Tibullus elegy 1.5: a fantasy, a magic charm, a poetic collage

Prelude

I have continued my efforts of translating Tibullus's elegies and after the wearisome wars of the 1.10, I was up for a more open amatory poem directed to the main love interest of the poet, his mistress Delia. Not wanting to go all the way back to the beginning, I split the difference and simply started on elegy 5 which was rather more complex than I thought at first sight. The first 18 lines adresses the poem's ego's feeling of torment about the break-up with Delia, which he finds extra harsh after having done a lot to save her from a harsh disease (morbus tristis (9)). Lines 19-36 form an "idyllic vignette", an description of a farm house with wheat-fields, sheepfolds and vineyards, similar to the estate described in poem 1.1. After the forsaken dream starts the second part of the poem, in which there's a change of atmosphere. Here we see how the poem's ego tries to forget his sorrows with wine and woman, but to no avail. And we find out that Delia has listened to the words of a rapax saga, also named a callida lena), making her ditch the pauper ego for a dives amator. However, in the last lines the narrator warns the couple not to put too much fate into their current relationship: like that of the poem's ego, fate can turn around rapidly.

I've picked up some interesting pieces to guide you through the poem and to highlight some magnificent poetic imagery.

The Opening

Asper eram et bene discidium me ferre loquebar:

at mihi nunc longe gloria fortis abest.
namque agor ut per plana citus sola verbere turben
quem celer adsueta versat ab arte puer.
ure ferum et torque, libeat ne dicere quicquam

magnificum post haec ; horrida verba doma.  (1-6)

I was harsh and I said that I could handle this breakup pretty well:
but brave glory has been missing for me far off.
For I was compelled like a spinning top whirling swiftly on the ground
which the quick boy spins around like an expert.

Burn and strangle that wild beast, so he loses the will to speak something
boastful thereafter ; subdue the awful words.

As said, the opening introduces us with the break-up (discidium) between the poem's ego and Delia: as such, it mostly focuses on the narrator's feelings towards it (bene ferre; gloria fortis), which is cleverly illustrated by the simile of the spinning top (turben), an imagine which Tibullus uniquely uses to convey his emotions. Moreover, the top  is beaten by the verber (whip), invoking the imagery of punishment and suffering, as the turben stands for the ego, verber for the break-up, and the puer for Delia, establishing the reversed the relationship between the miser poeta and his puella where the girl holds all control over the poet. Lastly, the last two lines are directed to himself, setting an imagery of self-harm, and again of the poet needed to be put in control by the mistress. In these opening lines, people have most often resonated with the top imaginary and its velocity, which they also recognize from all the twists and turns (both on a narrative and thematic level) within the poem. Yet, I also want to draw yours attention to the use of military language: gloria fortis and magnificium. 

Delia's Sickness and Magic charms

omnia persolvi: fruitur nunc alter amore,
et precibus felix utitur ille meis.
at mihi felicem vitam, si salva fuisses,
fingebam demens, sed renuente deo.

I've paid for all these things; a different man enjoys your love now,
and that lucky duck profits from my prayers.
I imagined that there would be for me, this fool, a happy live,
if she had finally recovered, but a god disapproved. (17-20)

Here the narrator of the poem indicates that Delia was sick during their relationship, and that he paid for her treatment in the form of prayers to a God (such as Asclepius). This was a very common way for people to treat sicknesses by performing offerings and prayers to the gods of health & medicine. 

In this poem, the narrator makes it clear that he got the help from a an old woman, a witch, (Carmine cum magico anum)  that give him sulfur and sacred grain (sulphure puro, sancta mola) to cleanse Delia from her sickness and avert bad dreams. He also make it clear to have prayed to Hecate (Trivia), addressing that this treatment has been a magical performance (cf. Tib.1.5.9-16) instead of a religious one. 

In these lines, the contrast between the narrator paying for all that (omnia persolvi), while someone else gets to enjoy the fruits from his payments. 

Yet, the audience is left in the dark on whether how this new affaire played out: did the narrator leave Delia after all hope seemed lost and she recovered afterwards, finding a new man in her life. Or did she  make the narrator pay for her treatment while having an affaire with the other man? And in that case, the knowledge of the affaire could have made the narrator leave. Or most probable, Delia used up all the resources of the narrator for her treatment by feigning to love him, and when she didn't need him anymore after being healed, she cut off the relationship. 

