The fifteen essays collected here argue that Roman verse satire should
be viewed primarily as an art form, rather than as a social document or
a direct expression of social protest. Originally published between 1956
and 1974, they constitute an impressive attempt to free Roman satire
from misinterpretations that arose during the romantic era and that
continue to plague scholars in the field. The author rejects the
proposition that Juvenal and other satirists expressed spontaneous,
unadorned anger and that the critic's best approach is the study of the
historical, social, economic and personal circumstances that led to
their statement of that anger. This work develops his thesis that Roman
satire was designed as a literary form and that the proper stance of the
critic is to elucidate its art. Focusing on the dramatic character of
the first-person speaker in the satires of Horace, Persius, and Juvenal,
the author shows both how the speaker's role was shaped to suit the
purposes of the individual poems and how that role changed over
successive collections of satires. Several essays also discuss the ways
in which the satirists employed metaphors and similes and used
contemporary ethical and rhetorical themes.
Originally published in 1982.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from
the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions
preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting
them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the
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scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by
Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
