Catullus' Bedspread

A vivid narrative that recreates the life of Gaius Valerius Catullus, Romes first modern poet, and follows a young mans journey through a world filled with all the indulgences and sexual excesses of the time, from doomed love affairs to shrewd political maneuvering and backstabbingan accessible, appealing look at one of historys greatest poets.Born to one of Veronas leading families, Catullus spent most of his young adulthood in Rome, mingling with the likes of Caesar and Cicero and chronicling his life through his poetry. Famed for his lyrical and subversive voice, his poems about his friends were jocular, often obscenely funny, while those who crossed him found themselves skewered in raunchy verse, sudden objects of hilarity and ridicule. These bawdy poems were disseminated widely throughout Rome. Many of his poems recall his secret longstanding affair with the seductive older Clodia.While Catullus and Clodia made love in the shadows, the whole of Italy was quaking as Caesar, Pompey and Crassus forged a doomed alliance for power. During these tumultuous years, Catullus increasingly turned to darker subject matter, and he finally composed his greatest work of alla poem about the decoration on a bedspreadwhich forms the heart of this biography, a work of beauty that will achieve immortality and make Catullus a legend.Catullus Bedspread includes an 8-page color insert.