Summary of poem 1

• 1 Let another man, who can put up with the terrors of war, pile up riches and own a large estate. Tibullus himself is content with an untroubled life of poverty, planting vines and fruit trees in the country. He expects a good harvest of corn and wine, since he venerates the country gods, especially Ceres, Priapus, and the Lares, promising to sacrifice a calf and a lamb to them for a good harvest.
• 27 Tibullus pictures himself resting by a stream in the shade on hot days, using a hoe, ploughing with oxen, or carrying home a lamb or a kid goat. He calls on the gods to accept his offerings, in earthenware vessels. He does not require the wealth of his father and grandfather: a small crop is enough; and to rest on his bed, with his mistress in his arms, listening to the wind and rain outside.
• 49 Let the man who can put up with the wild sea and storms be rightly rich. But for Tibullus it would be better for all gold and jewels to perish rather than that his girlfriend should weep while he travels abroad. He tells Messalla that travelling by land and sea to bring back booty is suitable for Messalla, not himself. He himself is bound by the chains of a girl, and sits like a doorkeeper outside her unyielding door.
• 57 Speaking now to Delia, he tells her that he does not wish to be praised; as long as he is with her, he is content to be called idle. He hopes that he may see her even at his final hour, and predicts that she will weep for him after his death. No young man or woman will go home from his funeral without tears. Meanwhile, while fate allows, they should love: Death will come soon enough. Now, while he is still young, is the time for love affairs. He will do his soldiering at home; let those who desire money get wounds and wealth. He himself will be content with his small harvest, and will despise the rich and despise hunger.

Notes on poem 1

Tibullus here combines some familiar themes: the contrast between the soldier and the farmer; the idealisation of the country life; the cruel girlfriend who refuses to admit her lover; and the thought that Death will come quickly. But he opens the poem in a striking way, only gradually letting the reader know where his thought is leading. He addresses his patron Messalla only in line 53, and Delia is not named until line 57. Putnam, in his article on this poem, calls the opening "audacious" and "daring".^[22]

In lines 49–54 Tibullus writes about his rejection of the life of travelling overseas, looking for wealth and military spoils. The three couplets are linked together by an unusual series of rhymes, since the three pentameters end with the words pluvias, vias, exuvias "rain showers, roads, spoils", as if these three things are linked together in the poet's mind.

As will become clear from poems 3 and 7, Tibullus (as might be expected of a young man from an equestrian family) had already travelled abroad as part of Messalla's entourage at least twice. On one of these journeys he had fallen ill on the island of Corfu and had had to abandon the expedition.

In lines 19–22 Tibullus says that his father and grandfather had a much larger estate than he himself did at the time of writing the poem. This recalls similar statements in Virgil^[23] and Propertius^[24] in which both poets lament the loss of their family property. This is ascribed to the confiscations of 41–40 BC, when Octavian resettled his veteran soldiers following the battle of Philippi; but it is not known for certain whether Tibullus's land was lost in the same confiscations.^[25] There is a similar passage in the Panegyricus Messallae, (a poem of disputed date and authorship which forms part of book 3 of the Tibullan corpus), where the author states that some, but not all, of his family's ancestral land had been lost.^[26] It has been inferred from Horace's Epistle 1.4.2 that Tibullus's family estate was at Pedum (believed to have been near Gallicano del Lazio, about 20 miles east of Rome).^[27]

In the poem there are several echoes of Virgil's Eclogues and Georgics, especially Eclogue 1, which had been published about 37 BC.^[28][29] But the idealised Greek bucolic landscape of the Eclogues is here replaced by a much more realistic Roman one.

Lines 59–68, where Tibullus imagines Delia weeping at his funeral, have been compared to similar lines in Propertius 1.17.19–24 (published about 30 BC^[30] or 28 BC^[31]), where Propertius imagines his girlfriend Cynthia doing the same for him.^[32] There seems to have been an exchange between the two poets: most scholars think Propertius book 1 was written first, answered (possibly with a hint of mockery) in Tibullus book 1, answered in Propertius book 2, and so on.^[33]

Maltby (2002) notes how the opening of this poem (divitias alius ... congerat "let another man pile up riches" echoes a sentence in Cicero's de Amicitia 20, which begins divitias alii praeponunt "some men put riches before friendship".^[34] The implication is that Tibullus takes the view that friendship is more important than wealth.

Summary of poem 2

• 1 Tibullus calls for wine to drown his sorrows. He explains that his girlfriend has been put under a strong guard. He begs the door to open for him and forgive him if he ever cursed it.
• 15 Addressing Delia, he calls on her not to be timid about deceiving the guards. Venus favours lovers, but only those who are not afraid to brave the dark night. With Venus's help a lover need not fear being attacked or be troubled by cold wet weather. He begs anyone who sees him by chance to avert their eyes and tell no one, or he will feel Venus's wrath.
• 41 He assures Delia that even if someone tells her husband, her husband will not believe it. The reason is that he has seen a very powerful witch who has given him a magic spell for her to use which will make the husband unable to see him (although he'll still be able to see her other lovers!) – Suddenly he has doubts, recalling that he had previously asked the witch for a spell to make their love mutual, but it hadn't worked.
• 65 He says the lover must be very hard-hearted who left her to go and seek money soldiering abroad. He says he wouldn't mind even sleeping on the ground, if only Delia would join him at his farm in the country. What is the point of having an expensively furnished bed if one lies awake all night weeping?
• 79 Tibullus wonders if perhaps he has inadvertently offended Venus in some way. He would gladly make a penance if so. – Addressing the reader (or a member of the audience, or a drinking companion),^[35] he warns him not to laugh at him. Venus will punish the man who is mocking him one day by making him fall in love even in his old age and be a cause of mockery to boys and young men. – He ends by begging Venus to forgive him, and declares that he has always been her devoted servant.

