SOURCE: "Tibullus 2.6: A New Interpretation," Classical Philology, Vol. LXII, No. 3, July, 1967, pp. 163-68.

In the following essay, O 'Neil considers the question of Macer's identity in Tibullus 2.6 and contends that the poem refers not to a journey, but to a literary plan.

The sixth and concluding elegy of Tibullus' second book opens with the words:²

Castra Macer sequitur: tenero quid fiet Amori?
  sit comes et collo fortiter arma gerat?
 et seu longa virum terrae via seu vaga ducent
  aequora, cum telis ad latus ire volet?
 ure, puer, quaeso, tua qui ferus otia liquit
  atque iterum erronem sub tua signa voca
 [1-6].

The main problem presented by these verses is concerned with Macer's identity. A second—and yet, in the final analysis, perhaps a more important consideration—is the correct interpretation of the opening passage and of the poem as a whole.

The purpose of this paper is twofold...