A Lover not a Fighter? Poetic and Aristocratic Honor in Tibullus 1.3

Abstract

Tibullus 1.3 constructs a narrative that blends traditional and elegiac themes. This synthesis, instantiated in Delia's matronly virtue and the love poet's militaristic epitaph, constitutes the poem's narrative core, in which Tibullus establishes a traditional dimension for his amorous pursuits. Furthermore, by casting himself as a Roman Odysseus, the speaker asserts heroic status for himself, both as a litterateur and as an upright Roman male. 1.3, at the same time, highlights Tibullus' loyalty to his milieu, pledged on the poet's imaginary epitaph, thus embedding his erotic pursuits as a love poet within the traditional values (honos, pudicitia, pietas) of Rome's elite.