Notes on poem 2

This poem, taking up the image in poem 1.55–56, belongs to an established class of love poetry called the paraklausithyron, in which an excluded lover makes complaints to the locked door of his girlfriend's house.

At line 65 there are various interpretations as to who is meant by the hard-hearted lover. One possibility is that it refers to Delia's husband who has gone away to earn money soldiering abroad leaving Delia under guard in his house. Another possibility, however, is that Tibullus is chiding himself, since, as will emerge from the next poem, he himself at one stage left Delia to accompany his patron Messalla abroad and was reluctant to do so.^[36]

As several scholars have pointed out, there are a number of parallels in this poem with situations in Roman comedy, for example the locked-out lover (Plautus's Curculio and Truculentus) and the old man who makes himself ridiculous by falling in love (Plautus's Asinaria, Bacchides, and Casina).^[37] Griffin (1986) writes: “These resemblances between Comedy and Elegy are more than verbal echoes. They relate to central ideas and attitudes of the genre.”^[38]

Poem 2 has a number of connections with 8. Both contain a description of the powers of a witch (1.2.41–52, 1.8.17–22); both contain descriptions of deceiving the guards and creeping around stealthily in the night (1.2.15–20, 1.8.57–60); both end by promising punishment for disrespecting the god of love (1.2.87–96, 1.8.77–78).^[39]

But there are also links to 5 and 6: the image of Delia on Tibullus's farm in 1.2.70 is taken up again in 1.5.21. In 2 Tibullus encourages Delia to deceive the guards; in 6 he blames himself for teaching her how to deceive the guards (1.2.15, 1.6.9–10).

Summary of poem 3

• 1 Addressing Messalla, Tibullus bids him and the rest of the entourage farewell. He explains that he is ill in an unknown land, Phaeacia, and he hopes that Death spares him. Here there is no mother or sister to conduct his funeral. Delia too, who consulted all the gods before he left Rome, and was comforted by signs that he would return, is absent.
• 15 Tibullus relates how he himself, when leaving Rome, found all sorts of excuses to delay his departure. What use now are all Delia's prayers to her favourite goddess, Isis? He begs Isis to help him now, and prays that he may get back to worship at the shrines of the gods of his home, the Penates and Lares.
• 35 He describes how much better life was in the Golden Age, before ships were invented and travelled abroad looking for wealth. The present age, the Age of Jupiter, is full of slaughter and wounds. He imagines the epitaph which will be written on his tombstone: "Here lies Tibullus, who died when following Messalla by land and sea."
• 57 He imagines how after his death Venus will lead him to join other lovers in Elysium. 67 From here he turns to a description of Tartarus, where those who violate his love are punished. He hopes that whoever wished him to abandon his love and go on a long military campaign may end up there.
• 83 Addressing Delia, he hopes that she is remaining faithful, guarded by an old woman, who will tell stories to her by lamplight until bedtime while she spins wool. He imagines how he will suddenly appear unexpectedly, as if sent from heaven, and how Delia will rush bare-footed with unkempt hair to meet him. He prays that Aurora the goddess of Dawn will bring this shining Morning Star to him.

Notes on poem 3

Tibullus writes this poem apparently from the island of Corfu (Corcyra), where he is ill. It appears that he went there as part of the entourage accompanying his patron Messalla on a journey to the Eastern Mediterranean, but was left behind because of his illness. According to Ronald Syme, Messalla probably succeeded Didius as governor of Syria in 30/29 or 29/28 BC.^[40]

It was, it seems, common for young men of good family to accompany important men as part of their entourage on their journeys abroad. For example, Horace describes a journey he was required to make, along with Virgil, to accompany their patron Maecenas to Brundisium in 37 BC.^[41] Another well known example is Catullus, who, along with the poet Helvius Cinna, accompanied his patron Gaius Memmius to Bithynia in 57–56 BC, but was disappointed not to be allowed to make any money there.^[42][43]

Tibullus refers to Corfu as Phaeacia, the last island visited by Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey before his return home, which was often identified with Corfu. With this name he identifies himself with Odysseus and Delia as an unlikely Penelope, waiting for him chastely at home.^[44][45] The description of the punishments of Tityos and Tantalus also appear to be taken from the Odyssey (11.576–592).^[46]

This part of Tibullus's poem was imitated in Ovid's memorial poem on Tibullus (Ovid, Amores 3.9) as well as in a poem written when he himself was in exile and seriously ill (Tristia 3.3).^[47]

In line 3 Tibullus claims to be dying in ignotis terris "unknown lands". The repetition of this phrase in line 39 in connection with those who go abroad in search of money hints that Tibullus blames himself for choosing to go abroad to seek wealth, abandoning Delia; something which he had already criticised in poem 2.65.^[48]

Poems 3 and 9, though ostensibly on different topics (Tibullus's illness on Corfu and Marathus's infidelity), have several points of contact.^[49]

For example, in poem 3 Tibullus claims to have committed no perjury (periuria (1.3.51); Venus will reward him and lead him to the Elysian fields (1.3.57–58), while those who violate his love will go to Tartarus (1.3.81). In poem 9, he reproaches Marathus for perjury (1.9.3), and he warns him that Venus will be harsh to those who violate love (1.9.19–20).

