He was of equestrian rank, and at one time possessed considerable wealth, apparently inherited from a long line of ancestors; i. 1, 41,
‘Non ego divitias patrum fructusque requiro
quos tulit antiquo condita messis avo.’
Cf. ii. 1, 1; ii. 4, 53; Hor. Ep. i. 4, 7,
‘Di tibi divitias dederunt.’
His family property, however, had been greatly diminished; i. 1, 19,
‘Vos quoque, felicis quondam nunc pauperis agri
custodes, fertis munera vestra, lares:
tunc vitula innumeros lustrabat caesa iuvencos;
nunc agna exigui est hostia parva soli.’
Cf. i. 1, 5 and 37.
It has been supposed that Tibullus suffered these losses in the agrarian disturbances of B.C. 41, and that his lands, like those of Virgil and Propertius, were confiscated. No town in Latium, however, is mentioned by Appian as having its territory thus assigned. Tibullus’ property may possibly have been restored to him through the influence of Messalla.[65] Cf. Hor. Ep. i. 4, 11,
‘Et mundus victus non deficiente crumena’;
also Tibull. i. 1, 77,