Excerpt from Select Poems of Catullus: Edited, With Introductions, Notes, and AppendicesEmmsrms gratitude is due to the notary of Verona who rescued from the dust the sole manuscript, so long lost, of his compatriot Catullus; for, possessing this,1 we possess a diary vividly picturing the life of Rome, just before it was overcast with the grey monotone of Imperialism, in the colours which it wore to the feel in gs of a young Republican, man of the world, and poet. Catullus had many friends who lived and wrote like himself but their works met the fate of the authors, and perished before their time. It is most fortunate for us, therefore, that one has escaped, by a hair's-breadth, the general mortat and it is most fortunate that the survivor is Catullus. For he was especially fitted to represent to us the daily world he lived in, both because his sensibility was singularly pure - embalming its experience in crystal, without stain, shadow, or distortion - and because he belonged 1 Or rather transcripts of it. See Advertisement to Text.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.

comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.