The description of what did not happen in the Golden Age in poem 3 (1.3.39–42) has a lot in common with the description of the effects of desire for wealth in poem 9 (1.9.7–10).:^[49]

Both 3 and 9 also describe an inscription on an imaginary monument, with very similar wording:

hic iacet immiti consumptus morte Tibullus (1.3.55)

"here lies Tibullus, consumed by cruel death"

hanc tibi fallaci resolutus amore Tibullus (1.9.83)

"Tibullus (dedicates) this to you, freed from a deceptive love"

Intratextual links with poems 1 and 5 are found in the description of Tartarus (lines 67–82). In this passage, as Joshua Paul points out, verbal echoes show that the various inhabitants of Tartarus are intended to represent the different persons who have violated or thwarted Tibullus's love.^[50]

Thus the Fury Tisiphone, who chases an impious crowd of souls, represents the procuress of poem 5, who is driven mad like a Fury (furens) as souls flit around her and who is chased by a crowd of dogs (1.3.70, 1.5.51–56); Cerberus, who "lies in front of the bronze doors", represents the doorkeeper, who "sits in front of the hard doors" (1.3.72, 1.1.56).

As for those being punished, Ixion, whose limbs are "turned on a swift wheel", represents Delia's rich lover, whom Tibullus reminds that Fortune "turns with her swift wheel" (1.3.74, 1.5.70); Tityos, "stretched across nine acres of land" and plagued by "assiduous birds", represents the soldier-farmer with his "many acres of soil" who puts up with "assiduous labour" (1.3.75–76, 1.1.2-3); the Danaids, punished for killing their husbands, represent Delia herself: the jars which they fill with the water of Lethe ("Forgetfulness") recall by their name dolia the name Delia, while Lethe recalls her ingratitude for Tibullus's devotion (1.5.17).^[51]

The old woman who Tibullus hopes is guarding Delia in line 1.3.84 appears again as Delia's mother in 1.6.57–66.

The phrase mors atra "black death" links this poem to poem 10 (1.3.5, 1.10.33).

Summary of poem 4

• 1 The poet addresses Priapus, the fertility god of gardens, and asks him to explain his skill in capturing handsome boys, despite his unprepossessing appearance.
• 9 In reply, the god warns him to keep away from boys, since all of them are good-looking and may capture Tibullus rather than the other way round. One boy is attractive because he rides a horse, another because he swims; one because he is confident, another because he is shy. 17 Tibullus must be patient if he wishes to catch a boy. He should not be afraid to swear falsely by the gods. And he must not wait too long, otherwise the boy's beauty will fade. Only the gods Bacchus and Phoebus retain their beauty for ever.
• 39 To win a boy over, Tibullus must be prepared to obey his every whim, accompanying him on long walks in rain or shine, rowing if he wants to go boating, carrying the nets if he wishes to go hunting, sparring with him if he wants to practise fencing. Then the boy will allow kisses, at first reluctantly, then willingly, and finally he will even give hugs of his own accord.
• 56 Alas, these days boys expect gifts. If only boys could be won over by poetry! Priapus curses those who sell their favours for money and hopes they become eunuch devotees of the goddess Cybele. 71 Finally he advises Tibullus, as with all love affairs, to use endearments, complaints, and tears.
• 73 Tibullus explains that he is asking not for himself but on behalf of his friend Titius, whose wife disapproves of his interest in boys. Tibullus boasts that he is able and willing to give advice to all lovers. 81 Suddenly he confesses that he himself is being tortured by his love for a boy called Marathus. He begs Marathus not to make him a laughing stock.

Notes on poem 4

In this poem the god Priapus advises the poet how to catch a handsome boy. At the end despite priding himself on his wisdom in love affairs and his ability to instruct others, Tibullus reveals that he himself has been caught by a boy called Marathus.

The poem has been compared to Horace's Satires 1.8, in which a statue of Priapus complains about a pair of witches who have been holding ceremonies in his garden; and also to Propertius 4.2, which consists of a speech of the minor god Vertumnus.^[52] Another comparable poem is Horace's Satires 2.5, in which the ghost of the prophet Teiresias gives ironic advice to Ulysses that the best way of recouping his fortunes is by legacy-hunting.^[53] The Greek poet Callimachus too wrote a poem (only a fragment survives) in which Priapus speaks to a young man who is in love with a handsome youth.^[54]

Scholars have debated whether Tibullus's affair with Marathus is based on real experience or whether it is merely a fictional poetic construct.^[55] It has been noted that the activities mentioned by Priapus – horse-riding, boating, hunting – are more appropriate to aristocratic boys than the slaves who normally would be the object of attentions by Roman men.^[56] Some, however, see them not as real boys but as literary creations, recalling those in the epigrams of the Greek poet Callimachus.^[57]

