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' oratorical 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 (eloquent Lilliputian). 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. F. Plessis 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 Ancient Roman poets Ancient Roman rhetoricians Atticists (rhetoricians) Golden Age Latin writers Macer Calvus, Gaius 1st-century BC Romans 1st-century BC Roman poets 82 BC births 40s BC deaths