[epigren] Sulpicia=Tibullus, El. 3.13/4.7

Please consider this page as still "under construction" (I definitely have to verify the references

Sulpicia - Corpus Tibullianum III.13 (IV.7)

Commentary

How this poem got itself “dissected” by me...

This first epigram of the roman poetess Sulpicia had my attention some twenty years ago. The late professor Joseph IJsewijn wanted us to read a “corpus” of a poet and a thin booklet containing the corpus Tibullianum looked very attractive when compared with the gross volume of Horace for instance. Since I was an “active” student, I hardly took the time necessary to read such literature in the appropriate way... I distinctly remember that I was able to “translate” it but that I did not altogether understand its meaning

I was twenty five years old and very romantically involved with my future wife, when I read the booklet again, this time immobile in a hard (military) hospital bed with a broken back, not knowing what would be the consequences of my accident. There, Tibullus and Sulpicia got me by the throat. After my experience, I would read Tibullus, mostly El.1.3, with my students explaining to them what (I imagined) he must have felt in the Corfu (military?) hospital bed.

Occasionaly I commented on Sulpicia, but I soon left aside this particular poem. Reading it in class has indeed proven to be very difficult. The students are not easily convinced by the explanation that Sulpicia claimed the right to write about her affairs in the same way her male friends did. Thus, observing the youngsters falling in (and out of) love, their whispering about “him” and “her”, the sorrows and the tears of the rejected, the far-away looks of the madly-in-love boys, the boasting of the machos, I imagined another context, of a Sulpicia -in her heart being very proud- ruthlessly taking revenge on a “someone” who, tactlessly, was or had been spreading rumors about her.

When I finally got connected to the WWW, my first search was for Tibullus + Sulpicia, to see if I could find what exactly the common opinion about this poem is. And I found out that there seems to be some “canon” on the internet about how to read this poem and consequently about how to interpret it. I am not placed to criticise this reading of the poetess, but in this commentary I want to point to the fact that there are other ways to read “Tandem venit amor”, without any emendations of the text.

This page does not aim to provide you with an instant “translinterpretation”. On the contrary, I want to point out that it is perfectly possible to make “a” translation of this poem. But “the” translation will never exist and neither will exist “the” interpretation, for the poetess decided not to let them exist...

1.Introduction (1-2)

Tandem, at last, of something that has been awaited for a long time, or finally.

Venit can be an indicative perfectum praesens (“he is with me now”) or an indicative perfectum historicum (“he came to me”).

Amor is love, as a feeling, as a superhuman force (numen) and as a god. The choice is ours...

Qualem can be regarded as a relative introducing a restrictive relative clause (...amor, qualem... ) [1]: a love of a kind that... I prefer a “pseudorelative” introducing a nonrestrictive relative clause (a new sentence: ...amor. Et talem...): at last, love has come; such a thing..., something like that / him...

Tegere [2] (to cover, to cover up, to hide) also has the sense of to cover against or to protect from a threat. The threat is pudor. The dative (pudori) is not uncommon in poetry as a substitute of [a +] ablative, which would be a normal construction with tegere in this sense. Pudore is an alternative reading in A which is not even necessary, since the poets tend to use both -i and -e, mostly, however, “metri causa”. This leaves us with several possibilities : 1° of course [a] pudore, 2° an instrumental ablative (instrument - reason): to cover (up) by means of pudor or because of pudor. Still -regarding the final interpretation- this ablative seems rather unsatisfactory, in view of 1°: the parallel cola and 2°: v.9 (though far away for now): vultus componere famae, referring to the same in a more concrete image. And a dative is also found with f.e. latere instead of the “classic” accusative. [2a]

Pudor is shame, the feeling (before doing or after having done something), but also the disgrace (as a result of what has been done) [3]. Thus it regards “the decencies”. In poetry the word often embraces pudicitia too, which regards the personal moral conscience: pudency, modesty, chastity (and its personification: Pudicitia). Take a look at The Shame of the Romans by R. A. Kaster

Alicui is (one or another) someone. The word is of three syllables (a-li-cui ) instead of four (a-li-cu-i), a scansion which Ovid too has made use of. The use of the dative suggests nudare (to uncover, to reveal) with the sense of to reveal, to tell (see there), but it is also the counterpart of tegere: to expose to a threat.

