Class

Question 1

Difficulty of Juvenal as a source regarding the client-patron relationship

Answer 1

Not only the hyperbole of satire but also question of time period - are the systems he is presenting recognisably from 80-130 AD Rome?
Seperation of the mythology and true nature of patronage difficult to determine

Question 2

How can the true nature of patronage be drawn fron Juvenal?

Answer 2

The contrast of his presentation with that of other writers - in all his efforts tradition is made a travesty (the salutatio becoming a competition for dole money - sportula- rather than an escort for the patron to the forum)

Question 3

How do the amounts of money the client recieves distinguish the time period which Juvenal rights of with regards to Patronage?

Answer 3

25 asses to each client each morning and regular dinners

• large sum of patronage, but only mentioned twice
• points to the above practice being neronian or augustan
• not expected of his contemporary patrons

Question 4

What does Juvenal suggest about the economic status of clients?

Answer 4

One client requires money to buy a toga and bread (1.119-20) and no possessing of equestrian status (3.155)

REMEMBERING - this is a satire - suggests that the poor were actually excluded from patronage since they are subject to ridicule (makes sense the poor couldn’t even vote - nothing to offer) - economic imbalance not so severe

Satire 9 - more typical - client complains about the poor silver vessels he receives

Satire 1: tension between contemporary client and patron - patron gives as little as possible, client grabs anything they can

Question 5

What does Juvenal say about patronage and morality?

Answer 5

Patronage is the cause of an inversion of moral standards with the materialistic taking priority (1.112-3)

Question 6

What are the general characteristics of patronage as a relationship

Answer 6

1) reciprocal exchange of goods and services
2) personal relationship of some duration to distinguish from marketplace
3) must be asymmetrical - unequal status

‘cliens’ carries the implication of social inferiority - as a result aristocratic authors often used it in conjunction with humble men

the terms of patronage are used in many contexts- not so much aristocratic authors but inscriptions, there is no legal basis for the relationship and its terms

Question 7

Why were the Freedmen and women restricted from accessing Roman Citizenship?

Answer 7

Only attainable for the most exceptional freedmen - fears in the reign of Augustus that too many criminal freedmen and ‘undeserving’ individuals were aquiring citizenship - preventing those who had been severely punished, branded etc. from becoming citizens.

Freedmen also routinely used as informants against their patrons and so senators constantly fought to limit their freedoms

Question 8

How does Juvenal discuss the equestrian order?

Answer 8

3.153-9 in the context of complaining about the seats in a theatre (front 14 rows reserved for this order) - has issue with the basis of the status being wealth declared on the census which meant the children of freedmen where not accessing the rank (Praecones and Lanistae)

Juvenal perceives money as the break up of the traditional social framework (‘fortuna mutat genus’) - complains that former barber can challenge the wealth of paticios omnes

Question 9

What does Juvenal’s aristocratic ethos refer too?

Answer 9

the belief that there is an inherent superiority amongst those who are high born Romans (namely Patricians and curule) which will alwyas seperate them from others

Question 10

How does Juvenal’s aristocratic ethos effct his tratment of his noble comtemporaries (Patricians and curule)

Answer 10

Juvenal 8: criticises the aristocrats of his time for being corrupt and degenerate - since he sees the nobles as superior they are held to a higher standard which his contempories fall short off - no issue with standard itself
Points to Marius and Cicero as examples (even though Cicero is - while elite an ‘homines novi’ - not aristocrat, so they current aristocrats are being outdone by those beneath them by birth)

Question 11

The problem which arises when considering whether to believe literary sources on freedmen

Answer 11

The demographic of the writers - largely male Roman elite - very little writing from the group themselves
Our sources being limited, they contribute massively to our conception of they group - which means we try to fit the material evidence in a way which compounds this impression (trimalchio vision)

Question 12

Laws regarding freedmen, inheritence and their patrons

Answer 12

Those with an inheritence of over 100 000 sesterces were required to give a proportion of their wealth to their patron unless they had 3 children (patron got half if competing with one child, a third it two)

Question 13

Positives of social mobility in Ancient Rome

Answer 13

attracting factors: creating vacancies in the social structure which enable the integration of newcomers

Question 14

Negatives (apparently) of social mobility in Ancient Rome

Answer 14

Structures can undergo radical change which enables newcomers to ‘invade’ newly created positions no only those previously in existence

Question 15

How did freedmen and women achieve social mobility with such laws to dissuade them?

