BITING OFF MORE MAN ONE CAN CHEW: A RECENT TREND IN THE INTERPRETATION OF JUVENAL'S 15TH SATIRE

Abstract

In his discussion of Juvenal's 15th Satire, entitled "Philosophers and Cannibals", Richard McKim (1986:58) observes that the poem "has traditionally been an object of distaste and neglect".1 He describes the tirade against the Egyptians as "a tissue of hysterical racism, stupid morbidity, and smug self-congratulation" and concludes that "on the traditional assumption of identity between the Satire's first-person bigot and its author, it seems merely another unpleasant document in the history of bigotry". McKim endeavours to give a more palatable interpretation of the Satire's purpose, and scope for this is provided by the dichotomy which the persona-theory postulates between the author and his "speaker". Rejecting the assumption that Juvenal is giving expression to his own views, he suggests that Juvenal is presenting the character of his "speaker" to the reader for critical inspection and that his intention is to direct the reader's scorn "not against the Egyptians whom his speaker is attacking but against the speaker himself for his delusion that Roman society is superior" (McKim 1986:59).