Fama est (the story tells that..., the story goes that...) asks for a subject complement with an infinitive, as f.e. in Ovid's Esse viros fama est in Hyperborea Pallene. The particular construction used by Sulpicia however being an infinitive clause without an accusative, the value of sit mihi fama is the same as that of ferar in the closing line. Furthermore, the particular construction with quam may have suggested something like praestat, malo,... to the listeners minds, as in Esse quam videri praestat. So malle is present here as magis + volitive subjunctive. Which leaves us with: Qualem texisse pudori quam nudasse alicui ferri malo. [4]
Sit mihi fama thus is synonymous with the closing word ferar (fama meaning reputation, gossip, etc. [5] but also: tradition, story). As such it marks the end of the introductory distich, as dicetur marks the end of part one and ferar of part two (see below). Thus she points to poems who “talk” (or might talk) about her and some other person. [5.a.]

The statement throws a particular light on Tandem venit amor. She may have had feelings for a boy before. This is different though, this is so incredibly fine... Hence: qualem, such a thing/ ~ person... It is also important with regard to the rest of the poem: whatever the translation may be, the meaning always has to be that she never did (or: would do) anything improper. Which has to be (or may be) said [6].

Now note the particular arrangement of the hemistichs: aABb, with A and B parallel and a + b forming a pentameter:
Tandem venit amor | qualem texisse pudori / quam nudasse alicui | sit mihi fama magis.

The four hemistichs are going to return one by one in the body of the poem: four distichs that form two parts, corresponding respectively to the hexametre (vv. 3-4 and 5-6) and the pentameter (vv. 7-8 and 9-10).

1.Amor

1.1. Tandem venit Amor (3-4)

exorata meis illum Cytherea Camenis - The arrangement of the words suggests a tender image to the listener's mind: the mother with her child, with the Camenae [7]. We must not forget that al these gods and divine creatures had their temples, altars and above all their images, that they were “alive” on wallpaintings, in sculpture,... So the listener imagined these creatures very easily as real figures.

Cytherea is a well known epitheton for Venus. It is not used in the corpus Tibullianum however, except for this place.

The centrally placed illum -the “well known”, hím- is of course Amor/Eros, Aphrodite's little boy. Illum is the direct object of attulit and deposuit, and also of exorata, as in Ovid (Met., 9.700): Dea sum auxiliaris opemque | exorata fero, nec te coluisse quereris | ingratum numen. After she begged for him with her poem(s), the Greek godess brought him and deposited him at her heart.

Camena -originally a Camena was a prophesying spring nymph- is the latin equivalent for the Greek Musa. The name stands both for the godess and the work she inspires: meis Camenis = my inspiration = my poetry.

In my opinion Sulpicia, by using meis Camenis, wants to emphasise that she is writing “Latin verse” in the sense of an ancient Latin genre. Evenso the image may illustrate how little and humble these Camenae are in the presence of Zeus' daughter, that is: how Sulpicia has not the refinement and the learnedness of the “Alexandrines” [7a]. Or it may illustrate how these little and humble Camenae are in the presence of Zeus' daughter, that is: how Sulpicia does not need to have the refinement and the learnedness of the “Alexandrines”. Hence this contrast between meis Camenis and Olympian Cytherea. Camenae is used only three times in the corpus Tibullianum, here, and twice in the Panegyricus Messalae [8].

Whoever considers the connection Muses-poetry-prayer exagerated, must take into account: 1° that poetry was oral, 2° that a poem was called “carmen” as were the magical prayers. Quite often those poems were in fact real “prayers” to one god or another (Apollo, Amor, Venus,...) [9]. Thus Sulpicia's saying refers to a genuine reality - notwithstanding its also being a topos: e.g. Ovidius, Tristia, 2.22: exorant magnos carmina saepe deos. 3° It's in the language, as can be derived from Cicero, Phil., 2.4.8: quo me teste convinces ?

attulit deposuitque in nostrum sinum - Venus has braught Amor to Sulpicia, who was allowed to hold him at her hart, and to keep him with her. A powerfull image for a yet unknown feeling: this is Amor, nobody but her has the real one. [10].

