248:(who died in the 50s BC), no historical person or event is mentioned in Lygdamus's poems, making them difficult to date except on literary grounds. Early commentators on the Lygdamus poems assumed that the author was Tibullus, the couplet mentioning the poet's birth in the year 43 BC being assumed to be an interpolation, not part of the original text. J. H. Voss (1786) was the first to question the Tibullan authorship of the poems. Other scholars also noted metrical, stylistic, and linguistic differences between Lygdamus and the genuine poems of Tibullus, making it clear that Tibullus could not be the author. Voss, who took a poor view of the quality of the poems, suggested that they were written by a freedman born in the same year as Ovid.
115:
Juno, the goddess of marriage, to help him (3.33–34); similarly Neaera swears by both goddesses that she loves him (6.48). She appears to have left him and he prays for her return (3.27). The awful news he hears in a dream from Apollo is that she is planning to marry someone else (4.58, 4.80). The opening couplet of poem 2 indicates that the two loved each other, but a third person caused them to separate. In the last poem the poet chides Neaera for her perjury (6.47–50) and her unfaithfulness (55) but declares that, though he is now over his passion for her, he wishes her well (6.29–30) and she is still dear to him (56).
236:), the god of wine, and orders his slave to pour wine and his friends to join him. He declares he no longer loves Neaera, but wishes her to be happy. He warns his friends not to make his mistake of falling in love and states that though Neaera is unfaithful she is still dear to him. He warns his friends not to believe girls who swear that they are faithful. At the end of the poem he asks the boy to pour more wine, refusing to spend any more nights sighing with anxiety.
294:
4.10 (he was born in 43 BC; the poet seems fairly wealthy; Neaera is described as his wife, whose parents he knows; Ovid states that his marriage to his second wife lasted only a short time before she married another man). The reasons for Ovid writing anonymously are plausibly explained by
Radford by
118:
Though it is possible to take the view that the author was originally married to Neaera, other possibilities exist and have been adopted by various scholars. One view is that they were merely lovers but that the author wished Neaera to eventually become his wife. Another hypothesis is that they were
79:
The name "Lygdamus" was a common slave-name in Rome, and is used as a slave name by
Propertius. It has been conjectured that the author may have chosen this pen name to indicate that he is a "slave of love". Judging from the expensive perfumes to be used at his funeral, Lygdamus appears to come from
251:
Gruppe (1839), however, was the first to suggest that
Lygdamus was a pseudonym for Ovid himself. This idea was taken up by Radford (1926) and others, who noted in detail the large number of words and phrases which are common to Lygdamus and Ovid but not found or rarely found in other authors. There
315:
Despite these arguments, some more recent scholars have argued that
Lygdamus was not Ovid, but someone who imitated him. A. G. Lee (1958) argued that in several places where similar phrases occur in both Lygdamus and Ovid, in each case the phrase is more appropriate in the Ovidian context. He also
325:
A third possibility, that
Lygdamus was an earlier poet who was imitated by Ovid, though held by some scholars, is thought to be less probable. Peter White (2002) writes: "the coincidences between (Ovid and Lygdamus) make it much likelier that Lygdamus is either the youthful Ovid or a later writer
170:
The poet declares that he cannot bear living without his wife. He imagines Neaera and her mother attending his funeral and pouring expensive perfume on his bones after cremation. He ends by imagining his epitaph: "Lygdamus lies here: grief and the love of Neaera, his wife, who was taken away from
161:
to advise him what present he should give to Neaera. They advise him give her a book of poems, but it should be well presented in a yellow sleeve. He begs the Muses to go and give the book to his beloved Neaera, and says that he wishes to know whether in future he is to be her husband, as he once
199:
appeared to him and told him that Neaera prefers to be another man's girlfriend. In the dream Apollo assures him that this is all part of the trials of love and she can still be won round if he entreats her. The poet tells Neaera he cannot believe she would be so heartless, especially as she was
114:
Neaera is clearly not a courtesan. She comes from a cultured family (4.92) and the author knows her "very kind" mother and "most amiable" father (4.93–94). The author considers her to be his wife (2.30) and her mother to be his mother-in-law (2.14). The author prays not only to Venus but also to
110:
Neaera is a very different kind of woman from
Tibullus's Delia and Nemesis. The latter two are apparently courtesans, who keep their lovers waiting outside the door while they entertain other lovers inside. Both girls, especially Nemesis, demand expensive gifts.
357:: in these the proportion of dactylic feet (not counting the ending of each line, which doesn't vary) is 45%, whereas in poems 4 and 5 it is only 37%. The reason for this is not known, unless it might be the rather sombre subject matter of these poems.
