Pastorizia ed elegia: la Lebenswahl di Tibullo nel confronto con Properzio

Starting from the textual problem in Tib. 1,2,74 (in solito / in solo monte), this paper examines the theme of Lebenswahl in Latin elegy through a comparative analysis of Tibullus and Propertius, with particular attention to pastoral and agrarian imagery. Tibullus’ elegiac persona is shown to integrate pastoral and georgic models into a coherent vision of life centred on paupertas, rural self-sufficiency, and the aspiration to a quasi-conjugal relationship with Delia, thus attempting an accommodation between elegiac discourse and Augustan moral values. This project, however, ultimately fails, a failure that paradoxically allows Tibullus to remain within the elegiac genre, while presenting himself as ethically aligned with the Augustan mos maiorum. In contrast, Propertius consistently resists the rural and pastoral paradigm, relegating the countryside to a marginal or antagonistic role and reaffirming an urban, anti-conjugal conception of elegiac love.