4. Origin of Satire

It is not a simple task to investigate the beginning of satire. Before it was developed as a literary form, of course, satire prevailed. It is claimed that originally the Greek poets were involved in writing the actual satirical works. The reason, if someone looks into the early Greek literature, it would be clear that Greek scholars used invectives to improve the sense of morality among the people. Greek poets like Archilochus (7^thc.B.C.), Hipponax (6^thc.B.C) used invectives. Archilochus was the first individual satirist of record. He composed iambics against the father and his household. He was so savage that Lycambes and his daughter hanged themselves.^[1] Hipponax (6^thc.B.C.), wrote the first choliambics. A Renaissance Translation of Pliny’s account tells that Hipponax was so maliciously cruel at the expense of two artists who had made a statue which ridiculed his ugliness that they, too, hanged themselves in dispare.^[2] The early Greek plays also carried the element of satire. One of the great Greek dramatists is Aristophanes. Aristophanes first employed satire on the stage. After him, the other dramatists used to employ it on the stage. Aristophanes used invectives to attack the politicians and other contemporary dramatists of his native land.

It is also said that the Romans invented the satire as a literary form. In 180-102 B.C., the Roman poet Lucillius wrote some poems on various themes and Quintilian named this writings as satura. It is to be mentioned that till that time there was no word like satura used in Greek literature. Lucilius developed this literary form into a degree of literary perfection. In his poems, Lucilias criticized the contemporary people. This literary form was further expanded in the hands of Horace, Persius and Juvenal. Horace composed many humorous and satirical poems, wherein he reproaches social abuses. Persius also composed satirical works having philosophical outlook. The greatest Roman satirist is Juvenal, who composed verse satire.

However, both the Greeks and the Romans formalized the use of satire in one form or another. Roman satire tended to be presented as poetry whilst Greek satire would be presented in plays and performance.^[3] But satire as a genre and as a direct influence on later European literature is mainly a creation of the Latin writers.^[4]