Selected Epigrams

by Martial

  7.48. Martial is making fun of a host who departs from the usual custom of having tables for his guests. Instead, the dishes are carried around by pages. Martial complains that the dishes come by so fast that diners can’t grab them.

  7.62. Galán Vioque notes that for a man to have sex with an adult male slave was less acceptable than to do so with a boy, but not embarrassing so long as the slave took the passive role. The preference of Hamillus for adult slaves is suspicious and inspires Martial’s conclusion that Hamillus buggers the slaves in public to hide his taking the passive role in private (361–62).

  7.70. Galán Vioque points out that Martial uses the active form of the verb meaning “to fuck,” implying that Philaenis, a lesbian, takes the masculine role in sex. Amica means both “female friend” and “female lover” (402–3).

  7.75. The figure of the lecherous old woman who has to pay for sex is a frequent target of Martial’s. Here she deludes herself that someone would be willing to sleep with her for free. In Latin, the punch line says “you want to give and not to give,” punning on two meanings of dare: “to offer oneself sexually” and “to offer money.”

  7.76. Galán Vioque observes that dinner parties, porticoes, and theaters were places that people would go to pick up lovers (432). The implication is that Philomusus may provide sexual pleasure or entertainment, but is not loved.

  7.77. Copies of books were expensive to make, and though Martial might offer them for free to generous patrons, he implies that Tucca wants to make money by reselling them.

  7.78. Saxetanum was a town in southern Spain known for producing salted fish; lacerti were small fish (Shackleton Bailey 2:141n). One might expect a man who eats the tail of a small salted fish, accompanied by oiled beans if he is dining well, to be poor, yet Papylus sends luxury foods as gifts to others. He is being satirized as the worst sort of miser, who denies himself any pleasures while sending expensive gifts to others in the hope of receiving legacies or gifts from them. Shackleton Bailey explains that to “indulge one’s Genius” means to enjoy oneself, which Papylus is incapable of doing (2:141n).

  7.79. Galán Vioque points out that “consular” usually referred to something from the Republican period, which would have made the wine quite old. Romans valued old wines highly, and tended to look down on new wines. The wine’s vintage was indicated by naming who was consul when it was produced (440–41). Martial is here using “consular” to mean “wine of a consul.” There had been three consuls named Priscus not long before this book was published in 92 CE (Shackleton Bailey 2:143n). Marcus Severus was a friend of Martial’s (3:382).

  7.81. Lausus is a friend of Martial’s (Shackleton Bailey 3:363). Martial frequently feels a need to defend himself against the criticism that his work is uneven, as he does also in 1.16. In 7.90, on the other hand, he points out that consistency is not always a virtue.

  7.83. Galán Vioque says that the Greek name Eutrapelus means “nimble,” but that this barber seems to be inordinately slow (453–54). An alternate explanation is that Lupercus is so hairy that the barber can’t keep up with his beard’s growth. The epigram literally says that the barber “paints” the cheeks of Lupercus, which could mean applying makeup (454), but could also refer to the ruddiness created by shaving.

  7.85. Martial here, as in 7.81, refers to the difficulty of maintaining consistently high quality in a book of epigrams.

  7.89. Domitius Appolinaris was a friend and patron of Martial (Shackleton Bailey 3:340), who here sends him a rose garland (customarily worn at banquets) as a gift. The poem expresses a wish for the long life of his patron (Galán Vioque 480).

  7.90. This poem is addressed to Creticus, not mentioned elsewhere in Martial. Galán Vioque notes that creticus is the name of an unequal metrical foot, so the name may be intended as a pun (482).

  7.91. The Juvenal addressed here was probably the satirist Decimus Junius Juvenalis, a friend of Martial’s (Shackleton Bailey 3:361). Galán Vioque notes that nuts were a common token gift for Saturnalia. Martial apologizes for the smallness of the gift by joking that the rest of the nuts from his farm were used by the orchard’s guardian god, Priapus, to bribe girls into having sex with him (484–85).

  7.92. Martial is satirizing a patron who is all talk, no action. Baccara, to spare Martial’s dignity, offers to give him financial help whenever he needs it without Martial’s having to ask for it. Yet faced with several clear examples of Martial’s financial need, Baccara does nothing. Martial wishes a baleful star to strike Baccara dumb as fitting punishment for his empty words of support.

