Note 18 — Chapter XV

Besides spending his early youth there, we find him, on three different occasions, retiring thither from Rome, and making a considerable stay there; first, at the time of his brother's death, apparently at the very height of his liaison with Clodia; next, immediately after his return from Bithynia; and again in the winter of 55-54 b.c., when it is probable that his interview and reconciliation with Julius Caesar took place. We find him inviting his friend, the poet Caecilius, to come and visit him from the newly established colony of Como. He had his friends and confidants among the youth of Verona, and he records his intrigues both with the married women and courtesans of the place18. He took a lively interest in the humorous scandals of the Province, and he has made them the subjects of several of his poems,—e.g. xvii and lxvii. Although his life was too full of social excitement and human interests to make him dwell much on natural beauty, yet the pure feeling expressed in the Sirmio—