Martial's epigrams on the dead slave-child Erotion, especially the first and third , have generally given rise to sentimental comments about the poet's love for young children or the humane concern which he displays for his slaves. Scholars show less unanimity in their interpretation of the second piece , where the poet's laudatio of his lost puella is made the occasion of a joke against Paetus, who has managed to survive the loss of his noble and wealthy wife. The poem (...) in question runs as follows. (shrink)

The term filiaster , though quite unknown in classical Latin literature, occurs with reasonable frequency in epitaphs from the 2nd century A.D. onwards. It is generally defined as the every-day equivalent of privignus/-a , and it is this Vulgar word which comes down into the Romance languages.

Schwinger’s algebra of microscopic measurement, with the associated complex field of transformation functions, is shown to provide the foundation for a discrete quantum phase space of known type, equipped with a Wigner function and a star product. Discrete position and momentum variables label points in the phase space, each taking \(N\) distinct values, where \(N\) is any chosen prime number. Because of the direct physical interpretation of the measurement symbols, the phase space structure is thereby related to definite experimental configurations.

‘Some of Martial's shortest epigrams are also the obscurest’, observes P. T. Eden, apropos of 1.102. This two-line poem has certainly generated a remarkable diversity of interpretations. All the critics are agreed that the portrait of Venus owned by the courtesan Lycoris is in some way botched or unattractive, but, beyond this, their explanations differ widely.

‘Some of Martial's shortest epigrams are also the obscurest’, observes P. T. Eden, apropos of 1.102. This two-line poem has certainly generated a remarkable diversity of interpretations. All the critics are agreed that the portrait of Venus owned by the courtesan Lycoris is in some way botched or unattractive, but, beyond this, their explanations differ widely.