iosus acutus acer, et qui plurimum in scribendo et salis haberet
et fellis nec candoris minus.'

_Martial's Models._--His manner is very original, but some of his
motives are taken from Greek epigrammatists, especially from
Lucillius, who flourished under Nero. Thus iv. 53 = Lucill. 30; v. 53
= L. 93; xii. 23 = L. 34. Many of his pieces are doubtless
improvisations, and consequently contain careless expressions and
errors as to facts. Thus, vii. 61, 2,

'Inque suo nullum limine limen erat';

x. 2, 1,

'Festinata prior decimi mihi cura libelli
elapsum manibus nunc revocavit opus';

x. 93, 5,

'Ut rosa delectat, metitur quae pollice primo'
(= the rose which has not yet been plucked).

In iv. 55, 3, Arpi is given as Cicero's birthplace; in v. 30, 2, etc.,
Calabria instead of Apulia is given as Horace's native district.
Catullus is Martial's chief model for hendecasyllabics and
choliambics. He mentions no other poet so often. Cf. x. 103, 5,

'Nec sua plus debet tenui Verona Catullo
meque velit dici non minus illa suum.'

Ovid, of whom he has more than two hundred reminiscences, is Martial's
chief pattern for elegiacs. After these Martial's chief model is
Virgil, chiefly the _Priapea_; then Horace to a less extent;
Propertius; and Tibullus. Domitius Marsus, Gaetulicus, Calvus, etc.,
are mentioned frequently, and doubtless imitated.

For Martial's conception of himself as a painter of manners, cf. viii.
3, 19 (ad Musam),

'At tu Romano lepidos sale tinge libellos:
adgnoscat mores vita legatque suos.
Angusta cantare licet videaris avena,
dum tua multorum vincat avena tubas.'

x. 4, 7,

'Quid te vana iuvant miserae ludibria chartae?
hoc lege, quod possit dicere vita "Meum est."
Non hic Centauros, non Gorgonas, Harpyiasque
invenies: hominem pagina nostra sapit.'

Martial satirizes people under manufactured or arbitrarily chosen
names.

Cf. i. praef., 'Spero me secutum in libellis meis tale temperamentum,
ut de illis queri non possit, quisquis de se bene senserit, cum salva
infimarum quoque personarum reverentia ludant.'

Some are tell-tale names, as Vetustilla, 'an old woman,' iii. 93;
Dento, 'a gourmand,' v. 45; Eulogus, 'a herald,' vi. 8; but the same
names, _e.g._ Zoilus, are often used to denote different types.

The chief forms of verse used are the elegiac distich (most frequent),
scazons, and hendecasyllabics. In vi. 65 he apologizes for using the