Tibullus
Encyclopedia
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and writer of elegies
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
.
Little is known about his life. His first and second books of poetry are extant; many other texts attributed to Tibullus are of questionable origins. There are only a few references to him in later writers and a short Life of doubtful authority. His praenomen is not known, nor is his birthplace and his gentile name has been questioned. His status was probably that of a Roman knight (so the Life affirms); and he had inherited a considerable estate. But, like Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
and Propertius, he seems to have lost most of it in 41 BC amongst the confiscations of Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
and Octavian.
Life
Tibullus's chief friend and patron was Marcus Valerius Messalla CorvinusMarcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a Roman general, author and patron of literature and art.-Family:He was the son of politician Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger Although, some dispute his parentage and claim another descendant of Marcus Valerius Corvus to be his father.Messalla Corvinus is...
, himself an orator and poet as well as a statesman and a commander. Messalla, like Gaius Maecenas
Gaius Maecenas
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas was a confidant and political advisor to Octavian as well as an important patron for the new generation of Augustan poets...
, was at the centre of a literary circle in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. This circle had no relationship with the court, and the name of Augustus is found nowhere in the writings of Tibullus. About 30 BC Messalla was dispatched by Augustus to Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
to quell a rising in Aquitania
Aquitania
Aquitania may refer to:* the territory of the Aquitani, a people living in Roman times in what is now Aquitaine, France* Aquitaine, a region of France roughly between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic ocean and the Garonne, also a former kingdom and duchy...
and restore order in the country, and Tibullus may have been in his retinue. On a later occasion, probably in 28, he would have accompanied his friend who had been sent on a mission to the East, but he fell sick and had to stay behind in Corcyra. Tibullus had no liking for war, and though his life seems to have been divided between Rome and his country estate, his own preferences were wholly for the country life.
The loss of Tibullus's landed property is attested by himself (i. I, 19 seq.), "Felicis quondam, nunc pauperis agri" ("Once fruitful, now impoverished fields" ;cf. 41, 42). Its cause is only an inference, though a very probable one. That he was allowed to retain a portion of his estate with the family mansion is clear from ii. 4, 53. Tibullus may have been Messalla's contubernalis in the Aquitanian War (Vita Tib. and Tib. i. 7, 9 seq., a poem composed for Messalla's triumph), and may have received militaria dona (Vita Tib.).
Tibullus died prematurely, probably in 19, and almost immediately after Virgil. His death made a deep impression in Rome, as we learn from his contemporary, Domitius Marsus
Domitius Marsus
Domitius Marsus was a Latin poet, friend of Virgil and Tibullus, and contemporary of Horace.He survived Tibullus , but was no longer alive when Ovid wrote the epistle from Pontus containing a list of poets...
, and from the elegy in which Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
(Amores, iii. 9) enshrined the memory of his predecessor.
First book of poetry
The first book consists of poems written at various times between 30 and 26. His first love, the subject of book i., is called Delia in the poems, but we learn from ApuleiusApuleius
Apuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...
(Apol. 10) that her real name was Plania. As regards her station, it should be noticed that she was not entitled to wear the stola, the dress of Roman matrons (i. 6, 68). Her husband is mentioned as absent (i. 2, 67 seq.). She eludes the custodes placed over her (i. 2, 15 and 6, 7). Tibullus's suit was favoured by Delia's mother, of whom he speaks in very affectionate terms (i. 6, 57 seq.). For Tibullus's illness at Corcyra, see i. 3, I seq., 55 seq. The fifth elegy was written during estrangement (discidium), and the sixth after the return of the husband and during Delia's double infidelity. It is impossible to give an exact account of the intimacy. The poems which refer to her are arranged in no chronological order. Sometimes she appears as single, sometimes as married; but we hear nothing either of her marriage or of her husband's death. Yet it is clear that it was the absence of her husband on military service in Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
which gave Tibullus the opportunity of seeing her, and he continued to do so when the husband returned. Delia was clever in deception--too clever, as Tibullus saw when he found that he was not the only lover. His entreaties and appeals were of no avail; and after the first book we hear no more of Delia. In addition, several elegies in Book I concern themselves with Tibullus's love for a boy, who is named Marathus.
