tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22359913.post6051942501883176430..comments2023-08-02T19:00:36.737-04:00Comments on MARGINALIA: Erotion's ParentsMark A. Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03339375274062593045noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22359913.post-24672530917428161042016-02-16T07:24:59.593-05:002016-02-16T07:24:59.593-05:00I am not sure at all, and must admit that I never ...I am not sure at all, and must admit that I never considered the possibility that Fronto and Flacilla were Martial's parents. Their names would be unusual for slaves, but not an impossibility. If I were to address another assumption, what is Martial is not the speaker of the poem, regardless of the first person singular in <i>commendo</i>. What if the poem were a gift or commission for someone else?Mark A. Keithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03339375274062593045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22359913.post-37041512213134951022016-02-13T14:40:24.824-05:002016-02-13T14:40:24.824-05:00Are you sure Fronto and Flacilla are Erotion's...Are you sure Fronto and Flacilla are Erotion's parents? Peter Howell's Aris and Phillips commentary on Book V (1995) says that they are "generally taken to be Martial's own dead parents. Some have argued that they are Erotion's own parents, but their names are unlikely ones for slaves, and it would be a little odd to call her own parents her <i>patroni</i> (line 7). The argument that her own parents would be more of a consolation to her is self-defeating: the whole point is that Martial asks his own parents, who presumably had never seen Erotion, to look after her."Michael Hendryhttp://www.curculio.orgnoreply@blogger.com