67:
used by the young Ovid. Some more recent scholars, however, have argued that
Lygdamus lived much later than Ovid and imitated his style. No other author mentions Lygdamus, making the mystery of his real identity all the more difficult.
290:) at the beginning of a pentameter. Another argument supporting this view is that the circumstances described in the poems seem to fit Ovid's biographical details very well, as described in his autobiographical poem
441:
in line 10 are repeated in lines 17–18. In poems 3, 4, and 5 the chiastic verbal and thematic echoes are mostly at the beginning and ends of the poems, but poem 6 has chiastic echoes more widely spread, for example
216:, goddess of the dead, to spare him, since he has committed no sacrilege, crime, or blasphemy and is still young. He ends by asking his friends to remember him and to sacrifice some black sheep on his behalf to
53:. In poem 5, line 6, he describes himself as young and in 5.18 gives his birth year as the year "when both consuls died by equal fate" (that is, 43 BC). This line, however, is identical to one in
63:
from AD 11, and it has been much debated by scholars. One suggestion, supported by the numerous features of vocabulary and style shared between
Lygdamus and Ovid, is that "Lygdamus" is merely a
322:
referring to the Indian Ocean. On this basis he conjectured that the date of
Lygdamus may have been in the late 1st century AD. Navarro AntolĂn (1996) and Maltby (2021) take a similar view.
360:
Detailed metrical studies have shown that the
Lygdamus poems were clearly written by a different poet than those of Tibullus. One of the more obvious differences is that in Lygdamus the
179:
Addressing Neaera, the poet asks what is the use of praying, even though he is not praying for wealth, but merely to spend his life until old age with Neaera. He prays to
71:
Unlike Tibullus's Delia and Nemesis, Neaera appears not to have been a courtesan, but is described by the poet as his wife, who left him for another man.
570:
127:
The six poems are of different lengths: 28, 30, 38, 96, 34, and 64 lines respectively. The lengths of the poems can be arranged as follows:
1051:
1009:
366:
of the hexameter is almost always a masculine caesura in the 3rd foot, whereas in Tibullus it varies between the 3rd foot and the 4th.
1046:
295:
the fact that his father wished him to follow a career in politics and apparently repeatedly discouraged him from writing poetry.
1056:
957:
919:
738:
374:
A technique common in Tibullus, Ovid, and other poets of the period is also found in Lygdamus, namely the creation of a
455:
252:
are also features of style which are typical of Ovid but not of other poets; such as lines of the form "adjective,
17:
316:
noted certain items of vocabulary which are generally not found in the time of Tibullus, such as the adjective
547:
in northern Italy. The phrase might also refer to 69 AD or even 83 BC: Navarro AntolĂn (1996), pp. 4–5; 7; 17.
1061:
1041:
24:
275:
854:
692:, on the coast near Rome, was a popular spa in the Augustan period: Navarro AntolĂn (1996), p. 413.
375:
87:" is common in Greek mythology and is also thought to be a pseudonym. It first occurs in Homer's
84:
298:
If the poems were written by Ovid, according to Radford, since they contain echoes of Horace's
499:
312:, it would seem that they date from 19 BC or 18 BC, when Ovid was about 24 or 25 years old.
184:
683:
544:
402:'of Dis' in the last; the colours yellow and white, mentioned in 9, are matched by the word
339:
271:
180:
767:
354:
335:
38:
1010:"Meaningful form: parallelism and inverse parallelism in Catullus, Tibullus and Horace"
212:, while he himself has been ill with a fever and close to death for two weeks. He begs
1035:
501:
Book Three of the Corpus Tibullianum: Introduction, Text, Translation and Commentary
353:
Metrically, the poems can be divided into two groups. Poems 1, 2, 3, and 6 are more
465:
Maltby notes that verbal echoes are also used to link poems together. For example,
34:
879:
Though 45% is a high proportion, it is not as high as in Ovid's mature work, the
766:(Vol. 57, pp. 149–180). (A shorter revised version is in: Radford, R. S. (1927).
586:
This last group includes Lee (1958), Navarro AntolĂn (1996), and Maltby (2021).
605:
378:
in a poem by the use of verbal and thematic echoes. Thus in poem 1, the words
343:
213:
152:
141:
Thus the 4th poem, as well as being the longest, is the centre of the series.
534:"Both names are almost certainly pseudonyms." Navarro AntolĂn (1996), p. 21.
217:
508:
187:
to help him and says that if he can't have Neaera he would prefer to die.
