SOURCE: "Tibullus: Elegy 1.3," Yale Classical Studies, Vol. XXIII, 1973, pp. 147-57.

In the following essay, Campbell argues that Tibullus has been incorrectly interpreted by many critics due to the use of faulty criteria in their evaluations.

One of the most frequent errors made by critics who would defend Tibullus' poetry is the acceptance of the very standards of judgement which led earlier critics to attack it. Because they continue to ask the same, wrong questions about a poem, they should not be surprised to arrive at the same, wrong answers. The resulting conflict between an intuitive admiration for Tibullus and a negative judgement based upon the observation of apparent flaws had led even his staunchest defenders to make statements like the following:

La malchance de notre poete, c'est que, chez lui, les imperfections apparaissent au premier regard, alors qu'il faut quelque examen pour discerner les perfections.¹

The price of...