Editing Tibullus (section)

==Horace and Tibullus==
Two short poems by [[Horace]], addressed to a certain Albius (''Odes'' 1.33 and ''Epistles'' 1.4), are believed to refer to Tibullus.<ref name=Putnam>Putnam, Michael C. J. (1972), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/269213 "Horace and Tibullus"]. ''Classical Philology'', Vol. 67, No. 2 (Apr., 1972), pp. 81–88.</ref><ref name=Ball>Ball, Robert J. (1994). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4351536 "''Albi'', ''Ne Doleas'': Horace and Tibullus"]. ''The Classical World'', Vol. 87, No. 5, pp. 409–414.</ref> In the first of these poems Horace advises Albius not to be excessive in singing sad elegies in memory of the cruel "Glycera" (assumed to be the same as Nemesis).

In the second poem, Horace imagines Albius, when he receives the letter, either writing poetry or wandering in the woods near [[Pedum]]. He goes on: "You were not (born as) a body without a heart; the gods gave you beauty, riches, and the art of enjoying them. What more could a nurse wish for in her charge than that he should be intelligent, able to speak what he feels, and have style, fame, and health in abundance?" Horace advises his friend, whatever hopes and fears and angers he has, to live each day as if it was his last. At the end he makes a joke to cheer his friend up, comparing himself to a "pig from Epicurus's herd".

Although [[John Percival Postgate|J. P. Postgate]] challenged the identification of Albius with Tibullus, more recent scholars such as Ullman, Putnam, and Ball have argued that they are the same.<ref name=Ball /> In Putnam's analysis, Tibullus, in Horace's view, is too much given to self-pity, and would benefit from taking a more philosophical view of life's foibles.<ref name=Putnam />

The first book of Horace's ''[[Odes (Horace)|Odes]]'' was published in 23 BC, and the first book of the ''[[Epistles (Horace)|Epistles]]'' in 20 BC, making the time-frame plausible, if Albius is Tibullus.