Critiques
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Sixteen Satires (Penguin Classics) par Juvenal
(Juvenal, Satire 1.30)
iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli
vendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim
imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se
continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat,
panem et circenses.
(Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81)
orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano,
fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem,
…“
(Juvenal, Satire 10.354-357)
It really is - Juvenal tends to ramble eloquently on a topic, generally on things he doesn't like (eg, gay folk are bad, but better to be a gay than married). And, his rants are mostly recognizable today (Don't spend money on stuff you can't afford. Outsiders bad and taking jobs and Romans aren't taking back what they are due, etc). A few topics are difficult to read (Satire 6, on woman). As a whole, I really enjoyed reading this.
On style - initially, I had trouble understanding what was happening. Between old traditions and the very English translation of this book, I had to read a few of the satires two or three times, just to catch the nuance. The translation is well done, as far as I can tell. However, I wish there was more focus on the overall setting in the notes. I don't care who Juvenal was writing about, but I really wanted to know about the setting, why were these written, and how were the presented. Bits and pieces of the why were covered in the book, but the majority of the notes were focused on sentence structure (which is meaningless to me) and on individuals mentioned.
576 páginas
Décimo Junio Juvenal, a pesar de ser uno de los mayores poetas satíricos romanos, es un desconocido para nosotros: apenas sabemos de seguro que nació en Aquino (Lacio) en época de Nerón (54-68 d.C.) y que murió durante el imperio de Adriano (117-138); probablemente participó en el ejército y en la vida política, residió en Roma en tiempo del emperador Domiciano y tal vez sufriera exilio.
Sus Sátiras, dieciséis repartidas en cinco libros, son el modelo universal del género, que Juvenal deseó situar a la altura de las poesías épica y trágica y de la oratoria.Lo que a él le interesa es dar la impresión de ser un hombre serio y honesto que no soporta la corrupción y degradación de la sociedad romana y que responde ante ellas con una indignación de la que brota su poesía a borbotones. Para dar esta imagen de satírico amargado por la degeneración, Juvenal sabia que no podia admitir en el programa de su sátira el humor, considerado por todos los satiricos precedentes un ingrediente fundamental del género;pues el humor, como señalan Cicerón y Quintiliano en sus tratados de retórica, sirve para mitigar o hacer desaparecer la ira (cf. De Orat. II 236 e Inst. orat. VI 3, 9).
Con el humor su indignación habria resultado menos creible. Por eso Juvenal lo elimina de su programa. Por otra parte, consciente de que la indignación requeria un estilo brillante y encendido, tampoco reivindica el estilo llano del sermon,.Se refieren a la vida en la Roma contemporánea al autor, y tratan con una acidez despiadada y vitriólica a una variopinta galería de personajes: son víctimas de sus pullas los moralistas hipócritas, el estilo de vida en la urbe –en la sátira que muchos consideran la mejor–, el gobierno de Domiciano, las mujeres –en la misógina sátira 6–, los literatos y los maestros, los que creen en la nobleza del linaje y los que sucumben a los vicios sexuales... Pocos son, en suma, los que se salvan de la quema.
De Juvenal se ha apreciado, amén de la singular fuerza expresiva, la sinceridad de su cólera y un inagotable ingenio que ha legado al acervo literario expresiones tan universales como panem et circenses, rara avis in terris y mens sana in corpore sano.
Este volumen completa la imagen de la sátira romana con Persio (34-62 d.C.), quien en su breve vida compuso seis sátiras a la manera de Lucilio y Horacio, que, lejos de la cólera de Juvenal, transmiten una rigurosa moralidad estoica.
(i) O Acaso pode, a seu bel prazer, tolos promover, / E lançá-los às rodas da Fortuna.
(ii) A gente que outrora concedeu comandos, consulados, legiões e tudo o mais, agora não mais se preocupa, e anseia sofregamente por apenas duas coisas - pão e circo!
(iii) Quem guardará os próprios guardas? (quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
(iv) A paz não visita a mente culposa. (Nemo Malus Felix)
(v) Deves orar por uma mente sã num corpo são.
'For what is disgrace if he keeps the money?'