  7.94. The mouth of Papylus smells so bad from performing oral sex that anything that comes near it is tainted by his smell. Garum, a fish sauce made from fermented carp entrails and gills, was widely used in Roman cooking and noted for its offensive odor (Galán Vioque 495–96).

  Book Eight

  8.1. As in book 5, Martial is flattering Emperor Domitian by complying with his expressed preference for moral writing. Martial also alludes here to Domitian’s veneration of Pallas Minerva, symbolizing wisdom, as opposed to sex, symbolized by Venus.

  8.5. Macer’s gifts to his mistresses have impoverished him to the point that he no longer has the minimum qualification for knighthood of owning four hundred thousand sesterces (Galán Vioque 372). Senators, knights, and magistrates had the right to wear a gold ring (Shackleton Bailey 2:164n). Macer means “lean, meager,” so the name fits the character.

  8.10. Tyrian purple was the most expensive color to produce.

  8.12. Martial addresses more than one Priscus in his poems, so the identity of this one cannot be established (Shackleton Bailey 3:378), but it is probably one of his friends.

  8.13. Martial implies that he wanted a foolish slave who would be tractable, but got one that was clever and therefore less desirable.

  8.14. Boreas, the North Wind, is usually portrayed as being fierce and tough. Martial jokes that his unnamed host’s greenhouses would be more comfortable than his guest rooms.

  8.16. Cyperus, who was a baker for a long time, became an advocate, earning a lot of money, but spending even more. Martial’s joke is that turning bread back into flour would make something valuable into something worth much less, just as Cyperus takes a lucrative job and then dissipates all his earnings (Shackleton Bailey 2:172n).

  8.17. Martial here pretends that he has become a lawyer and has pled a case for Sextus, who underpays him when the case is lost. Martial hints that the facts of the case were so damning that it was better not to mention them (Shackleton Bailey 2:173n), implying that he blushed as a move to win sympathy.

  8.18. Cerrinius is clearly a friend of Martial’s and probably one of his patrons. Martial’s praise of his unpublished epigrams and comparison of his modesty to Vergil’s unwillingness to compete with Horace in writing odes or with Varius in writing tragedy are elaborate compliments and should not be taken as a sincere estimate of the epigrams’ worth. Vergil’s full name was Publius Vergilius Maro (Shackleton Bailey 3:389); Horace, who lived in Calabria (2:173n), had the full name of Quintus Horatius Flaccus (3:355); Lucius Varius Rufus was a writer of tragedies during the time of Augustus (3:388). Buskins (cothurni in Latin) were boots worn by actors in tragedies and therefore an allusion to tragedy in general.

  8.19. Because so many rich men would plead poverty to avoid financial obligations, Cinna hopes that by harping on his poverty he can be taken for a rich man, but his claimed poverty is no pretense (Shackleton Bailey 2:174n).

  8.20. Martial loves the paradox by which someone can have a quality and its opposite at the same time. Here Varus is unwise to write so much bad poetry, but wise not to recite it in public. The name Varus means “contrary” in Latin, which suits such a contradictory character.

  8.22. Wild boar would be a rarer, more expensive delicacy than pork; Martial implies that he can tell the difference between the two (Shackleton Bailey 2:175n), that he is no hybrid and neither is the pig.

  8.23. The name Rusticus means “pr
ovincial, boorish” in Latin and therefore suits someone who questions his host’s behavior in a foolish way.

  8.25. On the surface, Martial appears to be offering to comfort Oppianus often when he becomes ill, but the offer contains the implied hope that Oppianus will be ill often (Shackleton Bailey 2:177n). Martial may also intend to gloat when he visits.

  8.27. Gaurus is one of many cases Martial mentions of rich men beset by legacy hunters, but he appears to be unaware of his visitors’ motives.

  8.29. Martial suggests that no matter how short the individual poems may be, one still needs enough of them to fill a book and the book will still be as long as if the poems were long ones. He often seems to be responding defensively to readers who tell him that they like his shortest poems best.

  8.31. Howell notes that Martial had asked for and received the Right of Three Children (ius trium liberorum) from Emperor Titus, and the grant was renewed under Domitian. The rights included the right to receive legacies (15–16). Since Martial does not seem to have married, the rights would have been a significant coup for him, but he makes fun of married men who seek the same privilege.

