I think this is the Doctor in Roman guise
Not Who or House to get a rise
But rather that kindliest of physician
Neither research nor clinician
To suss then, I mean Seuss. ( )

SB-3

Martial is the author you are supposed to pick up when you want to deflate someone's notion of what a 'classic' is.
This books does everything in its power to hide who Martial really was; all the truly vulgar poems have been expunged from the collection. Probably best to wait for a collection that is not concerned about offending people's sensibilities. ( )

In which I realize that my boredom with and occasional distaste for the classics is due to my own silly post-romantic desire for The Great Work rather than for the good one. Martial is hilarious, the translation adds in rhyme to give us some flavor and make the sting in the tail a little more obvious. Even better, it's dual-language. The later books are a little dull, and almost ruined by genuine, heartfelt sentiment and mourning, as well as, I feel, a general weakening of Martial's sneer. Is this Great Literature? No, thank god. Is it better than trawling through endless pages of bowel-churning love poetry? Substantially. Avoid, however, if you're distressed by performed bigotry. ( )

Fantastically bawdy, witty and sharp, I read this in a day. This is a bit misleading, because the Penguin edition is a bit of a best of, rather than every epigram Martial wrote. Still, these give a fascinating insight into the Roman world. I much prefer the underbelly-type works, like this and Juvenal, to the epics of poets like Virgil. ( )