History Creator / Juvenal

Decimus Junius Juvenalis -- generally known as Juvenal -- was a Roman satirist who lived in the first and second centuries AD -- roughly from the time of Nero to the time of Hadrian. He's perhaps best known as the originator of the phrases, "Who will watch the watchmen?"[[note]]''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?''[[/note]] and "BreadAndCircuses."[[note]]''panem et circenses''[[/note]]

-->--'''Decimus Junius Juvenalis''', Satire VI, O29-O34 (translation by Peter Green)

Decimus Junius Juvenalis -- generally known as Juvenal -- was a Roman satirist who lived in the first and second centuries AD -- roughly from the time of Nero to the time of Hadrian. He's perhaps best known as the originator of the phrases, "Who will watch the watchmen?"[[note]]''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?''[[/note]] and "BreadAndCircuses."[[note]]''panem et circenses''[[/note]].

Decimus Junius Juvenalis -- generally known as Juvenal -- was a Roman satirist who lived in the first and second centuries AD -- roughly from the time of Nero to the time of Hadrian. He's perhaps best known as the originator of the phrases, "Who will watch the watchmen?"[[note]]''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?''[[/note]] and "BreadAndCircuses."[[note]]''panem et circenses''[[/note]] He lends his name to the brand of satire known as Juvenalian, which consists of scathing attacks on people and things the writer considers to be evil.

His satires survived because they were critical of Pagan Rome, something the average medieval monk approved of. Hence the HijackedByJesus portraits like the one above.

[[quoteright:203:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/images_030.jpeg]]

His {{satire}}s are written from the point of a financially distressed member of the upper classes -- the kind that in Victorian England would have been called "shabby genteel" (or in other words, a literal ImpoverishedPatrician). The narrator saves his bitterest vile for the upstarts, ex-slaves, and foreigners who dominated early Imperial times, but he spears almost everyone and everything: [[StayInTheKitchen upstart women who don't sit at home and spin]], [[OlderThanTheyThink gay men who think they can]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink marry]]'', uncaring patrons who feed their dependents plain olive oil while keeping the extra virgin for themselves, [[ViceCity the teeming, dangerous city that gets worse every day]], the cruel, rapacious Emperor who cares more about the delicacies of his own table than he does about starving soldiers (probably talking about Domitian, regarded by the upper crust--somewhat unfairly[[note]]Domitian was ruthless and kind of nasty, but policy wise he was a decent Emperor; however, he had a habit of disregarding the Senate (still more or less run by patricians) as the powerless snobby social club it by then really was, and after enduring a conspiracy/revolt against him in 89, he unfortunately started to get a bit paranoid and execution-happy. This led to a conspiracy that actually killed him.[[/note]]--as the Nero of his time).

His {{satire}}s are written from the point of a financially distressed member of the upper classes -- the kind that in Victorian England would have been called "shabby genteel" (or in other words, a literal ImpoverishedPatrician). The narrator saves his bitterest vile for the upstarts, ex-slaves, and foreigners who dominated early Imperial times, but he spears almost everyone and everything: [[StayInTheKitchen upstart women who don't sit at home and spin]], [[OlderThanTheyThink gay men who think they can]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink marry]]'', uncaring patrons who feed their dependents plain olive oil while keeping the EVOO for themselves, [[ViceCity the teeming, dangerous city that gets worse every day]], the cruel, rapacious Emperor who cares more about the delicacies of his own table than he does about starving soldiers (probably talking about Domitian, regarded by the upper crust--somewhat unfairly[[note]]Domitian was ruthless and kind of nasty, but policy wise he was a decent Emperor; however, he had a habit of disregarding the Senate (still more or less run by patricians) as the powerless snobby social club it by then really was, and after enduring a conspiracy/revolt against him in 89, he unfortunately started to get a bit paranoid and execution-happy. This led to a conspiracy that actually killed him.[[/note]]--as the Nero of his time).

His satires survived because they were critical of Pagan Rome, something the average medieval monk approved of.