Adferre is used with a direct object such as e.g. delectationem, dolorem, luctum, spem,... and a dative of interest: to cause joy, pain, sorrow, hope to someone. Here we find in + accusative : to bring to, because the image wants it that way. But 1° amor is both the feeling ánd Amor, the numen that causes it, and 2° in + acc. and dative are interchangeable in poetry. Thus both meanings of adferre must be present here.

In nostrum sinum is in any case obligatory because of deponere: to lay/put down (or: to lay away, to lay aside). Deponere also means to intrust, to commit to someones care, usually with in + ablative or a(pu)d + accusative for the place where and the person to whom something is intrusted for safekeeping. Both these meanings probably are also present here.

Sinus is our bosom or its synonym heart (as in “she pressed her son to her heart”). Cicero uses the expression de complexu eius ac sinu when treating of the bosom friends of Catilina. In his letters he uses an identical expression: sit in sinu et complexu meo, “let him come to my heart and into my arms” .[ 11]

1.2. Qualem texisse pudori... (5-6)

Let us first follow the constantly changing combinations of words and meanings in verse 5:
Exsolvit promissa (i.e.: Cytherea).
Exsolvit promissa Venus.
Exsolvit promissa [,] Venus mea.
Exsolvit promissa [,] Venus mea [,] gaudia.
Exsolvit promissa Venus mea gaudia. Narret. or
Exsolvit promissa, Venus mea, gaudia. Narret. or
Exsolvit promissa, Venus mea. Gaudia narret.
More than enough possibilities... and the list is not exhaustive. Who fulfilled “promisses” ? Was it Amor (“Venus” thus being a vocative) or was it Venus? Who may tell something and what ?

This central verse, that still has the intimacy of the foregoing images, seems to be a beautifully balanced whole. But the content is not finished and the enjambment narret /dicetur leads us to verse 6, announcing the second half of the epigram: (...) si quis | non habuisse sua (gaudia) / suam (puellam - reading from A). Question is how the tree dots have to be filled in. The possibilities are: Mea gaudia narret or Narret (we will return to this in a moment). Whatever meaning a reader gave to these two verses, one thing must have been clear: Sulpicia had no intention of letting him in on her secret.

The transition Cytherea - Venus marks (intentionally) a modulation in the sounding of the verses: what started as a sentimental elegy changes into a (typically Latin) epigram. The tender images of the first verses -with a highly erotical connotation when one takes a closer look- are left for the usual “paraphrases” of erotic poetry- which you may, again at closer look, interpret in a completely different way! But whatever the sense of e.g. venus mea may be, the meaning of this verse remains: it all was as I hoped it would be.

Exsolvere means to fulfill a promise, to discharge, to pay a debt, as in Cicero's Non exsolvit quod promiserat (Off., 2.7).

Promissa (participle of promittere - to promise, to give hope of, to raise expectations) may stand on itself (“promises”), but I prefer to read it with gaudia [12].

Gaudia in poetry often means sensual pleasure, to often to not suggest this meaning in this context. There are of course the usual meanings of: [object of] joy, pleasure.

Venus mea[13] stands for the godess as wel as for (fleshly) love, lust. This meaning also is to omnipresent to not jump to the listener's mind, especially when he hears it in combination with gaudia. If we interpret promittere as to give hope of we should not exclude the bright morning star, the planet Venus [14] and see some reference in it to astrology.

Narrare may be used in the sense of to speak up or to tell the story of. Narret has quis as a subject - often mea gaudia is seen as direct object of narret with Venus being the subject. This is a possibility of course, but why not take sua as its direct object and read: “If someone will be told not to have had the pleasure he/she exspected, let him/her tell the story”?
In my opinion she refers to elegy here and of course to her many friends (?)-elegiac poets, who indeed only seemed to write about the gaudia they did not find. So the verse may very well mean: I am not going to write about it [: indeed, I can not, since I actually did gét what I wanted]. [This decline of the romantic Weltschmerz-ian elegy corresponds very well with the character of Sulpician verse and it reminds me of Sallusts disdain when he refers (Catilina, 4.1) to those who only have “farming” and “hunting” to fill the empty hours of their bonum otium.] Whatever, the meaning is clearly: I 'm not telling anything.

