Catullus, Gaius Valerius

(born c. 84, Verona, Cisalpine Gaul—died c. 54 BC, Rome) Roman poet. Few facts about his life are certain. Of 116 extant poems, 25 portray an intense and unhappy affair with a married woman (“Lesbia”); others reflect an affair with the youth Juventius; still others are outbursts of contempt for Julius Caesar and other personages. He displayed remarkable versatility in assorted poetic forms, and his conversational rhythms carry an immediacy unrivaled by any other classical poet. His expressions of love and hatred represent perhaps the finest lyric poetry of ancient Rome.