NOTES TO TIBULLUS.

A

INTRODUCTION.

CCORDING to the best authorities the life of Albius Tibullus extended from 54 B.C. to 19 B.C., the year of Virgil's death. He was of the equestrian order, but of his youth and education nothing is known.

The large estate at Pedum in Latium, between Praeneste and Tibur, which he inherited, was confiscated in the civil wars, but he retained or recovered a part of it, probably through the intervention of M. Valerius Messala, the eminent general and statesman, on whose staff he afterwards served in an expedition into Aquitania, B.C. 31, 30; and on this ancestral farm he spent the remainder of his life.

In the exercise of his poetic gifts Tibullus was a brilliant member of the literary circle of which Messala, himself distinguished as an author and orator, was the centre, and shared the patronage of that illustrious man with Horace, whose friendship and appreciation of Tibullus' poetic genius found expression in one of his epistles (I, 4), and Ovid, one of whose elegies (Amores, III, 9) is a beautiful tribute to the memory of his predecessor in elegiac writing.

The sincerity and strength of Tibullus' attachment to his patron are attested by some of his finest poems, in which Messala's victories are celebrated. But with this exception he, among all the prominent literary men of that age, maintained a singular independence of character in relation to the court of Augustus. The historian Merivale remarks that “throughout his works there is no mention made either of the emperor or of his ministers and associates,” that ❝he alone of the great poets of his day remained undazzled by the glitter of the Cæsarian usurpation; and traces "the tone of tender melancholy which pervades his elegies" to the fact that " he was pining away in unavailing despondency in beholding the subjugation of his country."

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The four authors who cultivated elegiac poetry in the Augustan age are thus grouped together by Ovid (Trist. IV, 10):

nec amara Tibullo

Tempus amicitiae fata dedere meae.

Successor fuit hic tibi, Galle; Propertius illi;

Quartus ab his serie temporis ipse fui."

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Respecting these writers and the relative excellence of Roman elegy the criticism of Quintilian is as follows: Elegia quoque Graecos provocamus, cuius mihi tersus atque elegans maxime videtur auctor Tibullus. Sunt qui Propertium malint. Ovidius utroque lascivior, sicut durior Gallus." X, I, 93.

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Of the four Books of elegies which bear the name of Tibullus, the third is generally believed to be the work of some younger contemporary and imitator, who also belonged to the circle of Messala. The genuineness of the first poem in Book fourth, the panegyric on Messala, has also been denied. Milman thinks it cannot be ascribed to a writer of the exquisite taste of Tibullus, and Cruttwell takes the same view. But Teuffel regards it as representing the poet's Alexandrine period, and as attesting a certain talent but unripe taste." The authorship of the thirteen remaining pieces of that Book elegidia ascribed to the lovers Cerinthus and Sulpicia · - has been also a matter of dispute. Cranstoun ascribes poems 7-12 inclusive, to Sulpicia - supposed to have been a poetess of the circle of Messala - and the rest to Tibullus. Teuffel seems to agree with him. Pinder's judgment is that "the smaller elegies of the fourth Book, if not by Tibullus, have many of the characteristics of his genius," and Milman's, that "they have all the inimitable grace and simplicity of this poet." Cruttwell thinks "that the finished elegance and purity of diction of these pieces are easily reconciled with the view that they are the work of Tibullus; at the same time the description of Sulpicia as a poetess (in vi, 2; vii, 3) seems to point to her as the authoress of the pieces that bear her name. And the materials for coming to a decision are so scanty that it seems best to leave the authorship an open question."

The elegies of Tibullus have been divided into Amatory, Rural, Devotional, and Panegyrical, but many of them partake of all these qualities, and few of them belong strictly to either of these classes alone. While in variety of subjects and vigor of thought he was inferior to both his rivals (the works of Gallus are not extant), he

was free from any pedantic display of learning; he surpassed in the expression of patriotic and religious sentiments, in appreciation of natural scenery and country life and in sympathy with those in misfortune, and excelled both his rivals in purity of taste, and in a style unstudied, simple, graceful, the natural expression of genuine and strong feeling.

"Tibullus is preeminently Roman in his genius and poetry. His disregard for foreign models, his genuine love for country scenery and domestic life, his dignified independence of position and tone, the simplicity of his tastes and pursuits, and his faith in the national divinities, distinguish him from all his contemporaries, and most of his successors. He is the natural poet of warm, tender, and simple feeling. Neither Greek mythology nor Alexandrine learning had any attractions for his purely Italian genius. His language may be limited in range and variety; but it is terse, clear, simple, and popular. His constructions are plain and direct.

"While in point of natural ability, in learning, force, and variety, Tibullus is far inferior to Catullus, yet in purity of taste, in the exquisite smoothness of his lines, and his compact management of the elegiac system, Tibullus made a great advance, in versification, at least, on his predecessor. In short, his excellence lay mainly in this, that he was the first to clothe in the foreign dress of the elegiac metre, a body of purely Roman sentiment, imagery, and ideas." — PINDER.

"Tibullus cannot, it is true, soar into the blue heaven and gaze upon the sun in his meridian splendor, like that eagle of the Alps, 'the young Catullus'; he has not the vast learning, nervous vigor, and sparkling brilliancy of Propertius; nor the exquisite pathos, richness of imagery, and intensely sensuous feeling of the many-minded Ovid; but he evinces throughout a simplicity, a naturalness, a tenderness, and a terseness peculiarly his own; and herein lies his charm.

