Delia and Nemesis - The Elegies of Albius Tibullus provides an introduction to the first-century Latin Poet, Albius Tibullus, whose charming poetry ranks among the most delicate and sophisticated verse produced in the Augustan age. The author presents the material so that readers unfamiliar with the Latin language and history can access it easily.

"The Elegies of Tibullus" from Tibullus. Tibullus, latin poet and writer of elegies (55B.C.-19B.C.).

Tibullus is considered one of the finest exponents of Latin lyric in the golden age of Rome, during the Emperor Augustus’s reign, and his poetry retains its enduring beauty and appeal. Together these works provide an important document for anyone who seeks to understand Roman culture and sexuality and the origins of Western poetry. • The new translation by Rodney Dennis and Michael Putnam conveys to students the elegance and wit of the original poems. • Ideal for courses on classical literature, classical civilization, Roman history, comparative literature, and the classical tradition and reception. • The Latin verses will be printed side-by-side with the English text. • Explanatory notes and a glossary elucidate context and describe key names, places, and events. • An introduction by Julia Haig Gaisser provides the necessary historical and social background to the poet’s life and works. • Includes the poems of Sulpicia and Lygdamus, transmitted with the text of Tibullus and formerly ascribed to him.

This volume focuses on the nineteen elegiac poems of the Appendix Tibulliana, a series of little-known Latin elegies transmitted as Book 3 of the Corpus Tibullianum. Although it is accepted that they are not the work of Tibullus himself their actual authorship remains unclear and has been hotly disputed: they are notable especially for containing work attributed to Sulpicia, who may be the only female Latin poet we know of from pre-Christian antiquity. Though admittedly somewhat obscure, this volume argues that the elegies of the Appendix Tibulliana have been unjustly overlooked in traditional scholarship: rather than concentrating on what we don't know both the Introduction and the Commentary focus instead on broader contexts of discussion. The Introduction examines not only stylistic and textual matters, but also the genre of elegy, its main practitioners, poetic communities, and gender roles, while the Commentary examines whether and how the poems fit into their cycles, into the Corpus Tibullianum, and into the genre as a whole. Close reading of the individual elegies reveals that they have a lot to teach us, especially in light of the question of women as authors in antiquity and the notion of mutability of identity. Not only do they call into question the social and legal status of the participants in a 'standard' elegiac relationship and play with the gender norms of the actors and the genre, they also destabilize the commonly-held notion that elegy is personal poetry, rooted in autobiographical events experienced by one individual author. These valuable insights, more broadly applied, may have important consequences for traditional understanding of what elegy is and does.

Tibullus's two books of elegies belong to the early part of the reign of Augustus (31-19 B.C.). His themes were love, the countryside and Rome, its gods and traditions. His patron was the great general and orator M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus. One of the four canonical Latin elegiac poets (Gallus, of whom almost nothing survives, Propertius and Ovid being the others), Tibullus has a distinctive voice and an individual approach to the conventional subject matter, bland on the surface but turbulent and passionate on deeper examination. His easy stylistic mastery cloaks vivid intellectual activity and turbulent emotion. This edition, revised in collaboration with Robert Maltby, includes for the first time the third book of the Corpus Tibullianum, a collection of poems by others within Messalla's circle, including the female elegist Sulpicia. Guy Lee's acclaimed verse translation, rhythmically subtle and lively in verbal texture, can be read with delight on its own and enhances our enjoyment and appreciation of Tibullus's Latin. Robert Maltby has provided for the third edition an extensive new commentary, illuminating many aspects of Tibullus' art and literary background.