Selected Epigrams

"But you know who I recently learned makes me laugh as hard as anyone in print? Martial, the ancient Roman poet and satirist--an actual 2,000-year-old man and still funny! . . . I had never read Martial until I picked up his Selected Epigrams in a new edition with delightfully snarky translations by Susan McLean, a poet herself. . . . [Martial] would have been great on Twitter, and rappers might well appreciate his flair for the corrosive put-down."--New York Times Book Review
"The Roman satirist Martial hasn't had a good deal hitherto from his translators. An older generation suppressed his hilarious obscenities, while today it's his racism, sexism, class prejudice, and callousness towards the ugly, deformed, or slaves (no poet was ever less P.C. than Martial) that cause offense. Now Susan McLean, a witty and metrically skillful poet in her own right, has seen her opportunity in Martial. Her rhymed quatrains are as sharp and pointed as Martial's own elegiacs; the Roman's insults and obscenities are preserved with style and relish. Martial has at last found a translator who not only possesses all the disparate skills needed for the job, but has clearly enjoyed herself hugely while doing it."--Peter Green, translator of Juvenal's Satires

"A neatly chosen, crisply rhymed selection of [Martial's] most pungent sallies; perfect bedtime reading."--Books of the Year, Times Literary Supplement