 sextus propertius was a latin elegiac poet of the augustan age. he was born around 50â45 bc in assisium and died shortly after 15 bc.john lempriÃ¨re's classical dictionary propertius' surviving work comprises four books of elegies (). he was a friend of the poets gallus and virgil and, with them, had as his patron maecenas and, through maecenas, the emperor augustus. == life == very little information is known about propertius outside of his own writing. his praenomen "sextus" is mentioned by aelius donatus,vita vergiliana, v a few manuscripts list him as "sextus propertius", but the rest of his name is unknown. from numerous references in his poetrye.g. i.22.9-10; iv.1.63-6 and 121-6; unless otherwise noted numerical references refer to propertius' collections it is clear he was born and raised in umbria; modern assisi claims for itself the honor of his birthplace. as a boy his father died and the family lost land as part of a confiscation,iv.1.127 probably the same one which reduced virgil's estates when octavian allotted lands to his veterans in 41 bc. combining this with cryptic references in ovide.g. tristia iv.10.41-54 implying he was younger than his contemporary tibullus, a birthdate after 55 bc seems appropriate. after his father's death, propertius' mother set him on course for a public career,iv.1.131 indicating his family still had some wealth, while the abundance of obscure mythology present in his poetry indicates he received a good education. frequent mention of friends like tullus,e.g. i.1.9, 6.2, 14.20, and 22.1 the nephew of lucius volcatius tullus, consul in 33 bc, plus the fact that he lived on rome's esquiline hilliii.23.24 indicate he moved among the children of the rich and politically connected during the early part of the 20s bc. it was during this time that he met cynthia, the older womancf. ii.18.19 who would inspire him to express his poetic genius. propertius published a first book of love elegies in 25 bc, with cynthia herself as the main theme; the book's complete devotion gave it the natural title cynthia monobiblos. the monobiblos must have attracted the attention of maecenas, a patron of the arts who took propertius into his circle of court poets. a second, larger book of elegies was published perhaps a year later, one that includes poems addressed directly to his patron and (as expected) praises for augustus. the 19th century classics scholar karl lachmann argued, based on the unusually large number of poems in this book and propertius' mention of tres libelli,ii.13.25 that the single book ii actually comprises two separate books of poetry mashed together in the manuscript tradition. though some editors have previously nu
1st-century_BC_births 1st-century_BC_deaths 1st-century_BC_poets Elegiac_poets Golden_Age_Latin_writers People_from_Assisi Roman-era_poets