Rura cano

Abstract

In the present dissertation we drew our attention to a distinct aspect of Tibullus’s poetic technique, specifically, the way in which the Roman elegist embraces Hesiod by incorporating in his elegies themes and motifs that are traced originally in the didactic poetry of the Boeotian poet. In the course of our research, we focused on the way Tibullus adapts his sources and we showed how the recollection of a predecessor (Hellenistic or Roman), directs the reader to recall also the predecessor’s work which is acknowledged by Tibullus indirectly as a prototype. The presence of Hesiod in Tibullus is more obvious in the latter’s adaptation of the former’s account on the Myth of the Races. The Myth of the Races holds a dominant and recurring presence in Tibullus’s poetry; this presence is especially prominent in elegies 1.3, 1.10 and 1.7. The subject of the Myth, which is related to the wider mythical-historical framework of the History of Culture, develops from one elegy to the other in a way that serves various elegiac purposes and constitutes a metaphor for the development of individual poetic creation. The Myth of the Races serves as a framework that embraces and encourages the coexistence of rural life and love, a fusion at odds with contemporary political culture since erotic passion becomes a point of acute criticism for contemporary (Augustan) morality. At the same time the countryside appears as an ideal area of retreat to recapture of the pure morals and ideology of the idolized prehistorical era - an ideological idealized utopia in contrast to the reality of the present. The topic of militia, likewise contrasted to the themes of amor and rura, is interrelated with this reality. Despite the occasional ‘contradictions’ in the presentation of the subject of the Golden Age in Tibullus’ elegies, we consider that this dissertation has highlighted that Augustan poet creates throughout a unified vision, a vision which is based on his poetic programme and consistently evolves towards the creation of a unified ideal. This ideal approves of the Augustan social plan since at its core the Tibullan reproduction of the Myth of the Races celebrates and is entwined with rural life and peace. Those values are the key elements of Augustan ideology. Invoking the archaic agricultural simplicity and mores maiorum led Tibullus to a successful and creative antagonism of the archetypal pastoral poet Hesiod. Tibullus’ poetry thus came to embrace and project ethics that appealed to August whose cultural policy among others exalted ancient rural Rome as a model in an era of transition and search for peace and moral renewal