Book: Paperback | 129 x 198mm | 320 pages | ISBN 9780140447040 | 27 Aug 1998 | Penguin Classic
Juvenal’s Satires create a fascinating (and immediately familiar) world of whores, fortune-tellers, boozy politicians, slick lawyers, shameless sycophants, ageing flirts and downtrodden teachers.
Perhaps more than any other writer, Juvenal (c. 55–138 AD) captures the splendour, the squalor and the sheer vibrant energy of everyday Roman life. A member of the traditional land-owning class which was rapidly seeing power slip into the hands of dynamic outsiders, he offers equally savage portraits of decadent aristocrats; women interested only in ‘rough trade’ like actors and gladiators; and the jumped-up sons of panders and auctioneers. He constantly compares the corruption of his own generation with their stern upright forebears. And he makes us feel from within the deep humiliation of having to dance attendance on rich but odious patrons.
Green’s celebrated translation is fully annotated and clarifies all references and allusions in the text, making it equally suitable for students and for continuous reading. For this new edition it has been substantially revised throughout to give it an even more contemporary flavour.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
INTRODUCTION
SATIRE I
SATIRE II
SATIRE III
SATIRE IV
SATIRE V
SATIRE VI
SATIRE VII
SATIRE VIII
SATIRE IX
SATIRE X
SATIRE XI
SATIRE XII
SATIRE XIII
SATIRE XIV
SATIRE XV
SATIRE XVI