Albius Tibullus

born c. 55 bc
died c. 19 bc

Roman poet, the second in the classical sequence of great Latin writers of elegiacs that begins with Cornelius Gallus and continues through Tibullus and Sextus Propertius to Ovid. Quintilian considered Tibullus to be the finest of them all.

Apart from his own poems, the only sources for the life of Tibullus are a few references in ancient writers and an extremely short Vita of doubtful authority. He was of equestrian rank (according to the Vita) and inherited an estate but seems to have lost most of it in 41 bc, when Mark Antony and Octavian confiscated land for their soldiers. As a young man, however, Tibullus won the friendship and patronage of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, the statesman, soldier, and man of letters, and became a prominent member of Messalla’s literary circle. This circle, unlike that of Gaius Maecenas, kept itself aloof from the court of Augustus, whom Tibullus does not even mention in his poems. Tibullus seems to have divided his time between Rome and his country estate, strongly preferring the latter. The Albius addressed by Horace in Odes, i, 33, and Epistles, i, 4, is generally identified with Tibullus.

Tibullus’ first important love affair, the main subject of Book i of his poems, was with the woman whom he calls Delia. Sometimes he presents her as unmarried, sometimes as having a husband (unless the term conjunx is meant to mean “protector”). It is clear, however, that Tibullus took advantage of the “husband’s” absence on military service in Cilicia to establish his relationship with Delia and that this relationship was carried on clandestinely after the soldier’s return. Tibullus ultimately discovered that Delia was receiving other lovers as well as himself; then, after fruitless protests, he ceased to pursue her.

In Book ii of his poems, Delia’s place is taken by Nemesis (also a fictitious name), who was a courtesan of the higher class, with several lovers. Though he complains bitterly of her rapacity and hardheartedness, Tibullus seems to have remained subjugated to her for the rest of his life. He is known to have died young, very shortly after Virgil (19 bc). Ovid commemorated his death in his Amores (iii, 9).

The character of Tibullus, as reflected in his poems, is an amiable one. He was a man of generous impulses and a gentle, unselfish disposition. He was not attracted to an active life; his ideal was a quiet retirement in the countryside with a loved one by him. Tibullus was loyal to his friends and more constant to his mistresses than they would seem to have deserved. His tenderness toward women is enhanced by a refinement and delicacy rare among the ancients.

For idyllic simplicity, grace, tenderness, and exquisiteness of feeling and expression, Tibullus stands alone among the Roman elegists. In many of his poems, moreover, a symmetry of composition can be discerned, though they are never forced into any fixed or inelastic scheme. His clear and unaffected style, which made him a great favourite among Roman readers, is far more polished than that of his rival Propertius and far less loaded with Alexandrian learning, but in range of imagination and in richness and variety of poetical treatment, Propertius is the superior. In his handling of metre, Tibullus is likewise smooth and musical, whereas Propertius, with occasional harshness, is vigorous and varied.

The works of Tibullus, as they have survived, form part of what is generally known as the Corpus Tibullianum, a collection of poetry that seems most probably to have been deliberately put together to represent the work of Messalla’s circle. The first two of the four books in the Corpus are undoubtedly by Tibullus. In its entirety the collection forms a unique and charming document for the literary life of Augustan Rome.