Licinius Macer Calvus

Who was Licinius Macer Calvus?

Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus 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.

F. Plessis published fragments of Calvus in 1896.