ey received by giving him grounds for jealousy, and
making imputations on his character (cf. xv., xvi., xviii., xxiii.).

The intrigue of Caelius Rufus with Lesbia began in 59 or 58 B.C. It was
probably in the earlier stages of this liaison that the 68th poem was
written, from which it appears that Catullus, at the time living at
Verona, and grieving for the recent death of his brother in the Troad,
had heard of Lesbia's infidelity, and, in consideration of her previous
faithlessness in his favour, was not inclined to resent it very warmly.
Two other poems in the series express the grief which Catullus felt for
the death of his brother,--one, the 65th, addressed to the orator
Hortensius, who is there, as in some of Cicero's letters, called
Hortalus or Ortalus, and sent to him along with the _Coma Berenices_
(lxvi.), a translation of a famous elegy of Callimachus. The other poem
referring to this event (ci.) must have been composed some years later,
probably in 56 B.C., when Catullus visited his brother's tomb in the
Troad, on his return from Bithynia. Between 59 and 57 B.C. most of the
lampoons on Lesbia and her numerous lovers must have been written (e.g.
xxxvii., xxxix., &c.). Some, too, of the poems expressive of his more
tender feelings to her, such as viii. and lxxvi. belong also to these
years; and among the poems written either during this period or perhaps
in the early and happier years of his liaison, some of the most charming
of his shorter pieces, expressing the affection for his young friends
Verannius and Fabullus (ix., xii., xiii.), may be included.

In the year 57 the routine of his life was for a short time broken by
his accompanying the propraetor C. Memmius, the friend to whom Lucretius
dedicates his great poem, as one of his staff, to the province of
Bithynia. His object was probably to better his fortunes by this absence
from Rome, as humorous complaints of poverty and debt (xiii., xxvi.)
show that his ordinary means were insufficient for his mode of life. He
frankly acknowledges the disappointment of these hopes, and still more
frankly his disgust with his chief (x., xxviii.). Some of the most
charming and perfect among the shorter poems express the delight with
which the poet changed the dulness and sultry climate of the province
for the freedom and keen enjoyment of his voyage home in his yacht,
built for him at Amastris on the Euxine, and for the beauty and peace of
his villa on the shores of Lak