Cynthia

A lucid new commentary on the Latin poet Propertius, consisting of a commentary on the whole corpus and a prose translation which includes alternative versions of ambiguous phrasing. In its clear exposition of technical problems, Cynthia will serve as an introduction to Latin textual criticism in the modern age, and to elegiac poetic style.

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Propertius is a poet of the Augustan period, a successor of the great Hellenistic elegiac poets Callimachus and Philitas, and a precursor of Ovid. His account of his fictionalized affair with his beloved alter ego Cynthia is the purest expression of the spirit of love elegy, setting them as a pair against war, epic, and (apparently) Augustus himself. This is an author read by virtually all students of Classical Latin. Cynthia provides a lucid attempt to understand and correct the many difficulties in the transmitted text. It consists of a commentary on the whole corpus, together with a prose translation (including alternative versions of ambiguous phrasing). In its clear exposition of technical problems, the book will serve as an introduction to Latin textual criticism in the modern age, and to elegiac poetic style.