The Augustan Attitudes of the Poetic Persona of Tibullus
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Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1979 The Augustan Attitudes of the Poetic Persona of Tibullus Antoinette Brazouski Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the Classics Commons Recommended Citation Brazouski, Antoinette, "The Augustan Attitudes of the Poetic Persona of Tibullus" (1979). Master's Theses. 3056. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/3056 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1979 Antoinette Brazouski 2 !J l ./ I THE AUGUSTAN ATTITUDES OF THE POETIC PERSO~A OF TIBULLUS by Antoinette Brazouski A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Loyola University of Chicago in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 1979 ACKNmvLEDGMENTS Without the support and encouragement of many teachers throughout my years at Loyola, this dissertation would not have been possible. I thank them all. I am most indebted to Rev. Josephs. Pendergast, S.J., my dissertation director, for his guidance, understanding, and unflagging optimism. I am also especially grateful to Dr. Edwin P. ~enes, who directed my attentlon to Tibullus, and to the other members of my committee--Dr. John F. Makowski, Rev. John P. ~urphy, S.J. and Dr. JoAnn Sweeney--for their constructive criticism and willingness to answer questions. Others, whose assistance deserves to be recognized, include r~:r. Hermann Sch1bli for his help with difficult German passages and rr:y typists, Ms. Carol Jv!artin and Ms. Adella Klatt. il VITA The authoress, Antoinette Brazousk1, is the daughter of Anthony Brazouski and Anastasia (Zitkewicz) 3razousk1. She was born on July 27, 1943, in r-:elrose Park, Illinois. She attended Sacred Heart Grammar School in !<:elrose Park, Illinois, and Proviso East Township Sigh School in Maywood, Illinois. After her high school graduation in 1961, she entered Rosary College, River Forest, Illinois, where she majored in Latin. In her senior year, she served as an officer of the Beta Xi Chapter of Eta Sig~a Phi, a classics honor society. She was elected to Theotokeion, the Rosary C6llege Honor Society, and Kappa Gam~a Pi, the National Scholastic and Activity Honor Society of Catholic Women's Colleges. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin from Rosary College in June, 1965. She taught at both the elementary and high school levels for eight years while attending graduate school at Loyola University of Chic2go on a part-time basis. After receiving the fv'a.ster of Arts degree in Latin in February, 1969, she continued both studying and teaching until 1973, iii when she was awarded an assistantship in the uepartment of Classical Studies at Loyola. Subsequently, she was chosen as the recipient of an additional assistantship, two John and Helen Condon Fellowships and an Arthur J. Schrritt Doctoral Fello~Tship. She was selected as a student repre sentative on the Council of the Ph.D. Programs for the academic year 1977-1978. In ~ay, 1978, she was elected a member of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society. She has served as secretary-treasurer of the Chica~o Classical Club from 1977. iv TABLE OF cm~TENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • • • • . ii VITA • • • • • • • • • • . iii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . 1 II. WAR AND PEACE • • • • • • • • • • • • • 10 Augustus • • • • • • • • • • • • • 10 T1bu11us • • • • • • • • • • • • • 18 III. CITY AND COUNTRY • • • • • • • • • • • 47 Augustus • • • • • • • • • • • • • 47 T1bul1us • • • • . 57 IV. r~A..B.RI.AGE AND FArHLY LIFE • • • • • • • 120 Tibullus . 120 Augustus • • • • • • • • • • • • • 130 v. POSTSCRIPT1 TIBULLUS AND APOLLO •• • • 166 VI. CONCLUSION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 178 BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • 184 v CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION To help fill in the colorful mosaic which is the Age of Augustus is a privilege. The rule of Augustus, characterized as a "Golden Age'' even by his contemporaries, is one of the most brilliant and creative in the history of our world, yet one in which lacunae in our knowledge still exist. Our under standing of the virtues and vices, hopes and fears, all admittedly great, of that period is deepened as each stone, discovered and polished by scholarship, is added to help delineate the figures of that Age. Actually the purpose of this dissertation is to restore not one but four tessellae to at least one corner of the image of the Augustan Age. It is to show that ·the poetic persona of Tibullus displays four attitudes which, in reflecting on his career and accomplishments, Augustus chose to associate with himself in the~ Gestae. 