Who was Cornelius Nepos in relation to Catullus’s poetry collection?

Cornelius Nepos was a Roman historian and a fellow native of Cisalpine Gaul who served as a friend or patron to the poet Catullus.1

In relation to Catullus’s work, Nepos is significant for being the individual to whom Catullus dedicated his poetry collection. This elegant dedication currently heads the surviving body of Catullus's poems, which, despite being mutilated and incomplete, remains a foundational work in Latin literature.12