Chapter 50

'Nequiquam perfusa meis unguenta capillis, ibat et expenso planta morata gradu.'

He had been introduced to Maecenas after the publication of his first Book, but naturally was not on such intimate terms with him as older men like Virgil and Horace were. ii. 1 and iii. 9 are addressed to Maecenas. In the first of these poems Propertius declares that he is unequal to the composition of an epic, which his patron had urged upon him, but adds (l. 17)

'Quod mihi si tantum, Maecenas, fata dedissent ut possem heroas ducere in arma manus, ... bellaque resque tui memorarem Caesaris, et tu Caesare sub magno cura secunda fores.'

For poems referring to Augustus cf. ii. 10, iv. 6 (on Actium), iii. 18 (on the death of Marcellus).

Horace and Propertius do not mention each other by name. Chronology forbids the identification of the bore in Hor. _Sat._ i. 9 with Propertius, who, on the same ground, cannot be meant in _Sat._ i. 10, 18,

'Neque simius iste, nil praeter Calvum et doctus cantare Catullum.'

But Hor. _Ep._ ii. 2, 87-101, is undoubtedly aimed at Propertius. Cf. especially l. 99,

'Discedo Alcaeus puncto illius; ille meo quis? quis nisi Callimachus? Si plus adposcere visus, fit Mimnermus et optivo cognomine crescit.'

Though both poets belonged to the same literary circle, they differed widely in temperament as well as in age. With Tibullus, who was a member of Messalla's circle, Propertius may have had no personal acquaintance; at all events, neither alludes to the other.

For Virgil Propertius expresses warm admiration in ii. 34, written during the composition of the _Aeneid_. Ovid, who calls him 'blandus' (_Tr._ ii. 465) and 'tener' (_A.A._ iii. 333), was an intimate friend of his; cf. _Tr._ iv. 10, 45 (quoted p. 206). The minor poets to whom he writes are Ponticus (i. 7 and 9), Bassus (i. 4), and a tragic poet, Lynceus (a pseudonym, ii. 34, 25).

(2) WORKS.

The extant Elegies, divided in the MSS. into four Books, are probably all that Propertius ever wrote. On account of the disproportionate length of Book ii., and the number 'tres' (which, however, may be said in anticipation) in ii. 13, 25,

'Sat mea sat magna est si tres sint pompa libelli, quos ego Persephonae maxima dona feram,'

some editors make Book ii. consist only of _El._ 1-9, and assign the remainder (10-34) to a new Book iii. Books iii. and iv. of the MSS. then become iv. and v. respectively. In the most recent editions, however, the MSS. arrangement is retained, and it is here followed.

_Book_ i.--All the Elegies in Book i., except the last two, are amatory. _El._ 2-10 belong to the first months of the poet's love, when Cynthia was gracious, though capricious. She had refused to accompany a rival of his, who was going to Illyricum as praetor (_El._ 8); but afterwards she left Rome for Baiae, and the rest of the Book is full of complaints of her harshness. _El._ 1, written after the year of separation, introduces the whole Book in a melancholy strain.

The clearest indication of date in Book i. is 8, 21, 'Nam me non ullae poterunt corrumpere taedae,' where Propertius protests that he will never marry, in spite of the _Lex Iulia_ of B.C. 27. (He could not legally marry a woman of Cynthia's class.) The Book was published probably in B.C. 25, under the title of 'Cynthia.' Cf. ii. 24, 1,

'Cum sis iam noto fabula libro et tua sit toto Cynthia lecta foro.'

Her name was a recommendation for the Book, and it was probably her satisfaction at the fame which it brought her that caused her to relent towards Propertius. Cf. Mart. xiv. 189,

'Cynthia, facundi carmen iuvenile Properti, accepit famam, nec minus ipsa dedit.'

At all events, a few months afterwards we find the old relations re-established; ii. 3, 3,

'Vix unum potes, infelix, requiescere mensem, et turpis de te iam liber alter erit.'

_Book_ ii.--Cynthia is the theme of nearly all the thirty-four poems of Book ii., which give lively expression to her lover's varying moods. Only three Elegies (1, 10, and 31) are given to other subjects.

Of the few poems to which dates can be assigned, the earliest is _El._ 31 (on the dedication of the temple of the Palatine Apollo, B.C. 28), and the latest is _El._ 10, to Augustus (written shortly before the invasion of Arabia by Aelius Gallus in B.C. 24. Cf. l. 16, 'et domus intactae te tremit Arabiae'). The Book was therefore published B.C. 24 at the earliest.

_Book_ iii.--In this Book the poems on Cynthia form a far smaller proportion; 7, 12, and 22 show the warmth of the poet's friendship; events of national interest are treated in 4, 11, and 18. In 5, 23-47, Propertius looks forward to spending his later years in the study of natural science ('naturae perdiscere mores,' l. 25).

There are few hints of the date of any of the poems in iii. _El._ 20 is apparently as early as B.C. 28; 18 certainly belongs to B.C. 23; 4 perhaps refers to the expedition against the Parthians planned in B.C. 22. The last-mentioned year is the earliest possible date of publication.

_Book_ iv., in which there is no principle of arrangement, probably appeared after the author's death. His archaeological tastes come out in four Elegies written, in imitation of the +Aitia+ of Callimachus, on Roman antiquities--_El._ 2 on Vertumnus, 4 on Tarpeia, 9 on Cacus, 10 on Jupiter Feretrius. In this way Propertius fulfilled his promise to Maecenas, iii. 9, 49,

'Celsaque Romanis decerpta Palatia tauris ordiar et caeso moenia firma Remo, eductosque pares silvestri ex ubere reges, crescet et ingenium sub tua iussa meum.'