Habere has its meanings of to possess, to have (what you are entitled to), also to know, to be aware of (by some experience), maybe of to have [hopes, anxiety, ...].

Probably sua (gaudia) indeed, but the reading in A, i.e. suam (puellam ?), should not be put aside bluntly[15]...

II. Fama

II.1. quam nudasse alicui... (7-8)

Verse 7-8 again are constantly leading the listener astray:
Non ego [narram][16].
Non ego [dicar] signatis quicquam mandare tabellis (i.e: non narram), this sense disappearing in the enjambment in v. 8, that turns v. 7 into a completely new construction:
Non ego [... ?] signatis quicquam mandare tabellis / me [infinitive clause]. Non is emphasised by placing it at the beginning and me also gets strong emphasis now by placing it there: Í [17].
The rest of the line slowly reaches its point:
[acc.c.inf] legat. [who?]
[acc.c.inf]: legat id [id repeating the infinitive clause - who?].
[acc.c.inf]: legat id nemo.
[acc.c.inf]: legat id nemo quam meus.
[acc.c.inf]: legat id nemo quam meus ante.
[acc.c.inf]: legat id nemo quam meus ante velim. And so velim finally tells us what should be filled in after ego, leaving us with this “solution”: Ego velim nemo antequam meus legat id: me non quicquam mandare signatis tabellis.

I am by no means certain here, on the contrary: this verse caused multiple difficulties to copiists and there are to many different readings, leading to sometimes totaly opposite interpretations and translations : ne [for nec ?] legat id nemo quam meus ante velim (Plantijn - readings of g) - me legat ut [17.a] nemo quam meus ante velim (Cuiacianus-Postgate) -me legat id venio qm meus ante velim (A) and other combinations. I have chosen to follow A, with nemo instead of venio [18]. But even then nothing is certain... First my interpretation of the distich: That Í do not put one single word in writing, that nobody before my (lover) reads thát, that's my wish. And now I think some explanation is needed... But first take a look at Bill Harris' comment on these lines (he restores ne instead of me and at the same time offers an elegant solution for the ne nemo):

Non must stand with quicquam and not with signatis, as has been suggested by some: the distribution of the words (non ego signatis quicquam mandare tabellis) seems to corroborate this reading.

Signata tabella might refer to a letter, a note. Tabellae are the well known wooden wax tablets, signatae when they were sealed and/or signed and by that identifiable but also “official” (the latter being a sense of signata tabella) or “secret”. “Tablets” were indeed circulating between lovers. A slave for example was the go-between [19].
Once they were opened anyone might read the content and know where it came from. So everything in it might be well on its way to become a rumor causing: fama. So Sulpicia may point to the fact that she was not thát stupid. Or she may simply refer to the fact that she wants whatever happened out in the open, which indeed may be consistant with the ending lines, but not with the beginning of the epigram. Why can't we read “official” and see some warning in it: don't imagine that I'm engaging to anything by making it official. It might pay to consult some dictionary on the instances of (ob)signatus and tabella, and maybe also Horace, Epist., 1.13, or f.e Catullus, 68.45-46 to form an exact opinion about the thoughts that are underneath these lines.

Mandare, to consign, to confide, (e.g. litteris, memoriae,...(dative): to commit to writing, to write down) also means to enjoin, to commend, to entrust, ... and signatis tabellis might be an instrumental ablative... Although it's more likely to be the indirect object, we cannot exclude this interpretation.
Mandare is usually considered to be an infinitive with velle [type: Volo gratus haberi], which has had serious consequences as to the interpretation and the editing of this distich.

Me is accusative (subject) with mandare. That the subject me is expressed in an infinitive clause with velim is not uncommon. In such cases the feeling expressed is in some way that one has to force oneself into doing something; that might be quite appropriate in this context.[20]
Nevertheless I prefer to read the infinitive clause with legat and to take id as an emphasised “thís”, meaning: instead of what was exspected (i.e: me telling the whole story). Thus the distich runs as follows: Nobody before my (lover) must read this, (namely) that I do not put a single word in writing, that is what I hope for... Legat will turn out to be subjunctive with velim in just a few moments. Till now it is a common volitive present subjunctive.

