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SEXTUS PROPERTIUS
taken from his earlier poems, are characteristic: 1.5.24 nescit amorpriscis cedere
imaginibus 'love cannot yield to ancestral portrait busts'; 1.14.8 nescit amor
magnis cedere diuitiis 'love cannot yield to great wealth'; 2.7.6 deuictae gentes
nil in amore ualent ' conquered nations mean nothing if you are in love'. Here
the three traditional Roman values are summed up and matched against the
irrational force of love. But amor is also close to pietas; Propertius says to
Cyndiia (1.11.23—4) tu miki sola domus, tu, Cynthia, sola parentes: \ omnia tu
nostrae tempora laetitiae 'you alone, Cynthia, are my house; you alone my
parents; you are, for me, every moment of joy'. This love takes the place of all
the emotional, religious attachments within the house, the family, and it becomes
the ruling passion of one's life.
Propertius is not a philosophical poet. He wishes to keep more serious
thoughts and studies for his old age, when he is no longer in love. 1 A clear
line leads from the Alexandrian manner of Book r to the new realism of Book 4
with its awareness of Roman history. A great empire has come to be and is in
danger of falling. Rome, too, will fall some day (Jrangitur ipsa suis Roma
superba bonis, 3.13.60), just as the great kingdom of the Etruscans is a thing of
the past: heu Veii ueteresf et uos turn regnafuistis, | et uestroposita est aurea sella
foro ' alas, ancient Veii! once you were a kingdom, and the golden throne was
placed on your market place' (4.10.27—8). The idea that Rome has become too
powerful for her own good returns in Lucan and was perhaps a theme in Livy's
preface to his famous account of the Civil War.
Invited by Maecenas to write an epic on Roman history Propertius refuses
time and again (2.1; 3.3; 3.9) but finally offers a sort of compromise in the
Roman Elegies of Book 4. Here he has found a congenial new theme and a
fresh style. It is not true that he lost his poetic genius along with Cynthia — on
the contrary: he continues to be creative in a different genre. The witty portrait
of the astrologer in 4.1, the powerful caricature of the bawd in 4.5, the very
funny description of the private orgy to which he treats himself in Cynthia's
absence (4.8) reveal a gift of satire, a sardonic humour reminiscent of Horace
in his best pieces. And 4.11, the 'queen of the elegies', is one of the most
beautiful and moving poems written in Latin.
Propertius' early style is best described as blandus 'smooth and winning'.
He is fond of this adjective, 2 and his friend Ovid applies it to him (Tristia
2.465; 5.1.17). It characterizes well the verbal melodies, the sometimes luxuriant
use of lovely Greek names (1.3.1—4), the subtle technique of alliteration
(1.1.1-2).
1
3.5.23—46 is a catalogue of philosophical (or scientific) themes. Cf. Lucr. i.io2ff.; 3.977/?.; Virg.
Geo. 2.477ff-
1
Propertius calls himself blandus amator (1.3.16); he speaks of the appeal of his verse as blandi
carminis obsequium. The nameless lover in t.16 who is suppliant (1. 14) and full of misery (1. 45) may
be Propertius himself, because of the arguta. . .blanditia, the 'eloquent flattery' of his songs (1. 16).
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