The Function of the Prologue (1-20) in the Organization of Juvenal's Third Satire
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4881823 |
|---|---|
| Authors | C Frederick (0000-0002-5955-2411), S C Fredericks (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1973 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 62 |
| Publication date | 1973-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Phoenix (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8299 • E-ISSN: 1929-4883 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1087911 |
| OpenAlex | W2317165632 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
JUVENAL'S THIRD SATIRE has often been praised for its lucid and coherent organization,1 but it has not previously been explained in detail to what extent the first twenty lines of the poem contribute to its structural effectiveness.2 As a matter of fact, apart from whatever rhetorical or narrative patterns are evident in the satire Juvenal has selected for his prologue key words and phrases which can only be termed poetically suggestive. He delivers the prologue in propria persona as he introduces his friend, Umbricius, a native Roman who is leaving the corrupt big city for a simple life at Cumae, the home of the Sibyl in Campania. Umbricius remains the speaker throughout the rest of the satire (21-322), ostensibly explaining the motives for his departure and bidding Juvenal a farewell, but actually putting together an invective against the city of Rome. This is divisible into six topics: the worthlessness of honesty (21-57), foreigners (58-125), poverty (126-189), innumerable dangers of the city (190-231), crowding and traffic (232-267), accidents, fights, thefts, and murders (268-314). In retrospect, however, each of the six themes of his rhetorical attack has already been poetically foreshadowed, and Umbricius merely develops a program already implied in the first twenty lines. Juvenal uses the vivid present tense to lead into Umbricius' invective against Rome and describes how his friend stops his wagon at the Porta Capena before the two descend together into the denatured grotto of Egeria (speluncas dissimiles veris, 17-18). Most important because of their multiple ramifications are the lines which describe the once holy spot, now profaned and made artificial by marble (18-20)
Art · Biology · Function (biology) · Literature · Prologue · Cell Biology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Renaissance Literature and Culture
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,13 |
| Citation span | 1996 - 2016 (21) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |