Sick-Visiting in Roman Elegy

Abstract

THE THEME of the girl's sickness occurs frequently in Roman Love Elegy.' The course of Cynthia's dangerous illness is charted by Propertius in 2.28; Cerinthus prays for Sulpicia's recovery in [Tib.] 3.10 [4.4.]; Corinna suffers the dangerous after-effects of an abortion in Ovid Am. 2.13. All three elegists also use the girl's sickness to illustrate the obsequium of the lover, who (in stark contrast to his rival) visits the sickbed of his beloved. The contention of this paper is that this use of the motif has its origins in Hellenistic philosophical treatises on friendship. Tibullus 1.5 opens with the statement that the poet arrogantly believed that he could bear separation from Delia, but that his efforts to do so were in vain (1-6). He begs Delia to spare him (7-8), and as a demonstration of his past devotion to her he refers to his attendance on her during an illness (9-16). He made vows for her recovery (9-10); he took charge of the sulphur in a purification ceremony with an old witch (11-12); he averted nightmares by sacrifices (13-14) and made vows to Trivia in the silence of the night (15-16). But despite such exemplary devotion on the poet's part, a rival has now supplanted him in Delia's affections (17), and we learn later that this rival is the dives amator (47). The first twenty-four lines of Propertius 2.9 contrast the faithfulness of two heroines (Penelope and Briseis) in difficult (Penelope) or impossible (Briseis) situations with the fickleness of Cynthia, who could not remain faithful to the poet for one day or night. Then a series of angry rhetorical questions are fired at Cynthia: