Juvenal was a Roman poet and writer of satire pieces during the first and second centuries of Imperial Rome. Juvenal was a citizen of Rome and wrote for the Roman people. One of his satires, Satire 6 from Book II, addresses the subject of Roman women in a harsh manner which a reader may view as misogynistic. The exact dates of Juvenal’s life are ambiguous, but there is evidence found in the events and people mentioned in Satire 6 that indicates it was written some time after 115 A.D.1 Due to the satirical nature of the document, it is hard to discern Juvenal’s personal view of women or his specific purpose for writing it. It would be inaccurate to read Satire 6 and assume that Juvenal himself held negative views of women since the purpose of satire is not always personally moral but is written to ridicule certain elements of society. Satire 6 can be read as either a piece on the corruption of less than savory women or as a humorous piece on the misogynist attitudes towards women that were held by some men that might not have necessarily been in widespread opinion or practice. If that is the case, the satire would be interpreted to mean that Juvenal was not a misogynist himself and instead wrote Satire 6 to criticize men who were misogynists. Satire 6 contains a wealth of information about gender roles, social status, current events, and Roman culture that even a novice of Roman history can learn from.

From the subject matter of Satire 6, it appears that Juvenal was writing for the upper class or perhaps for the enjoyment of educated Plebeians who might have been critical of the elite upper class way of life. For a Plebeian, it would have been hard to relate to some aspects of the subject matter like details of women who are brought up in luxury, raised in their finely crafted cradles and set on top of soft cushions. Juvenal speaks of these women as being particularly fearful of sea travel due to their delicate natures and the safety in which they were raised.2 Plebeian woman certainly would have been more used to harder conditions than their Patrician contemporaries and might have thought that description of them amusing. In addition, given the economic status of Plebeians, they most likely would not have had the money to afford sea travel to other areas of the Empire. The decadent and obscene way that Juvenal portrays Patrician life might have entertained Plebeians who were contemptuous of the upper class or even compelled them to call for some sort of moral restriction on the upper class. Concerns of the average Plebeian would not have been on discussions of Vergil and Homer. Those topics would have been more a part of the leisurely lifestyle of Patricians who could afford extra pleasures. Juvenal also differentiates class in his satire when he compares the ratio of childbirth of “pauper women” against that of the rate of childbirth for upper class women; he states that “virtually no gilded bed is laid out for childbirth” and he advises men to purchase for their wives potions that give abortions or else risk the chance that they could end up the father of an illegitimate child.3 In stating this, he is speaking directly to the concerns of men of the upper class.

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Endnotes

1 Gilbert Highet, “The Life of Juvenal,” Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 68 (1937): 485.

2 Juvenal, “69. Juvenal on women in general. Rome, 2nd cent. A.D. (Satire 6, exc. L),” Women’s Life in Greece & Rome, www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/wlgr/wlgr-mensopinions69.shtml.

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