Catullus

{{Short description|Roman poet (c. 84 – c. 54 BC)}} {{For|the asteroid|11965 Catullus}} {{Hatnote|Not to be confused with Romans named "Catulus"; see Catulus.}} {{More citations needed|date = July 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox writer  | name = Catullus | image = Catull Sirmione.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = 20th-century bust of Catullus<br>on the Piazza Carducci in Sirmione<ref>The bust was commissioned in 1935 by Sirmione's mayor, Luigi Trojani, and produced by the Milanese foundry Clodoveo Barzaghi with the assistance of the sculptor Villarubbia Norri (N. Criniti & M. Arduino (eds.), ''Catullo e Sirmione. Società e cultura della Cisalpina alle soglie dell'impero'' (Brescia: Grafo, 1994), p. 4).</ref> | pseudonym = | birth_name = Gaius Valerius Catullus | birth_date = {{circa| 84 BC}} | birth_place = Verona, Italy, Roman Republic | death_date = {{circa| 54 BC}} (age 29–30) | death_place = Rome | occupation = Poet | language = Latin | period = | genre = Lyric poetry | subject = | movement = | notableworks = }} '''Gaius Valerius Catullus''' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈɡaːius waˈlɛrius kaˈtullus|lang|link=yes}}; {{circa|84|54 BC}}), known as '''Catullus''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|ˈ|t|ʌ|l|ə|s|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Catullus.wav}} {{respell|kə|TUL|əs}}), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2buHe449NoAC&pg=PT481|last=Skinner|first=Marilyn B.|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=9781444339253|title=A Companion to Catullus|page=481|year=2010|access-date=13 July 2019}}</ref>

==Life== Gāius Valerius Catullus was born to a leading equestrian family of Verona, in Cisalpine Gaul.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Syme |first=Ronald |title=The Roman revolution |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-280320-7 |location=Oxford; New York}}</ref> The social prominence of his family allowed his father to entertain Julius Caesar when he was the Promagistrate (proconsul) of both Gallic provinces.<ref name=bio>{{cite book |chapter=Gaius Valerius Catullus |url=http://www.bookrags.com/biography/gaius-valerius-catullus/ |title=Encyclopedia of World Biography |access-date=13 September 2014}}</ref> In poem 31,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catullus 31 - Wikisource, the free online library |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Catullus_31 |access-date=2026-03-24 |website=en.wikisource.org |language=en}}</ref> 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 (modern Tivoli).<ref name=bio/>

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,<ref name=bio/> the relation of which to the extant collection remains a matter of debate.<ref>M. Skinner, "Authorial Arrangement of the Collection", pp. 46–48, in: ''A Companion to Catullus'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2007.</ref> 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. Cicero called Catullus' group of poets the "new poets" in scorn.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Howe |first=George |title=Roman Literature in Translation |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1924 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=265|last2=Harrer|first2=Gustave Adolphus}}</ref> 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.<ref>Suetonius ''Divus Iulius'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:phi,1348,011:73 73]".</ref>

[[File:Catullus-at-Lesbia's-large.jpg|thumb|left|''Catullus at Lesbia's'' by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema]] The "Lesbia" of his poems 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 Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer (consul of 60 BC). The Roman writer Apuleius said that Lesbia was a certain Clodia<ref name=":0" />. 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 (poem 37), Gellius (poem 91), Quintius (poem 82), Rufus (poem 77), and Lesbius (poem 79)." There is also some question surrounding her husband's mysterious death in 59 BC: in his speech ''Pro Caelio'' Cicero hints that he may have been poisoned. However, 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 (as demonstrated in poems 11 and 58). 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Howe|first=Quincy Jr.|title=Introduction to Catullus, The Complete Poems for American Readers|year=1970|publisher=E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.|location=New York|pages=vii to xvii}}</ref>

[[File:Roman Empire - Bythinia et Pontus (125 AD).svg|thumb|right|Bithynia within the Roman Empire]] He spent the year from 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 (101).<ref name=bio/>

No ancient biography of Catullus has survived. 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. Jerome stated that he was born in 87 BC and died in Rome in his 30th year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Catullus |title=The Poems of Catullus: A Bilingual Edition |publisher=University of California Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780520242647 |pages=1 |translator-last=Green |translator-first=Peter}}</ref> However, Catullus's poems include references to events of 55 BC. Since the Roman consular fasti make it somewhat easy to confuse 87–57 BC with 84–54 BC, many scholars accept the dates 84–54 BC,<ref name=bio/> 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.<ref>M. Skinner, "Introduction", p. 3, in: ''A Companion to Catullus'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.</ref> 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.<ref>T. P. Wiseman, "The Valerii Catulli of Verona", in: M. Skinner, ed., ''A Companion to Catullus'', Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.</ref>

