Eighteen Martial satires in contemporary (un)dress, their targets the latter-day Romans of New York City. These versions, by one of modern English poetry's most accomplished and versatile translators, render Martial's Latin vernacular into the fruity argot of the Big Apple. "A Poundian regrounding of the satiric originals in the ambience of New York, some are close imitations of Martial and some just in the satirical spirit of the poet. All of them, however, are ultra-modern and brutally frank, representing at least one side of Martial's talents, perhaps the side that speaks most clearly to the modern reader.