Propertius' Elegies II: Invectives Targeting Caesar and the State

Salvete Omnes!

As you may remember there was a post last fall about a poem by Sextus Propertius, in which he describes the opening of the portico of Apollo on the Palatine in the late first century BC.  I have actually been conducting more extensive research on the book which this poem is from and thought I might share my findings and my argument that I am developing.

 As stated in the previous post about about Propertius, Elegies II is wholly concerned with Cynthia, his lover, and the nature of love.  Although these themes are dominant  throughout the book, Propertius states quite often in the poems that he is not suited for writing epic poetry like Vergil and Homer.  I argue that through this Propertius and a few more direct lines he means to slight Emperor Augustus and the state.  For instance, Propertius deliberately neglects an invocation of the muse and or god in the beginning of the poem which was custom amongst his contemporaries like Vergil and Ovid.  These poets would praise a god and or muse for inspiring their verses and in the first lines of Elegies II Propertius writes that neither Calliope, a muse, nor the god Apollo sing his lines to him.  In a later poem Propertius mentions that if he and Cynthia ever had children, they would not ever be soldiers.  This is again a rejection of standard Roman values and in the last poem he is even more revealing in telling that though he has little wealth and no ancestral military triumphs to boast about, he could care less because he is a poet destined for great fame.

There is no evidence to suggest that Propertius ever suffered any consequences for making these implications in his poetry, especially considering that his patron was Maecenas, a close counselor to Augustus and a patron to some of Propertius' contemporaries.  It seems completely absurd that Propertius would openly rip on epic poets and slander the state and not care for the possible repercussions thus raising more questions.

Anyways, it's a great read if anyone is interested!  You can find some pretty good translations online if you Latin scholars out there don't feel like wearing yourselves out by doing it yourself.