Martial in Roman Biography
Martial, mar'she^l, [Fr. Martial, mtR'se'tl' ; Lat.
Martia'lis ; It. Marziale, maRt-se-a'la,] or, more
fully,
Mar'cus Vale'rius Martia'lis, a famous Latin epigrammatic
poet, born at Bilbilis, in Spain, about 40 a.d.,
went to Rome at the age of twenty-two, and resided there
thirty-five years. The events of his life are very
imperfectly
known ; but it appears that he devoted his atten
tion chiefly to poetry. Some epigrams which he wrote
on the occasion of the public spectacles given by Titus
about the year 80, procured him the favour of that prince.
He was also patronized by Domitian, who made him a
tribune and a Roman knight. He was intimate with
Juvenal, Quintilian, and Plniy the Younger. About 98
a.d. he returned to his native place, where he died a few
years later. Fourteen books of his
"
Epigrams" are still
extant, and are much admired by some eminent critics,
such as Scaliger, Lipsius, and Malte-Brun. The latter
thinks his writings are among the most interesting monuments
of Roman literature, though many of them offend
against good taste and pure morality. Probably no poet ever
estimated his works more justly than he did in the
following line :
"Sunt bona, sunt quxdam mediocria, sunt plura mala."
(" Some are good, some indifferent, and more are bad.")
See Crush's,
"
Life of Martial," in " Lives of the Roman Poets,"
J726: Lrssing, "Vermischte Schriften;" A. Pbricaud. "
Essai sur
Mutial," 1^16; Fabricics,
"
Uibliotheca Latina:" " M. V. Mar-
!
; s Men-ch und Dichter," Berlin, 1S43: "Martial and his
Times," in the "Westminster Review" for April, 1853.
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