1 These include 1) a strong desire for peace and a personal rejection of the military lifestyle coupled with regard for the military achievements lThe same attitudes are attributed to Augustus by the biographer Suetonius. Modern historians also mention them in connection with Augustus. 1 2 of the patria and of its leaders: 2) a longing for the rustic lifestyle as exemplified by past tradition and pride in the city of Rome: 3) a re-affirmation of the traditional attitudes toward marriage and family life; and 4) a special regard for Apollo, especially as the source of poetic inspiration. These four attitudes are also found in the poetry of Vergil, Horace, and Propertius. One note of caution is appropriate herer that the poets' words give support to imperial policies is not to be taken as necessarily indicative of their actual personal feelings toward those policies. Such an investigation is beyond the scope of this study. Other tessellae must yet be discovered and polished by other hands to fill in other lacunae in the- mosaic. This dissertation, then, will accept the pieces of literature of the Augustan Age which either present Augustus• policies or express sympathy with them without questioning their authors' real intentions. It will not attempt to ferret out Augustus' personal feelings, which must remain in dispute and which undoubtedly changed d.uring his long reign. It will not attempt to uncover what Tibullus himself thought 1 about Augustus and all his policies. Those questions, ~ though intriguing, have thus far proved to be unanswerable 1For a summary of the scholarship on theories regarding Tibullus' attitude to~rard Augustus, see Robert J. Ball, "The Structure of Tibullus I.7." Latomus XXXIV (1975), pp. 738-739. J since the reality of Tibullus' person is presently beyond mortal reach. If, however, four attitudes associated with Augustus are present 1n the poems of Tibullus, it may be concluded that he was at least attuned to some of the impor tant aims of Augustus; and some stones have been put in place. To determine whether Augustan attitudes affected Tibullus, one might approach the works of Tibullus in several ways. The easiest method would be to accept as fact every thing which Tibullus says about himself. J. F. Elder uses this method to reconstruct Messalla's expedition into 1 Aquitania. Tibullus, however, never explicitly states that he is nriting autobiography instead of using an autobio graphical technique. ~oreover, as Archibald W. Allen points out, ''Roman writers from Catullus to Ausonius do actually contend that the poet•s life and his work must be kept 2 separate." After citing quotations from Catullus, Ovid, Martial, and Apuleius, Allen concludes, This doctrine has been constantly repeated; erotic poetry, though its form may be personal, cannot be taken as an indication of the conduct of the writer. This does not mean that erotic poets were never in love, but 1J. P. Elder, "Tibullus, Ennius, and the Blue Loire," Transactions of the American Philological Association, XCVI (1965), pp. 9E=9~ 2 Archibald W. Allen, .. Sunt Qui Propertium Nalint," in Criti~ Essa~s on Roman Literaturer Elegy and Ltric, ed. by John Patrick Sullivan Teambridge, Kassacnuset sa Harvard University Press, 1962), pp. 118-119. 4 it does mean that classical literary doctrine did not assume any specific and normal connexion between per sonal poetry and the actual experience of the poet. If the poet, then at times incorporates biographical material in his work, it seems reasonable to attempt to separate fact from fiction in order to sketch a true portrait of the poet. Historical texts and references to the author 1n other literary works should provide the necessary back ground information. Unfortunately, this approach poses problems because very little is known about Tibullus. An anonymous life has survived along with an epigram of Domitius 2 Marsus. The life reveals 1) that Tibullus• nomen was Albius, 3 2) he was some kind of egues (a crux follows the word), J) that he thought highly of Corvinus Messalla (another crux after Messalla's name makes the exact meaning of the clause ' 4 unintelligible), 4) that he was Messalla's contubernalis in the Aquitanian War, 5) that he was granted military honors, 6) that he wrote elegies, and 7) that he died while still an ad.ulescens. The epigram, which precedes the anonymous life 1 Allen, p. 120. 2see Kirby Flower Smith, The Elegies of Albius Tibullusa The CorEus Tibullianum Edited witfi Introduction and Notes on BOOks I, II, and IV, 2-14 (New-yorka American Book Company:- l91j},-p.-r7J:---- --- ~ 3see the attaratus criticus of Fridericus Waltharius Lenz, Albii Tibu 1 Aliorumgue Carminum Libr1 Tres (Leidena E. J. Brill, 1964}, p. 159. ---- 4 Lenz, p. 159. 5 in the manuscripts, reiterates the fact that Tibullus died young. In one of his poems, OVid relates that Tibullus was survived by his mother and a sister. 1 Other references to Tibullus in Roman literature yield no other significant biographical details.