Title

Martial's fiction : Domitius Marsus and Maecenas

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Classical Quarterly

ISSN

00098388

Volume

N.S. 54

Issue

1

First Page

255

265

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

In keeping with his « persona » of mendicant poet, Martial appropriates themes regarding Maecenas' patronage that had begun to take shape in the previous generation (Calpurnius Siculus, ecl. 4, 158-163 ; Laus Pisonis 230-248). Martial (7, 29, 7-8 ; 8, 55 [56], 21-24) adds Domitius Marsus to the list of clients. In fact, no other evidence connects Domitius Marsus to Maecenas, though it is not surprising that Martial would fabricate a relationship between a patron of Roman literary talent and a pioneer of Latin epigram as a way of solidifying respectability for the genre of epigram.

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