Second book of poetry
About the second book we can only say that in all likelihood it was published before the poet’s death in 19. It is very short, containing only 428 verses, and apparently incomplete. In the second book the place of Delia is taken by "Nemesis", which is also a fictitious name. Nemesis (like the Cynthia of Propertius) was probably a courtesanCourtesan
A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
of the higher class; and she had other admirers besides Tibullus. He complains bitterly of his bondage, and of her rapacity and hard-heartedness. In spite of all, however, she seems to have retained her hold on him until his death.
Ovid, writing at the time of Tibullus's death (Am. iii. 9, 31), says: "Sic Nemesis longum, sic Delia, nomen habebunt, altera cura recens, altera primus amor." (Thus Nemesis and Delia will be long remembered: the first Tibullus' recent love, the other his first.) Nemesis is the subject of book ii. 3, 4, 6. The mention of a Una (ii. 6) settles her position. The connection had lasted a year when ii. 5 was written (see ver. 109). It is worth noticing that Martial
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis , was a Latin poet from Hispania best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan...
selects Nemesis as the source of Tibullus's reputation (viii. 73, 7; cf. xiv. 193).
Style of writing
Though the character of Tibullus the historical man is unclear, the character of his poetic persona is reflected in his works. It seems to be an amiable one. He was a man of generous impulses and unselfish disposition, loyal to his friends to the verge of self-sacrifice (as is shown by his leaving Delia to accompany Messalla to Asia), and apparently constant to his mistresses. His tenderness towards them is enhanced by a refinement and delicacy which are rare among the ancients. When treated cruelly by his love, he does not invoke curses upon her head. Instead he goes to her little sister’s grave, hung so often with his garlands and wet with his tears, to bemoan his fate. His ideal is a quiet retirement in the country with the loved one at his side. He has no ambition and not even a poet's yearning for immortality. In an age of crude materialism and gross superstition, he was religious in the old Roman way. His clear, finished and yet unaffected style made him a great favourite and placed him, in the judgment of QuintilianQuintilian
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing...
, ahead of other elegiac
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
writers. For natural grace and tenderness, for exquisiteness of feeling and expression, he stands alone. He rarely overloads his lines with Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
n learning. However, his range is limited. Tibullus is smoother and more musical, but liable to become monotonous; Propertius, with occasional harshnesses, is more vigorous and varied. In many of Tibullus's poems a symmetrical composition can be traced.
Specimens of Tibullus at his best may be found in i. I, 3, 89-94; 5, 19-36; 9, 45-68; ii. 6. Quintilian says (Inst. x. I, 93), "Elegia quoque Graecos provocamus, cuius mihi tersus atque elegans maxime videtur auctor Tibullus; sunt qui Propertium malint; Ovidius utroque lascivior, sicut durior Gallus." ("In Elegy as well we rival the Greeks; of whom for me the author Tibullus seems the most polished and elegant; there are those who prefer Propertius; Ovid is more wanton than either, just as Gallus is more stern.")
Questionable Attributions
Some of the genuine poems of Tibullus have been lost. On the other hand, much of the work attributed to him is that of others. Only the first and second books can claim his authorship. In both books occur poems which give evidence of internal disorder; but scholars cannot agree upon the remedies to be applied.Third book of poetry
The third book, which contains 290 verses, is by a much inferior hand. The writer calls himself Lygdamus and the love that he sings of Neaera. He has little poetical power, and his style is meagre and jejune. He has a good many reminiscences and imitations of Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid (iii. 5, 15-20, and Ovid, Ars. am. ii. 669 seq.; Tr. iv. 10, 6: and Am. xi. 14, 23 seq.); and they are not always happy. We do not know when his poems were added to the genuine poems of Tibullus.Fourth book of poetry
The separation of the fourth book from the third has no ancient authority. It dates from the revival of letters, and is due to the Italian scholars of the 15th century. The fourth book consists of poems of very different quality. The first is a composition in 211 hexameters on the achievements of Messalla, and is very poor. The author is unknown; but he was certainly not Tibullus. The poem itself was written in 31, the year of Messalla's consulship.The next eleven poems relate to the loves of Sulpicia and Cerinthus. Sulpicia was a Roman lady of high station and, according to Moritz Haupt
Moritz Haupt
Moritz Haupt , was a German philologist.He was born at Zittau, in Lusatia. His early education was mainly conducted by his father, Ernst Friedrich Haupt, burgomaster of Zittau, a man of learning who took pleasure in translating German hymns or Goethe's poems into Latin, and whose memoranda were...
