The other party called itself "Democratic," while its opponents Lampooned its members as "Loco-focos," comparing them to the blue-headed sulphur matches of that name, which were largely manufactured and did not burn very well.
"Ahead of the Army"
W. O. Stoddard
Catullus in these poems expresses the animosity which the 'boni' generally entertained towards the chiefs of the popular party: and his intimacy at this time with Calvus, who was a member of the Senatorian party, and who Lampooned Caesar and Pompey in the same spirit, may have given some political edge to his Satire.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar
A law was passed, and a penalty enforced, forbidding any one to be Lampooned in scurrilous verses.
"The Roman Poets of the Republic"
W. Y. Sellar