Sunday, December 22, 2019

M/M: The Love Poet Fails At Love: Tibullus, I.4.81-84

Heu heu quam Marathus lento me torquet amore!
Deficiunt artes, deficiunt doli.
Parce, puer, quaeso, ne turpis fabula fiam,
Cum mea ridebunt vana magisteria.

--Tibullus, Eleg. I.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.

TIBULLUS
MAP:
Name:  Albius Tibullus
Date:  55 – 19 BCE
Works:  Elegies

REGION  1
Region 1: Peninsular Italy; Region 2: Western Europe; Region 3: Western Coast of Africa; Region 4: Egypt and Eastern Mediterranean; Region 5: Greece and the Balkans

BIO:
Timeline:
 Tibullus 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.”
 GOLDEN AGE ROME
Early Roman Lit: through 2nd c BCE: Republican Rome: through 1st c. BCE; Golden Age: 70 BCE to 18 CE; Silver Age: 18 CE to 150 CE; Age of Conflict: 150 CE - 410 CE; Byzantine and Late Latin: after 410 CE