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Name: Tibullus [Albius Tibullus] Date: 55 - 19 BCE Region: [modern Italy] Citation: Elegies 1.4.81-84 |
Alas, how badly Marathus torments me by playing hard to get [lento...amore]!
My poetry sucks, all of my dating tricks [doli] aren't working.
I beg you, my love, spare me from this,
Lest this love poet become a mockery of his own subject,
since everyone is laughing at my love advice.
Deficiunt artes, deficiunt doli.
Parce, puer, quaeso, ne turpis fabula fiam,
Cum mea ridebunt vana magisteria.
Tibullus [Albius Tibullus, 55 - 19 BCE] was an Italian born equestrian Roman who lived during the tumultuous transition of Roman government from republic to monarchy.
His volumes of elegies provide insight into the lives and customs of Roman aristocrats. Like Catullus and Propertius, Tibullus used a pseudonym for the objects of his attention; many of his love poems were addressed to either “Delia” or “Marathus.”
