Martin
T. DINTER Martial's Epi(c)grammatic
Force
Recent research vindicating the all-inclusiveness of the epic
genre has pointed to the role played by embedded epigrams
both in constructing an epic's social memory and in
putting the poet's poetic self consciousness on show. By
contrast this paper will look at the relationship between
epic and epigram from the opposite perspective, and
consider how epigram appropriates epic and what epic can
do for epigram. I shall argue that Martial reacts to and
defends himself against the prestigious but aloof genre
of epic and introduces in his apologia pro opere
suo "social efficiency" as the main criterion for his
literature.
In book 14, where Martial renounces epic topics (14.1.11f.),
he presents to the reader epic after epic neatly wrapped
up as presents (14.183-96). Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Lucan
all appropriated to fit into two line epigrams thus
serving as most striking examples that epic is indeed
material epigram can handle. Moreover epic is depicted in
(and reduced to) its social context, a desirable souvenir
and suitable gift at the Saturnalia. Martial thus
clearly does not avoid confrontation with epic but rather
deals with it from a new perspective, contriving to
appropriate without (dis)respect. This paper aims to show
how Martial's major oeuvre, the 12 books of epigrams (the
post-Virgilian "epic" number), constantly alludes to and
plays with epic material which in his time had become the
matrix of Roman culture.
A prime example of epic
measured for its social efficiency is IX, 101 where
Martial manages to squeeze two epics into 18 lines and
weighs up the deeds of Hercules against those of
Domitian. In fact Martial cheats on his readers as on the
one hand his catalogue of Hercules' labours is incomplete
and on the other Domitian's deeds are exaggerated. Yet
from the perspective of social efficiency Martial
certainly makes his point by dedicating the longest poem
in book 9 - the epic among the epigrams so to speak - to
Domitian and demonstrates that it does not take epic
length but rather epic content to place a compliment
advantageously. Additionally this flattering epigram is
the last but also the longest and most extravagant eulogy
on Domitian, a worthy climax and also when read from a historical perspective the epitaph on the
relationship between poet and emperor.
Shortly afterwards in
IX, 103, at the very end of the book, Martial shows
delight in composing a non-event epic: beautiful Helen
would have stayed at home and neither Iliad nor Odyssey
would have been written. Instead twin slave boys star in
a "Palinode", in which Martial's lyric narration of a
real-life topos seems to demand the verdict that he not
only imitates but actually supersedes what
is told in epic. Thus in this epigram Martial employs
epic in two socially efficient ways: on the one hand the
epic background gives him a chance to make a courteous
compliment to the owner of the slaves; on the other to
end this book, he emphasises once more the pre-eminence
of his writing, which derives its content from the real
Roman world.
Finally in XI, 69 the
dog Lydia pronounces her own epitaph and displays self-esteem stating:
non potui fato nobiliore mori, thereby playing on
the epic motif of the beautiful death of young soldiers
in battle. Accordingly she excels Odysseus's dog Argos who dies having spent his life waiting for the return of his
master. Moreover following the motto "like master, like
men" Lydia's
self-epitaph is simultaneously a laudatio for her
and her master. In the same way that the dog elevates
herself through comparison with mythological and epic
examples, so Dexter is by implication elevated to equal
Meleager who hunted the Calydonian boar. Martial's
technique of combining examples from epic myth with
contemporary Roman praise is a challenging way for a
small-scale text to tap into large-scale glory and fame.