RTIAL.[90]

(1) LIFE.

M. Valerius Martialis (Coquus is added in the old glossaries) was born
at Bilbilis in Hispania Tarraconensis on 1st March in one of the years
A.D. 38-41. His tenth Book, written A.D. 95-8, contains a poem (x. 24)
written on his fifty-seventh birthday. Cf. ll. 4-5,

'quinquagesima liba septimamque
vestris addimus hanc focis acerram';

ix. 52, 3,

'ut nostras amo Martias Kalendas';

x. 103, 1,

'Municipes, Augusta mihi quos Bilbilis acri
monte creat, rapidis quem Salo cingit aquis.'

His parents' names are given, v. 34, 1, 'Fronto pater, genetrix
Flaccilla.' Martial went through the usual education at Bilbilis or at
a neighbouring town; ix. 73, 7,

'At me litterulas stulti docuere parentes:
quid cum grammaticis rhetoribusque mihi?'

Martial went to Rome A.D. 64, for in A.D. 98, when he left Rome, he
gives the length of his stay as thirty-four years; x. 103, 7,

'Quattuor accessit tricesima messibus aestas,
ut sine me Cereri rustica liba datis,
moenia dum colimus dominae pulcherrima Romae.'

At Rome Martial became the client of the house of the Senecas, and was
on intimate terms with L. Calpurnius Piso, Memmius Gemellus, and
Vibius Crispus; xii. 36, 8,

'Pisones Senecasque Memmiosque
et Crispos mihi redde sed priores.'

The failure of Piso's conspiracy in A.D. 65 and the consequent
downfall of the Senecas must have affected Martial's position. In A.D.
96 Martial addresses as his patroness Argentaria Polla, Lucan's widow,
the only surviving member of the family; x. 64, 1,

'Contigeris regina meos si Polla libellos,' etc.

From her he may have got the small vineyard near Nomentum which he
possessed by A.D. 84 (xiii. 42 and 119).

Little is known of Martial's life before the reign of Domitian. He may
have practised at the bar; cf. ii. 30, 5,

'Is mihi "dives eris, si causas egeris" inquit';

and Quintilian appears to have advised this course (ii. 90). He
probably lived as a client of great houses to which he was recommended
by his early-developed poetical talents. Cf. i. 113, 1,

'Quaecumque lusi iuvenis et puer quondam.'

In A.D. 80 he commemorated the opening by Titus of the Flavian
Amphitheatre by a collection of poems sent to the emperor. Cf.
_Spectac._ 32,

'Da veniam subitis: non displicuisse meretur,
festinat, Caesar, qui placuisse tibi.'

Martial received the 'ius trium liberorum' from two of the emperors.
This probably