prima salutantes atque altera conterit hora ;

1. Martial ~ The City Hour by Hour Click here to hear a reading of the whole poem before you start; thanks to ARLT On each slide click to load questions and click again for a possible answer Explain fully what Martial means when he talks about the “salutantes”. Rich men (patrons) have clients ~ poorer people who depend on them for handouts of food and money, for influence and for bits of employment. Martial as a struggling young poet from the provinces clearly depended on patrons to make his way in the world – and he does not like it! The clocks in this presentation assume sunrise at 6 am and sunset at 6 pm. Times would need to be changed pro rata at other times of the year. prima salutantes atque altera conterit hora; Comment on Martial’s use of the word “conterit”; what does it tell us about his feelings? The first and second hours of the day “wear down/grinds down” the clients; the day is only just beginning and already they are getting tired and fed up – they will have been up well before dawn, they will have stood around outside the house and then in the atrium, waiting for the master. There is possibly also the idea that this ‘boot licking’ by the clients is degrading and wears down their self esteem.

2. Explain fully what Martial means when he talks about the “causidicos”. These are lawyers; legal cases are heard out of doors in the centre of the forum on the Rostra. There was a prosecuting and a defending lawyer and a large jury. exercet raucos tertia causidicos; Why are the lawyers described as “hoarse”? Since the courts were held out of doors in the middle of the bustle and noise of the forum, lawyers would have had to talk loudly in order to be heard and be able to make their oratorical effects to the jury and to any spectators; therefore not surprising that they got hoarse!

3. Comment on Martial’s use of the word ‘labores’ Seems to suggest effort and toil, picking up on conterit earlier and contrasting with what happens from the ninth hour onwards which is clearly the part of the day that Martial looks forward to and enjoys. in quintam varios extendit Roma labores; For how many hours are people at work? Presumably people start at dawn so work goes on for five hours? What is Martial communicating with using the word ‘varios’? The “hustle and bustle” of life in the city during the day – noise and business – all the things that people like Martial are not really interested in.

4. People are ‘lassis’: how long have they been at work? Presumably for most people they have been at work since at least dawn, so they will have been at work for five hours. sexta quies lassis, Translate ‘quies’ Rest/ siesta Why is ‘quies’ important at this time of day? For most of the year it is getting pretty warm by this time of the day and work becomes difficult. septima finis erit; The ‘finis’ of what? The end of the work day and for Martial the beginning of the fun part of the day, so finis is a powerful word for him.

5. What is a ‘palaestra’? The exercise ground attached to the baths, where people could play various ball games and other kinds of exercise Why is it described as ‘nitida’? People covered themselves with oil and then after working up a sweat they scraped it off with a ‘strigil’ (pic below). Therefore they are shiny with oil (transferred epithet). sufficit in nonam nitidis octava palaestris; Why does Martial use the word ‘sufficit’ here? “it is enough” – is Martial hinting that he does not want to spend too much time on exercise – he wants to get to dinner, drinks and poetry reading, the things that for him are really fun.

6. What happens during the ninth hour? This is the hour when people have their big meal of the day: cena – dinner, followed possibly by a commissatio – a drinking party, - and some entertainment. imperat exstructos frangere nona toros: Explain the phrase ‘exstructos frangere …. toros’ The couches in the dining room – three people per couch, - were set out with cushions piled up which the diners will then rumple up when they recline

7. ? Explain why Martial addresses Euphemus Euphemus is the emperor Domitian’s major domo, organiser of his social life; he is a freedman; he will decide what the entertainment will be at the dinner and therefore whether Martial will get the opportunity to read his poems to the emperor. horalibellorum decima est Eupheme meorum libellorum meorum: explain what Martial is referring to. These are the books/ notebooks of Martial’s poems. Martial is being mock modest when he talks about his “little books”, his insignificant little trifles. These are the little books from which Martial will have the opportunity to read to the emperor if he can persuade Euphemus that it would be good entertainment.

8. ? temperat ambrosias cum tua cura dapes, et bonus aetherio laxatur nectare Caesar ingentique tenet pocula parca manu. What effect is Martial trying to create by using the words “ambrosias”, “aetherio”, “nectare”? All these words are associated with the gods: ambrosia is the food of the gods, nectar is the drink of the gods, the aether is the bright upper air where the gods live. Therefore picturing the emperor Domitian in this scenario is effectively to say that he is godlike if not actually a god.

9. ? temperat ambrosias cum tua cura dapes, et bonus aetherio laxatur nectare Caesar ingentique tenet pocula parca manu. Explain why Martial uses the adjectives ingenti and parca ingenti: Domitian holds his goblet in a huge hand – Martial is thinking of colossal statues of the emperors which make the emperors larger than life and therefore almost superhuman, so this is flattery. parca: his goblet of wine is moderate – Domitian was renowned as a moderate drinker and Martial is flattering him by commending and celebrating that behaviour.

10. ? tunc admitte iocos: gressu timet ire licenti ad matutinum nostra Thalia Iovem. Explain iocos Martial is describing his witty little poems, his epigrams; after dinner when the drinking starts is when these should be introduced (admitte). Who is Thalia? Thalia is one of the nine Muses: the goddesses who inspire artists of various kinds to what they do; she is the muse of comedy, who inspires poets like Martial to the wittiness which they show in their poems.

11. ? tunc admitte iocos: gressu timet ire licenti ad matutinum nostra Thalia Iovem. Explain the sentence gressu timet to Iovem Martial is saying “better for my poems to be heard in the evening” because in the myths the muse Thalia with her sexy wiggly walk (gressu licenti) was afraid to go to see Jupiter in the morning (matutinum) – presumably he is grumpy! –and in the same way the witty poems inspired by Thalia should not come to Jupiter’s “representative on earth”, the emperor Domitian, in the morning – early evening is a much better time. Notice Iovem as the last word – nostra Thalia makes it clear Martial is talking about his poems and therefore it is is equally clear that the reference of the emphatic last word, Iovem, is to the emperor Domitian.