http://www.virtualsalt.com/satire.htm
Longish.)
"...general satire, aimed at many, is more common and more important than
specific attacks on single persons, since the satirist's ideal is the
reformation or regeneration of a whole society. The general correction of
vice is the primary aim because the satirist can live with a few very evil
men more easily than he can with ten thousand somewhat less evil men who
are pulling his world toward doom:
