“Thy Wiser Temper”

Ben Jonson’s Epigrams (1616) are notable for their establishment of a distinctive model of satiric reform that continues his project, initiated in his early drama, of reforming satire itself. While they echo Martial’s epigrams, their prevailing style is consistent with the satire of Horace, on whom Jonson persistently depended for a satiric model. Jonson dedicated the collection to the Earl of Pembroke, and it is apparent that his satiric program relies on his moral instruction of the aristocracy in order that they may serve as models of virtuous behavior. This is accomplished through both encomiastic and satiric poems, the latter of which Jonson envisions as a gentle purge, in opposition to the harsh, violent images many other satirists associated with their work. These are the ways in which Jonson sought to distinguish his own satiric practice from that of his contemporaries, coming of age as a writer, as he did, in an atmosphere dominated by Juvenalian satire. As Jack D. Winner points out, Jonson’s collection of epigrams responds to and even attempts to correct the harsh formal verse satirists of the age. ¹ The Poetomachia, in its Jonson-Marston-Dekker configuration, provides an especially useful context for understanding Jonson’s program of satiric self-distinguishing in the Epigrams. The influence of the Poetomachia, as a battle over proper satiric styles, is evident in the Epigrams, in which Jonson takes pains to position his own satire in opposition to that of Marston, Dekker, and other practitioners of violent satiric methods. His rejection of Juvenalian satire is manifested primarily through his contempt for the metaphor of whipping, a common image in his rivals’ satire. While the Epigrams are not typically considered in relation to the Poetomachia, the collection includes several reflections on this rivalry and on satire more generally, both of which serve to distinguish Jonson’s Epigrams and his satiric style from those of other poets and playwrights. The theory underlying his satire, with its reliance on the aristocracy (including actual or potential patrons), could easily seem to harbor a careerist motivation. Whether or not he expected advancement through his Epigrams, though, they reflect a sincere intellectual and social commitment to the correction of vice through his Horatian program of satiric reform.