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spacestationtrustfund's review
3.0
Five stars for Shackleton Bailey's translations; zero stars for Martial, who was a douchebag.
One of my favourite epigrams, if for no other reason than its bewildering nature:
One of my favourite epigrams, if for no other reason than its bewildering nature:
XCIIut patiar moechum, rogat uxor, Galle, sed unum.
huic ego non oculos eruo, Galle, duos?
Shackleton Bailey comments on this use of oculus: "i.e. testicles? But oculi does not seem to be so used elsewhere." Indeed, I've never seen oculi used to refer to the testicles, although blinding an adulterer is also not in line with anything I've read of Martial's time (adultery was pretty much the legem terrae).92My wife asks me, Gallus, to tolerate a lover, just one. Shall I not gouge out both his eyes?
clitullus's review
3.0
to quote regina george, a near-epigrammatic queen: stop trying to make [epigram as a formal genre] happen! it's not going to happen!
i did enjoy 5.20 and 5.58, but i also felt myself nearing my grave. and this is just 1-5 + specs. martial's great technically but he's mean and not really THAT funny and just like way too precise. his obscenity isn't that clever, and he's not sexy or romantic ever. epigram is messy. let it be messy. shhhhhh.
i did enjoy 5.20 and 5.58, but i also felt myself nearing my grave. and this is just 1-5 + specs. martial's great technically but he's mean and not really THAT funny and just like way too precise. his obscenity isn't that clever, and he's not sexy or romantic ever. epigram is messy. let it be messy. shhhhhh.
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