Catullus, Cicero, and a society of patrons

"This is a study of the emergence, development, and florescence of a distinctly "late Republican" sociotextual culture as recorded in the writings of this period's two most influential authors, Catullus and Cicero. It reveals a multi-faceted textual - rather than more traditionally defined "literary" - world that both defines the intellectual life of the late Republic and lays the foundations for those authors of the Principate and Empire who identified this period as their literary source and inspiration. By first questioning, and then rejecting, the traditional polarization ofCatullus and Cicero, and by broadening the scope of late Republican socioliterary studies to include intersections of language, social practice, and textual materiality, this book presents a fresh picture of both the sociotextual world of the late Republic and the primary authors through whom this world would gain renown"--