Propertius wrote four books of Latin elegies (elegiae) from roughly 30-15 BCE, during the Augustan age in Rome. His first book, sometimes called “The Cynthia” after the collection’s main addressee, reflects the amatory language then popular among Roman elegists. Often his poems retain their original energy for a modern audience, conveying emotions of jealousy, lovesickness, guilt, and fitful bliss. The occasional poem will treat political matters, with Propertius writing in the so-called “circle of Maecenas,” a literary patron who for much of his life enjoyed close connections with Augustus. Propertius’ fourth book contains mostly longer aetiological poems, in which Cynthia rarely appears.
Bio by Griffin Budde.