ABSTRACT
This poem begins as the statement of a contrast between the life of the contented farmer and the hectic existence of the soldier, but rapidly becomes more complex [40–42]. What poses as artless nonchalance is in fact a carefully crafted interweaving of ideas and poetic language. The initial basis of the contrast is labor. But the idea that the farmer does less labor than the soldier rapidly appears absurd as the poet enumerates the various tasks it would not shame him to do (nec … pudeat, line 29). Manual labor was not something a member of the equestrian order would normally undertake. The frequent use of the optative subjunctive emphasizes the dreamlike quality of the fantasy of rural contentment. The emphasis on the simplicity of rural religious piety is typically Tibullan.
