Catullus was a Roman elegiac poet from the first half of the 1st century BCE, immediately preceding Propertius and Tibullus, with whose work his is frequently anthologised, as here. All three poets wrote in elegiac couplets, a metrical form used widely in Greek and Roman love poetry. They were inspired to write by their (apparent) love for a woman, often unobtainable, frequently unsuitable; in Propertius’s case she is named Cynthia. Tibullus wrote his first book of verse in pursuit of a lady named Delia; Catullus most famously for Lesbia (whose real identity was probably Clodia Metelli of the patrician Claudii.

Catullus’ poems often attacked rivals who sought her attention and he regularly used explicit language to slander them. He also wrote eight poems in which he declared his love for a young male Roman citizen named Juventus. These verses display much more compassion and insecurity in the matters of love, with none of the aggression and posturing seen in his poems to Lesbia.