Excerpt from Erotica: The Poems of Catullus and Tibullus, and the Vigil of Venus; A Literal Prose Translation With Notes A meagre array of facts more or less controverted, and a few critical remarks, are all we can offer towards a biography of Valerius Catullus. We learn from the testimony of many ancient writers, that he was a native of Verona or its immediate neighbourhood; and the Marquis Scipio Maffei, himself a Veronese, asserts that in his day there were still traits of the language of Catullus in the dialect of his countrymen. Whether the poets prajnomen was Cains or Quintus is uncertain, the former being assigned to him by Apuleius, the latter by Pliny. A more important question is that which concerns the dates of his birth and death. According to Hieronymus, in the Eusebian chronicle, he was born b.c. 87, and died in his thirtieth year, b.c. 57.The second date is undoubtedly erroneous, for we liave positive evidence from his own works that he was alive in the consulship of Vatinius, b.c. 47. It is evident too that he must have survived at least till b.c. 45, for Cicero, in his Letters, talks of the verses of Catullus against Caesar and Mamurra (xxix.) as newly written, and first seen by Caesar in that year. The chronologers mistake as to the time of the poets death, throws some doubt also on that which he assigns to his birth. We shall however be exact enough for all literary purposes, if we conclude with Dunlop that Catullus "was nearly contemporary with Lucretius, having come into the world a few years after him, and having survived him but a short period." It is not certain that the poet belonged to the patrician family of the Valerii, but his father must have been a person of some consideration, for he was the friend and habitual entertainer of Julius Caesar. The son took up his abode in Rome in the very spring of youth (Ixviii. 15) and plunged without restraint into all the expensive pleasures of the best - that is to say, the most debauched - society. This is sulhcient to account for the jocular complaints of poverty interspersed through his writings. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."