ABSTRACT
This prayer is one of one hundred and sixteen poems by Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. 87–54 bc; hereafter all dates are bc), born at Verona, and one of Rome's most illustrious lyric poets. Little, beyond gleanings from his poetry, is known about his private life. He was not a man of means, and much of his emotional life was futilely expended on a married woman whom he calls Lesbia.
