SATIRE IN GREEN: MARKED CLOTHING AND THE TECHNIQUE OF INDIGNATIO AT JUVENAL 5.141–45

Abstract. At Juvenal 5.141–45, Virro distributes a curious series of presents to the children of his impoverished client Trebius: a viridis thorax, nuts, and an as. Through an exploration of the connotations attached to these gifts, I argue that the scene provides a vivid mise en abyme for the rest of the poem. Just as the dinner offered to Trebius is not only meager but transforms him into a buffoon, the presents given to his children are both mean and perverse. In particular, the viridis thorax has un-Roman and effeminate connotations akin to the description of patronage as a sexual perversion in Satire 9. FOR MODERN READERS, one of the many challenges raised by Juvenal’s Satires has to do with structure and coherence. While we enjoy the vivid and colorful details of the individual scenes brought before our eyes, the logic that connects one vignette to the other sometimes eludes us. Look-ing for unifying factors or, alternatively, stressing their absence, has there-fore been a major focus in the scholarship on Juvenal. This concern is reflected by the care with which almost every recent commentary sketche