Juvenal's Sixth Satire

Satire, in order to resonate with the audience, has to reflect something about reality, but, in Juvenal's case, it is surely a heightened, exaggerated version of it, even a caricature. As evidenced, this is by far the longest, and in some ways the most offensive, of the Satires by Juvenal, his sixth, which he devotes to a wide-ranging attack on the folly, for men, of marriage.

Postumus, are you really

Taking a wife? You used to be sane enoughÐ'--what

Fury's got into you, what snake has stung you up?

Why endure such bitch-tyranny when rope's available

By the fathom, when all those dizzying top-floor windows

Are open for you, when there are bridges handy

To jump from?

Juvenal did not have a narrow view of women. He does not, in this satire, portray all wives as vicious oppressors. Instead, the female stereotype is firmly defined as nasty, lying, vicious, pretentious, emasculating, garrulous, aggressive, vulgar, nymphomaniacal, gluttonous, dishonest, shameless, greedy, selfish, quarrelsome, impertinent, and disgusting. However notably absent in this satire is the idea of women as stupid and ineffectual. Instead, they are offensively intelligent -- a legitimate castrating bitch. Some women are extravagant, drunken gossips; others are insatiable nymphomaniacs and/or cruel and domineering liars.

A whorish corruption, according to Juvenal, is the leading characteristic. Of course, some men may occasionally come across a virtuous woman: she is (the famous phrase) a rara avis, as unusual as a black swan. But Juvenal is a tough man to please: "Who could endure a wife that possessed all perfections?" Such rare birds are invariably "haughty, condescending prigs" who spoil virtue with pride. As well, from my point of view, any woman who would profess to be perfect or unflawed has two of the greatest flaws of all, which could make her as ugly as any leper or scarred person: vanity and overwhelming self-pride. But, there are other flaws as well which can encompass Juvenal's distaste and a lot of society's disregard and contempt of women and their actions. Another trait mentioned by Juvenal is that of women's lust, the main focus of this entire body of work.

As is made abundantly clear, Juvenal is most horrified by this feature, and the lies and betrayals he sees prompted thereby. In his view, female sexuality begets masks, forgeries, and imperfect messages between external signs and internal meanings. From overbearing lust by women, to what means could any man be able to decide on a wife who could be virtuous to her husband? At what time could any husband leave his home in complete trust of his wife to remain faithful? As well as distrust of the husband, the wife, upon learning this, would begin to get angry, to boil her husband's distrust into rage of the false misgivings (or perhaps true misgivings) of herself. Anger, on the other hand -- because it "whirls [women] headlong," disables control, and prompts revelation of that which is within -- earns Juvenal's respect. To make a woman angry is to pull the truth out of her. Or perhaps it's to pull insults and hurtful things from them to put an end to discretions made against them, to satisfy the accusations of the people with doubt.

Whichever may be the case, this work is still a satire. It is a fictional piece of work created to inspire humor and meaning to those who read it. To read