Decimus Junius Juvenalis -- generally known as Juvenal -- was a Roman satirist who lived in the first and second centuries AD -- roughly from the time of Nero to the time of Hadrian. He's perhaps best known as the originator of the phrases, "Who will watch the watchmen?"[[note]]''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?''[[/note]] and "BreadAndCircuses."[[note]]''panem et circenses''[[/note]] He lends his name to the brand of satire known as [[CaptainObvious Juvenalian]], which consists of scathing attacks on people and things the writer considers to be evil.

Decimus Junius Juvenalis -- generally known as Juvenal -- was a Roman satirist who lived in the first and second centuries AD -- roughly from the time of Nero to the time of Hadrian. He's perhaps best known as the originator of the phrases, "Who will watch the watchmen?"[[note]]''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?''[[/note]] and "bread and circuses."[[note]]''panem et circenses''[[/note]] He lends his name to the brand of satire known as [[CaptainObvious Juvenalian]], which consists of scathing attacks on people and things the writer considers to be evil.

'''Decimus Junius Juvenalis''' -- generally known as Juvenal -- was a Roman satirist who lived in the first and second centuries AD -- roughly from the time of Nero to the time of Hadrian. He's perhaps best known as the originator of the phrases, "Who will watch the watchmen?"[[note]]''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?''[[/note]] and "bread and circuses."[[note]]''panem et circenses''[[/note]] He lends his name to the brand of satire known as [[CaptainObvious Juvenalian]], which consists of scathing attacks on people and things the writer considers to be evil.

His {{satire}}s are written from the point of a financially distressed member of the upper classes -- the kind that in Victorian England would have been called "shabby genteel" (or in other words, a literal ImpoverishedPatrician). The narrator saves his bitterest vile for the upstarts, ex-slaves, and foreigners who dominated early Imperial times, but he spears almost everyone and everything: [[StayInTheKitchen upstart women who don't sit at home and spin]], [[OlderThanTheyThink gay men who think they can]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink marry]]'', uncaring patrons who feed their dependents plain olive oil while keeping the EVOO for themselves, [[ViceCity the teeming, dangerous city that gets worse every day]], the cruel, rapacious Emperor who cares more about the delicacies of his own table than he does about starving soldiers (probably talking about Domitian, regarded by the upper crust--somewhat unfairly[[note]]Domitian was ruthless and kind of nasty, but policywise he was a decent Emperor; however, he had a habit of disregarding the Senate (still more or less run by patricians) as the powerless snobby social club it by then really was, and after enduring a conspiracy/revolt against him in 89, he unfortunately started to get a bit paranoid and execution-happy. This led to a conspiracy that actually killed him.[[/note]]--as the Nero of his time). It's usually assumed that the narrator is Juvenal himself, frustrated into invective by the "moral degeneracy" of his time, but a modern AlternativeCharacterInterpretation is that Juvenal was actually poking fun at the kind of stuffy, stuck-up old guard that would come up with these things. It's plausible, given that Juvenal (like Creator/{{Horace}}) might have been the son of an ex-slave himself. Or he might have been the son of a noble. Nobody really knows.

His {{satire}}s are written from the point of a financially distressed member of the upper classes -- the kind that in Victorian England would have been called "shabby genteel" (or in other words, a literal ImpoverishedPatrician). The narrator saves his bitterest vile for the upstarts, ex-slaves, and foreigners who dominated early Imperial times, but he spears almost everyone and everything: [[StayInTheKitchen upstart women who don't sit at home and spin]], [[OlderThanTheyThink gay men who think they can]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink marry]]'', uncaring patrons who feed their dependents plain olive oil while keeping the EVOO for themselves, [[ViceCity the teeming, dangerous city that gets worse every day]], the cruel, rapacious Emperor who cares more about the delicacies of his own table than he does about starving soldiers (probably talking about Domitian, regarded by the upper crust--somewhat unfairly[[note]]Domitian was ruthless and kind of nasty, but policywise he was a decent Emperor; however, he had a habit of disregarding the Senate (still more or less run by patricians) as the powerless snobby social club it by then really was, and after enduring a conspiracy/revolt against him in 89, he unfortunately started to get a bit paranoid and execution-happy.[[note]]--as the Nero of his time). It's usually assumed that the narrator is Juvenal himself, frustrated into invective by the "moral degeneracy" of his time, but a modern AlternativeCharacterInterpretation is that Juvenal was actually poking fun at the kind of stuffy, stuck-up old guard that would come up with these things. It's plausible, given that Juvenal (like Creator/{{Horace}}) might have been the son of an ex-slave himself. Or he might have been the son of a noble. Nobody really knows.

