Domitius Marsus

Who is Domitius Marsus?

Domitius Marsus was a Latin poet, friend of Virgil and Tibullus, and contemporary of Horace.

He survived Tibullus, but was no longer alive when Ovid wrote the epistle from Pontus containing a list of poets. He was the author of a collection of epigrams called Cicuta for their bitter sarcasm, and of a beautiful epitaph on the death of Tibullus; of elegiac poems, probably of an erotic character; of an epic poem Amazonis; and of a prose work on wit.

Martial often alludes to Marsus as one of his predecessors, but he is never mentioned by Horace, although a passage in the Odes is supposed to be an indirect allusion to the Amazonis.

See JA Weichert, Poetarum latinorum vitae et reliquiae; R Unger, De Dom. Marsi cicuta.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. Encyclopædia Britannica. Cambridge University Press.