Martial (ca. 38-ca. 104), whose full name was Marcus Valerius Martialis, was a Roman epigrammatist. The development of the epigram as we know it was largely due to Martial's influence. His works give one of the best pictures of life in ancient Rome.

Martial was born at Bilbilis in Spain on March 1 (his cognomen was derived from the date) of a year probably between 38 and 41. He was a Roman citizen, although of Celtic and Iberian stock, and was given a good literary education by his parents, Fronto and Flaccilla. He left Spain for Rome in 64, "a fellow citizen of the Tagus, with bristling Spanish hair," determined to make his fortune as a verse writer, and soon placed himself under the powerful patronage of his fellow Spaniards Seneca and Lucan and was received with friendship by Calpurnius Piso. In 65 Piso's conspiracy against Nero was discovered, and Seneca and Lucan were...