==Poetry== {{Main|Poetry of Catullus}}

{{See also|List of poems by Catullus}} thumb|''Catullus et in eum commentarius'' (1554){{More citations needed|date=March 2026}}

===Sources and organization=== Catullus's poems have been preserved in an anthology of 116 ''carmina''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Catulle |title=C. Valerii Catulli Carmina |last2=Mynors |first2=Roger Aubrey Baskerville |date=1991 |publisher=e typographeo Clarendoniano |isbn=978-0-19-814604-9 |series=Scriptorum classicorum bibliotheca Oxoniensis |location=Oxonii}}</ref> (the actual number of poems may slightly vary in various editions), which can be divided into three parts according to their form: approximately sixty short poems in varying meters, called ''polymetra'', nine longer poems, and forty-eight epigrams in elegiac couplets. Each of these three parts – approximately 860 (or more), 1136, and 330 lines, respectively – would fit onto a single scroll.<ref>Dettmer (1997), p. 2. A single scroll usually contained between 800 and 1100 verses.</ref>

The text used today is based on a manuscript that surfaced in Verona in 1305. After the late 2<sup>nd</sup> century CE, Catullus’ poetry was relatively unknown. St. Jerome, Boethius and others include references to his poetry. In 1305 the Verona (or V) manuscript was discovered, but again disappeared. Two copies were made. One is now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The other, probably owned by Petrarch was copied and then it too disappeared.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Gaius Valerius Catullus |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gaius-valerius-catullus |access-date=April 16, 2026 |website=poetryfoundation.org}}</ref>

There is no scholarly consensus on whether Catullus himself arranged the order of the poems, but there are arguments for a Catullan arrangement based on external and aesthetic interpretations. One question is about which poem was first. Poem 2 begins with the word ''passer'', sparrow, and Martial mentions a book of light verse known as ''Passer''. Since collections were usually known from the first poem's first words, The passer poem should be first. But a dedication poem begins this ''libellus'', little book.<ref name=":0" />

Two signs of intentional ordering in the collection are thematic groupings of some sections and the paring of poems with one of contrasting content. But these are not conclusive. For instance, there is a grouping of Lesbia poems (2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 11 that speak of the course of the affair) but these are not the only Lesbia poems in the corpus.<ref name=":0" />

The longer poems often lack Catullus’s lyrical style. <ref name=":0" /> They differ from the ''polymetra'' and the epigrams not only in length but also in their subjects: several of them are based on the theme of marriage. 61 and 62 are traditional marriage hymns. The poems promote Roman ideals of marriage. Poem 64 is his longest poem. It is a miniature epic, or 'epyllion'<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catullus: Poem 64 |url=https://www.classics.ox.ac.uk/article/catullus-poem-64 |access-date=2026-04-19 |website=www.classics.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>. The longest (64) of 408 lines, contains two myths (the abandonment of Ariadne and the marriage of Peleus and Thetis), one story included inside the other.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Henriksén |first=Christer |title=A Companion to Ancient Epigram |date=21 December 2018 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc |isbn=978-1-118-84162-4 |series=Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World |location=Newark, NJ |publication-date=2019 |pages=556–571 |language=EN}}</ref> The poem says that this marriage is the last time the gods visited mortals.<ref name=":0" /> Poem 64 was written in dactylic hexameter, the epic meter.<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{Cite book |title=The Oxford history of the classical world |date=1986 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-872112-3 |editor-last=Boardman |editor-first=John |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire]; New York |editor-last2=Griffin |editor-first2=Jasper |editor-last3=Murray |editor-first3=Oswyn}}</ref> This poem demonstrates an important trait of Neoteric poetry: chronological dislocations (order of events is less important than compositional balance).<ref name="Oxford University Press" />

The ''polymetra'' and the epigrams can be divided into four major thematic groups (ignoring a rather large number of poems that elude such categorization):

* poems to and about his friends (e.g., an invitation like poem 13). * erotic poems: some of them about his attraction for a boy named Juventius, but others about women, especially "Lesbia". This is likely the sister of Publius Clodius, a married woman named Clodia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lane Fox |first=Robin |title=The classical world: an epic history from Homer to Hadrian |date=2006 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-02496-4 |location=New York}}</ref> "Lesbia" served as a source of inspiration for many of his poems. Clodia was educated and sophisticated.<ref name="Oxford University Press"/> * invectives: often rude and sometimes downright obscene poems targeted at friends-turned-traitors (e.g., poem 16), other lovers of Lesbia, well-known poets, and politicians (e.g., Julius Caesar and Cicero). * condolences: some poems of Catullus are solemn in nature. 96 comforts a friend in the death of a loved one; several others, most famously 101, lament the death of his brother.

