Martial

Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis),
Latin poet, was born at Bilbilis in Spain on 1 March in a year between AD 38 and 41 (in 10. 24, written between 95 and 98, he celebrates his fifty-seventh birthday). He died in Spain, probably at Bilbilis, between 101 and 104 (book 12 is later than 101, but Pliny (the Elder) Epistulae 3. 21 on Martial's death is not later than 104). Brought up in Spain, he came to Rome around AD 64 (10. 103 and 104, datable to AD 98, report that he had lived in Rome for 34 years). In Rome he was supported by the younger Seneca, then the most celebrated Spaniard in the city, and probably by other important patrons (4. 40, 12. 36): Gaius Calpurnius Piso, Memmius Regulus (consul in 63), and Vibius Crispus (consul in 61). Already in 65, however, the suppression of the Pisonian conspiracy brought ruin to the families of Seneca and Piso. Martial continued to be on friendly terms with the widow of [The entire page is 2697 words long]

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