How to become a soldier of love : the transformation of militia and the poetic program of Tibullus’ 1.1

Abstract

After a difficult initial phase of research, the elegies of Albius Tibullus have received more attention in recent years. Even though research is increasing, many themes of his elegies still seem to be unaddressed. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of Tibullus’ poetic program by looking at the whole of Elegy 1.1 and thus to join the recently growing research on Tibullus’ poetry. In particular the change of the poetic narrator’s militia in connection with its meaning regarding the poetic program will be the focus of the present paper. Elegy 1.1 is admittedly one of the few elegies of Tibullus that has definitely undergone intensive research from the beginning, especially with regard to the poet’s poetic program.