Charm

by Propertius, Vincent Katz (Translator)

Poetry. Born near Assisi around 50 B.C., Sextus Propertius was one of the great writers of love poetry in Roman literature. His first book of poems, published in Rome when he was about 20 years of age, made him an overnight sensation. This book caught the attention of one of the great literary benefactors of Rome, Maecenas, who had supported and befriended both Horace and Vergil. Propertius, accordingly, was introduced into their circle. Propertius' great love was a woman he called Cynthia in his poems (although her real name may have been Hostia), and it is his first-person account of their tempestuous relationship that forms the first and second books of his poetry. Using a colloquial and, at times, jaunty everyday language, New York poet Vincent Katz captures the spirit of the original and breathes fresh air into Propertius' painfully obsessive lyrics.

Genres: Poetry

151 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Sextus Aurelius Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet who was born around 50–45 BCE in Mevania (though other cities of Umbria also claim this dignity—Hespillus, Ameria, Perusia, Assisium) and died shortly after 15 BCE.

Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of Elegies. He was friends with the poets Gallus and Virgil, and had with them as his patron Maecenas, and through Maecenas, the emperor Augustus.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent translations. Propertius is dense and hard and pretty boring, but Katz does a really great job. Cynthia prima fuit!