The poet and the senator. The character of Messalla in Tibullus' poetry

This paper concerns the 'character' of Messalla in Tibullus' poetry and his transformations in the first and in the second book of Elegies; at first, he is a protagonist of military actions, then a triumphator, finally a benefactor of his community and a paterfamilias pleased with the success of his descendants. Tibullus' portrait of Messalla is consistent with long-established senatorial paradigms but also neatly encapsulates the gradual 'Augustan integration' of the nobilis, marginalized both in literary text and in political life.