Satire VI Summary

Chastity lingers on Earth during Saturn's reign, while Jove remains a beardless stripling. After that, Chastity and Justice retreat to heaven. The Silver Era witnesses the first adulterers, an age-old tradition. The fact that Postumus plans to marry is insanity; it is better to commit suicide or sleep with pretty boys. Ursidius upholds the Family Encouragement Act. Few women remain chaste, and a wife will make someone else a father, not her husband. When Eppia elopes with a swordsman, Egypt declaims Rome's monstrous morals. Although wives object to crossing the sea with their husbands, they do not complain about crossing the sea with their lovers. There is nothing impressive about Eppia's lover except his being a gladiator, but women crave steel. Claudius' wife sneaks away to a brothel, while Censennia's husband claims she is chaste because her dowry brings him a...