me
composuit.'

Martial was evidently never married (ii. 92). In A.D. 98 he left Rome
and went to Spain, where he had liberal friends, as Terentius Priscus
(xii. 4), and Marcella (xii. 21), who gave him an estate, described in
xii. 18. From xii. praef. we see his longing for Rome:

'In hac provinciali solitudine ... bibliothecas, theatra, convictus
... desideramus quasi destituti. Accedit his municipalium robigo
dentium et iudici loco livor,' etc.

Martial died, at latest, about A.D. 104, being from 63 to 66 years
old.

Pliny _Ep._ iii. 21 (written not after A.D. 104), 'Audio Valerium
Martialem decessisse et moleste fero.'

Martial does not disguise the bad points of his character. Cf. his
flattery of Domitian, and his continual begging (_passim_), his
cynical reasons for giving panegyrics (v. 36, quoted above); the
number of indecent poems he wrote, for which he apologizes (_e.g._ i.
praef.). Among his good points are his 'candor,' mentioned by Pliny,
_Ep._ iii. 21; his love of unadorned nature, _e.g._ iii. 58; his love
for his friends, _e.g._ i. 15.

(2) WORKS.

_Publication of the Poems._--_Liber Spectaculorum_ was published A.D. 80,
on the opening of Titus' Amphitheatre. The _Xenia_ and _Apophoreta_
were two collections of inscriptions for presents at the _Saturnalia_
in December 84 or 85 A.D. The numbering of these as Books xiii. and
xiv. has no ancient authority. Martial furnished the other Books with
numbers (cf. ii. 92, 1, 'primus liber'). Books i., ii., appeared
together A.D. 86. Then came Books iii.-xi. at intervals of about a
year to December, 96 A.D. Martial prepared a selection from Books x.
and xi. for Nerva's use (no longer extant). This was presented along
with xii. 5,

'Longior undecimi nobis decimique libelli
artatus labor est, et breve rasit opus.
Plura legant vacui, quibus otia tuta dedisti;
haec lege tu Caesar; forsan et illa leges.'

Book xii. appeared at the beginning of A.D. 102. and shortly
afterwards in an enlarged edition. An edition of all the Books
probably did not appear till after Martial's death.

For Martial's immediate popularity, cf. vi. 61,

'Laudat, amat, cantat nostros mea Roma libellos,
meque sinus omnis, me manus omnis habet';

xi. 3, 3,

'Sed meus in Geticis ad Martia signa pruinis
a rigido teritur centurione liber,
dicitur et nostros cantare Britannia versus.'

Pliny _Ep._ iii. 21 (written just after Martial's death), 'Erat homo
ingen