The Mortal City: 100 Epigrams of Martial
Translated and with an introduction by William Matthews
 

    I, xxxii

I do not like you, Jesse Helms.
I can't say why I'm underwhelmed,
but I know one thing sure and true:
Jesse Helms, I don't like you.
 

The satires of the Roman poet Martial have continued over the centuries to attract the interest of readers. Generation after generation, writers have been drawn to translate anew these trenchant engagements of the private as well as public lives of the always-human Romans who people them. Here, now, in the most recent of such acts of literary homage, are 100 of Martial,s epigrams by the distinguished poet William Matthews. In these translations one finds the wit, the intelligence, and the biting social commentary of Martial, but in the language of a poet who is always fully attuned to the subtleties of late-twentieth-century life in America.

"His translations simply sound like Martial and are as engaging to the modern reader as Martial's epigrams must have been in his own day. One cannot help but laugh at many of the epigrams, whether reading Martial,s Latin or Matthews, English. Matthews, translations are thoroughly Roman, thoroughly Martial and well worth reading." Connie Rodriguez (Loyola University)
 

V, lxxxi

If poor you start, then poor
you'll end. Ain't it a bitch?
To qualify for wealth
you first have to be rich.

The Mortal City
107 pgs
available soon from Daedalus Books
Ohio Review Books Contemporary Poetry Series
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