52. inornatas. The word occurs only here and in the second book of Tibullus (9. 29 where it is an epithet of caput). 53. prior 'her predecessor,' i. e. Delia. 58. An allusion to 1. 60. Nemesis retorts that Delia has no right to share in her grief. She, and not Delia, was with Tibullus to the last. 59. aliquid, something more than a name (inscribed on a tomb) and a shade (i.e. a ghost). From this we see that the Romans did not consider ghosts to be realities, but that they would regard the dead in Elysium as such. Elysia, see 2. 57 sqq. 61. iuuenalia. Catullus also died young. Caluo, a poct of considerable powers and an intimate friend of Catullus, who addressed several poems to him. 63. tu quoque. Gallus was the oldest of the four elegiac poets. He was also a statesman and general of some consideration. He fell into displeasure with Augustus whose confidence he was accused of abusing, and, unable to bear the disgrace, committed suicide. Ovid says his offence was incautious language when in his cups 'et linguam nimio non tenuisse mero,' Trist. 2. 446. animae prodige. Cf. Hor. Carm. 1. 12. 37 animaeque magnae | prodigum Paullum.' 66. auxisti, i.e. 'have joined'; cf. Ov. Met. 5. 301 'auxerunt uolucrum, uictae certamine, turbam.' pios 'the band of the blest' numeros piorum. refined.' Compare the Introduction, p. xxvi. 27 [MARSI EPIGRAMMA]. numeros culte The author of these lines is Domitius Marsus, a contemporary of Tibullus, who composed elegies and epigrams (one of which latter, a very bitter one on Bauius and Meuius the detractors of Virgil, has come down to us), and also a not very successful epic poem on the Amazons, Amazonis, to which Horace in a well-known stanza of the Odes (4. 4. 18 sqq.) may perhaps allude. Martial mentions Marsus several times as one of his models. From the abrupt beginning te quoque it has been thought, N that the verses are a portion of a longer poem; but if so, they formed a section in themselves which could easily be detached. - 1. non aequa, sc. iniqua. 2. campos Elysios, an apparent allusion to Tibullus 2. 58. 3. elegis, Tibullus' own word 10. 13. Compare Ovid 26. 3, 4. fleret, in a pregnant sense (Tell me not in mournful numbers, Longfellow); cf. Hor. Epod. 14. 11 'caua testudine fleuit amorem (of Anacreon). 4. forti, a standing epithet of epic poetry. Hor. Serm. 1. 10. 43 'forte epos acer | ut nemo Varius ducit.' APPENDIX A WAS TIBULLUS THE ALBIUS OF HORACE? The question Was the second name of the poet Tibullus Albius? is not a simple one. It involves two others. Have the statements of the Vita Tibulli independent authority? and is Tibullus the same person as Albius, a writer of elegies to whom Horace addressed Odes I. 33 and Epistles I. 4? The unanimity of recent critics in answering Yes to all the three questions justifies a brief review of the evidence. The direct testimony that Albius was a name of the poet is the following: Testimony for (1) a passage of Diomedes the grammarian the name (p. 484 17 K.): Albius. elegia est carmen compositum hexametro uersu pentametroque alternis in uicem pcsitis ut diuitias alius fuluo sibi congerat auro et teneat culti iugera multa soli quod genus carminis praecipue scripserunt apud Romanos Propertius et Tibullus et Gallus imitati Graecos Callimachum et Euphoriona. elegia autem dicta siue παρὰ τὸ εὖ λέγειν τοὺς τεθνεῶτας: fere enim defunctorum laudes hoc carmine comprehendebantur: siue àñò тоù èλéov, id est miseratione quod Upývovs Graeci uel edecia isto metro scriptitauerunt. cui opinioni consentire uidetur Horatius cum ad Albium Tibullum elegiarum auctorem scribens ab ea quam diximus miseratione elegos miserabiles dicit hoc modo: neu miserabiles decantes elegos. (2) The inscriptions which the manuscripts of Hcrace prefix to the ode, ad Tibullum' or 'ad Albium Tibullum,' with the note of the ancient commentator Porphyrio 'Albium Tibullum adloquitur elegiarum poetam,' and those which they prefix to the epistle, ad Albium Tibullum' or 'ad Albium elegorum scriptorem': and (3) the statement in the Life (Introduction p. xvi.). The Horatian MSS. are hardly independent witnesses. Of the rest Diomedes lived in the fourth century A.D., Porphyrio in the same century or perhaps in the third. These writers may have identified Albius with Tibullus for themselves; but it is much more likely that they found him so identified by their