Poem 22

Gaius Valerius Catullus (84–54 BCE) was the first Roman poet with a supple mastery of Greek prosody in Latin. Celebrated for his singular combination of cosmopolitan poise and seemingly offhand vernacular, he wrote in a variety of meters and forms and touched upon a broad range of subjects, though some of his most famous poems chronicle his relationship with a woman to whom he gave the pseudonym “Lesbia.”

Diane Arnson Svarlien is a verse translator and classicist. She is currently Visiting Associate Professor of Classics at Georgetown College.