Quicumque Meos Violavit Amores: Romantic Roadblocks and the Inmates of Tartarus in Tibullus 1.3

Abstract

ABSTRACT:One common thesis on the underworld of Tibullus 1.3 suggests that the elegist casts the prisoners of Tartarus as enemies of love. In this article, I argue that the residents of Hades correspond not to nebulous obstacles between Tibullus and Delia but rather to precise character types readers encounter throughout the elegies. I consider specific verbal correspondences in book 1 of Tibullus to highlight parallels between Tityos and the farmer–soldier, the Danaids and Delia, Cerberus and the custos, Tantalus and the rival pederast, Tisiphone and the lena, and Ixion and the dives amator.