Book III: Elegy the Second: He Died for Love

Tibullus (55 BC–19 BC), translated by Theodore Chickering Williams · 1905

iambic pentameter · ABAB · 32 lines · from The Elegies

Whoe'er from darling bride her husband dearFirst forced to part, had but a heart of stone;And not less hard the man who could appearTo bear such loss and live unloved, alone.

I am but weak in this; such fortitudeMy soul has not; grief breaks my spirit quite.I shame not to declare it is my moodTo sicken of a life such sorrows smite.

When I shall journey to the shadowy land,And over my white bones black ashes be,Beside my pyre let fair Neaera stand,With long, loose locks unbound, lamenting me.

Let her dear mother's grief with hers have share,One mourn a husband, one a son bewail!Then call upon my ghost with holy prayer,And pour ablution o'er their fingers pale.

The white bones, which my body's wreck outlast,Girdled in flowing black they will upbear,Sprinkle with rare, old wine, and gently castIn bath of snowy milk, with pious care.

These will they swathe with linen mantles o'er,And lay unmouldering in their marble bed;Then gift of Arab or Panchaian shore,Assyrian balm and Orient incense shed.

And may they o'er my tomb the gift disburseOf faithful tears, remembering him below;For those cold ashes I have made this verse,That all my doleful way of death may know.

My oft-frequented grave the words shall bear,And all who pass will read with pitying eyes:--"Here Lygdamus, consumed with grief and care"For his lost bride Neaera, hapless lies."

Words in this poem

fortitude n.: Power to resist attack; strength; firmness. [L. fortitudo, fr. fortis strong. See Fort.]
sicken v. t.: To make sick; to disease.
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
pyre n.: A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which the dead are burned; hence, any pile to be burnt. [L. pure, Gr. Fire.]
ghost n.: The spirit; the soul of man. [OE. gast, gost, soul, spirit, AS. gast breath, spirit, soul; akin to OS. g spirit, soul, D. geest, G. geist, and prob. to E. gaze, ghastly.]
outlast v. t.: To exceed in duration; to survive; to endure longer than.
upbear v. t.: To bear up; to raise aloft; to support in an elevated situation; to sustain.
snowy a.: White like snow.
disburse v. t.: To pay out; to expend; -- usually from a public fund or treasury. [OF. desbourser, F. débourser; pref. des- (L. dis- ) + bourse purse. See Burse, and cf. Dispurse.]
pitying a.: Expressing pity; as, a pitying eye, glance, or word.
hapless a.: Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Book III: Elegy the Second: He Died for Love is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Elegies, Project Gutenberg ebook #9610, the Theodore Chickering Williams translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Tibullus, Book III: Elegy the Second: He Died for Love, in The Elegies (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9610, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/tibullus-elegies/book-iii-elegy-the-second-he-died-for-love.html, id L14431.

Form and metre

Book III: Elegy the Second: He Died for Love is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in iambic pentameter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

1 ABAB dear^A · stone^B · appear^A · alone^B
2 ABAB fortitude^A · quite^B · mood^A · smite^B
3 ABAB land^A · be^B · stand^A · me^B
4 ABAB share^A · bewail^B · prayer^A · pale^B
5 ABAB outlast^A · upbear^B · cast^A · care^B
6 ABAB o'er^A · bed^B · shore^A · shed^B
7 ABAB disburse^A · below^B · verse^A · know^B
8 ABAB bear^A · eyes^B · care^A · lies^B

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Whoe'er from darling bride her husband dear	9	··/˘··/˘·
First forced to part, had but a heart of stone;	10	··········
And not less hard the man who could appear	10	········˘/
To bear such loss and live unloved, alone.	10	······˘/˘/
I am but weak in this; such fortitude	10	·······/˘·
My soul has not; grief breaks my spirit quite.	10	·······/˘·
I shame not to declare it is my mood	10	····˘/····
To sicken of a life such sorrows smite.	10	·/˘····/˘·
When I shall journey to the shadowy land,	10	···/˘··/˘·
And over my white bones black ashes be,	10	·······/˘·
Beside my pyre let fair Neaera stand,	10	˘/·/······
With long, loose locks unbound, lamenting me.	10	····˘/˘/˘·
Let her dear mother's grief with hers have share,	10	···/˘·····
One mourn a husband, one a son bewail!	10	···/˘···˘/
Then call upon my ghost with holy prayer,	10	·······/˘·
And pour ablution o'er their fingers pale.	9	······/˘·
The white bones, which my body's wreck outlast,	10	·····/˘·˘/
Girdled in flowing black they will upbear,	10	/˘·/˘···˘/
Sprinkle with rare, old wine, and gently cast	10	/˘·····/˘·
In bath of snowy milk, with pious care.	10	···/˘··/˘·
These will they swathe with linen mantles o'er,	10	·····/˘/˘·
And lay unmouldering in their marble bed;	11	········/˘·
Then gift of Arab or Panchaian shore,	9	···/˘····
Assyrian balm and Orient incense shed.	11	˘/˘··/˘·˘/·
And may they o'er my tomb the gift disburse	10	········˘/
Of faithful tears, remembering him below;	10	·/˘·˘/˘···
For those cold ashes I have made this verse,	10	···/˘·····
That all my doleful way of death may know.	10	···/˘·····
My oft-frequented grave the words shall bear,	10	··/˘˘·····
And all who pass will read with pitying eyes:--	10	·······/˘·
"Here Lygdamus, consumed with grief and care	10	····˘/····
"For his lost bride Neaera, hapless lies."	10	·······/˘·

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

More by Tibullus

The Elegies