Answer 15

freedmen had considerable control over trade and commerce which helped them attain the wealth necessary to increase their social standing

Question 16

How does Petronius present Trimalchio?

Answer 16

Trimalchio - hard-working and commercially active, inherits senatorial wealth from former master
reductio ad absurtum: exaggirating past the point of impossibility in his wealth and conduct

has a zeal for language (36.7) that reflects positively on his education and cultural awareness beyond Rome

Question 17

How does Trimalchio display his wealth

Answer 17

Satyricon 71 - elaborate discription of the tomb he wants - wishes to be remembered for his wealth

Question 18

How are parallels drawn between Trimalchio and Emperor Nero

Answer 18

tris = great (greek), malchio = king in semetic language

Use of semetic language - others himself from Romans as the emperor must

Spilling of wine: mock libation, guilty of aspirations set too high, like emperor

Keeps his beard in a box like Nero (gold)

Question 19

What does Petronius mean by comparing Nero and Trimalchio

Answer 19

Rather than Nero being reason for degeneration of Rome, he as the head is a reflection of it

Question 20

Roman Perception of Freedmen

Answer 20

New rich - relentlessly criticised, exaggerated sense of luxury offents roman intellectual aristocracy, emphasis often placed on their servile past or foreign origins
Cena Trimalchionis represents the snobbery of the aristocracy, mocks this perspective as much as the freedmen themselves by showing how absurd it was - not necessarily view of Petronius

Question 21

Material evidence of freedmen

Answer 21

Freizes depicting commercial activity often assumed to be owned by freedmen - imagery in house of vetti has gods of financial stuff but could have just been fashionable, not necessarily freedmen stuff

epitaphs of freedwomen (first to third century AD) - document occupation of women - sense of pride

lots of freedmen epitaphs not many others (survival bias - over 100 000, but we don’t know how many freedmen there were in total who didn’t do this and we don’t know if the freeborn ones just didn’t survive)

Question 22

Timalchio and political transaction

Answer 22

Senator’s performatively work in agriculture like Synsenatus or would at least invest in it to show they are living by traditional values - trimalchio tries to imitate this through his transition to agricultural business

He still associates with his former friends, a senator would not - he isn’t necessarily trying to shed his past - parading to people who already like him and thus it is hollow

Question 23

About Petronius

Answer 23

One of Nero's courtiers after his consulship in 62 AD - became member of senetorial class 
influenced by Tacitus - intertextual cross-referencing with the Annals

Question 24

Difference between satire and history

Answer 24

Juvenal reduces historical events described by Tacitus, prioritising social trends and the private to show how the emperor relfectsrather than sets the trends (sociological vs historical - history is held to some standard)

Question 25

Juvenal’s moral agenda

Answer 25

Juvenal 3 - a critique of the city itself and the obsession with accumulation of wealth / how it can usurp the hierarchy - believes every class must be fulfilled 
Every class of society failing to properly inhabit their space 
irrational attack of money - necessary even to the arrangement of society he likes

Question 26

Nature of Plebian life

Answer 26

muticultural, relatively prosperous in urban areas, good living conditions, money allowing for prosperity - worker could support themselves, a spouse and a child even at lowest level of labour work

Question 27

Petronius’ Aesthetic message

Answer 27

Commenting on ostentatious behaviour and tastelessness rather than specifically targetting him as a freedman - forcing upper class to observe their own behaviour on an outsider - made to be a moral and aesthetic anomaly

Question 28

What does the relationship between Tacitus and Juvenal exemplify?