887:"The Juvenile Works of Ovid and the Spondaic Period of His Metrical Art".
347:
245:
64:
50:
941:"The Juvenile Works of Ovid and the Spondaic Period of His Metrical Art"
903:"The Juvenile Works of Ovid and the Spondaic Period of His Metrical Art"
837:
784:
459:
362:
233:
209:
59:
42:
940:
902:
886:
759:
945:
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
907:
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
890:
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
764:
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association
208:
The poet imagines his friends enjoying a holiday in a thermal spa in
196:
45:, five of them concerning a girl named Neaera, are preserved in the
195:
Lygdamus describes an awful dream he had the night before in which
689:
229:
158:
54:
220:, god of the Underworld. Neaera is not mentioned in this poem.
390:'little book' is found in 9 and 17. In addition, the genitive
510:
Lygdamus (Corpus Tibullianum III.1-6 Lygdami Elegiarum Liber)
507:
Navarro AntolĂn, F. (translated by Zoltowski, J. J.) (1996).
200:
brought up in a respectable family with delightful parents.
477:'wife' in the last four lines of poem 1 are found again as
338:, the usual metre for Latin love poetry from the time of
462:
in 39, clearly marking 29–37 as the centre of the poem.
960:
Le distique élégiaque chez Tibulle, Sulpicia, Lygdamus
922:
Le distique élégiaque chez Tibulle, Sulpicia, Lygdamus
741:
Le distique élégiaque chez Tibulle, Sulpicia, Lygdamus
384:
in the first six lines are repeated in the last six;
119:
betrothed, but that Neaera broke off the engagement.
885:, where it reaches 57%. See: Radford, R. S. (1920).
838:"The Date of Lygdamus, and his Relationship to Ovid"
543:The consuls were Pansa and Hirtius who died at the
842:Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society
768:"The Ovidian Authorship of the Lygdamus Elegies"
760:"The Ovidian Authorship of the Lygdamus Elegies"
342:(d. 26 BC) onwards, and which were also used by
855:"The Problem of Lygdamus and Ovid Reconsidered"
786:
8:
958:
920:
739:
381:hic, munera, dicite, seu...seu, cara, Neaera
994:
880:
866:Peter White in: Boyd, B. W. (Ed.). (2002).
681:
484:
478:
472:
466:
449:
443:
436:
430:
424:
415:
409:
403:
397:
396:'of Mars' in the first line is balanced by
391:
385:
379:
317:
303:
285:
279:
278:lakes", or the placing of a monosyllable +
265:
259:
253:
150:
577:, 4th ed. (Oxford University Press, 2012).
426:dolor (dolorem), erepta (eripuit), coniuge
91:12.111, and it is also found in Virgil's
892:, Vol. 51 (1920), pp. 146–171; page 151.
429:in the first four lines are repeated as
1012:(Doctoral dissertation), Johannesburg,
783:Baligan, G. & Paratore, E. (1950).
527:
308:as well as various parts of Virgil's
7:
1025:Maltby (2021), poem 2, introduction.
701:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), pp. 459–464.
671:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), pp. 258–260.
267:Castaliamque umbram Pieriosque lacus
947:, Vol. 51, pp. 146–171; see p. 165.
909:, Vol. 51, pp. 146–171; see p. 163.
489:in the first four lines of poem 2.
171:him, were the cause of his death."
662:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), pp. 193–4.
653:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), pp. 147–8.
644:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), pp. 93–96.
49:alongside the apocryphal works of
14:
517:, Supplements, Volume 154. Brill.
37:poet who wrote six love poems in
797:, 24 (Fasc. 3), 270–299; p. 282.
719:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), pp. 4–5.
999:. Peter Lang, New York, pp. 4–8
575:The Oxford Classical Dictionary
504:. Cambridge Scholars Publisher.
423:Similarly in poem 2, the words
326:impersonating the young Ovid."
617:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), p. 21.
149:On 1st March, the festival of
1:
968:, 9(2), 85–86; pages 312–313.
749:, 9(2), 85–86; pages 312–313.
728:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), p. 6.
680:There were several spas. The
595:Navarro AntolĂn (1996), p. 6.
33:(probably a pseudonym) was a
1008:van der Riet, J. W. (1998).
836:Lee, A. G. (1958, January).
162:was, or merely her brother.
939:Radford, Robert S. (1920).
901:Radford, Robert S. (1920).
635:Navarro AntolĂn, pp. 22–24.
414:'work' in 14 is matched by
1078:
1052:1st-century BC Roman poets
806:Lyg. 1.16; cf. 3.16, 5.24.