Anyways, it is at least clear that the narrator is putting himself down, and even indicates that his phantasies of a happy life have been averted by the gods. 

haec mihi fingebam quae nunc Eurusque Notusque
iactat odoratos vota per Armenios.
saepe ego temptavi curas depellere vino:
at dolor in lacrimas verterat omne merum.
saepe aliam tenui: sed iam cum gaudia adirem,
admonuit dominae deseruitque Venus.

tunc me discedens devotum femina dixit,
a pudet, et narrat scire nefanda meam.  (35-42)

These were the things I fantasized, but the southeastern winds dispersed

my prayers over the fragrant Armenian grounds.
I've often tried to wash away my grieves with wine:
but the ache transformed every drop into tears.
I've often hold a different girl; I was almost nearing excitement,
when the love-making made me remember my real love, and any feeling left me.
When leaving me, this woman says I've been bewitched, and
tells everyone (oh the shame) that my previous lover knows some nasty stuff.

Haec fingebam are the lines between the two quotes, in which the narrator presents his wish for him and Delia living a cosy life in the countryside. That dream has literally been lost in the wind according to him. Then we find out how he's trying the dispel his pains (curas depellere). Yet, we see that both methods, drinking and other girls, are not helping him. Wine only brings him more misery (lacrimas), and before he can climax with a girl, Venus reminds him of Delia and leaves him (this is most likely a reference to erectile dysfunctioning). Erectile problems were believed to be a curse (devotium) that could be performed by inscribing someone's name on a tablet made of lead (defixio). 

Next to the magical practices of Delia's conduct do we find here two kinds of magic as well: 1. figuratively the magic of transforming wine into tear, 2. the remark of the poem's ego being cursed by Delia and therefore having erectile dysfunction. 

What's happened to me can happen to thee

haec nocuere mihi. quod adest nunc dives amator,
venit in exitium callida lena meum. (47-48)

These charms have been harmful to me. That she's got a rich lover now,
has come to my demise by that cunning bitch.

Here we see that the narrator tells about the fault of his miseries by the callida lena.

It's speculative that this could be the same woman who has helped the narrator earlier during Delia's treatment,but there's no conclusive indicment from the poem to that connection. In the next 7 lines, the narrator brings her all kinds of curses and ill-wishes he can think of (may she eat & drink nasty stuff, be haunted by ghosts and owls, do some nasty stuff out of hunger)

heu canimus frustra nec verbis victa patescit
ianua sed plena est percutienda manu. (67-68)

Darm, I am singing in vain for the door isn't opened
conquered by words but they can only be broken down by a filled hand.

Did you know that singing to a closed door is a specific genre of love poem called the paraclausithyron. Anyways, This is the end of his response to Delia, whom he encourages to put fidelity in the pauper, as he would bring all good things to her. Yet, this admonition has no effect currently in the poem, as the door keeps closed and can only be opened by a filled hand (plena manu), which brings the narrator's mind immediately to new lover.

at tu, qui potior nunc es, mea furta timeto:
versatur celeri Fors levis orbe rotae. (69-70)

Yet you who is better off now, fear my stolen love:

nimble Change is being spun swiftly on her wheel.

Ending the poem, the narrator admonishes the new lover (but also all the readers) to remember that fate is ever-changing. The ones who are on high can fall down anytime and be overtaken by the ones on the bottom. Even more, it is very possible that the next lover is busy making his move; is this new lover the narrator himself, trying to gain back Delia, or is this a mysterious third person who's now introduced in the picture? That's unsure; but the last advice of the narrator is to enjoy while it lasts, as the new boat is ready for departure. 

Literature:

Musurillo, H. 1970. "Furtivus Amor: The Structure of Tibullus 1.5." In: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 101, pp. 387-399.

Kline, A.S. 2001. Tibullus and Sulpicia (55BC - 19BC) - The Poems. On: www.poetryintranslation.com [last visited on 13-9-2024]

J. P. Postgate. 1915. Aliorumque carminum libri tres. Tibullus. Oxford, UK:  Scriptorum classicorum bibliotheca Oxoniensis. [online available at: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/]  

Afterthoughts

In 2018, I started my tranlsations of Tibullus. I made 2, almost 3 Dutch translations, poem 1.5& 1.10 which are on this blog, and half of poem 1.4. However, life got in the way: trying to finish important projects for my degree, family life, picking up another hobby. This lresulted in me not getting further with my translations and by 2022 a new dutch translation of Tibullus' poems been published by Mieke Vos. This has really demotivated me to continue. Willing to continue with this blog now in 2024,  I got to look for a new author for translating, and also find some other ideas to write about.