The Elegies of Propertius Author:Sextus Propertius Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE ELEGIES OF PKOPERTIUS. BOOK I.i ELEGY I. TO TULLUS. Cynthia's eyes first took me, poor unfortunate, captive, previously affected by no passion: t... more »hen did Love3 cast down my resolute, disdainful eyes, and set foot on my neck : till in time lie taught me, desperate power! to despise chaste maidens,4 and to live recklessly. Even now, my present mad pursuit flags not after a whole year, though I am forced to have the gods opposed to me. Milanion, Tullus, by shrinking from no 1 B?k L The title of this used to be " Sex. Aurel. Propertii Cynthia, Monobiblos, the latter epithet being supported by Ovid, Rem Am 764 Cujus opus Cynthia, sola fuit." It was written and published before the author s other works, A. u. c. 728, probably when he was about twenty years of age, and is quoted by the title of Cynthia in ii. 24 2 Quum sit toto Cynthia lecta foro. 2 Elegy I.] The poet laments the obduracy of Cynthia, who is worse he says, than Atalanta who was, in time, won by Meilanion : he desires the aid of witches, calls on his friends to extricate him, and concludes by warning such as are happy in love to be faithful, or they will repent it This Elegy is addressed to Tullus, a friend and equal in age of Properties I for whom see vi., xiv., xxii.; IV. xxii. cuuus, 3 Cf. ii. 30 9, Tollere nusquam Te patietur humo lumina capta. To despise chaste maidens.] Castas odisse puellas that is sava i JT P,eak and thlnk f femal6 VirtUe M mere Prudery aild affectation, 1 j ™ V as Psentiiig an obstacle to possession. Kuinoel understands by it, to hate all girls that were not as loose in conduct as Cyn- thia According to others, the "chaste maids" are Minerva and the chapter{Section 4toils, broke down the stubborn cruelty of the daughter of lasus:l for once he roamed of yore ...« less