22:
15:
992:Issues of Unity in Ovid's
868:Brill's Companion to Ovid
857:, Hermes 148(2): 173–197.
844:(No. 5 (185), pp. 15–22).
827:Radford (1926), p. 155–6.
334:The poems are written in
18:Lygdamis (disambiguation)
1047:Golden Age Latin writers
435:in the last four; while
432:dolor, ereptae, coniugis
244:Apart from a mention of
16:Not to be confused with
1057:1st-century Roman poets
853:Somerville, T. (2020),
758:Radford, R. S. (1926).
626:Navarro AntolĂn, p. 22.
454:in 37; and the myth of
23:For the butterfly, see
995:
981:. Oxford, pp. 283–291.
959:
930:, 9(2), 85–86; page 7.
921:
881:
787:
740:
682:
569:Patricia Anne Watson,
485:
479:
473:
467:
458:in 24 vs. the myth of
450:
444:
437:
431:
425:
416:
410:
404:
398:
392:
386:
380:
318:
304:
286:
280:
266:
260:
254:
151:
956:Cartault, A. (1911).
918:Cartault, A. (1911).
737:Cartault, A. (1911).
445:quid precor a demens?
80:a well-to-do family.
25:Glaucopsyche lygdamus
990:Dettmer, H. (2021).
979:Tibullus: Elegies II
451:quid queror infelix?
438:candida, ossa, nigra
157:, the poet asks the
131:1 + 2 + 3 = 96 lines
103:3.14.21, and Ovid's
977:Murgatroyd (1994),
966:Journal des Savants
928:Journal des Savants
772:Classical Philology
747:Journal des Savants
498:Maltby, R. (2021).
258:, noun, adjective,
240:Date and authorship
75:Lygdamus and Neaera
47:Appendix Tibulliana
774:, 22(4), 356-371.)
376:chiastic structure
228:The poet calls on
788:Ancora su Ligdamo
1069:
1026:
1023:
1017:
1006:
1000:
998:
988:
982:
975:
969:
962:
954:
948:
937:
931:
924:
916:
910:
899:
893:
884:
877:
871:
864:
858:
851:
845:
834:
828:
825:
819:
813:
807:
804:
798:
790:
781:
775:
756:
750:
743:
735:
729:
726:
720:
717:
711:
708:
702:
699:
693:
687:
684:Aquae Caeretanae
678:
672:
669:
663:
660:
654:
651:
645:
642:
636:
633:
627:
624:
618:
615:
609:
602:
596:
593:
587:
584:
578:
567:
561:
554:
548:
545:Battle of Mutina
541:
535:
532:
488:
482:
476:
470:
453:
447:
440:
434:
428:
419:
413:
407:
401:
395:
389:
383:
340:Cornelius Gallus
336:elegiac couplets
321:
307:
289:
283:
269:
263:
257:
156:
137:5 + 6 = 98 lines
1077:
1076:
1072:
1071:
1070:
1068:
1067:
1066:
1032:
1031:
1030:
1029:
1024:
1020:
1007:
1003:
989:
985:
976:
972:
955:
951:
938:
934:
917:
913:
900:
896:
878:
874:
865:
861:
852:
848:
835:
831:
826:
822:
814:
810:
805:
801:
782:
778:
757:
753:
736:
732:
727:
723:
718:
714:
709:
705:
700:
696:
679:
675:
670:
666:
661:
657:
652:
648:
643:
639:
634:
630:
625:
621:
616:
612:
603:
599:
594:
590:
585:
581:
568:
564:
555:
551:
542:
538:
533:
529:
524:
495:
372:
332:
264:, noun", as in
242:
226:
206:
193:
177:
168:
147:
125:
77:
39:Classical Latin
28:
21:
12:
11:
5:
1075:
1073:
1065:
1064:
1059:
1054:
1049:
1044:
1034:
1033:
1028:
1027:
1018:
1001:
983:
970:
949:
932:
911:
894:
872:
859:
846:
829:
820:
808:
799:
776:
751:
730:
721:
712:
710:Lygdamus 6.41.
703:
694:
673:
664:
655:
646:
637:
628:
619:
610:
608:3.6.2, 4.7.35.
597:
588:
579:
562:
549:
536:
526:
525:
523:
520:
519:
518:
505:
494:
491:
420:'poem' in 15.