's conjecture, the daughter of Valeria, Messalla's sister. The Sulpicia elegies divide into two groups. The first comprises iv. 2-6, containing ninety-four lines, in which the theme of the attachment is worked up into five graceful poems. The second, iv. 8-12, consists of Sulpicia's own letters. They are very short, only forty lines in all; but they have a unique interest as being the only love poems by a Roman woman that have survived. Their frank and passionate outpourings remind us of Catullus
Catullus
Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...
. The style and metrical handling betray a novice in poetical writing. The thirteenth poem (twenty-four lines) claims to be by Tibullus; but it is hardly more than a cento
Cento (poetry)
A cento is a poetical work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from other authors; only disposed in a new form or order.- History :The term comes from the Latin cento, a cloak made of patches; and that from the Greek κέντρων. The Roman soldiers used these centones, or old stuffs patched...
from Tibullus and Propertius. The fourteenth is a little epigram of four lines with nothing to determine its authorship. Last of all comes the epigram or fragment of Domitius Marsus already referred to.
Some scholars attribute iii. 8-12 - iv. 2-6 to Tibullus himself; but the style is different, and it is best to answer the question, as Biihrens does, with a non liquet. The direct ascription of iii. 19 - iv. 13 (verse 13, "nunc licet e caelo mittatur amica Tibullo" - "Now grant that a lover be sent from heaven to Tibullus") to Tibullus probably led to its inclusion in the collection and later on to the addition of the third book to the two genuine ones. For the evidence against the ascription, see Postgate, Selections, app. C.
To sum up: the third and fourth books appear in the oldest tradition as a single book, and they comprise pieces by different authors in different styles, none of which can be assigned to Tibullus with any certainty. The natural conclusion is that a collection of scattered compositions, relating to Messalla and the members of his circle, was added as an appendix to the genuine relics of Tibullus. When this "Messalla collection" was made cannot be exactly determined; but it was definitely not till after the death of Tibullus, 19 BC, and perhaps as late as the late 1st century AD. Besides the foregoing, two pieces in the collection called Priapea (one an epigram and the other a longer piece in iambics) have been attributed to Tibullus; but there is little external and no internal evidence of his authorship (see Hiller in Hermes, xviii. 343 - 349).
Charisius (pp. 66 and 105) quotes part of a hexameter
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
which is not found in the extant poems of Tibullus.
The Vita Tibulli
The value of the short Vita Tibulli, found at the end of the Ambrosian, Vatican and inferior manuscripts, has been much discussed. There is little in it that we could not infer from Tibullus himself and from what Horace says about Albius, though it is possible that its compiler may have taken some of his statements from Suetonius's book De Poetis. It is another moot question of some importance whether our poet should be identified with the Albius of Horace (Od. i. 33; Epist. i. 4), as is done by the Horatian commentator PorphyrioPorphyrio
Porphyrio is the swamphen genus of birds in the rail family. It includes some smaller species which are usually called "purple gallinules", and which are sometimes separated as genus Porphyrula or united with the gallinules proper in Gallinula. There are two living species of swamphen, the...
(AD 200-250) in his Scholia. Porphyrio's view was examined by Postgate (Selections from Tibullus, appendix A).
Manuscripts
The best manuscript of Tibullus is the Ambrosianus (A), which has been dated c. 1375, whose earliest known owner was the humanist Coluccio SalutatiColuccio Salutati
Coluccio Salutati was an Italian Humanist and man of letters, and one of the most important political and cultural leaders of Renaissance Florence.-Birth and Early Career:...
