Licinius Macer Calvus

Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus (28 May 82 BC – c. 47 BC) was an orator and poet of ancient Rome.

Son of Licinius Macer and thus a member of the gens Licinia, he was a friend of the poet Catullus, whose style and subject matter he shared. Calvus' oratical style opposed the "Asian" school in favor of a simpler Attic model: he characterized Cicero as wordy and artificial. Twenty-one speeches are mentioned, including several against Publius Vatinius.

Calvus was apparently short, since Catullus alludes to him as salaputium disertum.^[1] Seneca the Elder also mentions his short stature, and refers a story in which Calvus asked to be raised to a platform, so that he could defend one of his clients.^[2]

published fragments of Calvus in 1896.

See also[]

• Licinia (gens)

References[]

• Weiss, M. "An Oscanism in Catullus 53", Classical Philology 91 (1996) 353–359.

References[]

External links[]

• Catullus poems mentioning Calvus