JUVENIL'S SATIRES - attacking the Patron-Client Relationship in Roman Politics.

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JUVENIL’S SATIRES: PATRON-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP

Analyse A Wide Range Of Evidence

a) The Romans did not share our attitude to work. Work, (paid work that is, which you did to make enough money to keep you fed, clothed, healthy and with a roof over your head), was an abomination to be avoided if at all possible. The ideal was a life of leisure in which you were free to pursue your interests. The writer Pliny who was wealthy enough to own two huge mansions in the country and who could have lived comfortably without doing a stroke, used to occupy every waking hour with legal advice, politics, reading and writing. For the poor, paid work was inevitable, but for anyone with an education it was unendurable, and there had to be an alternative. The alternative that the Romans developed was the ‘patron-client’ system. Essentially all the rich men adopted an ‘entourage’ of poorer or lower status people as their clients: the idea was that each morning the clients would go and greet their patron and receive either some temporary employment or a dole or gift of food or money. They might be invited to dinner, but if they were they might be there only to make up an impressive number, and would most likely be served inferior food. At least the relationship provided a way of getting a living. In earlier days there had been a point to the institution: in the aloof nature of Roman society a large group of supporters loyal to you, was a very useful assistant for anyone in politics. Your clients were a part of the wider family.

However, by the first century AD the nature of politics had changed and the relationship was an institution without an obvious purpose. It is likely that the rich and powerful enjoyed the status it gave them, but they felt no obligation to their clients and merely went through the motions of patronage. Juvenal suggests that clients, for their part, regarded it with total cynicism as a means of getting free food and other hand-outs. An increasing population of urban poor, and an influx of foreigners such as Greeks meant that there were many more clients dependent on the generosity of the wealthy patrons. Some plebeians became very wealthy through trade and became patrons in their own right, corrupting the original tradition of a benevolent aristocracy, and a dependent lower class.

Juvenal describes this relationship in several satires, and he also describes the way in which it was abused. He sees it as a severely flawed institution partly because greed turns everyone from top government officials to the poorest clerk into shameless grabbers of the free handout, and partly because the relationship itself he finds corrupted and degrading. His depictions of the morning race to salute the patron are graphic and verge on appalling.

b) The ‘selfish’ rich are attacked in Satires I and III and the emperor  is portrayed as a sexual hypocrite and dictator in II and IV. Juvenal does not limit his jibes for only the rich but also attacks those who are willingly dependent on these rich and powerful men. For example, Juvenal targets the courtiers who were shamed by Domitian by being asked to advise on what to do with an enormous fish in Satire IV. He also has a stab at the client who was humiliated by his wealthy patron in V. He blames him for allowing himself to be subjected to such ill-treatment by declaring that a dinner invitation is not worth the degradation experienced:

[1]1“Are you that famished? Wouldn’t your self-respect do better out there, shivering cold, and chewing on mouldy dog bread? Get one thing clear from the start: a dinner-invitation settles the score in full for your earlier services.”                         (Juvenal, Satire V, 10-13)

Satire V, in its entirety, is devoted to the shabby treatment (according to Juvenal) that all clients could expect from his patron. From its respected position as part of the social foundation of Rome, this relationship evidently became a burden to all parties as the time wore on. This is a far cry from the peaceful days, when patrons gained prestige through their clientele, not amusement.

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In the Republic period, both the clients and the patrons were happy with their social ties. This relationship was essential in early Rome, as it bound the two social classes together, fostering a sense of community. Indeed, in the early days of Rome, it was illegal for clients and patrons to sue one another, or even to vote in support of someone else 2(Shelton).

Juvenal first used the imagery of the ‘new’ client-patron relationship in his Satire I to illustrate Rome's fall from tradition, and in his mind, greatness. In Juvenal's satire this once mutual relationship is reduced to pure ...

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