. Two early 15th century manuscripts are Paris lat. 7989 (written in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
in 1423) and the Vatican MS. Ottob. lat. 1202 (also written in Florence, 1426). These form only a small share of the over 100 Renaissance manuscripts. There are also a number of extracts from Tibullus in Florilegium Gallicum, an anthology from various Latin writers collected in the mid-twelfth century, and a few extracts in the Excerpta frisingensia, preserved in a manuscript now at Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. Also excerpts from the lost Fragmentum cuiacianum, made by Scaliger
Joseph Justus Scaliger
Joseph Justus Scaliger was a French religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewish and Ancient Egyptian history.-Early life:He was born at Agen, the tenth child and third son of Italian...
, and now in the library at Leiden are of importance for their independence of A. It contained the part from 3.4.65 to the end, useful as fragments go as the other manuscripts lack 3.4.65. The Codex cuiacianus, a late manuscript containing Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius, is still extant.
Editions
Tibullus was first printed with Catullus, Propertius, and the Silvae of StatiusStatius
Publius Papinius Statius was a Roman poet of the 1st century CE . Besides his poetry in Latin, which include an epic poem, the Thebaid, a collection of occasional poetry, the Silvae, and the unfinished epic, the Achilleid, he is best known for his appearance as a major character in the Purgatory...
by Vindelinus de Spira (Venice, 1472), and separately by Florentius de Argentina, probably in the same year. Amongst other editions are those by Scaliger (with Catullus and Propertius, 1577, etc.), Broukhusius (1708), Vulpius (1749), Heyne (1817, 4th ed. by Wunderlich, with supplement by Dissen, 1819), Huschke (1819), Lachmann (1829), Dissen (1835).
Among more modern editions Baehrens (1878, the first of the modern critical editions) has outlived his contemporaries L Müller
Lucian Müller
Lucian Müller was a German classical scholar.-Biography:Müller was born in Merseburg in the Province of Saxony. After graduating from Humboldt University, Berlin and the University of Halle, he lived for five years in the Netherlands, working on his Geschichte der klassischen Philologie in den...
(1880), Hiller
Hiller
Hiller may refer to:* Hiller, Pennsylvania* Hiller Aircraft Corporation:** Hiller Hornet** Hiller Flying Platform** Tanner-Hiller Airport** Hiller Aviation Museum** Hiller X-18** Fairchild Hiller FH-227** YH-32 HornetOr the following people:...
(1885), and John Percival Postgate
John Percival Postgate
John Percival Postgate was an English classicist, professor of Latin at the University of Liverpool from 1909 to 1920....
(1905). A. G. Lee's edition and translation of books 1-2 (Cambridge, 1975) is based on a fresh collation of A.
Of the commentaries Heyne's and Huschke's are still of value. The greater part of the poems are included in Postgate's Selections (with English notes, 1903).
For further information see the accounts in Teuffel's History of Roman Literature (translated by Warr), Martin Schanz's Geschichte der romischen Litteratur, and F. Marx's article s.v. "Albius," in Pauly-Wissowa
Pauly-Wissowa
The Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, commonly called the Pauly–Wissowa or simply RE, is a German encyclopedia of classical scholarship. With its supplements it comprises over eighty volumes....
's Realencyclopedie.
A history of later contributions is given in Augustin Cartault's A propos du corpus Tibullianum (1906; not quite complete); see also his Tibulle et les auteurs du Corpus Tibullianum (Paris, 1909).
The edition with works by Tibullus, Catullus, and Propertius was printed in 1746 (Typis Salamonii, Rome).
External links
- The Elegies of Tibullus at The Latin LibraryThe Latin LibraryThe Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. The texts have been drawn from different sources. Many were originally scanned and formatted from texts in the Public Domain. Others have been downloaded from various sites on the Internet . Most of the recent texts have been...
- English translation only
- Selections from Tibullus translated, with an Introduction , Notes, and Glossary by Jon Corelis