“If glory comes after death, I hurry not.”

— Martial, Epigrammata, Book V, 10 (trans. Zachariah Rush)

About Martial

40 – 104

Roman poet, master of the epigram.

“Your birthday as my own to me is dear.”

“My poems are naughty, but my life is pure.”

“Believe me, wise men don't say ‘I shall live to do that’, tomorrow's life is too late; live today.”

“Death, like generation, is a secret of Nature.”

“No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle.”

“A witticism is an epigram on the death of a feeling.”

“God can make good use of all that happens, but the loss is real.”

“A living dog is better than a dead lion.”

“Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance is godlike.”