10 Sed dum tota domus raeda componitur una,
11 substitit ad veteres arcus madidamque Capenam.
- Porta Capena a gate in Rome. wet because it's next to an aqueduct
- arcus madidamque Capenam - hendiadys
- when you say two ideas that are separate (e.g. X and Y), but the meaning is that the two ideas are connected in some way, (e.g. X of Y), (X is Y)
- ad - prep, towards, at
12 hic, ubi nocturnae Numa constituebat amicae
- Numa - second king of Rome. short -a by scansion.
- Numa introduced religious practice to Rome (built temples, set up festivals and customs). He said he got his inspiration from a nymph called Egeria, who he met outside the city in a grove at night. The grove was near the Porta Capena. Egeria told him about all the religious stuff
- by saying "nocturnal girlfriend" about this grand semi-mythological story of a king and a demigod, Juvenal is being irreverent
- ubi where
- constituebat met
13 (nunc sacri fontis nemus et delubra locantur
14 Iudaeis, quorum cophinus fenumque [est] supellex;
- cophinus fenumque - hendiadys
15 omnis enim populo mercedem pendere iussa est
16 arbor et eiectis mendicat silva Camenis),
- nunc sacri ... silva Camenis - There's a racial stereotype about how Jews are good at making money, this is a reference for that. Why? See the "no place for honest Romans" in context.
- Absurd imagery of trees paying rent - characteristic of Juvenal
- Camena, Camenae - Muse
17 in vallem Egeriae descendimus et speluncas
18 dissimiles veris. quanto praesentius esset
19 numen aquis, viridi si margine cluderet undas
- quanto praesentius esset numen aquis - indirect question
20 herba nec ingenuum violarent marmora tofum.
- quanto praesentius ... marmora tofum - There was a little forest/grove here. But then someone has built up a bit of infrastructure, like channeled the water or paved a path or placed statues.
- it is a metaphor for racism... yay....
- the tofa is original roman-ness or something and the marble is non-native-romans???
- tofa - a desaturated brown material that turns white when exposed to water. It's easy to cut/manipulate so was used as a building material (?). It was native to Rome. By contrast, mamora is not native to Rome
But while the whole home is put together on one wagon, he halted at the old arches of the wet Capena Gate. Here, where Numa met the nocturnal girlfriend (now the woods of the secret fountain and the shrine have been hired out by Jews, whose furniture (is) a basket and hay; the wood and forest beg the ejected muses, for all have been ordered to pay rent to the people), we descend into the valley of Egeria and the caves not similar to the truth.
How much more present would the divine will in the water be, if the waves were surrounded with a strong grass border, and the marbles did not violate the indigenous tofa.
common question: how does the opening of the satire set up stuff?
thematically:
- Rome is bad
- loss of culture in Rome - invation of Jewish people into the grove
- the only solution is to leave
Stylistics
- Bathos
- irreverent humour
- vignettes - standalone imagery scenes interspersed through the satire
- tone - critical, dry, indignant, ... sad?
scansion
pronounciation has shifted slightly since Vergil (~50BC), so final o is short instead of long now!!