aeacus and take up Vulcanian arms, than that Achilles beget you like Thersites.
§8.272et tamen, ut longe repetas longeque revolvas §8.273nomen, ab infami gentem deducis asylo: §8.274maiorum primus, quisquis fuit ille, tuorum §8.275aut pastor fuit aut illud quod dicere nolo.
And yet, however far you trace back and however far you unroll your name, you derive your lineage from that infamous asylum: the first of your ancestors, whoever he was, was either a shepherd or that which I do not wish to name.

Notes

  1. 8.207credamus tunicae — The dative `tunicae` is the object of the verb `credamus` ('let us believe'). It ironically points to the shameful fact that Gracchus, fighting as a retiarius, wore a tunic adorned with aristocratic decorations instead of proper armor.
  2. 8.213cuius supplicio — The genitive relative pronoun `cuius` refers to Nero (`Neroni`). Bearing in mind the traditional Roman punishment for parricide (poena cullei, drowning in a sack with beasts), it exaggerates that a single set of animals and a single sack were far from enough for Nero's multiple family murders.
  3. 8.221quid enim Verginius... — A rhetorical question centered on the infinitive `ulcisci` depending on the main verb `debuit`. `quod Nero tam saeva... fecit` is a relative clause with an omitted antecedent (such as `id`), serving as the direct object of `ulcisci`. The structure means: 'For what ought Verginius, or Galba with Vindex, to have avenged with arms more than what Nero did with his cruel tyranny?'
  4. 8.240toga — The `toga` (the peaceful garb of a Roman citizen) symbolizes civil leadership and peace-making (here, Cicero's suppression of Catiline's conspiracy). It contrasts the peace Cicero achieved as a civilian within the city walls (`muros intra`) with the military victories Octavian won in battle (`Leucade` and `Thessaliae campis`) with his sword (`gladio`).
  5. 8.275illud quod dicere nolo — A noun phrase consisting of the antecedent `illud` ('that') and the relative pronoun `quod` ('which'). It euphemistically refers to the criminals, runaway slaves, and outlaws who gathered in the 'asylum' of early Rome, exposing that the ancestors of the proud contemporary nobles trace back to these nameless and disreputable people.

Cite this passage

Juvenal, Satires §8.206-8.275. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi1276.phi001.humanitext-lat2:8.206-8.275

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