Martial

Most of what we know of the origin and early life of Marcus Valerius Martialis (Martial) has been gleaned from his works: the 1561 short, witty poems known as Epigrams that he wrote and which established him as the creator of the modern epigram. He was born in Spain, at Bilbilis, on March 1 between 38 and 41 ce. He died (according to Pliny Epistles 3.21) in Spain between 101 and 104 ce. In Book 10.24 of his Epigrams, composed between 95 and 98, he mentions celebrating his fifty-seventh birthday, and hence he was born on March 1 in 38, 39, 40 or 41 ce. His twelve books of Epigrams were published in Rome between 86 and 103 ce, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian (81–96 ce), Nerva (96–98 ce), and Trajan (98–117 ce). In his poems he satirizes city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticizes his provincial upbringing. Martial indicates that he came to Rome about 64 ce (Epigrams 10.103 and 10.104), where he appears to have been supported by the younger Seneca, Gaius Calpurnius Piso, and other important patrons (Epigrams 4.40, 12.36) and friends, including the poet Juvenal. The location of his farm at Nomentum (modern Mentana) near Rome, where Seneca and his family owned property, has been cited as evidence of his relationship to Seneca. It has been suggested that the real reason he left Rome was that he was too closely associated with Domitian, whose memory, after he was murdered in 96, was condemned by the Roman Senate. After the death of Domitian, Martial repudiated his earlier praise of this emperor, and instead turned to Emperor Nerva, to whom he dedicated Books 10 and 11, some of which have not survived. But Martial’s poetry and personal position were too closely associated with Domitian for him to be comfortable at Rome. After living in Rome for 34 years, he retired to Spain in 98 ce, and although he was disappointed by the absence of the advantages he had known at Rome, and by the lack of urban sophistication in small-town Bilbilis, he did not live long enough to return to Rome, even if he had wanted to do so.