SOURCE: An introduction to The Poems of Catullus, translated by Charles Martin, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990, pp. ix-xxv.

In the following excerpt from his 1979 introduction to his edition of Catullus's poetry, Martin speaks of Catullus as one whose poetry was unique in its day and notably influential in modern times. Martin adds that Catullus's observations and concerns resonate readily within the contemporary mind

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Near the end of the seventeenth century, John Dryden could speak of translation, with offhanded assurance, as the act of bringing the thought of one author over into the language of another. In his day, poetic thought was social in nature, as were the rhymed couplets in which it was expressed. As a result, the poet was linked in thought and expression not only to the community of the living but to the fabulae Manes as well, the fabled dead of the literary tradition...