ca. 50-ca. 16 B.C.
Roman poet
Sextus Propertius was a Roman poet during the reign of the emperor Augustus. His fame rests on the elegiacs* that he addressed to his mistress, Cynthia. Propertius was probably the first poet to liken love to slavery and also to compare a person in love to a soldier at war.
Propertius was born in Assisi, a small city about 90 miles north of Rome. His upper-class parents had their property seized by Octavian (later known as Augustus) during the civil wars that ended the Roman Republic*. In preparation for a career of public service, Propertius was educated in rhetoric*. Disgusted by war and political strife, however, the young man chose to write poetry instead. He moved to Rome and published his first book of poems around 28 B.C. His fourth and final book of poems, published around 16 B.C., contained few love poems and instead addressed politics and the great events of Roman history. Although his patron* was a close friend of the emperor, Propertius was sometimes critical of Augustus’s government and its policies.
Propertius’s most famous poems recount his stormy love affair with an older woman he called Cynthia. She was probably a married woman named Hostia. Propertius portrayed his love for Cynthia as tormented, hopeless, and all-consuming. Although the faithless Cynthia rejected the young poet, his love for her never lessened, and he continued to be obsessed with her even after her death. Literary critics and severed poets, including the American poet Ezra Pound, have praised Propertius for his political independence and his passionate depiction of love. (See also Callimachus; Catullus; Poetry, Greek and Hellenistic; Poetry, Roman; Tibullus.)
* elegiac sad and mournful poem
* Roman Republic Rome during the period from 509 B.C. to 31 B.C., when popular assemblies annually elected their governmental officials
* rhetoric art of using words effectively in speaking or writing
* patron special guardian, protector, or supporter