Subject of legat is nemo quam meus ante. Nemo is no one or maybe Mr.Nobody. In my opinion Sulpicia is letting alicui and quis echoe in this word, and we should be aware of nemo meaning ne quis, referring to the alicui and the quis of the introduction and the first part. That would give us both “aliquis” and “ferri” in the introduction, in the first and in the second part.

Quam meus ante instead of antequam meus is also found elsewhere. Meus is her “friend”: my boy must be the first to know. A first surprise: nobody can read it, that is: nobody can read it before her lover, after that there seems to be no restriction anymore.

Velim + subjunctive changes what seemed to be a defence (“nobody can...”) into a wish [21] (= Utinam nemo legat id... : “I wish / I hope nobody reads this ...”) introducing the final distich: I wish that...., but...

Here, I think, Sulpicia made her (first) point. I know, she seems to say, whoever you are, I know you read some of my (poetical?) correspondance and made it public. Fine, you may open these tablets and read this message: that you are not going to find out anything about what has happened. Read these verses with their thousand different meanings, and spread them, so nobody will know anymore. These are devious lines, for in using “nemo” she does not exclude the possibility that it was her own lover who was to blame. But her final point is yet to come...

II.2. sit mihi fama magis. (9-10)

Look at v.9 again: sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae. I read this as follows: But it's fun to offend, to keep up appearances for reputation's sake. Again the enjambment of taedet in v.10 confuses the reader:
sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae taedet.
sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae taedet cum digno.
sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae. Taedet cum digno digna fuisse.
sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae taedet. Cum digno digna fuisse ferar. or
sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae taedet, cum digno digna fuisse ferar. or
sed peccasse iuvat, vultus componere famae taedet cum digno. Digna fuisse ferar.
The point lies in the meticulously placed last word: she is tired of keeping up appearances, and fuisse has to be read with ferar.

The confusion caused by the present subjunctive ferar always remains. I prefer to read it as a subjunctive with a cum historicum (“What's the use, since I seem to be thé topic of conversation already?”). Usually it's read as a volitive subjunctive (“May I be remembered as having been worthy...”). This ambiguity can not be resolved. What exactly Sulpicia meant by it and thus the exact meaning of the whole epigram was only clear to him who was supposed to know what it was all about... But first let us look at some details again.

Sed (but) introduces either an adversative clause (but or not (only)... but (also)) or a new development (“enough about this”: But...).

All senses of peccare (est tamquam transilire lineas if we use Cicero's definition (Paradoxa 3.1.20)) are relevant in this poem: to make a mistake, to do something that is not allowed or is improper, often to commit a sin in the sphere of sexual behaviour: to be unfaithfull[22].
Peccasse might be an “aorist infinitive” (either atemporal or passed fact as e.g. texisse and nudasse) contrasting with componere (as a habit)[23]. It might also be a “perfect infinitive” (a passed fact and it's consequence). We have the choice between: “to sin”, “to have sinned”, “to be a sinner / to belong to the club”.

Iuvat: it is pleasant, it is nice, it's fun. With an infinitive clause. She's not sorry that she didn't keep in line. [24].

Vultus componere: “to arrange one's face(s)”, to behave earnestly, to keep up appearances (?). Ovid has the expression in the same context as Sulpicia: consedere simul Pudor et Metus. Omne videres / numen ad hanc vultus composuisse suos.[25]

What does Sulpicia mean? It all depends on the context in which fama has to be read. Famae is a dative of purpose: for, in view of my/his(?) reputation. Fama is, as in v.2, the reputation, that what “they (will) say”. The question is who “they” are: “people” or her/his comrades, in other words: is she concerned with a reputation as a member of an important roman family, or with an “image” among friends[26]. This may give a completely different sense to vultus componere!

Cum can be a preposition with digno or a conjunction (cum historicum) with ferar.