Above all other qualities, Catullus seems to have valued {{lang|la|venustas}}, or charm, in his acquaintances, a theme which he explores in a number of his poems.

===Intellectual influences=== [[File:John_Reinhard_Weguelin_Lesbia.jpg|thumb|upright|''Lesbia'', 1878 painting by John Reinhard Weguelin inspired by the poems of Catullus]] Catullus's poetry was influenced by the innovative poetry of the Hellenistic Age, and especially by Callimachus and the Alexandrian school, which had propagated a new style of poetry that deliberately turned away from the classical epic poetry in the tradition of Homer. Cicero called these local innovators ''neoteroi'' ({{lang|grc|νεώτεροι}}) or "moderns" (in Latin ''poetae novi'' or 'new poets'), in that they cast off the heroic model handed down from Ennius in order to strike new ground and ring a contemporary note. Catullus and Callimachus did not describe the feats of ancient heroes and gods (except perhaps in re-evaluating and predominantly artistic circumstances, e.g. poem 64), focusing instead on small-scale personal themes. Although these poems sometimes seem quite superficial and their subjects often are mere everyday concerns, they are accomplished works of art. Catullus described his work as ''expolitum'', or polished, to show that the language he used was very carefully and artistically composed.

Catullus was also an admirer of Sappho, a female poet of the seventh century BC. Catullus 51 partly translates, partly imitates, and transforms Sappho 31. Some hypothesize that 61 and 62 were perhaps inspired by lost works of Sappho but this is purely speculative. Both of the latter are ''epithalamia'', a form of laudatory or erotic wedding-poetry that Sappho was famous for. Catullus twice used a meter that Sappho was known for, called the Sapphic stanza, in poems 11 and 51, perhaps prompting his successor Horace's interest in the form.

Catullus, as was common to his era, was greatly influenced by stories from Greek and Roman myth. His longer poems—such as 63, 64, 65, 66, and 68—allude to mythology in various ways. Some stories he refers to are the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the departure of the Argonauts, Theseus and the Minotaur, Ariadne's abandonment, Tereus and Procne, as well as Protesilaus and Laodamia.

===Style=== Catullus wrote in many different meters including hendecasyllabic verse and elegiac couplets (common in love poetry). A great part of his poetry shows strong and occasionally wild emotions, especially in regard to Lesbia (e.g., poems 5 and 7). His love poems are very emotional and ardent, and are relatable to this day. Catullus describes his Lesbia as having multiple suitors and often showing little affection towards him. He also demonstrates a great sense of humour such as in Catullus 13.

=== Poets influenced by Catullus === The rebirth of Catullus’ poetry following the discovery of the Verona manuscript influenced writers as diverse as John Milton, Robert Herrick, Petrarch, William Butler Yeats, Robert Frost, and Ezra Pound.<ref name=":0" /> Ezra Pound saw his time as a period of artistic collapse and drew on poets like Catullus to recreate the artistic culture. He believed that poetry could only move forward by reexamining classical poems.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nestser |first=N |title=The Heritage of Catullus in the Ezra Pound's Works WORKS |url=https://journals.psu.by/humanities/article/view/3574 |access-date=April 19, 2026}}</ref> Catullus was Robert Frost's favorite Roman poet. His poem “For Once, Then, Something” (1920) was written in hendecasyllables. Tennyson also admired Catullus and used the hendecasyllable meter in two poems.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Talbot |first=John |date=September 2004 |title=Robert Frost’s Hendecasyllabics and roman rebuttals |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02689172}}</ref>

==Musical settings== The Hungarian-born British composer Mátyás Seiber set Catullus 31 (''Sirmio'') for unaccompanied mixed chorus (1956).<ref>{{cite web |title=Sirmio (1956) for mixed choir a cappella |url=https://www.universaledition.com/en/Works/Sirmio/P0049207 |publisher=Universal Edition |access-date=2025-10-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Index of Complete Works — Mátyás Seiber Trust |url=https://seibermusic.org.uk/appendix/ |publisher=Seiber Trust |access-date=2025-10-15}}</ref> The American composer Ned Rorem’s song “Catullus: On the Burial of His Brother” sets poem 101 for voice and piano.<ref>{{cite web |title=Catullus: On the burial of his brother |url=https://www.schott-music.com/en/catullus-on-the-burial-of-his-brother-no233952.html |publisher=Schott Music |access-date=2025-10-15}}</ref>

Pulitzer winning American composer Dominick Argento set verses of Catullus for mixed chorus and percussion in 1981. ''I Hate and I Love'' presents about 50 lines of text over eight movements using the composer's own translation into English. The Dale Warland Singers, who commissioned the work, recorded it, as did Robert Shaw with his Festival Chorus.