His {{satire}}s are written from the point of a financially distressed member of the upper classes -- the kind that in Victorian England would have been called "shabby genteel" (or in other words, a literal ImpoverishedPatrician). The narrator saves his bitterest vile for the upstarts, ex-slaves, and foreigners who dominated early Imperial times, but he spears almost everyone and everything: [[StayInTheKitchen upstart women who don't sit at home and spin]], [[OlderThanTheyThink gay men who think they can]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink marry]]'', uncaring patrons who feed their dependents plain olive oil while keeping the EVOO for themselves, [[ViceCity the teeming, dangerous city that gets worse every day]], the cruel, rapacious Emperor who cares more about the delicacies of his own table than he does about starving soldiers (probably talking about Domitian, the Nero of his time). It's usually assumed that the narrator is Juvenal himself, frustrated into invective by the "moral degeneracy" of his time, but a modern AlternativeCharacterInterpretation is that Juvenal was actually poking fun at the kind of stuffy, stuck-up old guard that would come up with these things. It's plausible, given that Juvenal (like Creator/{{Horace}}) might have been the son of an ex-slave himself. Or he might have been the son of a noble. Nobody really knows.

'''Decimus Junius Juvenalis''' -- generally known as Juvenal -- was a Roman satirist who lived in the first and second centuries AD -- roughly from the time of Nero to the time of Hadrian. He's perhaps best known as the originator of the phrases, "Who will watch the watchmen?"[[hottip:*:''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?'']] and "bread and circuses."[[hottip:*: ''panem et circenses'']] He lends his name to the brand of satire known as [[CaptainObvious Juvenalian]], which consists of scathing attacks on people and things the writer considers to be evil.

'''Decimus Junius Juvenalis''' -- generally known as {{Juvenal}} -- was a Roman satirist who lived in the first and second centuries AD -- roughly from the time of Nero to the time of Hadrian. He's perhaps best known as the originator of the phrases, "Who will watch the watchmen?"[[hottip:*:''Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?'']] and "bread and circuses."[[hottip:*: ''panem et circenses'']] He lends his name to the brand of satire known as [[CaptainObvious Juvenalian]], which consists of scathing attacks on people and things the writer considers to be evil.

His {{satire}}s are written from the point of a financially distressed member of the upper classes -- the kind that in Victorian England would have been called "shabby genteel" (or in other words, a literal ImpoverishedPatrician). The narrator saves his bitterest vile for the upstarts, ex-slaves, and foreigners who dominated early Imperial times, but he spears almost everyone and everything: [[StayInTheKitchen upstart women who don't sit at home and spin]], [[OlderThanTheyThink gay men who think they can]] ''[[OlderThanTheyThink marry]]'', uncaring patrons who feed their dependents plain olive oil while keeping the EVOO for themselves, [[ViceCity the teeming, dangerous city that gets worse every day]], the cruel, rapacious Emperor who cares more about the delicacies of his own table than he does about starving soldiers (probably talking about Domitian, the Nero of his time). It's usually assumed that the narrator is Juvenal himself, frustrated into invective by the "moral degeneracy" of his time, but a modern AlternativeCharacterInterpretation is that Juvenal was actually poking fun at the kind of stuffy, stuck-up old guard that would come up with these things. It's plausible, given that Juvenal (like {{Horace}}) might have been the son of an ex-slave himself. Or he might have been the son of a noble. Nobody really knows.