Plagiarism and Poetic Identity in Martial

This article addresses the significance of plagiarism as a poetic theme in Martial's Epigrams . Martial is the first classical poet to use the term plagiarius to refer to literary theft ( Ep. 1.52), and elsewhere in his epigrams, he frequently accuses other poets of appropriating or copying his work. This article argues that Martial's explicit references to plagiarism illustrate a poetic self-identity invested in the materiality of his texts: as Martial objectifies his books, he also commodifies them as articles of the marketplace. By defining his poetry as material commodities available for purchase or theft, Martial also exposes the economic fictions of Roman literary patronage.