It has been suggested that lines 1.73–74 where Tibullus teases his friend Titius for being under the thumb of his wife recall the situation in Catullus 50, where Catullus and his poet friend and age-mate Calvus exchange verses with one another as an amusement.^[58] It is thought that Titius may be the same as the poet Titius mentioned in Horace, Epistles 1.3.9, who accompanied the future emperor Tiberius on a trip to Armenia. If this Titius was the son of Marcus Titius (suffect consul in 31 BC), he might well have been the same age as Tibullus and of similar social class.^[58][59]

The unexpected twist at the end is reminiscent of the humorous ending of Horace's Satires 1.8, when the statue of Priapus suddenly splits with a loud noise and the witches run away. Another poem ending with an unexpected twist is Horace's Epode 2, where a long speech in favour of the country life is amusingly ended by the revelation that the speaker is Alfius, an urban money-lender.^[60]

As Dettmer shows, there are several links between this poem and poem 7 (see below for details).

Summary of poem 5

• 1 Tibullus says he had boasted that he could bear the separation; now he realises he cannot, and he is being driven by the god of love like a top being whipped by a boy.
• 7 He begs Delia to spare him. He reminds her that he was the one who saved her life when she was ill, by performing certain rites and prayers. He paid off his vows to the gods, she got better, but now another man is enjoying her.
• 19 His dream of retiring to his farm with Delia as his wife is now shattered. She would be the mistress of the house, surrounded by the servants' children. She would be hostess to Messalla, picking fruit for him from the trees and serving him meals. But this dream has now gone with the winds.
• 37 He has tried to dispel his depression by drinking wine and visiting a prostitute for sex, but in vain. The woman concerned accused him of being bewitched, but the real cause of his impotence was Delia's beauty: she is as beautiful as the goddess Thetis was when she came riding on a dolphin as bride to Peleus.
• 47 The fact that Delia has a rich lover is due to a certain cunning procuress who introduced the man. Tibullus imagines all sorts of dire consequences for the procuress: she will be driven mad by ghosts, eat food from a graveyard, and run naked and screaming through the cities. The god of love has given him a sign that this will occur.
• 59 He begs Delia to ignore the advice of the rapacious witch: there is no love that cannot be defeated by gifts. But he tells her that it is only a poor person who will stick with her at all times, escort her through the crowded streets to visit her male friends in secret,^[61] and untie the fastenings of her snow-white foot. – Alas, the door will not open with words but needs to be knocked on with a "full hand" (i.e. bearing a gift).
• 69 He warns the rich lover to beware: the wheel of Fortune is turning. It is not for nothing that a certain person keeps furtively watching the door of Delia's house, pretending to pass by, returning and clearing his throat near the door. The lover should use his good fortune while he can, because it cannot last.

Notes on poem 5

It is not clear who Tibullus means by quidam "a certain person" who keeps standing outside the door in line 71; but the answer is probably that it is either Tibullus himself or an invented imaginary lover hoping to see Delia.^[62] Ovid refers to the passage (Tristia 2.460), linking it to the barking dog (1.6.32), and implying that it was Tibullus.

The final line "for your boat is floating on clear water" is explained as meaning "everything is going well for you for now (but soon things will change; the sea will grow rough)".^[63] The phrase liquida ... aqua "clear water" in 1.5.72 links this poem with 1.9.12 and 1.9.50 where the phrase recurs.

The image of Tibullus escorting Delia at night to her secret male friends recurs in 9 where he claims to have led Pholoë secretly to Marathus at night (1.5.65, 1.9.42).

There are numerous intratextual links between this poem and poem 6 (see below).

Summary of poem 6

• 1 Tibullus complains that Love, who was pleasant at first, is now being harsh. Delia has another lover, even though she denies it. He blames himself for teaching her how to deceive her guards and how to make excuses to sleep alone.
• 15 He tells Delia's husband not to let her deceive him when she talks a lot about young men, or makes signs to them at the dinner table, or makes excuses to leave the house for a religious meeting. Tibullus remembers how he himself would touch Delia's hand by pretending to examine her ring or make her husband drunk while he himself stayed sober. He confesses that he is the one that the husband's dog was barking at all night long. The husband doesn't deserve to have her if he can't watch over her. The husband should give the charge of watching over Delia to him: he won't mind being beaten like a slave. He would keep away the rival lovers!
• 42 He remembers how he consulted a prophetess of the goddess Bellona. Filled with the spirit of the goddess, the prophetess cut her arms till they bled, and warned that whoever violated a girl guarded by the god of Love would be punished: their wealth will flow away, as her blood is doing. She said that Delia too would be punished.
• 57 But he himself will not punish Delia, because her mother has aided and abetted him in his affair. He asks the mother to keep Delia chaste. He will submit to the same rules: let Delia cast him out into the street if she suspects he has been unfaithful. But he refuses to strike her, even when he is angry. He wants her to be faithful, but not from fear.
• 77 He assures her that a girl who does not stay faithful will end up in old age in poverty, spinning and weaving, while a crowd of young people laugh at her. But let this happen to other girls. He offers Delia the chance to be an example of love even when both of them are grey-haired.

