ilium vidi tantum: nec avara Tibullo
Tempus amicitiae fata dedere meae.
Successor fuit hic tibi, Galle; Propertius illi:
Quartus ab his serie temporis ipse fui.
Utque ego majores, sic me coluere minores.

(187) Virgil I only saw, and envious fate
Did soon my friend Tibullus hence translate.
He followed Gallus, and Propertius him,
And I myself was fourth in course of time.--Catlin.

As both Ovid and Tibullus lived at Rome, were both of the equestrian
order, and of congenial dispositions, it is natural to suppose that their
acquaintance commenced at an early period; and if, after all, it was of
short duration, there would be no improbability in concluding, that
Tibullus died at the age of some years under thirty. It is evident,
however, that biographers have committed a mistake with regard to the
birth of this poet; for in the passage above cited of the Tristia, Ovid
mentions Tibullus as a writer, who, though his contemporary, was much
older than himself. From this passage we should be justified in placing
the death of Tibullus between the fortieth and fiftieth year of his age,
and rather nearer to the latter period; for, otherwise, Horace would
scarcely have mentioned him in the manner he does in one of his epistles.

Albi, nostrorum sermonum candide judex,
Quid nunc te dicam facere in regione Pedana?
Scribere quod Cassi Parmensis opuscula vincat;
An tacitum silvas inter reptare salubres,
Curantem quicquid dignam sapiente bonoque est?--Epist. i. 4.

Albius, in whom my satires find
A critic, candid, just, and kind,
Do you, while at your country seat,
Some rhyming labours meditate,
That shall in volumed bulk arise,
And e'en from Cassius bear the prize;
Or saunter through the silent wood,
Musing on what befits the good.--Francis.

This supposition is in no degree inconsistent with the authority of Ovid,
where he mentions him as a young man; for the Romans extended the period
of youth to the fiftieth year.----

PROPERTIUS was born at Mevania, a town of Umbria, seated at the
confluence of the Tina and Clitumnus. This place was famous for its
herds of white cattle, brought up there for sacrifice, and supposed to be
impregnated with that colour by the waters of the river last mentioned.

Hinc albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus
Victima, saepe tuo perfusi fluorine sacro,
Romanos