Selected Epigrams

This lively translation accurately captures the wit and uncensored bawdiness of the epigrams of Martial, who satirized Roman society, both high and low, in the first century CE. His pithy little poems amuse, but also offer vivid insight into the world of patrons and clients, doctors and lawyers, prostitutes, slaves, and social climbers in ancient Rome.

About the author

Marcus Valerius Martialis, or Martial (ca. 40-104 CE), made his way to Rome from Iberia (now Spain) and won renown across the Empire for his humorous epigrams. Susan McLean is a professor of English at Southwest Minnesota State University. She won the 2014 Donald Justice Poetry Prize for a collection of her own poems, The Whetstone Misses the Knife, and in 2009 her collection The Best Disguise won the Richard Wilbur Award.

Summary

This lively translation accurately captures the wit and uncensored bawdiness of the epigrams of Martial, who satirized Roman society, both high and low, in the first century CE. His pithy little poems amuse, but also offer vivid insight into the world of patrons and clients, doctors and lawyers, prostitutes, slaves, and social climbers in ancient Rome.

Product details

• Authors: Martial, Susan (TRN)/ Kleijwegt Martial/ McLean
• Assisted by: Susan McLean (Translation)
• Publisher: The University of Wisconsin Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.12.2014
• EAN: 9780299301743
• ISBN: 978-0-299-30174-3
• No. of pages: 320
• Series: Wisconsin Studies in Classics; Wisconsin Studies in Classics
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies