Catullus

Catullus, full name Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 84-c. 54 bc), Roman poet, often considered the greatest writer of Latin lyric verse.

It is thought that Catullus was born in Verona and went to Rome about 62 bc, where he became the leader of a group of young poets who emulated the verse forms of the Greek poets of Alexandria, Egypt.

Among the most famous of Catullus's works are the so-called Lesbia poems, which variously express deep passion, devotion, hatred, and scorn for a mysterious lady, identified only as Lesbia. Scholars conjecture that Lesbia was in reality Clodia, a beautiful but unscrupulous woman who had been unfaithful to the young poet. Although the focus is on Lesbia, many of the poems reflect Catallus's own self-doubt, self-criticism, and self-pity. Whatever the exact facts of the affair may be, critics generally agree that the Lesbia poems rank among the most intense and effective expressions of passion in Roman literature. His poems are mostly short pieces, varied in subject, written in lyric form. Interspersed with the Lesbia poems are epigrammatic verses attacking his rivals and enemies.

Emotionally distraught after his break with Clodia about 57 bc, Catullus apparently took a long journey to the Roman provinces in Asia Minor. His popular ode with the line frater ave atque vale (“brother, hail and farewell”) was inspired by a visit to his brother's grave at the site of Troy. Upon his return (c. 56 bc), Catullus wrote his longest poem, on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Towards the end of his life he wrote direct, personal attacks on Julius Caesar and his political associates. He is thought to have died young, perhaps at the age of 30.

Catullus's influence is seen not only in the love poetry of later Latin poets, such as Ovid and Horace, but also in the marriage odes of English poets of the Renaissance, such as Robert Herrick, Ben Jonson, and Edmund Spenser.