Dare to do things worthy of imprisonment if you mean to be of consequence.

The line urges moral courage: if you want to matter, you must be willing to risk punishment for doing what is right or necessary. It implies that truly consequential action often collides with unjust laws, corrupt authorities, or complacent social norms. In Juvenal’s satiric world—where public life is riddled with hypocrisy and power protects itself—mere private virtue can seem ineffectual; significance requires bold, even dangerous, commitment. The mention of imprisonment is not a call to criminality for its own sake, but a measure of seriousness: if your principles never cost you anything, they may not be principles at all.