''Catullus Dreams'' (2011) is a song cycle by David Glaser set to texts of Catullus, scored for soprano and eight instruments; it premiered at Symphony Space in New York by soprano Linda Larson and Sequitur Ensemble.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Glaser's Song Cycle To Receive World Premiere At Symphony Space |url=https://www.yu.edu/facultynews/2011/03/21/glasers-opera-to-receive-world-premiere-at-symphony-space|date=21 March 2011 |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=Yeshiva University |language=en}}</ref> {{lang|la|Carmina Catulli}} is a song cycle arranged from 17 of Catullus's poems by American composer Michael Linton. The cycle was recorded in December 2013 and premiered at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in March 2014 by French baritone Edwin Crossley-Mercer and pianist Jason Paul Peterson.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://refinersfire.us/linton-carmina-catulli/ | publisher=RefinersFire | title=New Release: Linton: Carmina Catulli | access-date=8 October 2014 | date=19 August 2014 | last=McMurtry | first=Chris | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008192346/http://refinersfire.us/linton-carmina-catulli/ | archive-date=8 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2015/2/Recordings/LINTON__Carmina_Catulli.html|title=LINTON: Carmina Catulli|website=www.operanews.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.forumopera.com/cd/carmina-catulli-priape-lesbie-diane-et-caetera|title=Priape, Lesbie, Diana et cetera - Forum Opéra|website=www.forumopera.com|date=11 September 2014}}</ref>

Thomas Campion also wrote a lute-song entitled "My Sweetest Lesbia" dating from 1601<ref>{{Cite web |title=My Sweetest Lesbia {{!}} For Better For Verse |url=https://prosody.lib.virginia.edu/prosody_poem/my-sweetest-lesbia/|website=prosody.lib.virginia.edu |access-date=2024-03-06 |language=en}}</ref> using his own translation of the first six lines of Catullus 5 followed by two verses of his own;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rumens |first=Carol |date=2010-03-22 |title=Poem of the week: My Sweetest Lesbia by Thomas Campion |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/mar/22/poem-week-sweetest-lesbia-campion |access-date=2024-03-06 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> the translation by Richard Crashaw was set to music<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/3/37/Web-com.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/3/37/Web-com.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Come and let us live : Samuel Webbe Jr. (c. 1770–1843) : Music score|website=Cpdl.org|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref> in a four-part glee by Samuel Webbe Jr.{{citation needed|date = July 2023}} It was also set to music,{{when|date = July 2023}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/5/52/Smi-let.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221010/http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/5/52/Smi-let.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2022 |url-status=live|title=Let us, my Lesbia, live and love : John Stafford Smith (1750-1836) : Music score|website=Cpdl.org|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref> in a three-part glee by John Stafford Smith.{{citation needed|date = July 2023}}

Catullus 5, the love poem {{lang|la|Vivamus mea Lesbia atque amemus}}, in the translation by Ben Jonson, was set to music in 1606, (lute accompanied song) by Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://gerbode.net/ft2/composers//Ferrabosco/songs/06_come_my_celia/pdf/06_come_my_celia.pdf |title=Come, my Celia {{!}} Poem by Ben Jonson|access-date=20 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005184436/http://gerbode.net/ft2/composers//Ferrabosco/songs/06_come_my_celia/pdf/06_come_my_celia.pdf |archive-date=5 October 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Cunningham, J. (ed.) (2015), [https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/7470292/PDB5514-00.pdf ''The Cambridge edition of the Works of Ben Jonson: Music Edition''], p. 4.1.</ref> Dutch composer Bertha Tideman-Wijers used Catullus's text for her composition ''Variations on Valerius's "Where that one already turns or turns"'' (1929).<ref>{{Cite web|title=ccm :: Tideman Wijers, Bertha Tideman Wijers|url=http://composers-classical-music.com/t/TidemanWijersBertha.htm|access-date=12 July 2021|website=composers-classical-music.com}}</ref> The Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson set Catullus 85 to music; entitled {{lang|la|Odi Et Amo}}, the song is found on Jóhannsson's album ''Englabörn'', and is sung through a vocoder, and the music is played by a string quartet and piano.{{when|date = July 2023}}{{citation needed|date = July 2023}} ''Catulli Carmina'' is a cantata by Carl Orff dating from 1943 that sets texts from Catullus to music.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ball |first=Timothy |date=2003-07-03 |title=Orff's Trionfi - Jochum (DG) |url=https://www.classicalsource.com/cd/orffs-trionfi-jochum-dg/ |access-date=2024-03-06 |website=The Classical Source |language=en-GB}}</ref> Finnish jazz singer Reine Rimón has recorded poems of Catullus set to standard jazz tunes.{{when|date = July 2023}}{{citation needed|date = July 2023}}

