Catullus

Lesbia is the poetic name Catullus uses for a beloved woman in some of his most famous poems. Ancient and modern readers often connect her with Clodia, a Roman aristocratic woman, though the identification is not beyond dispute.

A collection of 116 poems is traditionally transmitted under Catullus's name. They range from short insults and love lyrics to the long poem 64 on the wedding of Peleus and Thetis.

Catullus writes in a Roman lyric mode where friendship, rivalry, erotic obsession, and social attack all sit close together. That mixture makes the 1st-century BCE poems feel unusually direct and personal.

Catullus 5 is famous for its urgent address to Lesbia and its repeated counting of kisses. It is one of the best-known Latin love poems from the late Roman Republic.