Giovenale (6, 634-644) di fronte a Persio (5, 1-20) sul tono grandis riguardo alla satira

Abstract

A comparative analysis of the two passages shows that Juvenal means to be a continuator of  Persius’ ideas, but he also wants to stress the innovative strength of his own poetry. He highlights passages, in which his reader is invited to identify contrasts and affinities. Truth (verum) was the subject of both authors, as basic matter of satiric poetry, but in Juvenal it appears under monstrous shapes, typical of highly tragic literature. This approach was rejected by Persius, given its distance from realism.