==Cultural depictions== * The 1888 play ''Lesbia'' by Richard Davey depicts the relationship between Catullus and Lesbia, based on incidents from Catullus's poems.<ref>{{cite news |title=Our Play-Box: ''Lesbia'' |work=The Theatre |date=1 November 1888 |pages=256–257 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1XwTTdl8FjYC&pg=RA8-PA256}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Amusements: ''Lesbia'' |newspaper=The New York Times |date=9 October 1890 |page=4 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26383477/the_new_york_times/ |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * Catullus was the main protagonist of the historical novel ''Farewell, Catullus'' (1953) by Pierson Dixon. The novel shows the corruption of Roman society.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.biblio.com/book/farewell-catullus-dixon-pierson/d/700773444|title=Farewell, Catullus|first=Pierson|last=Dixon|year=1954|via=Biblio.com}}</ref><ref>{{Citation| author1=Reine Rimón and her Hot Papas jazz band| author2=Gregg Stafford| author3=Tuomo Pekkanen| author4=Gaius Valerius Catullus| title=Variationes iazzicae Catullianae| language=la| url=http://www.reinerimonjazz.com/recordings.shtml| access-date=7 October 2013}}</ref> *Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel ''Lolita'' makes multiple explicit and implicit allusions to Catullus's work.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.2307/441433 |doi=10.2307/441433 |jstor=441433 |title=Humbert Humbert's Use of Catullus 58 in Lolita |last1=Dyer |first1=Gary R. |journal=Twentieth Century Literature |date=13 August 1988 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> *W. G. Hardy's novel ''The City of Libertines'' (1957) tells the fictionalized story of Catullus and a love affair during the time of Julius Caesar. The ''Financial Post'' described the book as "an authentic story of an absorbing era".<ref>{{cite news|title=The City of Libertines by W. G. Hardy|date=7 December 1957|newspaper=Winnipeg Free Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba|page=38|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/sports-clipping-dec-07-1957-1461222/}}{{free access}}</ref> * A poem by Catullus is being recited to Cleopatra in the eponymous 1963 film when Julius Caesar comes to visit her; they talk about him (Cleopatra: "Catullus doesn't approve of you. Why haven't you had him killed?" Caesar: "Because I approve of him.") and Caesar then recites other poems by him. *The American poet Louis Zukofsky in 1969 wrote a set of homophonic translations of Catullus that attempted in English to replicate the sound as primary emphasis, rather than the more common emphasis on sense of the originals (although the relationship between sound and sense there is often misrepresented and has been clarified by [http://www.z-site.net/notes-to-poetry/catullus-1969-with-celia-zukofsky/ careful study]); his Catullus versions have had extensive influence on contemporary innovative poetry and homophonic translation, including the work of poets Robert Duncan, Robert Kelly, and Charles Bernstein. *Robert de Maria wrote a fictional account of Catullus's life in his 1965 novel ''Clodia''. *Catullus was referenced by Baxter Slate in Joseph Wambaugh's 1975 novel ''The Choirboys''. *Catullus is the protagonist of Tom Holland's 1995 novel ''Attis''. *Catullus appears in Steven Saylor's 1995 novel ''The Venus Throw'' as the embittered ex-lover of Clodia, sister of Publius Clodius Pulcher, whom he calls Lesbia. *Both Catullus and Clodia appear as major characters in Thornton Wilder's 1948 epistolary novel ''The Ides of March''. Several excerpts from Catullus's poems are included.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== {{further|List of bibliographies of works on Catullus}} {{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Catullus |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }} * {{cite book|last1=Balme|first1=M.|last2=Morwood|first2=J |title=Oxford Latin Reader |year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}} * {{cite book|last1=Balmer|first1=J.|title=Catullus: Poems of Love and Hate |year=2004|publisher=Bloodaxe |location=Hexham}} * {{cite journal|last=Barrett |first=A. A.|title=Catullus 52 and the Consulship of Vatinius |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |year=1972|volume=103|pages=23–38|doi=10.2307/2935964|jstor=2935964}} * {{cite journal|last=Barwick |first=K.|title=Zyklen bei Martial und in den kleinen Gedichten des Catull |journal=Philologus |year=1958|volume=102|issue=1–2|pages=284–318|doi=10.1524/phil.1958.102.12.284|s2cid=164713202}} * Calinski, T. (2021). ''{{lang|de|Catull in Bild und Ton - Untersuchungen zur Catull-Rezeption in Malerei und Komposition}}''. Darmstadt: WBG Academic * Claes, P. (2002). ''Concatenatio Catulliana, A New Reading of the Carmina.'' Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben * {{cite journal|last= Clarke |first= Jacqueline |title= Bridal Songs: Catullan Epithalamia and Prudentius Peristephanon 3|journal=Antichthon |year=2006|volume=40|pages=89–103|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400001672 |s2cid= 142365904 }} * {{cite journal|last=Coleman |first=K.M.