"His love of home and friends, his enjoyment of the country, of hills and dales, of shepherds and sheepfolds, of smiling meadows and murmuring rivulets, of purple vineyards and yellow corn-fields, and of the innocence and simplicity of earlier days, combined with that tender melancholy that ever, cloud-like, threw a shadow o'er his brow, gives him an almost romantic interest in the eyes of the modern reader; and will always secure for him, with lovers of rural scenes, one of the most enviable positions among the sons of ancient song." CRANSTOUN.

I.

OCCASIONED by the invitation of his friend, Messala, to accompany him in the campaign which ended with the battle of Actium, B.C. 31.

The pleasures of the peaceful avocations of country-life, in contrast with the hardships and perils of military service.

1. congerat. Subjunctive of exhortation, on which depends auro, spoils obtained in war. 2. soli, confiscated land allotted to veterans, made valuable by previous tillage; hence the epithet culti. With these, the two chief rewards of the soldier, are contrasted in the next two lines

his toils and perils. 3. quem, whomsoever. vicino hoste, an adjunct of assiduus. terreat, sc. because of his constant exposure to danger, in his labors. 4. The force of pulsa here is the sudden vehement trumpet-blast in a night-surprise. Pr. - 5. paupertas denotes poverty only as narrowness of means. See D., s. v. vitae, poetical dative instead of the accusative with a preposition. traducat, i.e. from his previous military service. - 6. Notice the contrast between assiduo igne and labor assiduus, v. 3.-7. Ipse, emphatic, With my own hand. teneras and grandia are also contrasted -II. Nam veneror, etc., i.e. I ought to prosper, for I reverence the gods of the country both in the lonely fields and in the crowded cross-ways. Pr. stipes, lapis. Trunks of trees and stones sacred to the rustic deities were honored with garlands, fillets, libations, and ointments. 14. agricolae deum, sc. Silvanus; the Ms. reading, changed by Dissen to agricolae deo, by others to agricolam deum. ponitur, sc. as a votive offering. See Lex., s.v. II, B. 5. 17. ruber custos, painted with vermillion. 18. Priapus, originally an Asian divinity, a god of the fertility of nature; among the Romans a rural deity, the guardian of flocks and herds, gardens, vineyards, and bees. — 19. felicis quondam, sc. before the confiscation of the civil wars. 20. vestra, i.e. those suited to you, such as a lamb. Lares, sc. arvales, the guardians of the whole farm. 21. Tunc, refers to quondam. 23. cadet, i.e. shall be slain in sacrifice. See Lex., s. v. I, B. 2, b. - 25. modo non = = fere, propemodum; with possum, I am all but able. Cf. Virg. Aen. IX, 141: penitus modo non genus omne perosos. But, as this interpretation does not fit well with the nec semper of the next line, the text is believed by many editors to be corrupt, and various emendations have been proposed, none of them however very satisfactory. — 26. longae viae, long and distant military expeditions. — 27. Canis, Sirius, the constellation, of which the brightest star is Canicula. aestivos ortus, i.e. the heat caused by the risings. · 29. Nec tamen,

rich. Pr.

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etc., i.e. “Though chiefly bent on ease, or the more refined task of planting, etc., I would fain not be ashamed sometimes of the humbler works of, etc.," usually left to slaves. Pr. tenuisse bidentes, pen the sheep. 34. Most Mss. insert est. 35. Hic, sc. on my farm. lustrare refers to the celebration of the Palilia. Cf. VII, 81-84; Ovid, Fasti, IV, 727 et seqq. 36. placidam = ut placida sit. Dissen. - 37. paupere refers to the table itself, simple, plain, i.e. not of rare wood or ivory as those of the 38. puris, i.e. for they are clean. 44. membra levare, to refresh one's limbs. - 46. detinuisse, a poetic use of the perfect tense for the present. See A. 288, d, Rem.; H. 537, note 2; M. 407. — 50. qui tristes ... pluvias is supposed to refer to the fact that the expedition to which he was invited started in May, B.C. 31, when the Hyades would be ushering in the rainy season. 51. pereat potiusque. So most Mss. and Lachm. and others. The order is reversed by Dissen and Pr. 55. laudari, sc. for exploits in war.

55-58. Cruttwell (p. 301) speaks of these "tender and exquisitely musical lines" as having the "same quality as that which gives a charm to Gray's Elegy." "Even to the most joyous thoughts of Tibullus, some mournful or plaintive sentiment is generally united, and his most gay and smiling figures wear chaplets of cypress on their brows." Dunlop, Hist. of Rom. Lit. 57.

"In my last moments let me gaze on thee,

And, dying, clasp thee with my faltering hand.” — CRANSTOUN.

59. lecto, the funeral pile. 62. vincta, encased in. 65. laede, offend, sc. by excessive grief. parce... crinibus, i.e. do not cut off locks of it, to place on the tomb. — 70. capiti, ablative. See Roby, I, 443; Papillon, p. 125. — 73. composito, stored up, i.e. already secured, "in my humble competence secure"; or, just fitted to my wants, moderate, as contrasted with cupidis (v. 72), those who are never satisfied. Pr.

II.

WRITTEN at Corcyra (the modern Corfu), during an illness which compelled him to abandon his journey into Asia with Messala, when the latter was appointed Praefect of that province, B.C. 30.

The poet bids farewell to Messala and his companions, expresses his dread of death in a foreign land, his self-reproach for leaving home in disregard of the omens, prays to Isis for restoration to