Marcjalis wśród Wandalów. Epigram skoptyczny Luxoriusa a tradycja gatunku

This paper is devoted to scoptic epigrams of Luxorius, the so-called Carthaginian Martial, active in Carthage during the last decades of the Vandal occupation of North Africa in the sixth century A.D. I focus first on the question of the genre as understood ad employed by the poet, most probably the first conscious follower of the Martialian model of the epigram in Latin literature. In the second part of my paper I propose a comparative reading of a few scoptic themes by Martial and Luxorius, namely: 1) a lover of ugly girls (L. 329 R2; M. I 10, III 76); 2) an old man trying to hide his age (L. 343 R2; M. III 43, VI 57); 3) an aged woman and sex (L. 301 R2; M. X 67); 4) a blind man pleased with his handicap (L. 357 R2; M. VIII 51). As I show, Luxorius's elaboration of certain epigrammatic motifs can be considered not less successful and interesting to read than Martial's.