TROUBLE AT SEA IN JUVENAL 12, PERSIUS 6 AND THE PROEM TO LUCRETIUS,DE RERUM NATURA2

Abstract

This paper argues that the shipwreck scene in Juvenal 12 should be read as another exploration of the satiric ‘sketch’ offered in the proem to Lucretius,De rerum natura2: a thematic response to and exploration of the scene of troubles at sea in the Lucretian proem. The beleaguered sea-merchant Catullus should not have gone sailing at all – but he responds to trouble as an Epicurean would recommend. Juvenal 12 displays Epicurean conceptions of friendship and sacrifice, and an allusion to a storm scene in Persius 6 (itself intertextually connected to Lucretius’ proem) confirms the satiric importance of Lucretius in Juvenal's passage.