O programa satírico de Pérsio frente à tradição

Abstract

Satire is considered a genuinely Roman genre, characterized by the mixture and variety, as displayed by the etymological investigation of the term satura. Among the many elements that compose the genre, these are found: 1) criticism towards the higher genres and discussions about style and diction; 2) complaints about the vices and defense of virtue and morality; 3) constant reference to food, mainly in banquets; 4) appreciation of Roman-ness; 5) appropriation and blend of various discourses and literary genres, such as the philosophical diatribe, the comedy, and the iambic poetry. Gaius Lucilius, who lived during the Republican period and wrote thirty books of satires, is considered the creator of the genre, even though only about one thousand and three hundred of his verses are extant. He was succeeded by Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Augustan poet, member of the “circle of Maecenas”, who criticizes Lucilianic satire, founding new patterns for the genre. He valued elegance, urbanitas, amicitia and a concise, clearer and more prosaic style. Aulus Persius Flaccus is Horaces successor in satirical tradition. He wrote six hexametric satires, and fourteen verses in choliambic meter, commonly understood as a prologue. He lived under Nero and criticize contemporary literature in his poetry. His style is condensed, considered obscure, and pervaded by metaphors, neologisms and vulgarisms. Worthy of attention are the frequent references to Horace’s Sermones, and it is also possible to observe, even though to a lesser degree due to the fragmentary state of the works, allusions to Lucilius. Despite the evident and intense presence of Horace’s Sermones in Persius’ oeuvre, the Neronian satirist sets himself aside from the former due to his anti-horacian style, in which rusticitas is above urbanitas, obscurity replaces clarity, and metaphor is more relevant a figure than irony. Thus, even bringing tradition deep into his own satire, mainly in his themes, Persius differentiates himself from his predecessors by building a new style for satire, highlighting its moral aspects and associating it with stoicism.