scavenger, working on a storage of bile." Symonds[1] affirms that "Without an appeal to conscience the satirist has no locus standi." Browning has Balaustion say to Aristophanes:
"Good Genius! Glory of the poet, glow
O' the humorist who castigates his kind,
Suave summer-lightning lambency which plays
On stag-horned tree, misshapen crag askew,
Then vanishes with unvindictive smile
After a moment's laying black earth bare,
Splendor of wit that springs a thunderball—
Satire—to burn and purify the world,
True aim, fair purpose; just wit justly strikes
Injustice,—right, as rightly quells the wrong,
Finds out in knaves', fools', cowards' armory
The tricky tinselled place fire flashes through,
No damage else, sagacious of true ore."
And Dawson[2] brings satiric utilitarianism into the present century:
"It is quite beside the mark to say that we do not like satire.
It is equally beside the mark to say that we have never known
such a world as this. The thing to be remembered is that in
all ages the satirist of manners has been of the utmost service
to society in exposing its follies and lashing its vices. It is the
work of a great satirist to apply the caustic to the ulcers of
society; and if we are to let our dislike of satire overrule our judgment,
we shall not only record our votes against a Juvenal and
a Swift, but equally against the whole line of Hebrew prophets."
All these citations refer more or less directly to the
cause—the reason or motive for satirical utterance—but
have some bearing on the effect—the tangible result of
it,—since the two are to a certain extent inseparable.
