such expression we find less artificial refinement in versification, a closer approximation to the language of everyday life, and a simplicity of expression that makes his language usually as transparent as his thought. The diction of Catullus has been analyzed by Simpson,' who shows the prominent elements in it to be the language of everyday life and of society, a welldeveloped lover's vocabulary, a remarkable mastery over diminutives with their varying shades of meaning,2 some archaisms and contracted forms, some new descriptive terms coined with a poet's facility, and an abundance of inceptive, frequentative, and prepositionally-compounded verbs. Some of these features are, however, better illustrated elsewhere than in the elegies.* While most of the familiar grammatical and rhetorical figures are amply illustrated in Catullus, his skill in the employment of simile, metaphor, and metonymy is especially noteworthy.5 6 18. Since Lachmann in 1829 brought out his epoch-making edition of Catullus, basing it upon two Berlin Mss., the Datanus (D) and the Laurentianus (L), both of the fifteenth century, great progress has been made in establishing the text of this author. In 1830 the Sangermanensis (G), No. 14137 of the National Library at Paris, written at Verona in 1375, was described by J. Sillig; and in 1867 Robinson Ellis published the Oxoniensis (O), No. 30 of the Canonici Latin Mss. of the Bodleian Library. In 1896 .W. G. Hale discovered the Romanus (R) in the Vatican (Cod. Ottob. 1829), a Ms. which he believes to be of about the same age as G and O, viz., the latter part of the fourteenth century. A complete collation of R has not yet been published. Meanwhile the controversy that has arisen over the relative value of these various important Mss. and their relation to a lost archetype and to the host of 1 Pp. 180 sqq. 8 Index verborum in Schwabe. 2 Cf. Platner in AJP., Vol. 16 (1895), p. 186. 4 Cf. Riese, pp. xxiv sqq. 5 Cf. e.g. No. 68, vv. 53, 57, 63, 73, 109, 119, 125. 6 Jahrb. f. Phil., Vol. 13 (1830), pp. 261 sqq. 7 Cf. PAPA., Vol. 28 (1897), p. liii; Class. Rev., Vol. 20 (1906), p. 160; Mag nus in BPW., Vol. 30 (1910), p. 780; etc. later copies from one source or another, has resulted in more diligent search for Catullus Mss.1 The result up to the present appears to be that our text must be constituted chiefly on the three Mss., O G R, which are all derived from a lost Ms., V (Veronensis), which was seen by Petrarch and other scholars of his day; and that all the other existing Mss. were derived from these. O may have been a direct copy of V; G and R were copied probably from an intervening copy of V. 19. Besides the editions of Lachmann (1829) and Ellis (1867 and 1878) before mentioned, the most important editions in modern times have been those of Haupt (1853) (published with Tibullus and Propertius, and several times revised by Vahlen — 7th ed., 1912), Schwabe (1866 and 1886), Baehrens (1876; revised by K. P. Schulze, 1893), Riese (1884), Merrill (1893), the large commentary of Ellis (1876) and his later Oxford text (1904), and Friedrich (1908). The editions of Baehrens, Schulze, Riese, Merrill, and Friedrich have full exegetical commentaries. Several of the most important elegies are annotated in the selections made by Simpson, Jacoby, Schulze, and others; and the critical and epexegetical activity still centered upon Catullus remains unabated. The translations by Martin (1861), Ellis (1871), and Cornish (1912) deserve mention. TIBULLUS 20. Although at first sight it would seem that we have a considerable body of valuable data for the life of Tibullus, careful sifting of the authorities makes these sources appear rather sterile. At the end of the Mss. is a brief epigram attributed to Domitius Marsus, as follows: Te quoque Vergilio comitem non aequa, Tibulle, mors iuvenem campos misit ad Elysios, ne foret, aut elegis molles qui fleret amores 1 Cf. Class. Phil., Vol. 3 (1908), p. 233. The Mss. also include a short vita, which vincingly attributed to Suetonius.1 The te 6 plainly corrupt,2 and some of its statements ligible (e.g. eques regalis), and others qu (e.g. militaribus donis donatus est, which is with the character of the poet, so far as elegies). Perhaps some of the statements w the elegies. Both the epigram and the to have been in the archetype of our Mss.4 evidently the work of a comparatively late ha worth. The testimony of classical writers, e certain features of the life, work, and charac important so far as it goes. Even more valua are the few allusions to his life found in the po 21. From a judicious use of this material the following conclusions. The poet's name wa no praenomen being known. The end of his the same time as that of Vergil, who died, we 21, 19 B.C. As the only definite statement tha determine the date of his birth (3, 5, 17) evide Tibullus himself, but to Lygdamus (cf. § 25), resort to conjecture, which has commonly acc probable approximation to the truth. The ec believing this too early (as given in PAPA pp. cxxxvii-cxxxviii) are that it would make 1 too old a man while he was engaged in writing would have been likely to go on an expedition nian campaign (31 B.C.) soon after assuming 1 Baehrens, Tib. Bl., p. 6. 