Caelius may appear in the poetry of Catullus under his cognomen "Rufus". Rufus in Carmen 69 and 77 as suggested by Riese to be Caelius, rejected by Robinson Ellis. Catullus writes about a former friend named Rufus who betrayed him in an unspecified way, perhaps referring to the affair with Clodia (usually identified with the loved then reviled "Lesbia" of Catullus's poetry), the alleged attempt of Caelius to poison her, or subsequent attacks on her through Cicero (see pro Caelio). Catullus lambastes this Rufus in an epigram that ends: