Martial's Apophoreta : an introduction and commentary

Abstract

No commentary on Martial Book 14 has appeared since that of Ludwig Friedlander (1886). Since Friedlӓnder dealt with Martial' s entire corpus, his introductory remarks to Book 14 were necessarily subordinated to his wider concerns. While his commentary is very superficial. This work hopes, therefore, to fill a significant gap. The thesis comprises three main parts. The introduction discusses the Roman Saturnalia, concentrating on its origins, the way it was celebrated, and the licence, lotteries and gifts which characterised these celebrations. Further discussion deals with the book's title and the order of the epigrams it contains. Another section defends Friedlӓnder' s dating of Book 14 against a recent challenge <Roger A. Pitcher, Hermes 113(1985), pp. 330-339). A study of Martial's use of metre and a survey of the textual tradition along with a new text conclude this part of the thesis. The second and most extensive part of the thesis comprises the commentary. In addition to the Realien which form the subject-matter of the epigrams, the commentary deals with matters of Latinity, literary style, text and metre. It includes a translation, which is intended to be elucidatory rather than literary. The thesis concludes with a three-part appendix devoted to rare usages and hapax legomena, illustrations, and textual concordances