Bøker av Propertius

The passionate and dramatic elegies of Propertius (c. 50-soon after 16 BCE) gained him a reputation as one of Rome's finest love poets. He portrays the uneven course of his love affair with Cynthia and also tells us much about the society of his time, then in later poems turns to the legends of ancient Rome.

Edited with Introduction and Notes by W. A. Camps

In this edition of Propertius Book IV, Camps follows the general lines of his earlier edition of Book I (Cambridge, 1960).

Of all the great classical love poets, Propertius is surely one of those with most immediate appeal for the twentieth century reader. His poetry centres on a helpless infatuation for the sinister figure of his mistress, Cynthia, and it is analysed with a tormented but witty grandeur in all its changing moods - from ecstasy to suicidal despair.

Camps presents, without concealing difficulties and uncertainties, a fairly conservative but readable and coherent text, together with such annotation as may help the modern reader of Latin to understand the language and follow the thought of this difficult, much disputed, but very rewarding poet.

Propertius, though his works are small in volume, is one of the foremost poets of the Augustan age, and his writing has a certain appeal to modern tastes (witness the admiration of Ezra Pound). Book I is especially suitable for the reader wanting a representative selection of Propertius' poetry. It stands on its own, having appeared in the first place as a separate collection; it reflects a distinct phase of the poet's activity (and of his emotional development); and it is the book which made his reputation. This edition is designed for the pocket of the university student, but it should find a wider audience among classicists of all ages. The introduction provides the necessary historical and critical background and relates Book I to the rest of the elegies; the notes are helpful and to the point; and the text has a reasonable minimum of apparatus. There are no modern editions of this size and scope.

Propertius' fourth book is his most challenging and innovative. It disrupts genre; dislocates time and order; and meditates on gender, perception and history. This detailed commentary, with introduction and new text, provides much new material for approaching this important work. Both students and scholars will find it valuable.