|title=The persona of Catullus' Phaselus |journal=Greece & Rome |year=1981|volume=28|series=N.S. |pages=68–72|doi=10.1017/s0017383500033507|s2cid=162206320 }} * {{cite book|last=Dettmer |first=Helena |title=Love by the Numbers: Form and the Meaning in the poetry of Catullus |year=1997|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing}} * {{cite journal|last=Deuling |first=Judy |title=Catullus 17 and 67, and the Catullan Construct |journal=Antichthon |year=2006|volume=40|pages=1–9|doi=10.1017/S0066477400001611|s2cid=145585439}} * {{cite journal|last=Dorey |first=T.A.|title=The Aurelii and the Furii |journal=Proceedings of the African Classical Associations |year=1959|volume=2|pages=9–10}} * {{cite journal|last=Duhigg |first=J. |title=The Elegiac Metre of Catullus |journal=Antichthon |year=1971|volume=5|pages=57–67|doi=10.1017/S0066477400004111|s2cid=148299423}} * {{cite book|last=Ellis |first=R.|title=A Commentary on Catullus|url=https://archive.org/details/commentaryoncatu00elliiala|publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |year=1889}} * {{cite journal|last=Ferguson |first=J.|title=Catullus and Martial |journal=Proceedings of the African Classical Associations |year=1963|volume=6|pages=3–15}} * {{cite book|last=Ferguson |first=J.|title=Catullus |series=Greece & Rome: New Surveys in the Classics |volume=20|year=1988|publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}} * {{cite book|last=Ferrero |first=L.|title=Interpretazione di Catullo |year=1955|publisher=Torino, Rosenberg & Sellier |location=Torino |language=it}} * {{cite book|last=Fitzgerald |first=W.|title=Catullan Provocations; Lyric Poetry and the Drama of Position |year=1995|publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley}} * {{cite journal|last=Fletcher |first=G.B.A.|title=Catulliana |journal=Latomus |year=1967|volume=26|pages=104–106}} * {{cite journal|last=Fletcher |first=G.B.A.|title= Further Catulliana |journal=Latomus |year=1991|volume=50|pages=92–93}} * {{cite book|last=Fletcher |first=M. |title=Catulli Carmina |year=2024|publisher=Scribbnotes |location=Ithaca, New York |isbn=978-0-9969848-8-1}} * {{cite book|last=Fordyce |first=C.J.|title=Catullus, A Commentary |year=1961|publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}} * {{cite book|last=Gaisser |first=Julia Haig |title=Catullus And His Renaissance Readers |year=1993|publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford}} * {{cite journal|last= Greene |first= Ellen |title= Catullus, Caesar and the Roman Masculine Identity |journal=Antichthon |year=2006|volume=40|pages=49–64|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400001659 |s2cid= 140827803 }} * {{cite journal|last= Hallett |first= Judith |author-link=Judith P. Hallett |title= Catullus and Horace on Roman Women Poets |journal=Antichthon |year=2006|volume=40|pages=65–88|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400001660 |s2cid= 140917675 }} * {{cite book|last=Harrington |first=Karl Pomeroy |title=Catullus and His Influence |year=1963|publisher=Cooper Square Publishers |location=New York}} * {{cite book|last=Havelock |first=E.A.|title=The Lyric Genius of Catullus |year=1939|publisher=B. Blackwell |location=Oxford}} * Hild, Christian (2013). ''{{lang|de|Liebesgedichte als Wagnis. Emotionen und generationelle Prozesse in Catulls Lesbiagedichten}}''. St. Ingbert: Röhrig. {{ISBN|978-3-86110-517-6}}. * {{cite journal|last= Jackson |first= Anna |title= Catullus in the Playground |journal=Antichthon |year=2006|volume=40|pages=104–116|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400001684 |s2cid= 142720674 }} *Kaggelaris, N. (2015), "Wedding Cry: Sappho (Fr. 109 LP, Fr. 104(a) LP)- Catullus (c. 62. 20-5)- modern greek folk songs" [in Greek] in Avdikos, E.- Koziou-Kolofotia, B. (ed.)'' Modern Greek folk songs and history'', Karditsa, pp. 260–70 [https://www.academia.edu/24597922/%CE%93%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%AE%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BF%CE%B9_%CE%98%CF%81%CE%AE%CE%BD%CE%BF%CE%B9_%CE%A3%CE%B1%CF%80%CF%86%CF%8E_Fr._109_LP_Fr._104_a_LP_-_%CE%9A%CE%AC%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%BF%CF%82_c._62._20-5_-_%CE%BD%CE%B5%CE%BF%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C_%CE%B4%CE%B7%CE%BC%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C_%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%B4%CE%B9_Wedding_Cry_Sappho_Fr._109_LP_Fr._104_a_LP_-_Catullus_c._62._20-5_-_modern_greek_folk_songs_] * {{cite journal|last= Kidd |first= D.A. |title= Some Problems in Catullus LXVI |journal=Antichthon |year=1970|volume=4|pages=38–49|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400004007 |s2cid= 147666304 }} * {{cite journal|last=Kokoszkiewicz |first=Konrad W.|title=Et futura panda sive de Catulli carmine sexto corrigendo |journal=Hermes |year=2004|volume=32|pages=125–128}} * {{cite book|last=Kroll |first=Wilhelm |title=C. Valerius Catullus |year=1929|publisher=B.G. Teubner |location=Leipzig |language=de}} * {{cite journal|last=Maas |first=Paul |title=The Chronology of the Poems of Catullus |journal=Classical Quarterly |year=1942|volume=36|issue=1–2|pages=79–82|doi=10.1017/s0009838800024605|s2cid=170577777 }} * {{cite book|last=Martin |first=Charles |title=Catullus |year=1992|publisher=Yale Univ. Press |location=New Haven |isbn=0-300-05199-9}} * {{cite book|last=Munro |first=H.A.J.