Part 47 (1/2)

661. Catull. xvi. 5; Ov. _Tr._ ii. 354; Apul. _Apol._ 11; Auson. 28, _cento nup._; Plin. _Ep._ vii. 8.

662. We might also quote the beautiful

extra fortunam est quidquid donatur amicis: quas dederis solas semper habebis opes (v. 42).

What thou hast given to friends, and that alone, Defies misfortune, and is still thine own.

PROFESSOR GOLDWIN SMITH.

But the needy poet may have had some _arriere-pensee_. We do not know to whom the poem is addressed.

663. Cp. the description of the villa of Faustinus, iii. 58.

664. Their only rival is the famous Sirmio poem of Catullus.

665. Even Tennyson's remarkable poem addressed to F. D. Maurice fails to reach greater perfection.

666. e.g. Arruntius Stella and Atedius Melior. Cp. p. 205.

667. Cp. the poems on the subject of Earinus, Mart. ix. 11, 12, 13, and esp. 16; Stat. _Silv._ iii. 4.

668. Mart. vi. 28 and 29.

669. The remaining lines of the poem are tasteless and unworthy of the portion quoted, and raise a doubt as to the poet's sincerity in the particular case. But this does not affect his general sympathy for childhood.

670. 101 provides an instance of Martial's sympathy for his own slaves.

Cp. 1. 5:--

ne tamen ad Stygias famulus descenderet umbras, ureret implicitum c.u.m scelerata lues, cavimus et domini ius omne remisimus aegro; munere dignus erat convaluisse meo.

sensit deficiens mea praemia meque patronum dixit ad infernas liber iturus aquas.

671. i. 13.

672. i. 42.

673. i. 21. He is perhaps at his best on the death of Otho (vi. 32):

c.u.m dubitaret adhuc belli civilis Enyo forsitan et posset vincere mollis Otho, d.a.m.navit multo staturum sanguine Martem et fodit certa pectora tota manu.

sit Cato, dum vivit, sane vel Caesare maior: dum moritur, numquid maior Othone fuit?

When doubtful was the chance of civil war, And victory for Otho might declare; That no more Roman blood for him might flow, He gave his breast the great decisive blow.

Caesar's superior you may Cato call: Was he so great as Otho in his fall?

HAY.

674. It is to be noted that even in the most worthless of his epigrams he never loses his sense of style. If childish epigrams are to be given to the world, they cannot be better written.

675. Cp. Juv. 5; Mart. iii. 60, vi. 11, x. 49; Plin. _Ep_. ii. 6.

676. v. 18. 6.