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 followed. Calvus' oratical style opposed the "Asian" school in favor of a simpler Attic model; he characterized even 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 salapulium disertuin (eloquent Lilliputian).
GAIUSLICINIUSMACERCALVUS (82-47 B.C.), Roman poet and orator, was the son of the annalist LiciniusMacer.
As an orator he was the leader of the opponents of the florid Asiatic school, who took the simplest Atticorators as their model and attacked even Cicero as wordy and artificial.
Calvus was very short of stature, and is alluded to by Catullus (Ode 53) as Sala-.
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