Propertius: Elegies I

by Propertius, R.A. Buttimore

Propertius' celebration of his love for Cynthia broke new ground in Latin poetry: sensuous, passionate, witty, yet complex and allusive. The appeal of his 'Monobiblos' (Book I) is direct and immediate but his profound grasp of the violent and contradictory emotions of the relationship pushed his language into new areas and new forms. So he is a difficult and important poet, with the kind of difficulty that appeals to modern readers. This edition is designed to serve two different kinds of readers. For those who are not Latin specialists there is an elegant but literal translation alongside the Latin text, with a critical essay on each poem to lead the reader into the richness of the Latin. On the other hand Latinists will find here new light on the text itself. Above all, the edition is dedicated to reading poetry as poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Literature, Ancient

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 1977

About the author

Sextus Aurelius Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet who was born around 50–45 BCE in Mevania (though other cities of Umbria also claim this dignity—Hespillus, Ameria, Perusia, Assisium) and died shortly after 15 BCE.

Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of Elegies. He was friends with the poets Gallus and Virgil, and had with them as his patron Maecenas, and through Maecenas, the emperor Augustus.

Reviews

[Emma Ann]

[UPDATE] Reread for comps. I liked it much better this time around—I don’t know why. Propertius, as a love elegist, is going for that same concise and deceptively-simple style as his precursor Catullus. This edition also has useful notes and commentary, although beginners/undergrads might wish for more grammar support.

***

[DEC ’22] Non mihi placuit.

[James Carrigy · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

Favourite Poems: Natural beauty, Cynthia's dangerous attractions, Further to i. 10, A house-door complains, It is not death he fears, The poet's birthplace and his loss.

Elegies for the horny and the dispossessed.

[Lucy]

Got bored, he really put his best poems at the beginning. Catullus is more fun

[Raven Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

i so do not need to cry over this! ……🥲