SOURCE: An introduction to Martial, Book XI, Duckworth, 1985, pp. 14-18.

In the following excerpt, Kay provides a concise overview of Martial's literary legacy in Italy, England, France, and Spain.

… Martial was well known in late Antiquity: authors like Ausonius,³⁰ Sidonius Apollinaris,³¹ and Luxorius³²quoted from him and imitated him; the grammarians used him for illustrations;³³ and in the seventh century Isidore of Seville cites him some fourteen times, though twelve of these instances are from the Xenia and Apophoreta.³⁴ During the following years Martial continued to be known to Carolingian and other scholars, and, though some of their knowledge of him stems from the grammarians, Isidore and each other, some is independent of these sources; we find citations in Alcuin's pupils Hrabanus Maurus (776-856) and Theodulf (d. 821), and in Maurus' pupil Walahfrid Strabo (c. 809-49).³⁵ In the early Middle Ages Martial enjoyed popularity in England: the epigrammatist Godfrey...