|title=Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus|url=https://archive.org/details/criticismsandel00munrgoog|year=1878|publisher=Deighton, Bell and co.|location=Cambridge}} * {{cite book|last=Newman |first=John Kevin |title=Roman Catullus and the Modification of the Alexandrian Sensibility |year=1990|publisher=Weidmann |location=Hildesheim}} * {{cite book|last=Quinn |first=Kenneth |title=The Catullan Revolution |year=1959|publisher=Melbourne University Press |location=Melbourne}} * {{cite book|last=Quinn |first=Kenneth |title=Catullus: The Poems |year=1973|publisher=Macmillan |location=London |edition=2nd}} * Radici Colace, P., {{lang|it|Il poeta si diverte. Orazio, Catullo e due esempi di poesia non seria, Giornale Italiano di Filologia XVI [XXXVII] 1}}, 1985, pp. 53–71. * Radici Colace, P., {{lang|it|Parodie catulliane, ovvero "quando il poeta si diverte", Giornale Italiano di Filologia, XXXIX - 1}}, 1987, 39–57. * Radici Colace, P., {{lang|it|Tra ripetizione, struttura e ri-uso: il C. 30 di Catullo, in Atti 175° anniversario Liceo Ginnasio Statale "T. Campanella"}}, Reggio Calabria 1989, 137–142. * Radici Colace, P., {{lang|it|Mittente-messaggio-destinatario in Catullo tra autobiografia e problematica dell'interpretazione}}, in AA.VV., ''{{lang|it|Atti del Convegno—La componente autobiografica nella poesia greca e latina fra realtà e artificio letterario - Pisa 16-17 maggio 1991}}'', Pisa 1992, 1–13. * Radici Colace, P., {{lang|it|La "parola" e il "segno". Il rapporto mittente-destinatario e il problema dell'interpretazione in Catullo}}, Messana n.s.15, 1993, 23–44. * Radici Colace, P., {{lang|it|Riuso e parodia in Catullo, Atti del Convegno su Forme della parodia, parodia delle forme nel mondo greco e latino}}, (Napoli 9 maggio 1995)—A.I.O.N.‖ XVIII, 1996, 155–167. * Radici Colace, P., {{lang|it|Innografia e parodia innografica in Catullo}}, in Paideia‖ LXIV, 2009, 553–561 * {{cite journal|last=Rothstein |first=Max |title=Catull und Lesbia |journal=Philologus |year=1923|volume=78|issue=1–2|pages=1–34|doi=10.1515/phil-1922-1-203|s2cid=164356664}} * {{cite book|last=Small |first=Stuart G.P.|title=Catullus|url=https://archive.org/details/catullusreadersg0000smal|url-access=registration|year=1983|publisher=University Press of America |location=Lanham, Md.|isbn=0-8191-2905-4}} * {{cite book|last=Swann |first=Bruce W.|title=Martial's Catullus. The Reception of an Epigrammatic Rival |year=1994|publisher=Georg Olms |location=Hildesheim}} * {{cite book|last=Thomson |first=Douglas Ferguson Scott |title=Catullus: Edited with a Textual and Interpretative Commentary |year=1997|publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |series=Phoenix |volume=34: suppl.|isbn=0-8020-0676-0}} * {{cite journal|last=Townend |first=G.B.|title=A Further Point in Catullus' attack on Volusius |journal=Greece & Rome |year=1980|volume=27|series= n.s. |issue=2|pages=134–136|doi=10.1017/s0017383500025791|s2cid=163057658 }} * {{cite journal|last=Townend |first=G.B.|title= The Unstated Climax of Catullus 64|journal=Greece & Rome |year=1983|volume=30|series= n.s. |pages=21–30|doi=10.1017/s0017383500026437|s2cid=161731074 }} * {{cite journal|last= Tesoriero |first= Charles |title= Hidden Kisses in Catullus: Poems 5, 6, 7 and 8|journal=Antichthon |year=2006|volume=40|pages=10–18|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400001623 |s2cid= 145676407 }} * {{cite journal|last=Tuplin |first=C.J.|title=Catullus 68|journal=Classical Quarterly |year=1981|volume=31|series=n.s. |pages=113–139|doi=10.1017/s000983880002111x|s2cid=187104503 }} * {{cite journal|last=Uden |first= James |title= Embracing the Young Man in Love: Catullus 75 and the Comic Adulescens |journal=Antichthon |year=2006|volume=40|pages=19–34|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400001635 |s2cid= 142740848 }} * {{cite journal|last=Watson |first= Lindsay C. |title= Bassa's Borborysms: on Martial and Catullus |journal=Antichthon |year=2003|volume=37|pages=1–12|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400001386 |s2cid= 140932135 }} * {{cite journal|last=Watson |first= Lindsay C. |title= Catullus and the Poetics of Incest |journal=Antichthon |year=2006|volume=40|pages=35–48|doi= 10.1017/S0066477400001647 |s2cid= 141549179 }} * {{cite book|last=Wheeler |first=A. L.|title=Catullus and the Traditions of Ancient Poetry |year=1934|publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |series=Sather Classical Lectures |volume=9}} * {{cite book|last=Wilamowitz-Möllendorf |first=Ulrich von |title=Sappho und Simonides |year=1913|publisher=Weidmann |location=Berlin |language=de}} * {{cite book|last=Wiseman |first=T. P.|title=Catullan Questions |year=1969|publisher=Leicester University Press |location=Leicester}} * {{cite book|last=Wiseman |first=T. P.|title=Catullus and His World: A Reappraisal |year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-31968-4 |edition=1st pbk.}} * {{cite book|last=Wiseman |first=T. P.|title=Cinna the poet and other Roman essays |year=1974|publisher=Leicester University Press |location=Leicester |isbn=0-7185-1120-4}}