predecessors. There remains the Life. Of its composition we know nothing actually, but from certain similarities in its diction to that of the extant works of Suetonius it has been conjectured that it contains extracts from a lost work of his.1 The conjecture is not in itself an improbable one, as Suetonius is known to have interested himself in the lives of the distinguished writers of the Augustan period. And in order to shorten the discussion I will assume that it is correct. We may thus dismiss Diomedes and Porphyrio as the historian of the Caesars is a much older witness. Now when Suetonius wrote, Tibullus had been dead for a century and more, and we do not know either that the material for a biography of the poet was appreciably greater than at present, or, if it was, that the biographer used it. It is therefore necessary to examine the Life itself before pronouncing on its credibility. Sources and We have seen that Diomedes and Porphyrio identified Tibullus with Horace's Albius and we are entitled to say that the author of the Life did the authority of same. Now, it is singular that there is nothing the 'Life.' recorded in this biography' of our poet which may not have been based either on the extant epigram on his death or on allusions in his own poems or on the references in Horace to the person who was identified with him. The Albius of Horace was a 'rich' man, Ep. 1.c. 7 'di tibi diuitias dederunt', cf. v. 11. On the other hand Tibullus in the very first lines of his prefatory poem, I. i. 1—5, and throughout insists on his paupertas. This word is not the equivalent of the English poverty, but not the less is it the opposite of diuitiae and so it is used by Horace, Tibullus, and the rest of the Latin writers. So there is an apparent contradiction between Horace on Albius, and Tibullus on himself. The contradictory statements might be reconciled by supposing that Tibullus possessed the equestrian fortune; and the biographer says that he was an eques.2 i Cf. Bachrens Tibullische Blätter, pp. 4 sqq. (2) Albius was a handsome man (Ep. v. 6 'di tibi formam -dederunt'). And the biography says Tibullus was 'insignis forma.' (3) According to the biography our poet bestowed a noticeable amount of care upon his person. This might have been inferred from the words of Tibullus himself (Introduction p. xxiv.). (4) So might his intimate friendship with Messalla (Introduction p. xix.). (5) The statement that he served in the Aquitanian war where he shared Messalla's tent and that he was decorated for his services may be nothing more than an amplification of the words 'non sine me est tibi partus honos '1 I. vii. 9, the obvious sense of which is that Tibullus as well as his friend distinguished himself in the operations of the war. (6) That many thought him the chief elegiac poet of Rome was a matter of common knowledge. (7) The remarks passed on his epistolae amatoriae' could have been be made by any one who had seen Book III. (8) His immature death is avowedly given on the authority of the epitaph by Marsus. The statement that the poet's name was Albius differs in no way from the rest. If Tibullus and Horace's friend were identical, he must obviously have had this name. But if the statement goes back to some independent source, why, we may ask, are we ignorant of the poet's praenomen? How did this get separated from the rest of his appellations? But the identification of 'Albius' and Tibullus may have been correct, even though the external evidence in its favour is lamentably weak, and this we now consider. Tibullus and the Albius of Horace's Ode and Epistle. The first three books of the Odes of Horace were published in or about 23 B.C. and the first book of the Epistles in 20 or perhaps in 19 B.C. These dates may be accepted as well ascertained. Now by 23 B.C. probably and by 20 B.C. certainly Tibullus had published at least one of his two books of elegies and had achieved a reputation for elegy as high as that of Virgil for epos. His poems are with us and afford no uncertain indications of his circumstances, his health, his character, and his ideals. How far do these agree with what we know of Albius from Horace ? The portrait of Albius is distinct. It is that of a man 1 Of course it does not follow that Tibullus wrote these words because the biographer found them in his text: see Crit. App. ad loc. |