7 2 For two forms of it cf. Baehrens, Tib. Bl., p. 5, and Hill 3 Cf. Magnus in Bursian's JB., Vol. 51 (1887), p. 340. 4 Cf. Hiller in Hermes, Vol. 18 (1883), pp. 349 sqq. 5 Cf. Dissen, Vol. 1, p. x. 6 The references are collected in Hiller, pp. xx-xxiv. 7 He never speaks of himself by any other name than I, 9, 83; 4, 13, 13. 8 Cf. the epigram of Marsus, and Ovid, Trist. 4, 10, 51. ort vita, which has been unconius.1 The text of this vita is its statements are hardly intelnd others quite unsatisfactory est, which is out of harmony pet, so far as revealed in his statements were invented from am and the vita are believed of our Mss. A longer vita3 is atively late hand and has little sical writers, especially Ovid, to rk, and character of Tibullus, is ven more valuable than all these found in the poet's own writings. E this material it is safe to draw poet's name was Albius Tibullus, The end of his life came at about 1, who died, we know, September e statement that could be used to 【3, 5, 17) evidently applies not to mus (cf. § 25), we are forced to commonly accepted 54 B.C. as a The editor's reasons for truth. ven in PAPA., Vol. 32 (1901), would make Tibullus relatively aged in writing elegies; that he n an expedition like the Aquitaafter assuming the manly toga, Bl., p. 5, and Hiller, p. 60. (1887), p. 340. PP. 349 sqq. T, pp. xx-xxiv. other name than Tibullus; cf. 1, 3, 55: Trist. 4, 10, 51. custom; that the smallness of the amount of his be difficult to explain if he died at the age of th that his being confused with Lygdamus would ha natural if he were himself more nearly of the age (b. 43 B.C.). In view of these considerations 48 B. unreasonable conjectural date to assign for the birt 22. Whether or not the statement that he was rank is founded on fact, it is clear from various p elegies that he was of respectable family, and endowed, although he had lost part of his ancestra haps through confiscations similar to those suffer Horace, in Epistle 1, 4, which, there seems no g doubt, refers to this Albius,' says that the gods Tibullus with wealth, beauty, and the art of enjo indicates that his home was in the district of I was in Latium, not very far from Praeneste. T also are that he lost his father quite early but wa his mother and a sister.3 Much weight in determin character and station must be given to the long inti Tibullus and Messalla, the orator, statesman, warri and trusted councilor of Augustus. It is not cl Messalla began to realize the qualities of the poet acquaintance that made Tibullus the central literary group that gathered around this accomplis polite letters. It is not improbable that the tast led him while getting an education at Rome int with Horace, among others, that the older poet in to Messalla not long before the battle of Actium last elegy of the first book was written about this must at least have been known and admired by Ti 1Cf. 1, 1, 19, 41, and 77; 2, 4, 53, etc. 2 Cf. Ullman in AJP., Vol. 33 (1912), pp. 149 sqq., and pp. 450 sqq. 4 Cf. Tib. 2, 5, 39 8 Cf. 1, 3, 5; Ovid, Am. 3, 9, 50. 23. At any rate, when after Actium Messalla was sent to Aquitania by Augustus, the young poet went with him to get his first taste of military life. After that brief campaign he started with Messalla for the east, but, seized with a serious illness, was necessarily left behind on the island of Corcyra, his life trembling in the balance. These circumstances furnish the occasion of the earliest elegy which we can date with any certainty (1, 3), which was accordingly written in 30 B.C., perhaps in the latter part of the summer. This ended the military experiences of the poet, who returned, as soon as health permitted, to his estate in the country, there to spend, apparently, most of the rest of his life. Certainly we have no indications that he took any prominent part in public affairs, although he was doubtless ever and anon in the city on occasions of special interest. His tastes were gentle, he preferred the quiet of the fields to the excitement of the city; and for the remaining ten years of his life we can easily picture him enjoying the regio Pedana, surrounded by a small circle of close friends, and frequently visiting his patron, Messalla, in town, where he was welcomed as the most gifted member of Messalla's select coterie.1 24. Prominent members of this circle of friends were Sulpicia, probably a niece of Messalla and daughter of Servius Sulpicius Rufus, Cornutus, probably another member of the same Sulpician family, and Macer, all of whom were destined to play a part in the collection of elegies bearing the name of Tibullus. But a far more important influence in determining the character of his poetry was exerted by the several persons, probably all of a lower rank, for whom he formed successive 1 There is still controversy over the date of the Aquitanian Expedition; for a review of the case cf. Hiller in BPW., Vol. 8 (1888), Sp. 808; R. Schultz, Quaestiones in Tibulli Librum I.Chronologicae, pp. 7 sqq. 2 For another view cf. Bell., pp. 181 sqq. 3 Cf. 1, 7; 2, 5. 4 For charming fancy pictures of his home life at Pedum, cf. Martinengo, pp. 144 sqq.; Champney, Chap. I. 5 Cf. 4, 2. 6 Cf. 2, 2, Intr. 7 Cf. 2, 6, 1, n. |