Propertius, SEXTUS (for the second family-name, Aurelius, often given him there is no authority), the most impassioned of the Roman elegiac poets, was a younger contemporary of Tibullus, born about 48 B.C. in Umbria, probably at Asisium (the modern Assisi). Nearly all we know of him is gleaned from his writings, according to which he came of an undistinguished, comparatively poor family, lost his father in boyhood, and had a portion of his patrimony confiscated, after Philippi, by the Triumvirs, to reward their veterans, but retained means enough to proceed to Rome for education, and, having chosen his residence, like Virgil and Mæcenas, on the Esquiline, to make poetry the business of his life. The school then fashionable was the Alexandrian, represented by Callimachus and Philetas, and these he made his models, drawing from them his learned tone and his wealth of mythological colouring. In the political and martial movements of the time he took no part, though his patriotism was pure and strong—witness his exultation over the victory off Actium, his scorn of Cleopatra and her presumptuous ambition to dominate the mistress of the world, above all, his appeal to the Romans to renounce self-indulgence and to return to their neglected legends for the civic virtues and the heroism of 'the brave days of old.' Such was his precept; while his practice was the emotional poetic life, in the congenial society of Ovid, Virgil (whose Æneid he has nobly eulogised), the epic poet Ponticus, and Julius Bassus. Like them he won the favour of Mæcenas, to whom he dedicated a book of his poems, and even ingratiated himself with Augustus, whose achievements he duly celebrated. But the central figure of his inspiration was his mistress Cynthia, a lady somewhat older than he, whose real name was Hostia. For many years he cherished a glowing passion for this highly gifted and beautiful, but far from virtuous woman, till about 24 B.C. he disentangled himself from her spells. She died before him; but even after death she lived in his memory as she still lives in the poems that have immortalised her. Propertius left Rome, it would appear, only once, on a visit to Athens, when he may have experienced the shipwreck he has so vividly described. The year of his death has, with probability, been placed about 14 B.C. Of his poems only the first book, devoted entirely to Cynthia, was published during his lifetime; certainly the last of the four was given to the light, in terms of his will, by his friends. Its contents are youthful pieces, in which he celebrates the legends of early Rome in the style of Callimachus, and have a special interest in having most likely inspired Ovid to the composition of his Fusti—perhaps even of his Heroides. As a poet Propertius ranks high in Roman literature—the tone of the later criticism (with Goethe at its head) being one of increasing admiration for his native force, his eye for dramatic situation, his power over the reader's sympathies, giving the effect of reality to what in the hands of Tibullus or even Ovid is merely conventional. He has more in common with Catullus than with either of these, while he lacks the artistic graces peculiar to the three, being often rough to harshness and obscure from defect of finish.
For the English student there is an admirable text by Palmer (Dublin, 1880), and good critical notes by Paley and Postgate in their respective editions. There is no adequate translation of him in any language, Cranstoun's, in English (1875), being about the most faithful.