SOURCE: "Martial the Client," The Classical Journal, Vol. XXX, No. 6, 1935, pp. 355-61.

In the essay below, Jones describes the patron-client system, emphasizing both the humiliation Martial endured under various patrons and the poet's frequent evasion of the responsibilities he was supposed to fulfill as a client.

In the Rome of the first century of our era there were many who preferred to be client to one or more patrons rather than to earn a precarious living by hard work. One of these was Martial. Coming to Rome from Spain, probably in the year 64 A.D., he successively flattered the emperor and paid court to wealthy patrons in the hope of gaining a livelihood. His failure was as marked as his persistence, for he was nearly always begging and nearly always on the verge of poverty. Martial found the thirty-four years of his life at Rome disappointing but out...