306 Martial and his surroundings 



ters exposed appear under fictitious Greek names, but doubtless Roman 

 gossips applied the filthy imputations to each other. We need not 

 suppose that Martial's ruling passion was for bawdy epigram. But he 

 knew what would hit the taste of an idle and libidinous world. For 

 himself, nothing is clearer than that he found life in the great city a 

 sore trial, not solely from the oppressive climate at certain seasons of 

 the year. He was too clever a man not to suffer weariness in such 

 surroundings. He had to practice the servility habitually displayed by 

 poor men towards the rich and influential, but he did not like it. It 

 seems to have been through patronage that he got together sufficient 

 wealth to enable him eventually to retire to his native country. The 

 din and dirt and chronic unrest of Rome were to him, as to Juvenal, 

 an abomination: and from these ever-present evils there was, for 

 dwellers in mean houses or crowded blocks of sordid flats, no escape. 

 Both writers agree that the Rome of those days was only fit for the 

 wealthy to live in. Secure in his grand mansion on one of the healthiest 

 sites, with plenty of elbow-room, guarded against unwelcome intrusions 

 by a host of slaves and escorted by them in public, the millionaire 

 could take his life easily: he could even sleep. Martial had his way to 

 make as a man of letters, and needed to keep brain and nerves in 

 working order. For this, occasional retirement from the urban pande- 

 monium was necessary. So he managed to acquire a little suburban 1 

 property, where he could spend days in peace and quiet. Many of his 

 friends did the same. To keep such a place, however small, in good 

 order, and to grow some country produce, however little, it was 

 necessary to have a resident 2 vilicus. He had also a vilica, and there 

 would probably be a slave or two under them. The poet was now better 

 off, and doing as others did. These suburbana, retreats for the weary, 

 were evidently numerous. Their agricultural significance was small. 

 Martial often pokes fun at the owners who withdraw to the country for 

 a holiday, taking with them 3 their supplies of eatables bought in the 

 markets of Rome. Clearly the city markets were well supplied: and 

 this indicates the existence of another class of suburban properties, 

 market-gardens on a business footing, of which we hear little directly. 

 An industry of this kind springs up round every great centre of 

 population : how far it can extend depends on the available means of 

 delivering the produce in fair marketable condition. Round Rome it 

 had no doubt existed for centuries, and was probably one of the most 

 economically sound agricultural undertakings in central Italy. That it 

 was conducted on a small scale and was prosperous may be the reason 

 why it attracted little notice in literature. 



1 Often referred to. See Friedlander's index under Nomentanus^ and cf vm 61, ix 18, 9?' 



2 i 55, x 48. 3 in 47 etc. Cf vn 31, xn 72. 



