On Classical and Christian Satire
Saint Jerome as heir and innovator
Jerome knew his satires (Persius, Juvenal, and Horace). He was more concerned about the content and function of satire than with its form. His satiric content and function accord with the definition of Diomedes a grammarian in the fourth century who says that satire is
abusive and apt to carp at the vices of men; examples are the works of Lucilius, Horace, and Persius.
But Jerome was not satisfied with this definition. What he inherited he reshaped. In a letter (Ep. 57.4) he talks of biting "back those who offend" him, digesting his "anger", practicing "the use of commonplaces, and" stowing "away arrows" sharpened and ready for battle."
In another (Ep. 50.5) he makes plain his ability by alluding to classical satirists:
I can bite back, if I'd like, I can “stick my tooth” when wounded; I too have learned literature a little, “I too have often snatched my hand from under the cane,” about me too one can say “he has hay on his horn, run far away!”
Cristiana Sogno draws attention to the fact that
later on in the letter, however, Jerome seems to reject classical satire in toto by stating that he prefers to be a “disciple of Him who says ‘I gave my back to the smiters" (Ep. 50.5)
Jerome cautions those he writes to on the danger of the
“evil-speaking tongue." He warns the recipients of his letters against an “evil-speaking tongue” (maledicam linguam), which is considered a major impediment to a truly Christian life (see Letter 54.9 and cf. also Letter 46.10; 52.14).
These raise a question: is Juvenal for or against satire as practiced by the classical satirists? Jerome sees his satire performing two functions. First, it applies to more than one individual (whether his target is named explicitly or implicitly). Second, he aims his satiric pen as a doctor would a scalpel - as a curative or to cut off what is malignant.
I am prepared to cut off a foul-smelling nose...
Responses to his satires are different. Concerning the foolish Jerome writes:
No matter what vice the sword-like tip of my pen is turned against, you cry out loud that you are the target, you join battle and call me into court.
However,
a wise man and wise women will either hide or correct any faults they find in themselves, they will be more indignant with themselves than with me, and will not heap curses upon their adviser.
The functionality of satire as conceived by Juvenal is conditioned by three principles - self-judgment, love and anonymity. These principles are evident in a letter in which he advises Neopotian on how the presbyter at Altinum should conduct himself as a clergy. He says the clergy should judge himself before judging others lest he falls under divine judgment.
When I have wished to remove the mote from my neighbor's eye, I have cast out the beam in my own" (Epistle 52.17).
He also claims that his writing was motivated by love.
I have written to them not as to opponents but as to friends.
A surgeon passes to the speaker in Juvenal's satire the secret of the "well-smoothed passage" of the patient whose "swollen piles" he lances (2.12 - 14). Jerome, however, advises Neopotian
to visit the sick and to guard the secret of noble men. Make it your object, therefore, to keep your tongue chaste as well as your eyes.
In judging others, Jerome says he protects their privacy.
Not a name has been hinted at. My words have not been aimed at individuals and my criticism has not been quite general (52.17)
In conclusion, Juvenal can be rightly called one of the Christian inheritors of the classical satirists. However, what he got he reshaped through the self-judgment, anonymity and love to serve a Christian mission - a call to repentance. His words as a satirist best end this essay.
If anyone wishes to be angry with me he will have first to own that he himself suits my description.