Martial is not to be ranked among great poets, but his ability to express well-defined thoughts in brief, sententious, pointed words, has made his epigrams the models for all later times. The following lines commemorate the death of Arria, who, when her husband Pætus was ordered to kill himself, showed him the way: The poniard, with her life-blood dyed, When Arria to her Pætus gave, “’Twere painless, my beloved,” she cried, “If but my death thy life could save.”[98] Another brief epigram is on some fishes, supposed to be the work of the great sculptor Phidias: These fishes Phidias wrought; with life by him They are endowed; add water and they swim.[99] These lines also refer to a work of art: That lizard on the goblet makes thee start. Fear not; it lives only by Mentor’s art.[100] The daily life of Rome is described in the following lines: Visits consume the first, the second hour; When comes the third, hoarse pleaders show their power; At four to business Rome herself betakes; At six she goes to sleep, by seven she wakes; By nine well breathed from exercise we rest, And in the banquet hall the couch is pressed. Now, when thy skill, greatest of cooks, has spread The ambrosial feast, let Martial’s rhymes be read, With mighty hand while Cæsar holds the bowl, When drafts of nectar have relaxed his soul. Now trifles pass. My giddy Muse would fear Jove to approach in morning mood severe.[101]