The longest poem (2.5) is a celebration of the appointment of Messalinus, son of Tibullus's patron Messalla, to an important religious post.
All the poems of the book are built according to a chiastic pattern (also known as ring composition), as Murgatroyd demonstrates in his commentary.
These include, for example, clothes made of Coan silk interwoven with gold threads; a retinue of black slaves; fabrics dyed with north African and Tyrian purple (2.3.50–78).
Nemesis has a lena (a procuress) called Phryne who arranges encounters with other wealthier lovers and keeps Tibullus waiting outside (2.6.43–54).
[8] According to a suggestion made by Leah Kronenberg, Macer ('the thin one') might be a pen-name for the poet Valgius Rufus, a friend of Messalla and a member of his circle.
[8] Whether the phrase castra sequitur 'he is following the camp' means that Macer was really departing on a military campaign or whether it refers metaphorically to a change to writing epic poetry is unknown.
The poet sings a hymn celebrating a rural festival, probably the lustratio agri ("blessing of the farm"), taking on the role of a priest or vates ("seer").
[11] Spyridon Tzounakas (2013) argues that this poem is more than a simple description of country life but sets forth Tibullus's poetic ideals as well.
There are multiple allusions to Hellenistic epigram, Vergil's Eclogues, Lucretius' De Rerum Natura and Vergil's Georgics and even reference to stock themes of comedy in lines 2.1.73-74, as if Tibullus is seeking to place his poetry in the poetic tradition.
[9] In lines 2.1.67–71, Tibullus defends his preference to make the countryside a major part of his book of love-poetry by arguing that Cupid first began his activities in a rural setting.
[12] The song celebrating the countryside in lines 37–66 itself has a chiastic structure, in that the words cano, pellere, compositis, primum, rura, rure, verno, flores, agricola, primum, satiatus, cantavit in the first half are echoed by the same or similar words in reverse order in the second half, making a pleasing balance.
The poem as a whole is a ring composition, beginning and ending with the birthday god Natalis and the words venit, veniat 'he comes, may it come'.
The central section of the poem (lines 11–16) is Tibullus's prediction that Cornutus will pray for a faithful wife who is to be preferred to vast estates and rubies and pearls.
): In Eclogue 10 Virgil depicts the poet Gallus as grieving for his girlfriend Lycoris, who has gone off with a rich soldier.
The fact that this poem is addressed to Cornutus perhaps indicates that Tibullus is warning his friend of the ruinous expense of keeping a courtesan, and reinforcing his advice in 2.2 to get married.
As with other poems in this book, the structure is chiastic: the first 32 lines and the last 20 (61–80) speak of the countryside, framing the central part (33–60), which speaks of non-rustic matters, namely a denunciation of the poet's wealthy rival and Tibullus's despair that Nemesis demands such expensive gifts.
[16] In both the first ten lines and the last four[17] Tibullus speaks of his willingness to work as a slave in the fields, provided that he can get a glimpse of Nemesis.
[3] For example, Tibullus is burnt by the sun in 3.9, but by Love in 4.5; the ineffectiveness of poetry and song in winning over one's lover occurs in 3.12 and 4.13; money is obtained by fighting wars in 3.36–46 or through murder and crime in 4.21–26; Coan silk and Tyrian purple are mentioned in 3.53–58 and in 4.27–30; both poems end with Tibullus agreeing to submit to whatever his mistress wishes.
[18] The centre of the poem according to this scheme is lines 39–44, in which Tibullus warns Nemesis that she will be punished bitterly in future if she only gives love in return for presents.
Poem 2.5 honours Messalinus, eldest son of Tibullus's patron Messalla, on the occasion of his appointment to the Quindecimviri sacris faciundis, a college of priests whose main function was to guard the prophetic Sibylline books.
[24] As Cicero points out in his book de Divinatione (2.111–112), acrostics were a regular feature of Sibylline oracles.
[28] This poem belongs to the type known as a paraclausithyron (a complaint made by a lover outside a mistress's locked door), which was common in ancient love-poetry.
The central section of the poem in Murgatroyd's analysis is 19–28, a hymn to the goddess Hope, with an anaphora of the word Spes 'Hope', repeated five times.