Answer 28

The wider relationship between satire and history - satire is sociological, history has a standard of attempted objectivity established (different agenda)

Tacitus uses the voices of others to demostrate conflicting opinions / accounts - always someone else talking

Question 29

Define ‘Patrician’

Answer 29

people claiming decent from the ancient families who occupied places in the senate before the establishment of the republic

Question 30

Juvenal exaggirated class divide

Answer 30

artificial polaridation of classes (plebs vs elites) - over simplification - obscures multiculturalism of plebian class - Juvenal is equestrian

Question 31

Explain the negativity towards performance and acting exhibited by roman literature

Answer 31

Lesser known reason - theatres were a place for mass gathering, and thus not a great place for the ruling elite to be - the same people who write everything we have

also why most were not initially perminant

Question 32

Chariot racing and politics

Answer 32

• people often demonstrated their political support by betting on certain temas - Nero famously covered ground in expensive green dye to show his support
• preference for chariot racing over gladiatorial combat

Question 33

Theatres as spectacle architecture

Answer 33

theatre of pompey: first permanent stone theatre (55 BC - later than expected), pride of place in important district near temples / significant ancient tholoi

Question 34

Class divide in amphitheatres

Answer 34

most controlled environment - designated areas per each class with streamlined entrances to prevent class integration / communication

Question 35

Political benefit of Gladiators

Answer 35

• demonstration of munificence - giving money to benefit the community as opposed to personal wealth
• celebrity of the gladiator : put their bodies on display, exhibit the lowest social persona (specificity of gladiatiors in art - name, type of death, weapond)
• pompeiian frieze - gladiators presented like iliadic figures

Question 36

Diachotomy of gladiators

Answer 36

Gladiators depicted as heroes and the elites, but woth circles framing it as gladiatorial crowns - stock image, self identifying with the elite, though not socially advanced, economically so

Question 37

Social inequality in public spaces (theatres and public baths)

Answer 37

Way too many seats given to senators / knights, which were likely never full (impossible), not enough plebians and others, class visible based on seats 
Literature characterises the lower classes as sports addicts, but all the good seats in the largest quantities are reserved for the elites 
Geography is exclusionary - distance between people and public baths or other spaces makes it inaccessible

Question 38

The concept of satire

Answer 38

• comes from ‘satura’ - implication of plenty and variety, satire covers far-reaching topics
• also a nationalistic implication (‘lanx satura’ - roman dish capable of representing roman race) - no exact form or artistic aspiration but Roman to the core

Question 39

How Juvenal uses the concept of satire

Answer 39

-Takes expansive style and rejuvenates it after restrictive form of persian satire, elevated expression style
-utilises epic meter and language to discuss lowbrow topics
dwells on failure and downfall
-violence done to high language reflects the violence being done on former symbols of authority
-ie: satire 5 - food served to rich compared with mythical homeric foodm vs hangers on from his former life

Question 40

How Juvenal creates distance with his opinons

Answer 40

• Juvenal, carefully, targets largely the regime of Domitian, which is over by the time of his writing - strange displacement in his satires, he is forcefully critical but to a generation from which he is removed by time
• It is necessary that he attack Domitian because it is the only way to muster authentic satirical fury because of the relatively benign rule of Trajan and Hadrian
• Juvenal offers no secure moral standpoint, which makes his writing, clever, funny but ultimately, morally repellent

Question 41

How Romans use humour

Answer 41

• represents the joy of breaking the rules with implication that the rule is oppressive or unacceptable
• insistence on the rule, with the implication that the breach is ridiculous and unacceptable
• freedomn of it being ‘just a joke’

Question 42

Juvenal’s cowardice

Answer 42

• critiquing a time long gone but makes it sound noble and bold
• seems anti-autocratic and revolutionary but could be flattering Hadrian by disparaging Domitian
• undercuts the speaker by irony to avoid taking responsibility for opinions - can both say and unsay

Question 43

Effiminacy of Trimalchio

Answer 43

• implication of Trimalchio smothering his masculinity (‘gausapa’ is a type of robe that is put on him, greek root of the word implies a level of effeminacy anyway and it is also worn by the Cinaedus who molests Encolpius and Giton at Quartilla’s orgy)
• ‘Mollitia’ - softness- often used to signify someone as unmanly and thus un-roman

Question 44

Changing portrayal of Nero

Answer 44

• Nero was very popular in his early years - it was after his assassination that writers began to distance the present day from Nero and cast him as a far-off, caricatured tyrant
• All of the Julio-Claudian emperors had to mimic Julius Caesar and Augustus to some extent to remind the populus of the legitimacy of their power but in Nero’s case: later writers interpreted this as aping rather than a necessary aspect of his power

Question 45

Difference of class between Petronius and Juvenal

Answer 45

Petronius (if we consider him the Tacitean figure) = former consul and senator
Juvenal = equestrian from Aquinum