Gaius Valerius Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus (87–54 BC) was the first and most prominent Roman lyricist, a contemporary of Cicero, Caesar, and Virgil. Catullus was rediscovered in the early 14th century, and hence his poetry had a powerful influence on Renaissance poets. Among his poems that have come down to us are direct translations of Alexandrian poetry, for which contemporaries called Catullus a “scholarly poet.” But present-day literary critics consider the poet’s power to be his love poems and epigrams against rivals in love and literature.