Digno can be an ablative with cum or with digna. Does a dative with esse (= habere ?) come into account? Dignus [+ ablative] means worth(y) on account of qualities (dignum esse >< merere: idem, but on account of work or merit), worth(y) of something or someone, according to rank or position: proper, decent, appropriate, ... Not dignus itself, but the ablative determines the exact sense.[27]

Digno digna [28] thus means“worthy of a worthy (boy)”, and it is impossible for us to grasp the meaning of that. Sense: “I behaved as he behaved” - I was good because he was good - I was bad because he was bad - I was shy because he was shy - I did nothing because he did nothing - I behaved according to my rank and so did he.

Fuisse with digno as a dative : “that a worthy partner has had me as a worthy partner” - with cum digno: “that I behaved worthily with a worthy partner” with the connotation perhaps “fuisse cum” equalling “to sleep with” - with digno digna (see previous) of digna... The choice is, again, ours.

Ferre is “to pass (a message) orally”, to tell around, to transmit (from generation to generation)[29].

With ferar Sulpicia made her final point. That is destined to remain perfectly unclear to any outlier, probably also to the one who was trying to lay hold on their correspondance. Only her boy knew the exact meaning of pecasse and digno because he alone knew what had really happened and thus what these words referred to. And we, the outliers “by excellence”, don't even know if ferar was a wish or a reality...

Notes

1. Comp. with Tib., II.5.7-10: [...]: nunc indue vestem / sepositam, longas nunc bene pecte comas,/ qualem te memorant Saturno rege fugato / victori laudes concinuisse Iovi. | III.4.29: Candor erat, qualem praefert Latonia Luna, [...]. text

2. Comp. with Tib., III.6.12 text

2.a. Ernout-Thomas, § 90. The use of a dative with verbs meaning “to hide” is rare but there are some examples (f.e. latere, to be concealed, unknown to, in Cic., post reditum, 6.13 and Silius Italicus, 12.614). text

3. Comp. with Tib., I.3.83-84: at tu casta precor maneas, sanctique pudoris / adsideat custos sedula semper anus. [= chastity] and III.2.7: nec mihi vera loqui pudor est vitaeque fateri [...] [= shame]. text

4. The construction texisse quam nudasse simply asks for a verb such as praestat, malo, etc. [F.e.: accipere quam facere praestat iniuriam (Cicero, Tusc., 5.56. - other examples in Ernout-Thomas, §196 and 354]. This meaning we find in sit mihi fama magis, that may be paraphrased as me ferri praestat or (the omission of the accusative being classic with velle, nolle, malle,...) ego ferri malo. In my opinion this solution offers the least complicated interpretation; it is not the only one (e.g. pudori and/or alicui as dative with sit, mihi as dative of reference- cfr. also Bradley's commentary). Comp. with Tib., II.3, 29-32: Felices olim, Veneri cum fertur aperte / servire aeternos non puduisse deos. / Fabula nunc ille est, sed cui sua cura puella est, / fabula sit mavult quam sine amore deus. The particular use of fama est may be illustrated by some examples of Ovid: Saepe suas illi fama est dixisse sorores (Met., 4.305), Numine decepto risisse Galanthida fama est. (Met., 9.316), Nunc quoque Dardaniam fama est consurgere Romam, [...] (Met., 15.431). Notice the particulars of Caesar's : Trans Rhenum ad Germanos pervenit fama diripi Eburones atque ultro omnes ad praedam evocari. (B.Gall., 6.35.4). text

5. Comp. with rumor in Tib., III.20/IV.14.
Fear of being laughed at by the others is typical for the boy or girl in love, cfr. e.g. Tib., I.4.83-84: Parce, puer, quaeso, ne turpis fabula fiam, / cum mea ridebunt vana magisteria. See also Catullus, 78.a, 80.5-6. text

5.a.. See St. HINDS, Allusion and intertext, Cambridge, 1998, 1-10.text

6. Comp. with Tib., III.19/IV.13.7-8: Nil opus invidia est, procul absit gloria vulgi: / qui sapit, in tacito gaudeat ipse sinu. Cfr. also Propertius, II.25.29-30: Tu tamen interea, quamvis te diligat illa, / in tacito cohibe gaudia clausa sinu. text

7. Comp. with (perhaps) Tib., III.15/IV.9.3: omnibus ille dies nobis natalis agatur, ... text

7.a. A similar connotation of Greek ~ learned, refined versus Latin ~ brutal, not refined perhaps in Pliny, Ep.I.6 (to Tacitus about a hunt): [...] ut, si manus vacuas (without any game), plenas tamen ceras (but with a full notepad) reportarem. (wordplay: cêras: wax(tablets) ~ cheîras: hands).

