quid Romae faciam? mentiri nescio.
Context:
Juvenal puts these words into the mouth of his friend, Umbricus, who recently left Rome and moved to Cumae, a resort town on the coast in the region of Campania not far from modern day Naples. Umbricus left Rome because it is not fit for Romans any more. Rome is now a place for those who “know how to lie”, people who know the movement of the stars and can predict someone’s father’s death, accomplices, snitches, and bribe givers and takers. Moreover, Rome is now a place brimming with foreigners, most of all Greeks who are far too clever for their own good with their quicksilver wit. Free-born Romans now escort wealthy slaves around; no one wears togas anymore and you can’t tell the difference between wealthy and poor in the audience at festivals and at the theater. You can only sleep in Rome if you are wealthy because the hustle and bustle of the city is so loud; the streets are full of dangers: buildings collapse and roof tiles are loose, people throw all kinds of things out their apartment windows onto the street, drunk thugs don’t go home at night until they have thoroughly beaten someone to a pulp!
To sum up, make Rome great again!
July 8th, 2016 8:21am