Solace in Satire: An Ancient Approach to Modern Moral Decay

A topsy-turvy world. Mindless masses following unworthy leaders. A useless conviction at trial. No, not the US in 2024, but an ancient problem with an ancient solution!

“How can I not mock what I see ... when my gut burns with rage: the people are oppressed by gangs, who here follow a man who’s defrauded his ward and sold him into prostitution, there follow a man condemned in a meaningless verdict?”¹

Can you guess what this is about? It’s Rome, almost 2,000 years ago!

The words are from Decimus Junius Juvenalis (Juvenal), a Roman poet and satirist. In his Satire I, from which this passage is taken, he describes moral decay, hypocrisy, empty rhetoric from leaders who ignore urgent issues, corruption and immorality, and a society that forgives vice and rewards deceit.

Like a time-traveling mirror, Juvenal’s poetry could have been written in the US in 2024. It reflects how voters on both sides of the aisle in the US feel — along with voters in other elections the world over. Some people think they are ousting the old immoral leaders; others think it’s the new leaders who are immoral. But — in a rare unifying bout of common sentiment — nearly everyone agrees that society has gone awry, in ways remarkably close to what Juvenal wrote about.

But Juvenal has a solution: In circumstances like these, he says, “it’s hard not to write satire.”² So that’s what he did. He wrote a satire.

Maybe we should, too? Maybe in response to our own shocking state of affairs, we can compose satire as well.

Juvenal’s text is reasonably easy to understand but tricky to render in English, not just because of his style, but because he wrote in poetry.

So instead of a direct translation, here is a stab at some modern satire in the vein of Juvenal: here’s his text in various poetic styles.

Poetry

Limerick

My gut burns and I deconstruct
A society hollowed and plucked
   By crooks lewd and crude —
   And the people they’ve wooed —
’Cause we know that society’s...

One rascal’s a sly backroom fox,
Selling souls in cheap rendezvous spots.
   His cronies all cheer,
   While downing their beer,
As he struts with his ill-gotten lot.

Another’s condemned in a flash,
In courts that are quick with the lash.
   Their verdicts are bare,
   Their morals stripped there,
As justice lies loose for their cash.

Dr. Seuss

One goon, two goons, red goons, blue goons,
Coming and going — so many buffoons.

This one’s a cheat, a fraud, and a cad,
Who swindles his ward and grins like he’s glad!
Another’s condemned but only in name
In a kangaroo court so that no one’s to blame.

Oh, rage in my belly, so hot that it stings,
That all I can write is satirical things.

Emily Dickinson

How can I not deride the Sight,
When Rage — within — doth boil?
The People pressed by ruthless Bands,
By leaders’ wounding toil.
One frauds his ward — a tragic Bond —
And sells him to the night,
While others, judged by hollow Words,
Are banished from the light.
In silent Fumes, I scarce contain
The Parody of this Refrain.

Shakespearean Sonnet

How shall I not deride what I behold,
When ire doth churn in depths where rage lies bound?
The folk oppressed, their freedom bought and sold,
By knaves and gangs that plague this blighted ground.
Here, one doth follow fraud who taints the light,
Selling his ward to sinful streets of base.
Whilst there, the crowd uphold with cruel delight
One falsely judged by judgement’s foul disgrace.
Thus, noble hearts grow wearied by the sight,
As justice falters, weighed by mock and scorn,
And honest voices silenced in the night,
Whilst folly rules, and liberty be torn.
And still I watch though heavy grows my sight
As dawn is dark and ashen like the night.

1. “Quid referam quanta siccum iecur ardeat ira, cum populum gregibus comitum premit hic spoliator pupilli prostantis et hic damnatus inani iudicio?” Satires I, line 45, 2nd c. CE.

2. “Difficile est saturam non scribere.” Satires I, line 30, 2nd c. CE.