Catullus. Complete Works. Riddles, Poems, Elegies, and Epigrams

Gaius Valerius Catullus (84–54 BC) was the greatest lyric poet of Ancient Rome, a younger contemporary of Cicero and Caesar, a predecessor of Virgil and other poets of the “golden age” of Roman literature. The creator of subjective lyrics, the leader of the Neoteric (“new poets”), originally from Verona, died under unclear circumstances in Rome. He wrote “poetic trifles”, poems on mythological themes, as well as elegies and epigrams. They were combined into one “Book of Catullus of Verona”, which includes more than 120 poetic works. As a poet, Catullus was rediscovered at the beginning of the 14th century, and since then his poetry has had a significant influence on Renaissance poets. He was not a school author, but he was quoted in courses on the theory of poetry, in particular at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Although Catullus' poems began to be translated into Ukrainian over a hundred years ago (among the translators were Taras Franko and Mykola Zerov), this is the first time that a complete collection of the poet's works in Ukrainian translations has been published. The publication is bilingual. The Latin original has been revised based on Renaissance manuscripts and editions. The comments take into account textual studies of Catullus from the Renaissance to the present.