Martial's Epigrams: A Selection - Softcover

Garry Wills

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143116274 ISBN 13: 9780143116271

Publisher: Penguin Books, 2009

Synopsis

One of literature's greatest satirists, Martial earned his livelihood by excoriating the follies and vices of his time and set a pattern that satirists have admired and imitated across the ages. Born in Spain, Marcus Valerius Martialis (c. 40 102 CE), known in English as Martial, went to Rome as a young man to win fame and fortune. At the height of his career he published a book of scathing social commentary every year - 1,500 poems in all, of which Wills translates about a third. This exquisite translation from acclaimed author Garry Wills does not sacrifice the cleverly constructed effects of Martial's short and shapely thrusts. MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS make addictive reading and a perfect if naughty - gift.

About this title

Review:

"This collection bespeaks a great scholar at play. Recreational classicists should feel flattered that [Wills] wants them to watch."
--The New York Times Book Review

"Funny, wicked, and fresh, these epigrams . . . will give the reader plenty of smiles."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer

About the Author:

Garry Wills is a historian and the author of the New York Times bestsellers What Jesus Meant, Papal Sin, Why I Am a Catholic, and Why Priests?, among others. A frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books and other publications, Wills is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0143116274
• ISBN 13: 9780143116271
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224