8. Paneg., 24: at quodcumque meae poterunt audere Camenae, and 191: non te deficient nostrae memorare Camenae. text

9. Examples are Tibullus, Eleg. , III.9, 10, 12 and 11 (the Garland of Sulpicia). Comp. with III.11/IV.5. 13-20. Nec tu sis iniusta, Venus. Vel serviat aeque / vinctus uterque tibi, vel mea vincla leva./(...) / Optat idem iuvenis quod nos, sed tectius optat: / Nam pudet haec illum dicere verba palam. / At tu, Natalis, quoniam deus omnia sentis, /adnue: quid refert, clamne palamne roget? Comp. also II.4.15-20: ite procul, Musae, si non prodestis amanti: / non ego vos ut sint bella canenda colo,/ (...) / ad dominam faciles aditus per carmina quaero: / ite procul, Musae, si nihil ista valent. text

10. The contrast with Tib., I.6.59-60 is striking: haec (= tua mater) mihi te adducit tenebris multoque timore / coniungit nostras clam taciturna manus: ... text

11. Comp. the image with Tib., I.1.31-32: ... non agnamve sinu pigeat fetumve capellae / desertum oblita matre referre domum. and I.5.25-26: Consuescet numerare pecus, consuescet amantis /garrulus in dominae ludere verna sinu. Also Tib., I.1.45-46: quam iuvat immites ventos audire cubantem /et dominam tenero continuisse sinu. (Comp. with I.2.73-74: et te dum liceat teneris retinere lacertis / mollis et inculta sit mihi somnus humo.) Furthermore Tib., I.8.35-36: at Venus inveniet puero concumbere furtim / dum timet et teneros conserit usque sinus. III.3.7-8: ... sed tecum ut longae sociarem gaudia vitae / inque tuo caderet nostra senecta sinu, ... III.8/IV.3.23-24: at tu venandi studium concede parenti / et celer in nostros ipse recurre sinus. text

12. See Tib., II.6.49-50: saepe, ubi nox mihi promissa est, languere puellam / nuntiat aut aliquas extimuisse minas. text

13. Comp. with Tib., III.6,47-48: etsi perque suos fallax iuravit ocellos / Iunonemque suam perque suam Venerem, (...) [Venus mea]. Comp. [the stop after mea gaudia] with Tib., I.4.71-72: blanditiis vult esse locum Venus ipsa. Querelis,/supplicibus miseris, fletibus illa favet. text

14. See Tib., I.5.39-40: saepe aliam tenui, sed iam cum gaudia adirem / admonuit dominae deseruitque venus., II.1.11-12: vos quoque abesse procul iubeo, discedat ab aris, cui tulit hesterna gaudia nocte venus., 3.71-72: tunc, quibus aspirabat Amor, praebebat aperte /mitis in umbrosa gaudia valle venus. III.9/IV.3.19: (...) ne veneris cupidae gaudia turbet aper. Further: I.6.14, 8.57, 9.76, III.19/IV.13.2 and 14. Comp. with Catullus, 68.23-24.
As to Venus being the planet Venus, compare with Horace's well known images (Od., I.5.5-8) of the sky in springtime: Iam Cytherea choros ducit imminente Luna [conjunction Venus - moon?] iunctaeque Nymphis Gratiae decentes alterno terram quatiunt pede dum graves Cyclopum Volcanus ardens visit officinas. text

15. Comp. with Tib, I.2.65-66: ferreus ille fuit qui, te cum posset [A: possit] habere, / maluerit praedas stultus et arma sequi. Also compare with Tib., II.3.29-30, where deos is pre-modified by felices and aeternos text

