Editing Propertius (section)

== Poetry ==
Propertius' fame rests on his four books of elegies, totaling around 92 poems (the exact number cannot be known as over the intervening years, scholars have divided and regrouped the poems, creating doubt as to the precise number). All his poems are written using the [[elegiac couplet]], a form in vogue among the Roman social set during the late 1st century BC.

Like the work of nearly all the elegists, Propertius' work is dominated by a figure of a single female character, one he refers to throughout his poetry by the name Cynthia. She is named in over half the elegies of the first book and appears indirectly in several others, right from the first word of the first poem in the ''Monobiblos'':
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|la|Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis,
contactum nullis ante cupidinibus.}}
|attr1=(I.1.1-2)|
Cynthia first captivated wretched me with her eyes,
I who had never before been touched by Cupid.}}

Whilst [[Apuleius]]<ref>''Apologia'', ch. X</ref> identifies her as a woman named ''Hostia'', and Propertius suggests<ref>III.20.8</ref> she is a descendant of the Roman poet [[Hostius]], modern scholarship indicates that the creation of 'Cynthia' is part of a literary convention in Roman love elegy; ''scripta puella'', a fictionalised 'written girl'.<ref>M. Wilson, ''The Politics of Elegy: Propertius and Tibulllus''. In Writing Politics in Imperial Rome. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004217133_009</ref> Propertius frequently compliments her as ''docta puella'' 'learned girl',<ref>I.7.11; II.131.6; II.13.11</ref> and characterises her as a female writer of verse, such as [[Sulpicia]].<ref>I.2.27-8:  ''cum tibi praesertim Phoebus sua carmina donet/Aoniamque libens Calliopea lyram'' - "While Apollo grants you above all his power of song, and Calliope willingly an Aonian lyre"</ref> This literary affair veers wildly between emotional extremes, and as a lover she clearly dominates the life of the poet's voice at least through the publication of the third book:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|la|cuncta tuus sepelivit amor, nec femina post te
ulla dedit collo dulcia vincla meo.}}
|attr1=(III.15.11-2)|
Thy love has buried all others, nor has any woman after thee
put sweet fetters upon my neck.}}

It is difficult to precisely date many of Propertius' poems, but they chronicle the kind of declarations, passions, jealousies, quarrels, and lamentations that were commonplace subjects among the Latin elegists. The last two poems in Book III seem to indicate a final break with the character of Cynthia (''versibus insignem te pudet esse meis'' - "It is a shame that my verses have made you famous"<ref>III.24.4</ref>). In this last book Cynthia is the subject of only two poems, best regarded as a postscript. The bi-polar complexity of the relationship is amply demonstrated in a poignant, if amusing, poem from the final book. Cynthia's ghost addresses Propertius from beyond the grave with criticism (among other things) that her funeral was not lavish enough, yet the longing of the poet remains in the final line ''inter complexus excidit umbra meos.'' - "Her shade then slipped away from my embrace."<ref>IV.7.96</ref>

Book IV strongly indicates Propertius was planning a new direction for his poetry. The book includes several aetiological poems which, in reviewing the mythological origins of Rome and its landmarks, can also be read as critical—even vaguely subversive—of [[Augustus]] and his agenda for the new Rome. The position is currently a subject of debate among modern classicists.<ref>Micaela Janan, ''The Politics of Desire: Propertius IV'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), p.&nbsp;255. {{ISBN|0-520-22321-7}}</ref> The final poem<ref>IV.11</ref> is a touching address by the recently deceased [[Cornelia (wife of Aemilius Paullus)|Cornelia]] consoling her husband [[Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus]] and their three children. Although the poem (given Cornelia's connection to Augustus' family) was most likely an imperial commission, its dignity, nobility, and pathos have led critics to call it the "queen of the elegies", and it is commonly considered the best in the collection.

Propertius' style is marked by seemingly abrupt transitions (in the manner of Latin neoteric poetry) and a high and imaginative allusion, often to the more obscure passages of Greek and Roman myth and legend. His idiosyncratic use of language, together with the corrupted state of the text, have made his elegies a challenge to edit; among the more famous names who have offered criticism of and emendations to the text have been the classicist [[John Percival Postgate]] and the English classicist and poet [[A. E. Housman]].