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Catullus was born in the territory of Verona,
Italy between 87 and 84 B.C. He died sometime in the 50's, most likely around 54 B.C. I think of Jim Morrison as sort of a modern day version, since Catullus was probably partying "like a rock star" before he died about the age of 30. He was important enough and rich enough to be associated with several important political figures of the time, as well as be able to get away with talking about some of them badly by name.
He was daring enough to have an affair with an aristocratic woman known as Clodia, who, if the sources are correct, was the wife of Metellus Celer (cos. 60 B.C.). This woman was also a rather bold figure and perhaps pushed the limits of Roman standards for a woman's proper behavior. She was important in Roman history, not only as an ancestor to the Claudians who would eventually rule, but also as one of Cicero's opponents in his Pro Caelio. Catullus' poems about this Clodia, whom he renamed Lesbia, range from loving and semi-erotic, to crude and malicious, and they make up a large part of the collection which has survived from the Republic.
Catullus also writes beautiful poems about other subjects such as his villa in Sirmio, his little boat which he has just sailed from Bithynia, his friends and his weekend jaunts. The rest of the poems cover numerous topics from his brother's death to some subjects not proper for a majority of people. We are fortunate, perhaps even fated to have the poems we do and should enjoy them in their simplistic, random, and ancient Roman, but yet so modern, glory. |
