Lyceum of Ancient Literature. 



18 



Sunt bona, sunt qiiwdam medio cria, sunt 



malii pluia, — 

 may be considered as exhibiting, in 

 few words, an impartial statement of 

 the general character of liis writings. 

 If it should be asked how, with so 

 man)' faults in his productions, he has 

 served as a model to most succeeding 

 M'riters of the same class, while no 

 small number of his epigrams have 

 been translated, imitated, and adapted 

 in almost every possible form in the 

 niodirn languages, an answer appears 

 readily to suggest itself on an attentive 

 examination of the best of Martial's 

 compositions, particularly of those 

 epigrams which have been more fre- 

 •luently imitated. It will be found 

 that the humour conspicuous in them 

 rarely rests upon allusions that are 

 necessarily local and temporary, but 

 is deduced from a keen and accurate 

 observation of qualities, mental or 

 personal, common to mankind in all 

 ages ; and hence they are peculiarly 

 susceptible of adaptation to existing 

 circumstances. Nor has it been in- 

 tended, in adverting to what appear 

 to be faults in the works of this cele- 

 brated writer, to detract in any degree 

 from his just reputation, — 



^ nequedetrahcre aiisim 



Hoercntem capiti mnlta cum laude co- 

 ronani ; 



but to rectify the error committed by 

 those who, endeavouring to conceal 

 from themselves and others his un- 

 doubted defects, have placed him on 

 higher ground than he seems fairly 

 entitled to occupy. But, whatever be 

 the blots in his escutcheon, his talents 

 were of a very superior kind ; and the 

 most ample praise is undoubtedly due 

 to his genius, wit, and originality. 



Of one gifted with such extraordi- 

 nary powers as a writer, it is truly 

 painful to speak in degrading terms as 

 a man ; but, in the present instance, 

 justice and impartiality demand that 

 this should be done. With the excep- 

 tion of his abilities, there was nothing 

 to admire, nothing estimable or ho- 

 nourable, in the character of Martial. 

 "We have already adverted to his cau- 

 tious selection, for the subjects of his 

 satire, of persons from the effects of 

 Avhose resentment he imagined that he 

 Lad little to fear; a conduct by no 

 means indicative of exalted courage 

 or virtue. His time-serving spirit is 

 clearly seen in his prompt pancgyrica 

 on the reigning prince, whether virtu- 



[Feb. I, 



ous or vicious, and is more particu- 

 larly exemplifled in his behaviour in 

 regard to Domitian. He stooped to 

 accept from the hands of this execra- 

 ble tyrant, public olliccs and munifi- 

 cent donations, and employed his pen 

 in eulogising him as a model of talent, 

 virtue, and heroism ; but when the 

 death of that infamous sovereign freed 

 Koine and the world from his unpa- 

 ralleled cruelties. Martial was among 

 the foremost to attack his memory ; 

 and he satirized his vices with a bit- 

 terness and acrimony, which, however 

 merited by the object of them, were 

 testimonies of the most revolting in- 

 consistency and ingratitude from one 

 who had been indebted for so many 

 benefactions to the deceased mo- 

 narch. But even his political mean- 

 ness and tergiversation appear venial 

 in comparison with the open war 

 which, in so many parts of his writings, 

 he has waged with all moral virtue 

 and decency. Perhaps this might 

 with more propriety have been noticed 

 in speaking of him as a writer; but it 

 is at least equally disgraceful lo him 

 as a man, and does not therefore 

 seem out of place in describing his 

 personal character. Besides, it ena- 

 bles us to touch upon the subject 

 with less reference to particular pas- 

 sages, which is really some conside- 

 ration; for the mind recoils with dis- 

 gust from the recollection of pages, 

 that depict in all their loathsome co- 

 lours those nameless vices and impu- 

 rities, which can be found indigenous 

 only in the polluted soil of a despotii? 

 court. Nor is there any redeeming 

 circumstance, any extenuation, that 

 can be suggested in the case of Mar- 

 tial. The prince of amatory poets 

 pleads the correctness of his life as a 

 set-off to the warmth of some of his 

 descriptions: — " Lasciva est nobis pa- 

 f/ina, vita proba est ;" and Catullus, in 

 his i'eeble and indecent defence of his- 

 objectionable pieces, while ho denies 

 the necessity of his verse being pure 

 and chaste, admits that the conduct of 

 the writer himself should be irrcpre- 

 hensible in this respect: — 

 Nam castiim esse dteet piuni poctam 

 Ipsnni ; vPisimlos nihil necessc est. 



But Martial stands forward, the 

 avowed practical champion of licenti- 

 ousness and obscurity ; there are many 

 of his effusions which every reader 

 must perceive could be the produc- 

 tions of none but a person acquainted 

 by experience with the subjects of 

 vfhicU 



