Juvenal's Satire III, and the Problems of Ancient Rome

In the previous post I wrote what, in my opinion, were some of the worst problems facing us domestically as a society currently. Since then, after reading Juvenal's Satire II, which spoke of the problems in Ancient Rome, it became apparent that issues in our society are not entirely unique to us. 

1. Exploitation of the Environment/Natural Resources

Using up much more than needed, to put on a show and prove you social worth was very much thing to a Roman, who "dresses smartly, above his means, and sometimes something more than what is enough is taken out of another man's pocket. This failing is universal here: we all live in a state of pretentious poverty. To put it shortly, nothing can be had in Rome for nothing." While the smaller population meant the overuse of resources, building big houses and dumping waste into rivers, had a much smaller effect than that of our own nation, but there was a reason Rome expanded and conquered so ardently; Ruling may have been their art, but the wealth of other nations was their real paycheck. By using the labor and resources of conquered land to fund themselves, Rome could expand urbanly and not worry about conserving their own supplies, because they could get more elsewhere.

2. Political Partisanship

While Republicans and Democrats didn't divide the political sphere that was Rome, corruption and detestation of their politicians certainly did. As said by Umbricious in paragraph 41, " No man will get my help in robbery, and therefore no governor will take me on his staff."

3. Poverty

Poverty is ubiquitous, from the derision of poor foreigners, like in paragraph 10, which says "but now the holy fount and grove and shrine are let out to Jews, who possess a basket and a truss of hay for all their furnishings." This is an attitude seen frequently in America, against migrant workers or new immigrants. Those in a better place financially scorn instead of reaching out to help, bitter about sharing their abundant resources with those who have less. Additionally,  in paragraph 126 it states "A man's word is believed in exact proportion to the amount of cash which he keeps in his strong-box." With a country ruled by the rich, those with little means to improve themselves don't really get a say in what is going on, especially with the client-patron relationship in Rome that had them voting for the interests of  the rich man helping to feed in on trade for the most basic of necessities.

4. Lack of family Values

Immoral behavior spans across all cultures, like that described in paragraph 109 of Satire III  which describes those seeking power through connections at a powerful family as such" "there is nothing sacred to his lusts: not the matron of the family, nor the maiden daughter, not the as yet unbearded son-in-law to be, not even the as yet unpolluted son; if none of these be there, he will debauch his friend's grandmother." Pursuing something as important as a family connection for something as shallow as wealth shows a lack of true priorities that characterized both the ancient Romans and modern Americans. Furthermore, if connections are based on power and not on respect, they are fragile and easily broken, allowing for deceit to be more common. 

5. Social Disconnect

Obviously, the Roman's did not have twitter, or Facebook, or even Myspace. The attitudes built by excessive social media, however, like trading fake empathy or exaggerating emotions for the purpose of cultivating the attention of others without ever really connecting to them, is an old game. Like it says in paragraph 86 "If you smile, your Greek will split his sides with laughter; if he sees his friend drop a tear, he weeps, though without grieving; if you call for a bit of fire in winter-time, he puts on his cloak; if you say 'I am hot,' he breaks into a sweat. Thus we are not upon a level, he and I; he has always the best of it, being ready at any moment, by night or by day, to take his expression from another man's face". The term hypocrite comes from Roman actors, which makes it ironic that the Greeks are being described as the ones putting on the show. Nevertheless, trusting more in the words of the emotionally distant, be it that of someone on the internet or on the streets of Rome, causes a lack of connection between the people that hurts those involved no matter the time period.