  8.35. Martial plays on the irony of the couple’s not getting along despite being perfectly matched in awfulness.

  8.40. Images of Priapus, the fertility god, were placed in gardens to guard them from theft. Here the image guarding a grove intended for firewood is itself made of wood and therefore may be burned if it fails to protect the grove (Shackleton Bailey 2:191n).

  8.41. The Faustinus mentioned in this poem is the same friend and patron of Martial’s mentioned in several other poems (Shackleton Bailey 3:355). The gift exchange would have been during the Saturnalia, a seven-day festival that began on December 17 (3:381).

  8.43. Martial implies that Fabius and Chrestilla tend to do away with their spouses soon after the wedding, presumably to inherit the spouse’s money. With poetic justice, he suggests that they should marry one another, so that both will be carried off at the same time by Libitina, the goddess of burials.

  8.47. Martial seems to be satirizing an unduly elaborate treatment of facial hair.

  8.51. Shackleton Bailey observes that any lover might see more in the beloved than is there, but the phrase “loves more than he sees” is literally true for a blind man (2:201n).

  8.54. Though Shackleton Bailey emends vilissima to durissima and magis to minus, the unemended epigram makes sense if you assume that Martial is lamenting that a beautiful woman should be utterly shameless. The name he gives the woman, Catulla, would evoke for many readers the Lesbia of Catullus, just such a shameless beauty.

  8.56. This sort of over-the-top praise of Domitian, a notably bad emperor, has earned Martial the disapproval of many, who assume that he is flattering the emperor to gain perks from him. In some poems Martial asks for specific benefits, but in many, as here, the praise is not tied to any particular request. By linking Domitian’s generosity to the people’s love, however, Martial is subtly encouraging more generosity. Spisak points out that such praise poems encourage behavior helpful to the community (54) by appealing to the desire of the rich and powerful to acquire a good reputation and to maintain it after their death (60).

  8.60. The Palatine Colossus, originally a statue of Nero erected by his Golden House, was moved by Vespasian to the Via Sacra and converted into a statue of the Sun God, with a diadem of rays (Shackleton Bailey 1:13n). Martial frequently exaggerates physical features for humorous effect, and a towering woman is a funnier image than a giant man.

  8.61. Like many of Martial’s other poems about his Nomentan farm, this one emphasizes the nuisances, rather than the pleasures, of ownership. Marcus Severus, to whom the poem is addressed, was a literary man and Martial’s friend (Shackleton Bailey 3:382). The bosses and cedar oil would have adorned Martial’s books, not Martial himself.

  8.62. Papyrus was expensive, and Martial is satirizing a scrimping poet who tries to reuse old scrolls by writing on their backs. Apollo’s turning his back on Picens implies that the poet has no inspiration.

  8.69. Martial often mentions earlier Latin poets with respect, especially Catullus, Vergil, Ovid, Horace, and Marsus, but he clearly found it annoying that earlier poets were valued far above living poets, such as himself.

  8.76. Gallicus asks for truth and gets it, but not the “truth” he wanted. Rich patrons must often have asked Martial’s opinion on their writing and speaking abilities. In this epigram about an invented character, Martial can give the blunt answer he might have hesitated to give to an actual patron.

  8.77. Martial’s friend Liber was a charioteer (Shackleton Bailey 3:363). Falernian is Martial’s usual choice to signify an excellent, expensive wine. The Assyrian cardamom oil is another luxury, which people would use to scent their hair at banquets.

  8.79. Porticoes were covered walkways that functioned as popular meeting places, providing shelter from sun or rain. By surrounding herself with old and ugly friends, Fabulla makes herself look young and beautiful by comparison.

  Book Nine

  9.4. There are many possible reasons that Aeschylus might want to buy Galla’s silence, all of them embarrassing, such as impotence or fetishes. Leaving the possibilities open to the reader’s imagination makes them seem even more lurid than they would be if stated.

