58 Readings on World’s Literary Masterpieces the burning of Rome that occurred in that year, Martial made his way to the capital of the empire and attached himself as client (a traditional relationship between powerful patron and humbler man with his way to make) to the powerful and talented family of the Senecas, who were Spaniards like himself. To their circle belonged Lucan, the epic poet, and Calpurnius Piso, chief conspirator in the unsuccessful plot against the emperor Nero in ad 65. After the latter incident and its consequences, Martial had to look around for other patrons. Presumably the Senecas had introduced him to other influential families, whose patronage would enable him to make a living as a poet. Yet precisely how Martial lived between ad 65 and 80, the year in which he published Liber Spectaculorum (On the Spectacles), a small volume of poems to celebrate the consecration of the Colosseum, is not known. It is possible that he turned his hand to law, although it is unlikely that he practiced in the courts either successfully or for long. Martial is virtually the creator of the modern epigram, and his myriad admirers throughout the centuries, including many of the world’s great poets, have paid him the homage of quotation, translation, and imitation. He wrote 1,561 epigrams in all. Of these, 1,235 are in elegiac couplets, each of which consists of a six-foot line followed by a five-foot line. The remainder are in hendecasyllables (consisting of lines 11 syllables long) and other metres. Though some of the epigrams are devoted to scenic descriptions, most are about people–emperors, public officials, writers, philosophers, lawyers, teachers, doctors, fops, gladiators, slaves, undertakers, gourmets, spongers, senile lovers, and revolting debauchees. Martial made frequent use of the mordant epigram bearing a “sting” in its tail–i.e., a single unexpected word at the poem’s end that completes a pun, antithesis, or an ingenious ambiguity. Poems of this sort would later greatly influence the use of the epigram in the literature of England, France, Spain, and Italy. What Makes a Happy Life by Martial What makes a happy life, dear friend, If thou wouldst briefly learn, attend- An income left, not earned by toil; Some acres of a kindly soil; The pot unfailing on the fire; No lawsuits, seldom town attire; Health; strength with grace; a peaceful mind; Shrewdness with honesty combined; Plain living; equal friends and free; Evenings of temperate gayety; A wife discreet yet blithe and bright; Sound slumber that lends wings to night. Can someone do an analysis for the poem entitled ‘What Makes a Happy Life’ by Martial? Around 150–200 words if possible. THANK YOU SO MUCH AND APPRECIATED ??