Primum non otiari: due riprese tibulliane in Ov. rem. 135-150

The article explores two clear references to Tibullus in Ov. rem. 135-150, a passage in which the praeceptor prescribes abstinence from idleness as the first antidote to the pain of love. A first point of contact is between rem. 139-140 (eliminating otium will remove Cupid’s arrows and torches, his conventional weapons) and Tib. 2, 6, 5-6 (noting that Macer is enlisting in the army, Tibullus invites the god to take action against those who seek to escape his peaceful banners to fight under bloody ones); 15-16 (the exclusus amator, unable to find a remedium amoris in militia, rails against Amor and his attributes). The destruction of Cupid’s weapons, i.e. recovery, will be a reality for Ovid’s patient/ learner if he adheres to the therapy/precept of keeping himself busy; for Tibullus’ elegiac ego, however, this victory remains a desideratum. Ov. rem. 146, on the other hand, enters into dialogue with Tib. 1, 2, 3: drunkenness, invoked as an anaesthetic by Tibullus’ amans, which will find respite for a short time, becomes a characteristic feature of a dissolute existence that predisposes one to fall into the trap of love from the point of view of the teacher Ovid. It seems that Ovid appropriates and repurposes a corpus that is familiar to him verse by verse, and which he considers to be the embodiment of the elegiac genre, adapting it to his own contingent needs.