Abstract
Pliny the Younger in epist. 4.14 presents his first collection of poems, the hendecasyllabi: it is a Catullian booklet that its author defends from possible accusation of lascivia by quoting Catull. 16.5-8 and by alluding to several texts of Martial, especially epigram 1.35. The pairing of Martial with Catullus in this programmatic epistle is an act of literary legitimation of the recently dead Spanish poet as reference point within the tradition of Latin short poetry. The allusive way in which his texts (not only the epigrams but also the epistolary prefaces) are evoked by Pliny can be interpreted as a sign of confidence in the survival of Martial’s corpus among posterity.
