Author: TIBULLUS
Biography:
TIBULLUS, Albius (c. 54-19 BCE: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
A Roman writer known for his poems in elegiac metre, he was born to a wealthy family but lost most of his estate in 41 BCE to the confiscations of Antony and Octavian. He was allowed, however, to keep part of the land and the family home, and for most of his life divided his time between Rome and the country estate. Two books of his verses, known as “Delia” and “Nemesis” for the mistresses celebrated in them, were published in his lifetime; two further books, posthumously published, have little or no authority. Horace (q.v.) was a friend. He participated in a literary circle around his friend and patron M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, and is believed to have accompanied Messala on at least one military expedition into Asia, about 28 BCE. He died of unknown causes in 19 BCE and was memorialised in an elegy by Ovid, q.v. Of the two English translators listed here, Richard Whiffin has a separate headnote. Samuel Henley (1740-1815) was born in Devon. No records have been found of his early years. He was ordained in 1769 before being admitted to Queens’ College, Cambridge, in Nov. 1770. Shortly after that he spent five years as Professor of Moral Philosophy at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, US. On his return he became a master at Harrow school and curate at Northam, Middlesex. On 10 June 1780 he married Susanna Figgins, with whom he had four children. In 1782 he was made Rector of Rendlesham, Suffolk, a living he held until the end of his life. Henley published extensively: religious treatises, classical and antiquarian researches (he was elected F.R.S. in 1778), and, remarkably, an English translation of William Beckford’s Vathek (1786) that appeared before the French original. He also contributed hundreds of notes to editions of Shakespeare. He was a dedicated textual scholar. The MR review of his sample of a translation of Tibullus on new principles was lukewarm about his verse but complimented the display of learning in the notes. Henley received a Lambeth DD in 1806. He was then appointed principal of the new EIC college at Haileybury, Hertfordshire, a position he retired from in Jan. 1815. He died on 29 Dec. 1815. (Encyclopaedia Britannica [1911] 26: 930-1; Hervey; ODNB 5 June 2025; findmypast.com 5 June 2025; CCEd 5 June 2025) HJ