  9.6. According to Henriksén, the pseudonym Afer, meaning “African,” may have been chosen because of its connection to Libya (42). Afer is clearly a patron, and as his client, the poet would be expected to visit him after his return. By remaining unavailable, the patron is causing considerable trouble to the client, who must keep returning. The final vale is a pun, meaning not only “goodbye,” but also “get lost,” and, because of its ritual use at funerals, “drop dead” (43).

  9.8. Bithynicus has clearly been legacy hunting by giving six thousand sesterces a year to Fabius, only to learn that Fabius has died penniless. Martial advises him to look on the bright side: he won’t have to keep giving six thousand a year.

  9.9. Cantharus makes himself an unwelcome dinner guest by his out-spoken abuse and bad manners. Martial warns him that he is unlikely to be invited to dinner if he doesn’t change his ways. Henriksén points out that the Greek name Cantharus is derived from the name of a drinking cup associated with Bacchus, the god of wine, and that drunkenness therefore may be the source of the character’s bad behavior (51). There is a complex pun in the term liber, which means “a free man,” “free speaking,” and “one of the names of Bacchus, the god of wine” (52). If Cantharus wants to eat and drink at his patron’s expense, he has to remember that he is dependent on the patron and cannot say whatever he wants.

  9.10. The scenario in which a woman is eager to marry and a man isn’t comes up frequently in Martial’s epigrams. Here, the implication is that Paula is undesirable for an unnamed reason. Martial frequently writes about old women wanting to marry younger men, who would be tempted to marry them only for their money.

  9.14. Parasites who constantly seek dinner invitations from people known for their lavish banquets are a common target of Martial’s. Martial frequently mentions boar, mullet, sow’s udder, and oysters as expensive and desirable dishes.

  9.15. A typical tomb inscription, Chloe feci means “I, Chloe, put up [this tomb],” but could also mean “I, Chloe, did it” (Shackleton Bailey 2:244n).

  9.19. Shackleton Bailey notes that “three hundred verses” implies just “a large number” (2:247n). Like the dinner seeker of 9.14, Sabellus uses flattery to deflect attention from what he is really after, a lavish meal. Ironically, as Hendriksén observes, Martial himself had written a rather long poem, 6.42, in praise of the baths of Claudius Etruscus (86).

  9.21. Pompeius Auctus was a legal expert and an admirer of Martial’s work (Shackleton Bailey 3:377). He is being asked to determine which of the two men got the better end of the exchange. Martial is here punning on the erotic symbolism of “plowing” in the closeness of amat (he loves) to arat (he plows).

  9.25.
Hyllus is clearly not just any page, but Afer’s catamite, whom he watches jealously when others show attention to him. A Gorgon was a monster who turned to stone anyone who looked at her. Hylas was a boy loved by Hercules (Alcides), and Ganymede was a boy loved by Jupiter. Oedipus blinded himself after discovering his wife was actually his mother, and Phineus was a blind seer in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. When Martial mentions looking at gods, right after mentioning temples, he means the statues of gods that would be in the temples (Henriksén 108).

  9.32. Martial expresses a preference for a common prostitute over a grasping courtesan or stuck-up Roman woman (Henriksén 143). Burdigala, meaning “from Bordeaux,” is the kind of rich but stupid provincial that Martial suggests such a woman will have to settle for. The prostitute is portrayed as walking around in a cloak, possibly wearing little or nothing under it. According to Henriksén, one denarius (equal to ten asses) was a reasonable fee for a prostitute, and two would not be expensive, especially if anything more than standard sex was involved (145–46).

  9.33. Flaccus was a rich friend of Martial’s, to whom many of his epigrams are addressed (Shackleton Bailey 3:355). Since people bathed naked, some ogling would have occurred (and Martial often implies that that is the case), but the applause is almost certainly an exaggeration for humorous effect. Henriksén notes that it cannot be an accident that the last names of Horace (Flaccus) and Vergil (Maro) appear together here (148–49). The applause mentioned may be an indirect compliment to the authors, but the sexual subtext clearly adds a note of satire, too.

  9.40. The Tarpeian wreath was the prize in the Capitoline poetry contest (Shackleton Bailey 2:267n). Pharos is an island offshore from Alexandria in Egypt. Sabine women were renowned for their virtue. That a woman who is not a debased prostitute should volunteer to perform fellatio on her man if he returns safely is presented as a sign of her anxiety for his welfare, but also of her naïveté.