Roman Satire

Quintilian famously identified satire as the only genre that the Romans did not borrow from the Greeks. In this course we will ask the following questions about Roman verse satire, with a focus on the works of Horace and Juvenal. How does satire relate to other literary genre? How does it reflect social realities of its day? Why do the satirists use the auto-biographical mode? Who are the targets that the satirists attack? Is there a moral purpose to their rants? We will also think about the response of the audience, both ancient and modern, to the satirical voice.