Do the poems of Martial and Juvenal offer us any insights into the workings of patronage in roman society? In order to answer the question fully it is important to first establish the official system of patronage in Roman society. The patron-client system was a feature of Roman society in which citizens (clients) of inferior status formed political and social relationships with citizens of a superior status (patrons). The client would depend upon the patron …showed first 75 words of 2431 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2431 total…believe that they are just embellishing the situation as they see it. They are writing on the basis of truth. Both are commenting about the declining state of Rome under the new principate and in turn the decaying practice of patronage. In fact if we look beneath the poetry we can in fact also learn of their views about the state of society under the guise of humourous, witty if not a little lascivious poems.