16. Other examples of a distich introduced by Non ego are Tib., I.1.41, 57; 2.63: Non ego totus abesset amor, sed mutuus esset / orabam, nec te posse carere velim. and 83-87; 6.73-74: non ego te pulsare velim, ...; III.6.59-61. Compare also with I.4.7: Sic ego. Tum Bacchi respondit rustica proles... text

17. Comp. with Tib., I.3.25-26: quidve pie dum [A: deum] sacra colis, pureque lavari / te memini, et puro secubuisse toro. text

17.a. Comp. with Tib., I.2.2: occupet ut fessi lumina victa sopor. text

18. Venio would have this result: legat id meus antequam venio. May I present a conjecture of my own? This gives a fine result: legat id nescio quam (or: quem) meus ante velim = legat id meus ante nescio quam/quem. (Comp. with Tib., I.6.5-6: (...) iam Delia furtim / nescio quem tacita callida nocte fovet.) text

19. Comp. with Tib., II.6.45-46: Lena necat [A: vetat] miserum Phryne furtimque tabellas / occulto portans itque reditque sinu. Cicero's correspondance has numerous examples of the pueri bringing him letters and sometimes waiting for the answer. The supersticious puer in Tib., 1.3.11-12, also is the errand-boy of his mistress Delia, reporting her ex triviis the omina he picked up. text

20. Comp. with Tib., III.20/IV.14: nunc ego me surdis auribus esse velim. text

21. F.e. previous note and Velim ne intermittas. or Quam vellem Romae mansisses ! (Ernout-Thomas, p. 241). See f.e. also Catullus, 68.37-38. This poem has some interesting lines (45-46) that might throw some light on what Sulpicia had in mind: Sed dicam vobis, vos porro dicite multis / milibus et facite haec carta loquatur anus. text

22. Comp. with Tib., I.6.71: et si quid peccasse putet, ducarque capillis (...) III.20/IV.14: Rumor ait crebro nostram peccare puellam. text

23. This poem is on its own a perfect illustration of Ernout-Thomas, § 274. Comp. with Tib., I.1.45: quam iuvat immites ventos audire cubantem /et dominam tenero continuisse sinu.; 2.27-28; 4.47: nec te paeniteat duros subiisse labores / aut opera insuetas atteruisse manus.; 6.3-4: (...) an gloria magna est / insidias homini composuisse deum ?;6.24: tunc mihi non oculis sit timuisse meis.; 8.25-26: sed corpus tetigisse nocet, sed longa dedisse / oscula, sed femori conseruisse femur.; 9.30: (...): nunc me flevisse loquentem, / nunc pudet ad teneros procubuisse pedes. Many other instances may be found in other footnotes. text

24. Comp. with Tib., III.11/IV.5.5-6: uror ego ante alias: iuvat hoc, Cerinthe, quod uror, / si tibi de nobis mutuus ignis adest. text

25. Fasti, 5.29-30. text

26. Comp. with Tib., III.15/IV.9: omnibus ille dies nobis natalis agatur. There is some difficulty about omnibus nobis (the whole second distich is generally regarded upon as corrupt). The sense is quite clear: that birthday should be spend with everyone. Dative? Read Ernout-Thomas, § 95, especially Note. Ablative ? Comp. with e.g. Romulus in caelo cum dis agit aevum. text

27. Iuvenes patre digni - dignus domino servus - vir patre, avo, maioribus dignus may have either a positive or a negative connotation, depending on the context they are used in. Comp. e.g. the fluctuating meaning in Tib., III.1.7-8: Carmine formosae, pretio capiuntur avarae / gaudeat ut digna est versibus illa novis. text

28. Compare the composition with e.g. Tib., I.9.80: et geret in regno regna superba tuo. Compare the meaning with e.g. Vergil's well known illum absens absentem auditque videtque (Aeneis, IV.83). text

29. Comp. with Tib., I.8.73: Saepe etiam lacrimas fertur risisse dolentis (...), 9.61-62: Illam saepe ferunt convivia ducere baccho, /dum rota Luciferi provocat orta diem. See Catullus, 69: laedit te quaedam mala fabula, qua tibi fertur / valle sub alarum trux habitare caper. text