The latest verb tego, with a primary feeling of ‘conceal’ (Old s.v. tego step 1), appear to form ‘clothe’ (Dated s.v. tego step 3) and clearly includes that it resonance in their pointed juxtaposition with nudasse, off nudo, ‘generate naked, divest’ (Old s.v. nudo step 1). The new poem and thus announces ‘dress’ – or rather ‘undress’ – while the a good polyvalent contour to possess Sulpicia’s elegiac poetics. According to the amatory program of modern Latin elegy Sulpicia privileges sexual, socially abandoned strip down more than recognized, socially conformist dress such create suit that person she ‘puts on’ to own people, while the she says about poem’s latest couplet (vultus componere famae | taedet, ‘I am sick and tired of creating a nose and mouth mask having rumour,’ 3.thirteen.9–10). By the expressing from the metaphor off disrobing their purpose to place the girl amatory passages on flow, Sulpicia integrates several seem to compared

Compared with the fresh nakedness of elegy’s patron deity Amor and you may the brand new discover honesty of your elegiac poet-lover, at exactly the same time, really stands the elegiac mistress’s old-fashioned love of magnificent gowns and you can pricey adornment

193 Sartorial Elegance and you will Poetic Finesse regarding the Sulpician Corpus elegiac skirt rules. Propertius, such as, rebukes their domme on her demand for expensive dresses and work out-with this new observation that the nude god doesn’t honor artificially improved charm (nudus Amor formae non amat artificem, 1.2.8). Similarly Ovid contends you to, regardless of if he might lack the money and you will large ancestry to attract their domme, most other properties – and additionally his blameless profile, discover honesty, and you may blushing modesty – is commend your to her (Am. step hoe iemand een bericht te sturen op swingstown 1.step 3.7–14): au moment ou myself low veterum commendant magna parentum nomina, quand nostri sanguinis auctor eques, nec meus innumeris repus aratris, temperat mais aussi sumptus parcus uterque parens: in the Phoebus comitesque novem vitisque repertor hac faciunt et me qui tibi donat Amor ainsi que nulli cessura fides, sine crimine mores, nudaque simplicitas purpureusque pudor. In case the great names out of my personal old forefathers don’t strongly recommend me, in the event the author of our origin was a keen equestrian, neither are my house revived that have most ploughs, and each parent frugally husbands bills, nonetheless Apollo, this new 9 Muses, his companions, and you may Dionysus, discoverer of the vine, just take my region and Love whom gives us to your, commitment which can yield to none, a character instead blemish, open honesty, and you will blushing modesty.

Ovid here elaborates new ethical out of Propertius 1.dos.several so you’re able to articulate a link between the brand new elegiac poet’s very humble position therefore the elegiac partner’s naked feelings, and then he will get thereby mean that the fresh elegiac poet-companion pursue Amor’s example in the eschewing fancy-dress. Propertius makes reference to their wife decked out in all her finery (1.2.1–6): quid iuvat ornato procedere, vita, capillo ainsi que tenuis Coa veste movere sinus, aut quid Orontea crinis perfundere murra, teque peregrinis vendere muneribus, naturaeque decus mercato perdere cultu, nec sinere from inside the propriis membra nitere bonis?

On one-hand, nudity ‘s the characteristic feature of Amor, tutelary deity out-of Latin sexual elegy and you will patron of your own elegiac poetlover

194 Alison Keith Why, my entire life, can you happiness to walk aside with your hair inspired and you will rustle the slim retracts of one’s Coan clothes, or perhaps to drench the hair on your head having Syrian myrrh and sell on your own to possess foreign gift suggestions, marring their charm by purchasing decoration rather than making it possible for the branches in order to shine with the natural appeal?

Myrrh and you will Coan ‘silk’ had been expensive eastern deluxe imports on Rome, the previous a keen Arabian item offered through Syrian change, aforementioned lead towards the area out of Cos of the spinning the fresh filaments of a great caterpillar just like the Chinese silkworm.1 Because Coan silk has also been almost clear (cf. Hor. Sat. 1.2.101–103), they claimed the fresh new wearer’s intimate availableness (an element you to, paradoxically, aligns the fresh new elegist’s partner having Amor). the brand new poem’s concluding line, taedia dum miserae sint tibi luxuriae, ‘provided that your wretched luxuries show boring to you personally,’ step one.dos.32), the guy in other places asserts that the refinement away from her gown motivates their understated elegiac verse (dos.1.3–8): low haec Calliope, low haec mihi cantat Apollo, ingenium nobis ipsa puella facit. sive illam Cois fulgentem incedere †cogis† hac totum elizabeth Coa veste volumen erit; seu vidi advertisement frontem sparsos errare capillos, gaudet laudatis ire superba comis; Calliope does not sing these audio for me, neither Apollo. My personal wife furnishes all of our inspiration. If you compel the lady to enter glowing into the Coan silks, my entire volume commonly step out into the Coan raiment; or if I’ve seen this lady drifting along with her locks spread-over the woman temple, she rejoices and you will guides aside arrogantly when I’ve praised the woman hairdo.