Tigellius

Tigellius (1st century BC – 40 BC), was a lyric poet during the time of Julius Caesar. The little information we have about him derives from the Satires of Horace and some letters of Cicero. From them we know that he was a Sardinian, a fine singer and a close friend of Julius Caesar.[1]

Tigellius
BornTigellius Hermogenes
1st century BC
Sardinia, Province of Corsica and Sardinia, Roman Republic
Died40 BC
Rome
Resting placeRome
OccupationSinger, poet
LanguageLatin
NationalityRoman
GenreLyric poetry

Identification

Some scholia identified Tigellius with Tigellius Hermogenes mentioned in other parts of the Satires. Such identification was rejected by André Dacier, in his edition of the works of Horace, but few scholars agreed with him until Karl Kirchner presented a detailed argument for the interpretation of Dacier.[2] According to Berthold Ullman however, the version of the scholiasts can not be excluded nor Kirchner's arguments are irrefutable. The Tigellius mentioned in some verses of Satires is in fact the same mentioned by Cicero in some of his letters.[3]

Cicero, Horace and Licinius Macer Calvus used to call him either Tigellius or Sardus Tigellius ("Tigellius the Sardinian"), and never Hermogenes. Cicero spoke ill of Tigellius, stating "it is a clear gain to be free from the society of this Sardinian, who is even more pestiferous than his own homeland (pestilentiorem patria sua)".[4] Nevertheless, it is very likely that Hermogenes is the name of the Sardinian Tigellius. The combination of a Roman name and a Greek surname also reveals that he is a freedman.[5]

Bibliography
  • Karl Kirchner, Questiones horatianae, Leipzig, 1834
  • Berthold Ullman, Horace, Catullus, and Tigellius, Classical Philology Vol. 10, No. 3, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago Jul. 1915, pp. 270–296

Notes
  1. Berthold Ullman, Horace, Catullus, and Tigellius, Classical Philology Vol. 10, No. 3, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago Jul. 1915, p. 271
  2. De utroque Tigellio in Karl Kirchner, Questiones horatianae, Leipzig, 1834
  3. B. Ullman, cit., p. 270
  4. Mastino, Attilio (2005). Storia della Sardegna antica, Edizioni Il Maestrale, pp.114
  5. B. Ullman, cit., p. 271
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