ABSTRACT
Marcus Valerius Martialis was born and died in Bilbilis, Spain, but lived the most important years of his life in Rome, whose foibles he exploited to the full in his Epigrams. His gallery of subjects ranges throughout Roman society, since no type eluded his scrutiny. Martial maintains a good-humored equilibrium as he scans his cast of rascals and rogues. He writes in many meters, including the elegiac, which was usually used for love poetry. Many of his poems are short, pithy epigrams, with a sting at the end. He also wrote a few poems extolling life in the country, but the center of his world was Rome. It is important to note that Martial's attitude toward homosexuality is not consistently negative, probably because, as he indicates in his poems, he himself freely indulged in gay sex. Some of his poems are sensitive, such as those written to dead boys, and a few can be called love poems.
