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Ladies and gentlemen, today I am standing up for Catullus.

Catullus is one of the most celebrated Roman love poets, so it pains me a little bit to have to tell you that he wasn't actually Roman.

And a lot of his poetry isn't about love.

He was born around 84 BCE in Verona, which at the time was part of

cisalpine gall. So the Romans at that time divided Gaul into cisalpine Gaul, that's Gaul on this

side of the Alps, and Transalpine Gaul, that's Gaul on the further side of the alps so if you struggle to remember them

cisalpine gau is the one that can still serve in the u.s military he was the younger son of

aristocratic parents his dad used to have Julius Caesar around for dinner,

although this did not stop Catullus from having a pop at him in some of his poems.

If this makes him sound like a bratty adolescent,

writing rude poetry about his dad's celebrity mate,

hold that thought.

Catullus is kind of the ancient world's poster boy for teen angst. He moves to Rome, presumably to have some sort of political career, as posh young

man might well do. But his heart wasn't really in politics, which is kind of impressive, given that he was

alive in incredibly tumultuous times as Rome's Republic was beginning its long collapse. He does go to

Bethinia. He spends a year in the Roman province of Bethinia, what we would call Turkey, and he does a year

of provincial admin under a governor named Memius. But he doesn't

seem to enjoy it very much when he gets back to Rome. He writes poems about how he failed to coin it in

while he was away. This is what Romans used to do in the provinces, go and bilk the provincials. It was

either that'll work, I suppose. Why would you?

So if Catullus isn't cut out for politics, what does he do all day in Rome?

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