Notes on poem 6

Both poem 5 and poem 6 are concerned with Delia's unfaithfulness, and as with poems 1 and 10, there are several verbal links and thematic echoes between them, for example:^[64]

The words asper "harsh" and gloria "boast" are applied to Tibullus in 5 and to Cupid in 6 (1.5.1–2, 1.6.2–3); Tibullus speaks of his and Delia's furtivi lecti "furtive bed" in 5, and of Delia's having sex furtim "furtively" with another man in 6 (1.5.7, 1.6.5–6); in 5 Tibullus remembers how he restored Delia to health, in 6 how he taught her how to deceive the guards (1.5.9–17, 1.6.9-14).

In 5, Tibullus drinks wine to overcome his depression, in 6 he gives it to the husband to send him to sleep (1.5.37, 1.6.27); in 5 Tibullus has sex with a prostitute, while thinking of Delia, in 6 Delia has sex with her husband while thinking of Tibullus (1.5.39–40, 1.6.35).

In both poems Tibullus consults a woman (in one a prostitute, in the other a prophetess) who advises him (1.5.41–42, 1.6.51–55); in 5 he curses the procuress who introduced the rival to Delia, in 6 he blesses the mother who introduced Tibullus to Delia (1.5.47–60, 1.6.51–68).

In 5 he promises to untie the fastenings (vincla) of Delia's feet, in 6 he promises not to undo the fastenings (vincla) of his own feet which he wears like a slave (1.5.66, 1.6.38); in 5 he says the door needs to be struck with his hand, in 6 he says he would rather lose his hands than strike Delia (1.5.68, 1.6.73–74); in 5 he warns the rival to fear him, in 6 he wants Delia not to fear him (1.5.69, 1.6.86); in 5 he predicts that the rival will not enjoy Delia for long, in 7 he begs Delia to stay with him till old age (1.5.75–76, 1.6.85–86).

In several cases the images in 6 are the inverse or opposite of those in 5, and it appears to be a more optimistic ending than poem 5. However, there is no indication that Tibullus's pleas to Delia were successful, and her name is not mentioned again in the book.

The image of Delia spinning and weaving to make ends meet in her old age (1.6.77–82) takes up again the image of Delia spinning in poem 3 (1.3.85–88), but the context is completely different.^[65]

Summary of poem 7

• 1 Tibullus celebrates the day when his patron Messalla celebrates his triumph over the Aquitanians. He describes Messalla as wearing victory laurels and riding on a chariot decorated with ivory.
• 13 He goes on to mention a journey through Cilicia, Palestine, and Tyre, and he addresses and praises the Nile, equating it with the god Osiris.
• 27 He sings of the god Osiris, worshipped by the Egyptians; how he taught agriculture, fruit-growing, and wine-making. Wine (Bacchus) teaches music, soothes sadness, brings relaxation song, and dance.
• 49 He calls on Osiris to be present today to celebrate Messalla's birthday. Tibullus prays for healthy offspring for Messalla.
• 57 He also commemorates the road which Messalla built between Tusculum and Alba, which is a great help for farmers returning home from the city. He ends by calling on the spirit of Messalla's birthday to return for many years to come.

Notes on poem 7

In this poem, a genethliacon (birthday ode) for his patron Messalla, Tibullus celebrates Messalla's military conquests in Gaul, his triumphal procession following them, as well as his mission to Syria and Egypt and his public road-building works in Italy. According to Appian, Octavian sent Messalla to Gaul following the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The triumphal procession is known to have been held in September 27 BC. A view held by many historians is that the Aquitanian campaign took place early in 27 immediately before the triumph. However, Knox argues that the Aquitanian campaign took place first, just as Appian says, and that subsequently Messalla was sent to Syria as governor, holding a delayed triumph on his return.^[66] This journey to Syria and Egypt was presumably the journey on which Tibullus fell ill in Corfu, as described in poem 1.3.

Ball (1975) shows that there is a neat symmetrical arrangement in the poem, with the hymn to Osiris at its centre:^[67]

1–8 – Proclamation of the happy occasion

9-22 – Address to Messalla, with praise of his foreign exploits

23–28 – Transition: apostrophe to the Nile

29–48 – Hymn to Osiris

49–54 – Transition: apostrophe to Osiris

55–62 – Address to Messalla, with praise of his domestic exploits

63–64 – Exhortation of the Birthday-Spirit

Bright (1984) sees a similar symmetrical construction in the Panegyricus Messallae, in which Messalla's triumph of 27 BC and the epiphany of Jupiter is the central section.

In lines 9–12, Tibullus appears to testify that he himself had accompanied Messalla on the Aquitanian campaign. An alternative view, however, is that Tibullus is giving "honour" to Messalla's conquest by celebrating it in poetry, rather than participating in the campaign.^[68][69]

The author of the Panegyricus Messallae (107–110) describes his participation in an earlier campaign of Messalla in Illyria in very similar language, leading one scholar to support the view that the Panegyricus was written by Tibullus (most scholars, however, dispute this).^[70]

In this poem the Nile, Osiris, and Bacchus seem to be identified with each other, and Osiris in turn is linked with Messalla.

