2 Quotes & Sayings By Marcus Valerius Martial
Marcus Valerius Martial (c. 84–c. 16 bc) was a Roman poet and epigrammatist of the Augustan Age. He was born in Bilbilis (now Sousse, Tunisia), where his father was a provincial governor; he claimed to be of plebeian origin
Martial was the youngest child of his parents, his father, whose name is unknown, was killed in battle while fighting under Sulla against the Carbonarii in Italy, and his mother, whose name is also unknown, brought him up alone. After the death of his mother he went to Rome and gained admission to the school of rhetoric held by the grammaticus Attius Tiro. He made little progress at this school; he then followed Gaius Julius Hyginus into the equites, or knights, but after some time returned to the rhetoricians.
Through this school he came under the influence of Fabius Pictor, who taught him Greek literature as well as Roman history and antiquities.