Tibullus in Roman Biography

Ti-bul'lus, [Fr. Tibulle, te'bul'; Ger. Tibull, te-bdol'; It. Tibullo, te-bool'lo,] (Albius,) a distinguished Roman elegiac poet of the Augustan age, was bom in Italy about 55 B.C. He was a son of a knight, (eques,) from whom he inherited an estate between Tibur and Praeneste. This estate was confiscated in the civil war, but he recovered a part of it, and passed much of his life there, enjoying the peaceful pleasures of the country, of which he was a warm admirer. He was patronized by Valerius Messala, whom he accompanied in a campaign in Gaul in 31 B.C. He was an intimate friend of Horace, who addressed to him an epistle and an ode, (" Carmina," i. 33.) His character is said to have been amiable. He wrote amatory elegies addressed to Delia and Nemesis. His poems are models of graceful simplicity and genuine tenderness. The best editions of Tibullus are those published by Lachmann (1829) and by Dissenus, (or Dissen,) (1 835.) Died about 18 B.C. See Ayrmann, "Vita Tibulli," 1710 : Degkn, "A. Tibull," 1780: Grui*pk, " Die Rbmische Elegie," 1838; Hednkk, "Tibullus. Propertius et Ovidius," 1841 ; De Golbery, " Dissertatio de Tibulli Vita," etc., 1825; "Nouvelle Biographie Generale."