Since the beginning of the first satire, Juvenal has rejected the use of epic as being too exploitable and too inefficient to describe the monstrosity of the Roman vice. Yet the epic allusions crosses all satire. The paper deals with the idea that the functions of the epic elements in the first satire, often being erroneously restricted to a decorative (i.e. mocking) one, are in a stringent manner connected with Juvenal's choice of satire as genre. The paper shows how Juvenal transfers epic foundings on the ground of the satire and how he uses them to form his programmatic principles.