371:
368:
331:
328:
274:shade and the
241:
238:
225:
222:
205:
202:
192:
189:
176:
173:
167:
164:
146:
143:
139:
138:
135:
132:
124:
121:
95:3.3, Horace's
76:
73:
13:
10:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
1074:
1063:
1062:Elegiac poets
1060:
1058:
1055:
1053:
1050:
1048:
1045:
1043:
1040:
1039:
1037:
1022:
1019:
1015:
1011:
1005:
1002:
997:
993:
987:
984:
980:
974:
971:
967:
963:
961:
953:
950:
946:
942:
936:
933:
929:
925:
923:
915:
912:
908:
904:
898:
895:
891:
888:
883:
876:
873:
869:
863:
860:
856:
850:
847:
843:
839:
833:
830:
824:
821:
817:
812:
809:
803:
800:
796:
792:
789:
780:
777:
773:
769:
765:
761:
755:
752:
748:
744:
742:
734:
731:
725:
722:
716:
713:
707:
704:
698:
695:
691:
686:
685:
677:
674:
668:
665:
659:
656:
650:
647:
641:
638:
632:
629:
623:
620:
614:
611:
607:
601:
598:
592:
589:
583:
580:
576:
572:
566:
563:
559:
553:
550:
546:
540:
537:
531:
528:
521:
516:
512:
511:
506:
503:
502:
497:
496:
492:
490:
487:
481:
475:
469:
463:
461:
457:
452:
446:
439:
433:
427:
421:
418:
412:
406:
400:
394:
388:
382:
377:
369:
367:
365:
364:
358:
356:
351:
349:
345:
341:
337:
329:
327:
323:
320:
313:
311:
306:
301:
296:
293:
288:
282:
277:
273:
268:
262:
256:
249:
247:
239:
237:
235:
231:
223:
221:
219:
215:
211:
203:
201:
198:
190:
188:
186:
182:
174:
172:
165:
163:
160:
155:
154:
144:
142:
136:
133:
130:
129:
128:
122:
120:
116:
112:
108:
106:
102:
98:
94:
90:
86:
81:
74:
72:
69:
66:
62:
61:
56:
52:
48:
44:
40:
36:
32:
26:
19:
1042:43 BC births
1021:
1013:
1004:
991:
986:
978:
973:
965:
952:
944:
935:
927:
914:
906:
897:
889:
882:Ars Amatoria
875:
867:
862:
849:
841:
832:
823:
815:
811:
802:
794:
779:
771:
763:
754:
746:
733:
724:
715:
706:
697:
676:
667:
658:
649:
640:
631:
622:
613:
600:
591:
582:
574:
565:
557:
552:
539:
530:
514:
509:
500:
464:
422:
373:
361:
359:
352:
333:
324:
314:
309:
299:
297:
291:
287:inque, isque
250:
243:
227:
207:
194:
178:
169:
148:
140:
134:4 = 96 lines
126:
117:
113:
109:
104:
100:
96:
92:
88:
82:
78:
70:
58:
46:
30:
29:
471:'dear' and
408:in 18; and
305:Ars Poetica
1036:Categories
818:4.10.21–2.
606:Propertius
571:"Lygdamus"
522:References
448:in 27 vs.
344:Propertius
319:Erythraeus
214:Persephone
153:Matronalia
99:15.11 and
83:The name "
870:; page 7.
515:Mnemosyne
272:Castalian
123:The poems
493:Editions
417:carminis
387:libellum
355:dactylic
348:Tibullus
246:Catullus
65:pen name
51:Tibullus
31:Lygdamus
996:Tristia
816:Tristia
560:4.10.6.
558:Tristia
486:coniuge
474:coniunx
460:Ariadne
363:caesura
292:Tristia
276:Pierian
234:Bacchus
210:Etruria
93:Eclogue
89:Odyssey
60:Tristia
43:elegies
1014:passim
556:Ovid,
393:Martis
310:Aeneid
284:(e.g.
224:Poem 6
204:Poem 5
197:Apollo
191:Poem 4
175:Poem 3
166:Poem 2
145:Poem 1
105:Amores
97:Epodes
85:Neaera
41:. His
840:. In
795:Aevum
762:. In
690:Caere
480:caram
468:caram
456:Agave
405:color
399:Ditis
370:Style
330:Metre
270:"the
230:Liber
185:Venus
159:Muses
107:3.6.
35:Roman
604:cf.
483:and
411:opus
346:and
302:and
300:Odes
281:-que
261:-que
255:-que
183:and
181:Juno
101:Odes
55:Ovid
688:in
218:Dis
57:'s
1038::
964:.
943:.
926:.
905:.
793:.
770:.
745:.
573:,
513:.
350:.
1016:.
791:"
785:"
232:(
27:.
20:.
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