The Poetics of Dust in Martial’s Panegyrics of Domitian and Trajan

Martial uses pulvis (dust) and its cognates throughout his corpus to describe several situations, including travel (3.5, 12.5, 10.14), bathing (5.65, 11.84, 12.50, 12.82), and even the passage of time (1.82, 8.3). Two epigrams stand out: 8.65 and 10.6 describe the emperors Domitian and Trajan heroically dusty from military campaigns. The common military theme in these epigrams uses typical panegyric language (Schöffel), however, the dust imagery unites the emperors in a way that invites comparison and reflection on the changing political landscape of Rome. Dust makes for fitting panegyric of emperors: its military context is traditional and found as far back as Homer (Harrison). While Martial’s portrayal of the two emperors derives from the epic tradition, his lexical formulations find direct correspondence to Statius’ Thebaid. This talk explores how Martial’s allusions to the recently published Thebaid frame positive and negative qualities of the emperors through parallels to epic heroes. Furthermore, Book 10 is Martial’s only explicitly republished book, having been revised to rid the text of Domitianic images at the beginning of Trajan’s reign (Fearnley). Thus, I show that the continuation of dust imagery in Book 10 allows Martial to retroactively frame Domitian as a negative military leader compared to Trajan.

I begin by reviewing the historical context for 8.65 and 10.6, published in 94 and 98 CE respectively. 8.65 celebrates Domitian’s Sarmatian War (Jones), while 10.6 anticipates Trajan’s return from the Rhine. I then turn to the dust imagery: both epigrams correspond to moments from Books 4 and 10 of the Thebaid. The description of Domitian as radiant with the dust of war (pulvere belli, 8.65.3) parallels descriptions of Parthenopaeus (Thebaid 4.261) and Haemon (Thebaid 10.729). Likewise, the trail of dust left by Trajan (longusque . . . pulvis, 10.6.5) corresponds to descriptions of Hippomedon (Thebaid 4.136) and Antheus (Thebaid 10.550). The Statian imagery allows Martial’s reader to consider how the mythological figures reflect the imperial image of each emperor, and the tragic fates of Parthenopaeus, Hippomedon, and Antheus (Parkes, Seo) complicate the positive message within otherwise standard panegyric epigrams. I finally highlight how the dusty Trajan in 10.6 encourages a rereading of Domitian in 8.65. A comparison of Domitian with Parthenopaeus, for example, may be read positively during the initial publication of Book 8 and negatively with the republication of Book 10. The naïve, golden-haired Parthenopaeus who meets an early death becomes a comic figure to associate with the assassinated Domitian, who was eager to emulate his father’s military exploits (Jones) and was sensitive about his baldness (Morgan). Martial conspicuously replaces Domitian and his attendant praise of him through the repeated dust allusions.

This talk offers an innovative reading of two seemingly standard panegyric poems. The dust imagery highlights how Martial incorporates the poetry of his contemporaries into his own text, transforming epic material for the epigrammatic genre. Likewise, by reading these epigrams together, we may appreciate how Martial fashions new meanings for old material across books and in a changing political environment.