Timothy Moore (1989) points out that many of the elements which are treated negatively elsewhere in Tibullus (military campaigns, the invention of agriculture and seafaring, Tyrian purple, the making of roads, and so on) are praised in this poem and presented in a positive light. In this way Tibullus removes the distance between himself and his patron and somehow reconciles contradictory attitudes.^[71]

Although poem 4 and poem 7 are ostensibly quite different subjects, Helena Dettmer (1980) shows that there are nonetheless links between them:^[72]

Both poems concern gods: Priapus, who is the son of Bacchus (1.4.7) and Osiris, who is identified with Bacchus (1.7.39 and 41). Priapus is in some ways the mouthpiece of Tibullus, since both act as a counsellor to those who need advice in love affairs; Osiris is in some ways identified with Messalla: both wear garlands (1.7.7 and 45), both are the subject of the song (1.7.27 and 61), both have benefitted mankind, especially farmers (1.7.31–44 and 57–62). Another similarity is the image of Tibullus as an old man surrounded by young men who come to him for advice (1.4.80) and the image of Messalla as an old man surrounded by his children (1.7.56).

A noticeable feature of this poem is that Tibullus nowhere mentions Octavian (or Augustus, as he became in 27 BC), nor indeed anywhere in his poetry, even though Octavian had conquered Egypt only four years earlier. From this it has often been assumed that Tibullus was not a supporter of Augustus.^[73]

Summary of poem 8

• 1 Tibullus says that from experience he recognises the signs of love, it is no use trying to hide it. There is no point in arranging one's hair, putting on rouge, trimming one's nails, changing one's clothes and putting on tight shoes. 15 The girl is lovely even when not made up and adorned. Tibullus tells his addressee that it is not an old witch's magic incantations that have bewitched him, but the girl's beauty, the touch of her body, and her long kisses.
• 27 Tibullus now addresses the girl and begs her not to be difficult to the boy, and not to ask for gifts – let her grey-haired lover give those! – but to enjoy his youthful good looks. Old age will come soon enough and then she will need cosmetics to hide it. Meanwhile, he begs her not to torment Marathus, who is still very young.
• 53 Tibullus quotes an example of the tearful complaints Marathus has been making to him about the girl's failure to keep her promises. Telling Marathus to dry his tears, Tibullus warns Pholoe that the gods will punish her if she carries on like this. He tells her that Marathus also once used to play hard to get, just like she is doing, but now he hates such pride. She will be punished if she continues her proud behaviour.

Notes on poem 8

In this poem it appears that Marathus of poem 4 has fallen in love with a girl. However, Tibullus teases the reader by revealing the situation only gradually; it would be easy for a reader to imagine that the person addressed in lines 1–14, and who is chided for fussing over their hair, clothes, and make up, is female. It is only in line 27 that it becomes clear that the person Tibullus has been talking to is a boy, and it is not until line 49 that we learn that the boy is Marathus. In line 69 we learn that his girlfriend is called Pholoë. Tibullus alternates his advice between the boy and the girl, speaking to each in turn.

As Erika Damer points out, line 8.10 clearly imitates the meaning and even the rhythm and sound (e.g. the syllables dis and comas/koman in the same place in each line) of a line in Callimachus's Hymn "On the Bath of Pallas", in which Callimachus contrasts Pallas Athena's simple beauty with the goddess Aphrodite's artificial adornment.^[74] A reader who recognised the imitation could therefore easily be misled at first into thinking that Tibullus is talking to a girl. Tibullus's line is:

saepeque mutatas disposuisse comas

"and often to have changed and rearranged one's hair"

imitating Callimachus's line:

πολλάκι τὰν αὐτὰν δὶς μετέθηκε κόμαν^[75]

polláki tàn autàn dìs metéthēke kóman

"and often she altered the same strand of hair twice"

Although some critics have denied that Tibullus was influenced by Callimachus and other Alexandrian poets, Bulloch (1973) notes more than 30 places where scholars have seen echoes of Alexandrian poems, mostly from Callimachus.^[76]

From Marathus's tearful complaint it would appear that he has been waiting at home for the girl to visit him, an impression which is confirmed in poem 9, when Tibullus claims to have escorted the girl to Marathus's door.^[77]

With its "relaxed, often ironical tone", McGann judges the poem to be "a jeu d'esprit, intended to appeal to the keen wits and worldly sophistication of the reader".^[78] Verstraete judges this to be "the masterpiece of the Marathus elegies".^[79]

Summary of poem 9

• 1 Tibullus chides his addressee for breaking his oaths; though he begs the gods not to punish him, because his beauty excuses him this one time.
• 11 He explains to the readers that his boy has been captured by gifts. He imagines the punishment he will receive: wind, dust, sun, and a long journey will spoil his looks.^[80]
• 17 Tibullus reminds the boy how he had warned him repeatedly that Venus does not look kindly on those who violate love for gifts; and that it wouldn't be any use trying to conceal it; and how Marathus had sworn with tears that he would never be won over by gifts. 39 He also reminds him how when Marathus was in love with a girl, he, Tibullus, had even escorted the girl to his door at night. At that time he mistakenly thought that Marathus still loved him; he had even made poems praising Marathus, which he now bitterly regrets.
• 51 Brusquely telling the boy to leave him, Tibullus now addresses the rich rival, saying he hopes his wife will make a fool of him with lovers and refuse to sleep with him. Her^[81] sister is equally bad and has had as many men; she is well known for her drunken all-night dinner parties. Does the rival think his wife adorns herself for his benefit? No, it is for a young man, and not surprisingly, since girls flee from the embraces of gouty old men.
• 75 Tibullus is astonished that Marathus could bring himself to sleep with such a man. He tells him that he will regret it, when Tibullus gets another boyfriend in his place. He says that he will gloat over his discomfiture and he will put up a golden palm-leaf to the goddess Venus to express his gratitude that she has released him from a cheating love.

