Nullus in hac terra, recitem si carmina, cujus
Intellecturis auribus utar, adest.
From expressions like these, one can gather an impression of the circles the gay society poet had left behind him in his mourned-for Rome—the libraries and book-shops, where he could always find literary friends to whose appreciative criticism he could submit his latest lines. The picture recalls the literary resorts of London in the time of Wycherley and Congreve.
Ovid sends one of his productions to a friend in Rome, whom he requests to supervise its publication. He writes:
“O thou who art an instructor and a priest among the learned! I commend to your care this my offspring. Bereft of its parent (an exile), it must place its dependence upon you its guardian. Three of my (literary) progeny have preceded this. See that my future productions are given to the world through yourself.”[188]
Martial presents himself to the public with a cordial appreciation of his own merits:
Hic is quem legis ille, quem requiris,
Toto notus in orbe Martialis
Argutis epigrammaton libellis.[189]
“This is he whom you read and whom you seek—Martial, famous throughout the world for his brilliant volumes of epigrams.” He goes on to say: