Martial (ca. 38-ca. 104), whose full name was Marcus Valerius Martialis, was a Roman epigrammatist. The development of the epigram as we know it was largely due to Martial's influence. His works give ...
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Biography EssayOn learning of the recent death of Marcus Valerius Martialis in about A.D. 103, the younger Pliny wrote (Epistles 3.21), I hear that Valerius Martial is dead and I am very distressed. ...
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On learning of the recent death of Marcus Valerius Martialis in about A.D. 103, the younger Pliny wrote (Epistles 3.21),I hear that Valerius Martial is dead and I am very distressed. He was a man of r...
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In this letter to his friend Cornelius Priscus, written around 104, Pliny eulogizes Martial, commending the poet's wit, incisiveness, and good nature. He also describes their patron-client rela...
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In the essay below, originally delivered as a lecture in 1928, Spaeth evaluates Martial's opinion of four categories of first-century Roman professionals: physicians, teachers, lawyers, and poe...
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In the essay below, Spaeth surveys Martial's depiction of men whose occupations he either scorned as contemptible or envied because they were lucrative—cobblers and booksellers, moneylen...
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In the essay below, Jones describes the patron-client system, emphasizing both the humiliation Martial endured under various patrons and the poet's frequent evasion of the responsibilities he w...
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In this essay, Duff stresses—and commends—Martial's realism, which he regards as the primary impulse behind the poet's variety of tone, perspective, and subject matter. Duf...
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In the essay below, Krauss maintains that Martial's early and continuing failure to find a generous, sympathetic patron led to deep personal resentment and a proclivity for satire. The critic a...
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In this essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1952, Johnson examines Martial's epigrams on death and dying. He calls attention to the poet's use of conventional tropes—espec...
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In this essay, Semple touches on a wide range of topics associated with Martial's life and work. He gives an extended treatment of the patron-client system as the writer's only means of ...
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In the following essay, Allen and a group of his students challenge the image of Martial as a desperately poor poet who regarded his verses as ephemeral or insignificant. Citing a variety of evidence ...
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In the essay below, Anderson contrasts the function of wit in Martial and Juvenal by an extended comparison of their poetry, particularly Martial's epigram 3.52 and Juvenal's third satir...
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In this essay, Chaney briefly surveys Martial's depiction of women—both those he admires and those whose features, vanity, or lack of virtue he disparages.
Martial frequently writes o...
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In the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1771, Lessing salutes Martial as the first and best of the epigrammatists. In his discussion of the lewdness of some of Martial's ...
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In the following excerpt, Plass evaluates Martial's obscene epigrams in terms of Freud's commentary on the function and effectiveness of wit. Plass calls attention to the way Martial man...
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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 A...
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In the essay below, Malnati remarks on the different attitudes toward social mobility expressed by Martial (in eight epigrams from Book 5) and by Juvenal (in a passage from the third satire). He conte...
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In the following excerpt, Sullivan focuses on the poet's structural and technical artistry. Sullivan analyzes Martial's arrangement of epigrams within individual volumes, the variety of ...
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In the essay that follows, Garthwaite focuses on Book 9, discerning a subtle thematic relationship between the epigrams praising the emperor Domitian, the verses dedicated to the young slave Earinus, ...
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In the following excerpt, Swann calls attention to Martial's numerous references to Catullus, especially those allusions in which the younger poet names Catullus as his chief literary model.
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The poem below, believed to have been written in 1821, is Byron's famous imitation of Martial 1.1, on the poet's fame.
He, unto whom thou art so partial, Oh, reader! is the well-known...
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In the following excerpt, dated 1857, from Macaulay's journal, the distinguished British statesman and historian records his generally disparaging appraisal of Martial. Though Macaulay remarks ...
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In the following excerpt from an essay first published in 1900, Boissier focuses on Martial's incisive portraits of character types in the fashionable society of his day and on the poet'...
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In the essay below, Butler offers a variety of judgments regarding Martial's life and work. He complains that Martial lacks seriousness and is guilty of lewdness, yet he credits the poet with a...
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In the following excerpt, Smith offers a vigorous response to Martial's detractors, particularly those who have charged him with obsequiousness toward patrons. Smith stresses the tradition of t...
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In this essay, Preston assesses Martial's opinions—as expressed in the epigrams—of his artistic predecessors, and compares them to the more formal literary commentary offered by s...
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In the following excerpt, Whipple discusses Martial's principal themes and classifies the epigrams by their content. He also provides a detailed analysis of their structure, emphasizing the poe...
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Thailand's military-installed government Tuesday lifted martial law in more than half of the 400 districts where it remained after being imposed during a coup last year, a government spokesman said...
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The powerful army commander who led a coup in September said Tuesday that martial law needs to be maintained in certain parts of Thailand, citing recent arson attacks targeting schools in the count...
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Poland's president on Wednesday led muted ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the declaration of martial law by communist-era authorities as prosecutors pushed ahead with a case against the ...
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Poland's president on Wednesday led muted ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the declaration of martial law by communist-era authorities as prosecutors pushed ahead with a case against the ...
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A mixed martial arts fighter has died in a hospice about six weeks after he was injured in a sanctioned bout, a rare fatality for a combat sport that is growing in popularity.Sam Vasquez, 35, of Ho...
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A military officer accused of beating Iraqi detainees will be court-martialed on two assault charges, the Marine Corps said Monday.Prosecutors say 2nd Lt. Nathan P. Phan beat, choked and threatened...
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The judge in the case against the first U.S. officer court-martialed for refusing to ship out for Iraq barred several experts in international and constitutional law from testifying Monday about th...
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A dozen Chinese teenagers have been caught in a failed plot to sneak into Canada by masquerading as kung fu masters from the famous Shaolin Temple, state media reported Friday.The 12 had no martial...
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Lawmakers on Saturday authorized the government to declare martial law as the country's internationally recognized leaders struggled to assert their authority after battling an Islamic movement tha...
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A military hearing opened Wednesday to determine whether a retired soldier acquitted in the 1980s of state murder charges should now face a court-martial in the same deaths.Local prosecutors said n...
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