The aim of this thesis is to present an aspect of Martial through money matters I have treated the poems of Martial that are connected with money matters in some way or other There is an excellent thesis on legacy-hunting by Prof Katsuhiko Higuchi, entitled "'Captatio' as depicted by Martial" (in Journal of Classical Studies, Vol I, 1956, Tokyo), I have expanded the theme from "captatio" to money in general, and attempted to survey Martial's way of looking at money through some of his works, in so doing, I have tried to carve his profile in relief as an epigrammatist While "captatio" and the system of inheritance at the time are only briefly treated in order to avoid overlapping with Prof Higuchi's thesis, emphasis is put on the economic background of Roman society from which the custom of "captatio" was originated Vergil's first Ecloga-which suggests the situation of a poet deprived of his estate by political pressure-seems to me not irrelevant to numerous epigrams on money written by Martial He was one of the "client-poets" -the status of poets had already been lowered to that of mere entertainers under the reign of Emperor Domitian It is interesting to note that Martial, a "client-poet", did not care to show any sympathy towards the victims of "captatio" To illustrate Martial's view on money matters, examples were taken from his satire on "eques"-hood Martial went further to attack wasters-those who waste money on costly food, clothes and other luxuries But Martial's
scorn
of wealth is not the distaste that the labouring poor feel towards those who enjoy their unearned incomes It is the
scorn
of a poor intellectual for the unlettered new rich His satirical epigrams on niggardliness were written in that spirit Poems treating sexual affairs in connexion with money are not confined to Martial "Money rules the sexual world" is, as it were, one of his favourite mottoes, and its living examples could be seen in the everyday life of corrupted Rome Woman, he thought, is nothing but a means to satisfy his sexual desire, hence, the cheaper the better a common opinion at the time, which one sees already in Horace What has come under my notice is his masochistic lowering of himself Martial was over-conscious of his poverty His poems often suggest that wealth and honesty do not go together-and perhaps this view represents a correct comprehension of the society in which he was living But we must bear in mind that the words were uttered by a man whose worldly ambitions were frustrated, and to whom his provincial origin was a lifelong burden Martial must have found a vent in bitter words, pretending to be sometimes a picaro Flattering and begging poems "dedicated" to Emperor Domitian and other men of power may have had the same origin Cynical words are hurled at the absurd custom of salutatio His attitude on composing poetry is naturally affected by these feelings Never believing in the eternal value of literature, yet proud of his being a rather famous poet hence conies his mocking attitude Literature yields little profit, he declared, while always having
scorn
for profit-chasers It is quite doubtful, however, whether Martial himself was really in extreme poverty He often sang about his straitened circumstances Indeed, he had much interest in his economic situation, he was much too interested in it, in fact, to have let himself starve This paradox may account for his pretence as a picaro Wasn't Martial merely a normal, ordinary person ? His witticism seen through the poems on poverty seems to be a proof of his normality To conclude, Martial belonged to the lower middle class, be himself being excessively conscious of his status as one of the poor populace On the one hand, he did not hesitate to ask for material aid from the Emperor and his rich
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