Ovid, Martial, and Poetic Immortality: Traces of Amores 1.15 in the Epigrams

Abstract

Martial was clearly well read in Ovid. His epigrams display various turns of phrase and metrical features reminiscent of his predecessor, whom he cites on a number of occasions as an important figure in Roman poetry, sometimes implying that Ovid is second only to Virgil or even the equivalent of the latter in light verse. Here I wish to consider the ways in which one of Ovid’s meditations on his own poetic activity, Amores 1.15, leaves various traces in Martial. Throughout, my goal is not so much to prove that Martial was consciously thinking of Amores 1.15 (or any other text for that matter) when he wrote a given epigram as it is to describe significant and interesting relationships between earlier and later texts—we will see that the epigrammatist’s use of this Ovidian text goes far beyond isolated linguistic