Notes on poem 9

Tibullus speaks to an unnamed male person, chiding him for being unfaithful. Gradually it becomes clear that the person addressed is a boy. The information that he formerly had a girlfriend links this poem to the preceding one, and the mention of gifts links it to 1.4, allowing the reader to guess that it is Marathus. It has also been speculated that the "grey-haired lover" of poem 8.29 and the rival are the same person, that the wife is Pholoë, and the young man she sleeps with is Marathus, but this is not made explicit.^[82]

According to Murgatroyd (1977), in the juxtaposition of poems 8 and 9 we see an amusing contrast between Tibullus's role as a detached adviser and the reality of his personal involvement.^[1] In Booth's judgement, the two poems "offer ample evidence of sharpness and originality in one who is conventionally regarded as the most anodyne and boring of the Latin elegists".^[83]

Poem 9 is structured in a very similar way to poem 8 and shares a lot of vocabulary.^[84] Both poems begin with a reproach of Marathus, each contains a complaint by Marathus himself (1.8.55–66, 1.9.31–36), one in indirect speech, the other direct; both end in tears. Both poems end with a warning of punishment.

Vocabulary items common to both poems include celari/celat (1.8.1, 1.9.3), difficilis (1.8.27, 1.9.20), auro (1.8.32, 1.9.17), poena (1.8.77, 1.9.81), superba (1.8.77, 1.9.80), illa = "the girl" (1.8.15, 1.9.40).

In both 8 and 9 Marathus is referred to as both puer "boy" and iuvenis "young man".

Summary of poem 10

• 1 Tibullus curses the man who first invented swords, which bring death, and blames this on desire for gold. In the past there were no wars and people slept soundly. These days Tibullus is dragged off to wars and is terrified by the trumpets and the enemies' spears.
• 15 He begs the Lares (family gods) to protect him, as they have done since he was a small boy. In those days, when the gods had simple wooden images and were content with simple offerings, people were more faithful. Let another man go to war and be brave, and tell Tibullus about it over a meal afterwards! What madness it is to seek death! There is no corn and wine in the Underworld, but Cerberus and Charon and pale ghosts with burnt hair wandering by the dark lakes.
• 39 The one who should be praised is not the soldier, but the farmer who lives with his wife to old age in a small cottage. He wishes to be like this. It is peace, not war, that enables farming. In peace, the hoe and ploughshare shine, while the soldier's weapons gather rust.
• 53 But when the farmer has had too much to drink, wars of love break out between a couple, with weeping on both sides. But let it be enough for the man to disarrange the girl's hair and tear her clothes, not beat her. Blessed is he who can cause his girl to weep! But the man who raises his hands should go off to war.
• 67 He calls on Peace to come and hold a bunch of corn, and let the folds of her shining clothes flow with fruit.

Notes on poem 10

Poems 1 and 10, which deal with similar topics, are particularly close, showing a series of parallels in more or less the same order:^[85]

Desire for gold leads to warfare (1.1.1–4; 1.10.1–8); war drives away sleep, lack of war enables it (1.1.4, 1.10.10); gods made out of a tree trunk (stipes 1.1.11, stipite 10.17); a garland of corn spikes (corona spicea 1.1.15–16, spicea serta 1.10.22); the Lares addressed (1.1.20, 1.10.15/25); the sacrifice of a lamb or a pig to the Lares (1.1.23, 1.10.26); praise of a herdsman's life (1.1.25–36, 1.10.39–44); making war in love or in reality (bellare 1.1.53, bella 1.10.53); the lover locked out by the door (1.1.56), doors broken down (1.10.54); weeping (flebis ... flebis 1.1.61–63, flet ... flet 1.10.55–56); a soldier of love (1.1.75) versus a real soldier (1.10.65–66).

Poem 10 is also linked to 6 by the account of the lovers' quarrel (1.6.69–76, 1.10.53–66).

The image of a farmer coming home has already occurred in poem 7 (1.7.61–62, 1.10.51–52). But in this case the farmer has taken his wife and children to a religious festival in a sacred grove (lucus line 51) and has had too much to drink, whereupon a quarrel breaks out with his wife.

