(Propertius celebrated elegies chart the hazardous course...)
Propertius celebrated elegies chart the hazardous course of his love affair with the enchanting Cynthia, while revealing valuable insight into life in Augustan Rome. Delphis Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the wisdom of the Classical world, with both English translations and the original Latin and Greek texts. This comprehensive eBook presents Propertius complete extant works, with illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Propertius' life and works * Features the complete extant works of Propertius, in both English translation and the original Latin * Concise introduction to the Elegies * Provides both verse (James Canstoun) and prose (H. E. Butler) translations of the Elegies both appearing for the first time in digital publishing * Includes translations previously appearing in Loeb Classical Library edition of Propertius works * Excellent formatting of the texts * Easily locate the poems you want to read with individual contents tables * Provides a special dual English and Latin text, allowing readers to compare the sections stanza by stanza ideal for students * Features a bonus biography discover Propertius' ancient world * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to explore our range of Ancient Classics titles CONTENTS: The Translations THE ELEGIES: PROSE TRANSLATION THE ELEGIES: VERSE TRANSLATION The Latin Text CONTENTS OF THE LATIN TEXT The Dual Text DUAL LATIN AND ENGLISH TEXT The Biography INTRODUCTION TO PROPERTIUS Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles
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He was born around 50–45 BC in Italy.
He lost his father prematurely; and after the battle of Philippi and the return of Octavian to Rome, Propertius, like Virgil and Horace, was deprived of his estate to provide land for the veterans, but, unlike them, he had no patrons at court, and he was reduced from opulence to comparative indigence.
After his father's death and the confiscation of most of his property in 41 b. c. , his mother seems to have brought him to Rome and there given him a superior education.
He composed four books of elegies, comprising some four thousand lines.
The first book, inscribed to Cynthia and completed about 25 b. c. brought him to the notice of Maecenas, counsellor of Augustus and patron of Horace and Vergil.
Propertius admired Vergil and was in turn admired by Ovid.
The second book of elegies, once more telling of his love for Cynthia, was completed about 24 b. c. , the third followed about 22 b. c. , and the fourth not later than 16 b. c.
Propertius acknowledged his physical yearnings for Cynthia and tells of his sensual delight in her company, his pain at finding her door barred, his anguish at the thought of more fortunate rivals enjoying her charms.
She is his docta puella ("learned girl"), and in her he finds a love of poetry akin to his own.
or power and range of imagination, for freshness and vividness of conception, for truth and originality of presentation, few Roman poets can compare with him when he is at his best.
And this is when he is carried out of himself, when the discordant qualities of his genius are, so to say, fused togetherby the electric spark of an immediate inspiration.
His vanity and egotism are undeniable, but they are redeemed by his fancy and his humour. Two of his merits seem to have impressed the ancients themselves.
(Propertius celebrated elegies chart the hazardous course...)
He was very careful about his personal appearance, and paid an almost foppish attention to dress and gait.
He was of a somewhat voluptuous and self-indulgent temperament, which shrank from danger and active exertion.
He was anxiously sensitive about the opinion of others, eager for their sympathy and regard, and, in general, impressionable to their influence.
An immoderate display of learning was, however, one of Propertius' inheritances from the Alexandrian school of poets, notably from Callimachus and Philetas, and it does not indicate a lack of passion; actually Propertius had an imagination of notable power, and his language is outstanding for its boldness and eloquence.
How much longer Propertius lived is not known, but from a reference in the letters of Pliny the Younger it may be inferred that he married and had a child. Cynthia, whose real name was Hostia, was the consuming passion of Propertius' life.
Now in 18 B.C. Augustus carried the Leges Juliae, which offered inducements to marriage and imposed disabilities upon the celibate.
He would thus have married and had at least one child, from whom the contemporary of Pliny was descended.Propertius had a large number of friends and acquaintances, chiefly literary, belonging to the circle of Maecenas.