==External links== {{wikisource|works=or}} {{wikisource|lang=la|Gaius Valerius Catullus}} {{Wikibooks|The Poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus}} {{Wikiquote}} {{commons category}} * [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/04/07/catullus-poems-book-review-stephen-mitchell-isobel-williams "Why Catullus Continues to Seduce Us"] by Daniel Mendelsohn, ''The New Yorker'', March 31, 2025 * [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=Catullus&redirect=true Works by Catullus at Perseus Digital Library] * {{Gutenberg author | id=8308}} * {{Internet Archive author}} * {{Librivox author |id=1907}} * [http://www.negenborn.net/catullus/ Catullus translations]: Catullus's work in Latin and multiple (ten or more) modern languages, including scanned versions of every poem * [http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/ Catullus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216152955/http://www.vroma.org/~hwalker/VRomaCatullus/ |date=16 December 2017 }} in Latin and English * [http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Catullus.htm Catullus translated exclusively in English] Translated by A. S. Kline * [http://www.catullusonline.org/ Catullus Online]: searchable Latin text, repertory of conjectures, and images of the most important manuscripts * [http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/AUT61.HTM Catullus]: Latin text, concordances and frequency list * [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/classicsfacpub/2/ Catullus purified: a brief history of Carmen 16] by Thomas Nelson Winter * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120227140432/http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/catullus1.htm SORGLL: Catullus 5, read by Robert Sonkowsky]

Category:Catullus Category:1st-century BC Romans Category:1st-century BC Roman poets Category:54 BC deaths Category:80s BC births Category:Elegiac poets Category:Golden Age Latin writers Category:Iambic poets Category:Valerii Category:Writers from Verona