In line 11, vulgi doesn't make much sense. Some editors^[86] have proposed changing it to Valgi (vocative of Valgius, another poet and friend of Messalla), translating "in that age would I have lived, Valgius". Leah Kronenberg conjectures that the Macer addressed in the final poem of book 2 is a pseudonym for the same Valgius.^[87] But O'Hara argues that it is better to adopt the Renaissance conjecture dulcis, translating it "then life would be sweet for me", a similar sentiment to the phrase "then my fates will be sweet" in the fragment of the poetry of Cornelius Gallus discovered in Egypt.^[88]

Articles cited

• Ball, R. J. (1975). "The Structure of Tibullus 1.7". Latomus, 34(Fasc. 3), 729–744.
• Booth, J. (1996). "Tibullus 1.8 and 9: a tale in two poems?". Museum Helveticum, 53(3), 232–247.
• Bright, D. F. (1971). "A Tibullan Odyssey". Arethusa, 4(2), 197–214.
• Bright, D. F. (1984). "The Role of Odysseus in the Panegyricus Messallae". Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, 17(2), 143–154.
• Bulloch, A. W. (1973). "Tibullus and the Alexandrians". The Cambridge Classical Journal, 19, 71–89.
• Coletta, L. (1984). "Note al Panegyricus Messallae". L'Antiquité Classique, 226–235.
• Dettmer, H. (1980). "The arrangement of Tibullus Books 1 and 2". Philologus, 124(1–2), 68–82.
• Gaisser, J. H. (1971a). "Structure and tone in Tibullus, I.6". The American Journal of Philology, 92(2), 202–216.
• Gaisser, J. H. (1971b). "Tibullus 1.7: A Tribute to Messalla". Classical Philology, 66(4), 221–229.
• Gaisser, J. H. (1983). "Amor, rura and militia in Three Elegies of Tibullus: 1.1, 1.5 and 1.10". Latomus, 42(Fasc. 1), 58–72.
• Hoffer, S. (2007). "The use of adjective interlacing (double hyperbaton) in Latin poetry". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 103, 299–340.
• Huskey, S. J. (2005). "In memory of Tibullus: Ovid's remembrance of Tibullus 1.3 in Amores 3.9 and Tristia 3.3." Arethusa, 38(3), 367–386.
• Keith, A. (2004). "Review of Maltby (2002). Tibullus Elegies". Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
• Knox, P. E. (2005). "Milestones in the Career of Tibullus". The Classical Quarterly, 55(1), 204–216.
• Kronenberg, L. (2018). "Valgius Rufus and the Poet Macer in Tibullus and Ovid". Illinois Classical Studies, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Spring 2018), pp. 179–206.
• Littlewood, R. J. (1970). "The symbolic structure of Tibullus Book I". Latomus, 29 (Fasc. 3), 661–669.
• Lyne, R. O. A. M. (1998). "Propertius and Tibullus: early exchanges". The Classical Quarterly, 48(2), 519–544.
• Maltby, R. (1999). "Tibullus and the language of Latin elegy". In Proceedings of the British Academy (Vol. 93, pp. 377–398).
• McGann, M. J. (1983). "The Marathus Elegies of Tibullus". From the book Band 30/3 Sprache und Literatur (Literatur der augusteischen Zeit: Allgemeines, einzelne Autoren, Fortsetzung). De Gruyter.
• Miller, P. A. (1999). The Tibullan dream text. Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), 129, 181–224.
• Miller, P. A. (2011). "Tibullus 1.2: A Postmodern Reading". Atti del Convegno Arcavacata di Rende 4-6 novembre 2009, 99–116.
• Moore, T. J. (1989). "Tibullus 1.7: Reconciliation through conflict". The Classical World, 82(6), 423–430.
• Murgatroyd, P. (1977). "Tibullus and the puer delicatus". In Acta Classica: Proceedings of the Classical Association of South Africa (Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 105–119).
• Musurillo, H. (1970). "Furtivus Amor: The Structure of Tibullus 1.5". In Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association (Vol. 101, pp. 387–399).
• Nikoloutsos, K. P. (2007). "Beyond sex: The poetics and politics of pederasty in Tibullus 1.4". Phoenix, 55–82.
• O’Hara, J. J. (2005). "War and the sweet life: The Gallus fragment and the text of Tibullus 1.10". 11. The Classical Quarterly, 55(1), 317–319.
• Paul, J. M. (2023). "Quicumque Meos Violavit Amores: Romantic Roadblocks and the Inmates of Tartarus in Tibullus 1.3". Classical World. Spring 2023, Vol. 116, Issue 3, pp. 275–297.
• Putnam, M. C. (2005). Virgil and Tibullus 1.1." Classical Philology, 100(2), 123–141.
• Trinacty, C. V. (2017). "Tibullus’ Comedy: A note on Tib. 1.2.87-98". Mnemosyne, 70(6), 1051–1058.
• Verstraete, B. C. (2005). "The originality of Tibullus' Marathus elegies". Journal of Homosexuality, 49(3–4), 299–313.

Editions

• André, J. (1965): Tibulle, Elegies: livre premier. Édition, introduction et commentaire. (Collection Érasme.) Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
• Maltby, R. (2002). Tibullus Elegies. Cambridge.
• Maltby, R. (2012). Elegies: With parallel Latin text. OUP Oxford. With translation by A. M. Juster.
• Murgatroyd, P. (1980). Tibullus I: A commentary on the first book of the Elegies of Albius Tibullus. (Pietermaritzburg).
• Putnam, M. C. J. (1973). Tibullus: A Commentary. University of Oklahoma Press.