$2 Lyceum of Ancient Literature—No. XXXI. 
in a beautiful epithalamiom.* Under 
such patronage, and introduced into the 
best circles of the capital, the native 
talent of Catullas could not fail of high 
and rapid improvement. The suavity 
of his manners, the brilliancy of his wit, 
and a display of learning very rare among 
the poets of his time, procured him 
many friends, among whom we must 
distinguish Cornelius Nepos the histo- 
rian. To him Catullus dedicated his 
works. In the infinite variety of his 
smaller poems, we may easily collect 
the names of those with whom he was in 
the habit of associating. Even Cicero 
is said to have highly valued him. That 
he pleaded some cause for the poet, or 
rendered him some essential service in 
the forum, of which we are totally igno- 
rant, is probable from the elegant 
little epigram which contains — his 
thanks.+ 
The loves of Catullus must necessarily 
form a prominent part in every sketch 
of his biography. His amatory produc- 
tions, equal in renown to the epic 
labours of the Mantuan bard, proclaim 
his inconstancy and his successes. He 
was chiefly attached to Clodia,{ whom he 
celebrates under the name of Lesbia, in 
honour perhaps of the Lesbian Sappho, 
whose poems were his delight. Clodia was 
frail, but possessed all the beauty of her 
sex; probably of a gay and sprightly 
temper, from the comparison he draws 
between her and the inanimate Quin- 
tilia,g a celebrated beauty of a different 
complexion. Some suppose Leshia to 
have been sister to the infamous Clodi- 
us. Livpsithillaj] and Avfilena, both 
Veronese ladies, also shared his affec- 
tions; but the latter, proving faith- 
jess, and being, besides, convicted of 
incestuous pleasures, incurred the po- 
etic castigation of the injured bard, 
whom the happier Guintius had ri- 
valled in her affections.** Many other 
females are mentioned in his poems; but 
these appear to have been his favourites. 
—t[t were to be wished, that the account 
of his amours ended here; but, from his 
own confession, we are compelled to 
acknowledge that he was no stranger to 
See Carm. 65. 
Carm. 46. 
Apuleius, Orat. Claud. Mac, 
Carm. 83. 
|| Carm. 29. 
@ Carm. 106. 
Re Carm:. 95, 
LO fob 
(Aug. 1, 
the detestable vice, which infected the 
age in which he lived.* 
What rank Catullus held among the 
wealthy, may admit of inquiry. In his 
earlier days, he might experience po- 
verty; in jater life, perhaps after his 
father’s death, he appears to have been 
affluent. On the one hand, he frankly 
confesses the emptiness of his purse ; 
and he followed Memmius when Pretor 
into Bithynia, it would seem, with the 
hopes of vain. This employment, 
though probably creditable and impors 
tant, produced no profit, from the avi- 
dity of the Pretor, and his inattention 
to the interest of those who accompanied 
him. So low was the condition of Ca- 
tullus, that in one place he says ke could 
not even afford the expence of bearers 
to his old travelling coach: and in ano- 
ther, that he was obliged to mortgage his 
country-seat.f Some critics, however, 
have argued, that his having a countrys 
seat implies that his poverty was not 
inherited from his parents: he had a 
farm in the Tiburtine territory; he calls 
himself the lord of Sirmio;{ he navigated 
the seas in his own vessel; he gratified 
his taste and inclinations, gave entertain- 
ments, indulged in love, and employed 
humerous emissaries in the pursuit of bis 
amorous pleasures ;§ in short, he lived on 
terms of friendship with the great. This 
extravagant turn involved him in dis- 
tresses, and accounts, says Vulpius,|f 
for his acquaintance with so many duw 
characters, © : 
With these defects, his disposition 
was amiable, grateful, and affectionate. 
The elegant composition on the nuptials 
of his patren Manlius, is a proof of this. 
In his epistle to the same, a strain of 
tenderness pervades the whole, that does - 
honour to his heart; he apologizes for 
his deficiency in friendly offices and 
poetical offerings, which he attributes to 
his grief for the Joss of lis brother; and 
his apostrophe to the memory of that 
brother, is exquisite, The few lines he 
composed on performing obsequies at his 
tomb, on the Rbetian coast, breathe the 
purest fraternal regard. It appears that 
while Catullus was on his expedition 
with Memmius, his brother died prema 
turely-in the Troad province; and was 
* Carm. 21, 45, 78, 94. 
Carm. 23. 
C. 28. 
& Carm. 98. 
j| See Vulp. in Vit. Catul. 
! 
buried 