'What can I do in Rome? I can't tell lies!'
'Of all that luckless poverty involves, nothing is harsher/ than the fact that it makes people funny.'
'A poor man's rights are confined to this:/ having been pounded and punched to a jelly, to beg and implore/ that he may be allowed to go home with a few teeth in his head.'
'When power which is virtually equal/ to that of the gods is flattered, there's nothing it can't believe.'
'You must know the color of your own bread.'
'that which is coated and warmed with so many odd preparations... what shall we call it? A face, or an ulcer?'
'If somebody owns a dwarf, we call him/ Atlas; a negro, Swan; a bent and disfigured girl/ Europa. Curs that are listless, and bald from years of mange/ and lick the rim of an empty lamp for oil, are given/ the name of Leopard.'
'However far back you care to go in tracing your name/ the fact remains that your clan began in a haven for outlaws.'
'Do you think it's nice and easy to thrust a proper-sized penis/ into a person's guts, encountering yesterday's dinner?/ The slave who ploughs a field has a lighter task than the one/ who ploughs its owner.'
'Don't you attach any value to the fact that, had I not been/ a loyal and devoted client, your wife would still be a virgin?'
'Shame is jeered as she leaves the city.'
'The whole of Rome is inside the Circus.'
'What other man these days... could bear to prefer his life to his plate, and his soul to his money?'
'If I happen to find a totally honest man, I regard/ that freak as I would a baby centaur.'
'Tears are genuine when they fall at the loss of money.'
Not to mention the classics, 'it's hard not to write satire,' 'who watches the watchmen,' 'bread and circuses,' 'healthy mind in a healthy body' (all translated slightly differently here).
All of these are funnier or crueler in context.
Rudd's translation (in the Oxford World's Classics edition) seems solid; I haven't compared it to the Latin. He translates line for line, which I imagine will make it easier to follow the original language, and in a loose meter which allows him to make everything make sense. It's rarely pretty, but it is readable. And his notes are excellent.
Sedan är vissa saker sådant som man idag knappast skulle kunna framföra klagomål på, och då inte bara sådant som Egyptiernas mångfald gudar eller kannibalisitiska religionsstrider (?!), utan även hur osmakligt omanligt det är med bögsex eller koketterande med grekisk bildning. Ej heller kvinnor ges någon postivi bild: den kända fråga om vem som bevakar väktarna gäller egentligen vem som ser till att vaktposterna inte själva knullar hustrun, trots att förhindrandet av sådant är vad de anställts för (här kan skjutas in att Ellenbergers förråd av kraftuttryck ger ett lite småängsligt uttryck, och dessa därför torde åldras snabbare än översättningen i stort förtjänar).
Annars finns det ytterligare ett par väl kända ställen: här får man läsa om bröd och skådespel, om att en perfekt hustru är en sällsynt fågel, ja, en veritabel svart svan, och att man istället för makt eller pengar bör sträva efter en sund själ i en sund kropp: Juvenalis kan ibland bli lite förnumftig, även om han för det mesta är upprörd.
Det är läsbart, men som satirer och kritik är det väl åldrat. Som kulturhistorisk källa är det dock oskattbart.
Not along the lonely beaches, nor
From scenery and mountain views, do I
Remember brooding to become a writer.
The beaches and the lonely looks I leave
To pictures on the backs of books.
(Myself, I didn't take Creative Writing.)
Where's the parrot learn, "Polly wanna
Cracker," or crows to speak the English?
From that Master of Arts, Instructor
Stomach, expressing the inexpressible.
If there's the faintest hope of copping fame,
Crowing poets and classroom mavens--
You'd think we sang like wild hill warblers.
The best trans of Juvenal X is of course Sam Johnson's
"Vanity of HUman Wishes." Freely translated, as well.
It’s interesting to read historical accounts, or even interpretations of the day (as is the case with Satires), and see the similarities. I’m not sure, though, if I should take comfort by this, as it may indicate that things shouldn’t get any worse, or if I should be scared, as it also might indicate that modern civilizations are headed in the same direction as Rome.
While not the most exciting read, definitely very insightful.
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