Definition: Catullus was a Roman equestrian, a "new" or neoteric poet and a contemporary of Julius Caesar. We know little about his life, but believe he was born in Verona, in Cisalpine Gaul, in about 84 B.C., and died about thirty years later. In about 57 B.C., Catullus was in Bithynia, on the staff of
the provincial governor C. Memmius. He also had a brother whose death Catullus laments in poem 101.
116 poems of the poems of Catullus survive. Many of them deal with personal topics like love and anguish. One is a marriage poem or epithalamium. Many of them, like 16 (Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo) are exceedingly coarse; so coarse that squeamish English translators kept the opening line in Latin or translated it into another language, like French. Catullus is thought to have loved the sister of Clodius Pulcher, whose name would have been Clodia, but Clodia is not listed by name. Instead, Lesbia is used, in honor of the great Greek poet Sappho of Lesbos. There are 26 poems on Lesbia and 6 about Catullus' boyfriend Juventius. Another Catullan subject or better, "target" is Julius Caesar.
Also Known As: Gaius Valerius Catullus
