(Lyric poems, often inspired by the joy, pain, or disillus...)
Lyric poems, often inspired by the joy, pain, or disillusionment brought about by his love for Lesbia, demonstrate the evocative and satirical talents of the ancient Roman poet
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(Of all Greek and Latin Poets, Catullus (c 84-54 BC) is pe...)
Of all Greek and Latin Poets, Catullus (c 84-54 BC) is perhaps one of the most accessible to the modern reader. His personal poetry, dealing with the basic human emotions of love and hate, continues to exert an appeal, particularly the well-known poems to his lover Lesbia. The 116 poems collected here show his abilities in three distinct genres. The short poems reveal his facility with lyric metres; the long ones, all describing mythological weddings, show how he can deal with themes from romantic legend; and in the epigrams, his use of invective enables him to attack his contemporaries viciously and to be blatantly obscene, yet to command respect from his public then and now. In this complete edition of Catullus' poems, the editor provides a Latin text together with a facing translation.
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( Catullus, who lived during some of the most interesting...)
Catullus, who lived during some of the most interesting and tumultuous years of the late Roman Republic, spent his short but intense life (?84-54 B.C.E.) in high Roman society, rubbing shoulders with various cultural and political luminaries, including Caesar, Cicero, and Pompey. Catullus's poetry is by turns ribald, lyric, romantic, satirical; sometimes obscene and always intelligent, it offers us vivid pictures of the poet's friends, enemies, and lovers. The verses to his friends are bitchy, funny, and affectionate; those to his enemies are often wonderfully nasty. Many poems brilliantly evoke his passionate affair with Lesbia, often identified as Clodia Metelli, a femme fatale ten years his senior and the smart, adulterous wife of an arrogant aristocrat. Cicero later claimed she poisoned her husband. This new bilingual translation of Catullus's surviving poems by Peter Green is fresh, bawdy, and utterly engaging. Unlike its predecessors, it adheres to the principle that the rhythm of a poem, whether familiar or not, is among the most crucial elements for its full appreciation. Green provides an essay on the poet's life and literary background, a historical sketch of the politically fraught late Roman Republic in which Catullus lived, copious notes on the poems, a wide-ranging bibliography for further reading, and a full glossary.
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(This new edition of Catullus's Poems Carmina, in Latin ...)
This new edition of Catullus's Poems Carmina, in Latin is the perfect study guide for students looking to tackle the text. It breaks the work up into individual chapters, then presents each chapter first in Latin, then in English. But what makes this edition so special is that each passage is followed by the running Latin vocabulary in the order used in that chapter, with each word presented in its root form alongside a comprehensive English translation - never again will you have to struggle through unknown words or difficult conjugations. This unique feature allows readers of all levels to understand even the most complicated of texts in its original Latin. All books in the SPQR Study Guides series also feature a multi-level table of contents, to help you navigate to any chapter of any book in just two taps. The SPQR Study Guides series is designed to make classic works of antiquity available to a modern audience, and the complete series spans 20 great works from ancient times.
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The social prominence of the Catullus family allowed the father of Gaius Valerius to entertain Julius Caesar when he was the Promagistrate (proconsul) of both Gallic provinces. In a poem, Catullus describes his happy homecoming to the family villa at Sirmio, on Lake Garda, near Verona; he also owned a villa near the resort of Tibur (Tivoli).
Catullus appears to have spent most of his young adult years in Rome. His friends there included the poets Licinius Calvus, and Helvius Cinna, Quintus Hortensius (son of the orator and rival of Cicero) and the biographer Cornelius Nepos, to whom Catullus dedicated a libellus of poems, the relation of which to the extant collection remains a matter of debate. He appears to have been acquainted with the poet Marcus Furius Bibaculus. A number of prominent contemporaries appear in his poetry, including Cicero, Caesar and Pompey. According to an anecdote preserved by Suetonius, Caesar did not deny that Catullus's lampoons left an indelible stain on his reputation, but when Catullus apologized, he invited the poet for dinner the very same day.
It was probably in Rome that Catullus fell deeply in love with the "Lesbia" of his poems, who is usually identified with Clodia Metelli, a sophisticated woman from the aristocratic house of patrician family Claudii Pulchri, sister of the infamous Publius Clodius Pulcher, and wife to proconsul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer. In his poems Catullus describes several stages of their relationship: initial euphoria, doubts, separation, and his wrenching feelings of loss. Clodia had several other partners; "From the poems one can adduce no fewer than five lovers in addition to Catullus: Egnatius, Gellius, Quintius, Rufus , and Lesbius . " There is also some question surrounding her husband’s mysterious death in 59 B. C. , some critics believing he was domestically poisoned. Yet, a sensitive and passionate Catullus could not relinquish his flame for Clodia, regardless of her obvious indifference to his desire for a deep and permanent relationship. In his poems, Catullus wavers between devout, sweltering love and bitter, scornful insults that he directs at her blatant infidelity. His passion for her is unrelenting yet it is unclear when exactly the couple split up for good. Catullus's poems about the relationship display striking depth and psychological insight.
He spent the provincial command year summer 57 to summer 56 BC in Bithynia on the staff of the commander Gaius Memmius. While in the East, he traveled to the Troad to perform rites at his brother's tomb, an event recorded in a moving poem.
There survives no ancient biography of Catullus: his life has to be pieced together from scattered references to him in other ancient authors and from his poems. Thus it is uncertain when he was born and when he died. St. Jerome says that he died in his 30th year, and was born in 87 BC. But the poems include references to events of 55 and 54 BC. Since the Roman consular fasti make it somewhat easy to confuse 87–57 BC with 84–54 BC, many scholars accept the dates 84 BC–54 BC, supposing that his latest poems and the publication of his libellus coincided with the year of his death. Other authors suggest 52 or 51 BC as the year of the poet's death.
(Lyric poems, often inspired by the joy, pain, or disillus...)
( Catullus, who lived during some of the most interesting...)
(This new edition of Catullus's Poems Carmina, in Latin ...)
(Of all Greek and Latin Poets, Catullus (c 84-54 BC) is pe...)
Quotes from others about the person
His occasional residence in his native place is further attested by the statement of Suetonius {Julius Caesar, 73), that " Julius Caesar accepted the poet's apology for his scurrilous verses upon him, invited him to dine with him on the same day, and continued his intimacy with his father as before. "
Though upon his elder brother's death Catullus lamented that their “whole house was buried along” with the deceased, the existence (and prominence) of Valerii Catulli is attested in the following centuries. T. P. Wiseman argues that after the brother's death Catullus could have married, and that, in this case, the later Valerii Catulli may have been his descendants.
