M. Valerius, the famous Latin epigrammatist, was born on the 1st of March A.D. 43 at Bilbilis (Bambola) in Spain. He was educated at Calahorra (Calahorra), and repaired to Rome in 66. The fame of his epigrams soon spread through the city, and had even passed into Gaul, Germany, and the uncivilized countries of the north. Patronized successively by the Emperors Titus and Domitian, Martial was raised to the Equestrian Order and to the tribuneship, and received the honourable privilege called jus trium liberorum. He seems to have acquired a fair fortune, for he talks with the complacency of a proprietor about his mansion in the city and his country house at Nomentum. Disheartened probably by the small encouragement extended to literature under Trajan, Martial left Rome in 100, after a sojourn of 35 years. On his departure, his friend the younger Pliny, in return for a complimentary address, gave him a sum of money to defray his travelling expenses. This fact, by an inference not quite legitimate, has been made the ground of a common opinion that the epigrammatist at this time was in straitened circumstances. From Rome Martial immediately repaired to his birthplace, and there he seems to have married Claudia Marcella, a lady whose graces and accomplishments he celebrated with affectionate pride. He passed his latter years on the property of his wife, near the banks of his native Salo (Xaloi). The time of his death is unknown, but it was probably after A.D. 104.

The pieces of Martial generally known as his Epigrams amount to 1500, divided into fourteen books. Of these books the two last, called respectively Xenia and Apophoreta, consist entirely of distichs descriptive of the small articles of luxury and ornament which the Romans usually presented to their friends on festal seasons. In addition to these epigrams, Martial wrote what is commonly known as Liber de Spectaculis, a work of thirty-three pieces on the shows exhibited by Titus and Domitian. It is doubtful whether all the poems of Martial are extant, and whether all those now ascribed to him are genuine. The best editions of Martial are those of Servierius, Leyden, 12mo, 1619; Amsterdam, 12mo, 1621, and 16mo, 1629; Lemaire, 3 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1825; and Sachseideuwinn, 2 vols. 8vo, Grem, 1842. Martial was translated into French verse by Marolles, 4to, Paris, 1675. His select pieces have been translated into English metre, and published in London, by May, 1629; Fletcher, 1656; Hughes, 1737; Hay, 1754; Wright, 1763; Rogers, 1782; and Elphinstone, 1783—the dullest of them all. There is an old MS. of Martial in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.

In the hands of Martial the epigram first became a short poem abounding with ingenious and pointed thoughts, and compressing in its conclusion all the pith of its preceding parts. To him, therefore, this species of poetry owes its present form. Amid much of the forced ingenuity and over-laboured expression that always attend epigrammatic composition, Martial displays a refined felicity of diction, a fertile fancy, and a wit equally delicate and pungent. He also shows at times a love and talent for the description of rural scenes. More interesting, however, to the modern student is the full and minute delineation which he gives of the public and private customs of his age. Yet all these estimable qualities are neutralized to a considerable extent by the shameless obscenity that abounds in his writings, and the mean-spirited adulation which he lavishes upon Domitian. These open offences against morality and self-respect, after every possible palliation has been pleaded for them, must always affect the character of Martial both as a man and as an author.