The Poems

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.