_El._ 7 and 8 relate to Cynthia; in 7 her ghost appears to the poet. _El._ 3, a letter from Arethusa to Lycotas, possibly suggested to Ovid the plan of his _Heroides_, just as the antiquarian poems already mentioned may have suggested the _Fasti_. The Book ends with a lament for Cornelia, daughter of Scribonia, Augustus' first wife (_El._ 11).

The date of 6 and 11 is certainly not earlier than B.C. 16, while 8 seems to have been written before the rupture with Cynthia. The antiquarian poems are considered by some to have been among Propertius' earliest efforts.

Propertius was familiar with the whole range of Greek poetry--Homer (iii. 1, 25-34), Mimnermus (i. 9, 11), Pindar (iii. 17, 40), the dramatists, Theocritus, and Apollonius Rhodius. As his models he names especially the Alexandrians Callimachus and Philetas, whom he claims to follow more closely than any of his predecessors; iii. 1, 1,

'Callimachi Manes et Coi sacra Philetae, in vestrum, quaeso, me sinite ire nemus. Primus ego ingredior puro de fonte sacerdos Itala per Graios orgia ferre choros.'

Cf. iv. 1, 64,

'Umbria Romani patria Callimachi.'

In wealth of mythological illustration Propertius is peculiarly Alexandrian. He is continually drawing parallels and contrasts from Greek legend; _e.g._ i. 15, Cynthia how unlike Calypso! iii. 12, Aelia Galla a modern Penelope. Of Roman poets, he names as his predecessors in amatory verse Virgil, Varro Atacinus, Catullus, Calvus, and Cornelius Gallus (ii 34, 61-92). Once he dreams of writing an epic on the Alban kings in the vein of Ennius; iii. 3, 5,

'Parvaque tam magnis admoram fontibus ora, unde pater sitiens Ennius ante bibit.'

In Propertius love of social pleasures appears side by side with a strain of deep melancholy _e.g._ in. 5, 21,

Me iuvat et multo mentem vincire Lyaeo et caput in verna semper habere rosa,

contrasted with the numerous passages where he is thinking of the grave, _e.g._ ii. 1, 71,

'Quandocumque igitur vitam mea fata reposcent, et breve in exiguo marmore nomen ero.'

There is no greater patriot than Propertius. Cf. the denunciation of Cleopatra (iii. 11) and the frequency of the epithet 'Romanus.'

OVID.

(1) LIFE.

Ovid's own writings (especially _Tr._ iv. 10) supply nearly all the information we possess regarding his life. The biographies in the MSS. are valueless.

P. Ovidius Naso was his full name, in which the MSS. agree. He speaks of himself as Naso simply, and Statius and Martial refer to him by that name; Tacitus and the two Senecas use the _nomen_ Ovidius.

He was born in Sulmo, one of the three divisions of the Paelignian country, B.C. 43--the year in which Hirtius and Pansa fell at Mutina. _Tr._ iv. 10, 3,

'Sulmo mihi patria est, gelidis uberrimus undis, milia qui novies distat ab urbe decem. Editus hic ego sum; nec non ut tempora noris, cum cecidit fato consul uterque pari.'

His birthday was 20th March--the second day of the festival of the Quinquatria (cf. _Fast._ iii. 809-814), l. 13,

'Haec est armiferae festis de quinque Minervae, quae fieri pugna prima cruenta solet.'

He belonged to an equestrian family, and he frequently contrasts himself with those who had reached that dignity by military service or by possessing the requisite fortune; _ibid._ l. 7,

'Si quid id est, usque a proavis vetus ordinis heres, non sum fortunae munere factus eques.'

Cf. _Am._ i. 3, 7; iii. 8, 9; iii. 15, 5; _Pont._ iv. 8, 17.

Along with his elder brother, he received a careful education at Rome, and studied also at Athens. He practised rhetoric under Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. _Tr._ iv. 10, 15,

'Protinus excolimur teneri, curaque parentis imus ad insignes urbis ab arte viros.'

_Tr._ i. 2, 77,

'Non peto quas quondam petii studiosus Athenas.'

Sen. _Contr._ ii. 10, 8, 'Hanc controversiam memini ab Ovidio Nasone declamari apud rhetorem Arellium Fuscum, cuius auditor fuit, nam Latronis admirator erat, cum diversum sequeretur dicendi genus.' Seneca says that _Met._ xiii. 121, and _Am._ i. 2, 11, were borrowed from Latro.

But, in spite of his father's remonstrances, Ovid preferred poetry to public life. _Tr._ iv. 10, 19,

'At mihi iam parvo caelestia sacra placebant, inque suum furtim Musa trahebat opus. Saepe pater dixit, "studium quid inutile temptas? Maeonides nullas ipse reliquit opes." Motus eram dictis totoque Helicone relicto scribere conabar verba soluta modis: sponte sua carmen numeros veniebat ad aptos; quicquid temptabam dicere, versus erat.'

In due time he assumed the _toga virilis_, and with it the broad purple stripe worn by prospective senators. He also held two of the minor offices of the _vigintiviratus_, the preliminary to a senatorial career, being (1) triumvir capitalis or else triumvir monetalis, (2) decemvir stlitibus iudicandis. _Tr._ iv. 10, 28,

'Liberior fratri sumpta mihique toga est, induiturque umeris cum lato purpura clavo';