Mamurra, who appears in several of Catullus' poems (sometimes he is referred to as Mentula, is a man who has done well out of service abroad. The luxury in which he lives is a public scandal. He is a protégé of Pompeius and Caesar and Catullus' Carmen 29 is a sort of open letter of his protest and indignation at the conduct of this man Mamurra.

An attack on Mamurra, however, is primarily meant as an attack on Caesar and because of this and Caesar getting more powerful every year, Catullus sometimes makes up for this by writing less indignantly about this man and personae like him, just to make sure he won't risk the revenge of a powerful politician like Caesar.

The other name, which adorns this man, Mentula (i.e. "Thingy") is a pseudonym or poetical nickname, probably used the same way as Lesbia was used for Clodia, although Mentula is also called by his real name and not only by his nickname, whereas Clodia's real name is never used in the Carmina.

Mamurra was a Roman Eques from Formiae and he served under Pompeius in the Mithridatic campaign. He served under Caesar in Hispania and was subsequently Caesar's praefectus fabrum (i.e. commander of the engineers) in Gaul from 58 to 55 B.C. He returned to Rome, apparently, after Caesar's expedition to Britannia. Cicero (Att. 7.7.6., written in Dec. 50 B.C.) couples his name to that of Labienus as men whose wealth rankled. Mamurra's luxurious house on the Mons Caelius became famous (Plinius Maior, Nat. Hist., 36.48)