The verb tego, which includes a primary feeling of ‘conceal’ (Dated s.v. tego 1), frequently mode ‘clothe’ (Dated s.v. tego 3) and you may certainly include that it resonance in the pointed juxtaposition having nudasse, of nudo, ‘build nude, divest’ (Dated s.v. nudo step one). This new poem and so announces ‘dress’ – or rather ‘undress’ – because the a polyvalent figure getting Sulpicia’s elegiac poetics. According to the amatory system of modern Latin elegy Sulpicia benefits erotic, socially given up undress more than recognized, socially conformist skirt particularly manage suit the face she ‘leaves on’ having people, just like the she says about poem’s final couplet (vultus componere famae | taedet, ‘I am fed up with composing a nose and mouth mask to own rumour,’ step 3.thirteen.9–10). Of the declaring from metaphor off disrobing the woman intention to put the girl amatory passages into the movement, Sulpicia integrates two seem to compared
With the one hand, nudity is the attribute characteristic out-of Amor, tutelary goddess out-of Latin erotic elegy and you will patron of your own elegiac poetlover
193 Sartorial Appeal and you may Poetic Finesse about Sulpician Corpus elegiac top codes. Propertius, like, rebukes their domme on her need for expensive clothing and make-up with the latest observation that the nude god doesn’t trust forcibly enhanced charm (nudus Amor formae non amat artificem, step 1.dos.8). Similarly Ovid contends one, though he may lack the wide range and you will higher origin to help you attract his domme, most other characteristics – together with his blameless reputation, open honesty, and you will blushing modesty – will be commend him so you can their (Am. 1.step three.7–14): si me low veterum commendant magna parentum nomina, si nostri sanguinis auctor citas religiosa eques, nec meus innumeris repus aratris, temperat et sumptus parcus uterque parens: during the Phoebus comitesque novem vitisque repertor hac faciunt ainsi que myself qui tibi donat Amor ainsi que nulli cessura fides, sine crimine mores, nudaque simplicitas purpureusque pudor. In case the high labels from my personal old forefathers do not recommend me personally, in the event the author of all of our descent are a keen equestrian, neither is actually my personal house renewed having a lot of ploughs, each father or mother frugally husbands expenses, nevertheless Apollo, the fresh 9 Muses, their companions, and you may Dionysus, discoverer of the vine, bring my region and Love which offers us to you, support that may yield to nothing, a character instead blemish, unlock sincerity, and you may blushing modesty.
Weighed against the fresh nakedness of elegy’s patron deity Amor and the brand new discover trustworthiness of the elegiac poet-mate, simultaneously, really stands new elegiac mistress’s antique love of magnificent clothes and expensive adornment
Ovid right here elaborates the latest moral out of Propertius 1.dos.twelve so you can articulate a connection between new elegiac poet’s simple status and also the elegiac lover’s nude emotion, in which he could possibly get and therefore mean that the fresh elegiac poet-mate observe Amor’s example inside eschewing costume. Propertius refers to his girlfriend clothed in all the girl 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 in the propriis membra nitere bonis?
194 Alison Keith As to why, my entire life, are you willing to contentment to walk aside together with your tresses themed and you can rustle the latest thin retracts of Coan clothes, or perhaps to immerse hair with Syrian myrrh and sell yourself for overseas gifts, marring their natural splendor by buying adornment rather than enabling your own branches to glow the help of its inborn charms?
Myrrh and you may Coan ‘silk’ was in fact pricey eastern luxury imports at Rome, the former a keen Arabian item offered by way of Syrian trading, the latter brought with the island off Cos by spinning new filaments out-of an effective caterpillar just as the Chinese silkworm.step one Because Coan silk was also almost transparent (cf. Hor. Seated. step 1.dos.101–103), it stated new wearer’s sexual access (a feature that, paradoxically, aligns this new elegist’s spouse that have Amor). this new poem’s concluding line, taedia dum miserae sint tibi luxuriae, ‘provided that the wretched luxuries confirm tedious to you personally,’ 1.2.32), the guy somewhere else claims that the refinement of her gown inspires their slight elegiac verse (2.step 1.3–8): low haec Calliope, low haec mihi cantat Apollo, ingenium nobis ipsa puella facit. sive illam Cois fulgentem incedere †cogis† hac totum age Coa veste volumen erit; seu vidi advertisement frontem sparsos errare capillos, gaudet laudatis ire superba comis; Calliope does not play these audio in my experience, nor Apollo. My personal wife furnishes our motivation. For those who force her to go into glowing when you look at the Coan silks, my whole regularity will walk out inside Coan raiment; or if I have seen the woman drifting together hair spread-over their forehead, she rejoices and you may treks aside arrogantly whenever I’ve praised her hairdo.