Inspirational Quotes by Cornelius Gallus (Roman Poet)

Gaius Cornelius Gallus (c.70–26 BCE) was a Roman soldier, poet, and orator. He was the first of the four greatest Roman elegiac poets. The rhetorician Quintilian ranked him with Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid as great elegiac poets.

Born in Forum Livii (now Fréjus) in Gaul, now in southeastern France, Gallus lived in Rome and was a friend of poet Virgil. Having distinguished himself in the war against Mark Antony, Gallus was appointed prefect of Egypt by Emperor Augustus. He was recalled for his imprudent conduct and banished, after which he committed suicide in disgrace.

Gallus was considered the founder of the Roman love elegy, from his four books of elegies upon his mistress ‘Lycoris’ (the actress Volumnia, stage name Cytheris.) Only part of one line of his verse survives.

The Greek grammarian and poet Parthenius of Nicaea dedicated to Gallus his book on unhappy love affairs.

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