Of others soothe her o’er the joyous green:
So deep she longs, so lingers for her own.
Thus equal known, thus longed for, seek, in turn,
The tender heifer, tremulous of voice,
And the gay bleating lamb, their horned dams,
Lured by the milky fount that nurtures life.”
Catullus (87-54 B.C.).—Verona in Cisalpine Gaul gave birth to Catullus, the first great Roman lyrist. It was no doubt to avail himself of the superior advantages Rome offered, that while still in the greenness of his youth he exchanged his provincial quarters for the capital. Here we catch occasional glimpses of him—moving among the élite as the equal of men like Nepos, Hortensius, and Cicero; or as the reckless sensualist throwing himself at the feet of some dissolute siren.
Upon the notorious “Lesbia,” who stole, our poet sung,
“The charms most rare of every fair
To frame a perfect whole,”