In this paper,1) Catullus' intentions in writing the Attis poem and his possible use of a Greek model are deliberately left out of account. Instead, the focus is on the meaning his poem may have had for his contemporary audience. Attis is a gallus, a castrated devotee of the Mater Magna, and thus a reconstruction is attempted of the mental picture that Romans of Catullus' time had of galli. Special importance is given to Lucretius' excursus on the Mater Magna, and his interpretation of castration as a punishment for lack of pietas. Finally, a slightly later source, Vergil's Aeneid, is used to suggest that Catullus' poem may also have been read as participating in a discourse about Roman national identity.

In discussion over the dating of the Bucolics of Calpurnius Siculus, an important role has always been played by attempts to identify the character of Meliboeus, who is to be read as a bucolic allegory of the poet's patron. By providing a new interpretation of the description of Meliboeus’ literary production, I argue that he must be the agricultural writer Columella. A consideration of other aspects of Meliboeus confirms this identification, as does the analysis of a number of significant allusions to De cultu hortorum, the poem that makes up the tenth book of Columella's De re rustica. I then establish the date of Columella and discuss the consequences for dating Calpurnius, placing some parts of his book later in the reign of Nero than has been customary.

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