Cf. iv. 1, 121,

'Umbria te notis antiqua penatibus edit,
(mentior? an patriae tangitur ora tuae?)
qua nebulosa cavo rorat Mevania campo,
et lacus aestivis intepet Umber aquis,
scandentisque Asisi consurgit vertice murus,
murus ab ingenio notior ille tuo.'

'Asisi' in l. 125 is Lachmann's emendation for 'Asis' of the MSS., and
is rendered almost certain by the topography of the district. Asisium
agrees better than Hispellum (the modern Spello) with the description
in the passage quoted; with iv. 1, 65,

'Scandentes quisquis cernet de vallibus arces,
ingenio muros aestimet ille meo';

and with the epithet 'proxima' in i. 22, 9, as Asisium is nearer than
Hispellum to Perusia. Cf. i. 22, 3-10,

'Si Perusina tibi patriae sunt nota sepulcra,
Italiae duris funera temporibus, ...
proxima supposito contingens Umbria campo
me genuit terris fertilis uberibus.'

At Assisi, moreover, have been found several inscriptions of the
Propertii, one of which, C. PASSENNO | C. F. SERG. |, PAULLO |
PROPERTIO | BLAESO,[66] probably refers to the Passennus Paullus
mentioned by Pliny, _Ep._ vi. 15, as 'municeps Propertii.'

Propertius was younger than Tibullus, and older than Ovid. His birth,
therefore, took place between B.C. 54 and 43 (Hertzberg gives 46,
Postgate prefers 50). Cf. Ovid, _Tr._ iv. 10, 53,

'Successor fuit hic [Tibullus] tibi, Galle; Propertius illi;
quartus ab his serie temporis ipse fui.'

He came of a family well known in the neighbourhood (cf. iv. 1, 121,
'notis penatibus,' already quoted), but not 'noble' in the technical
sense; ii. 34, 55,

'Aspice me, cui parva domi fortuna relictast,
nullus et antiquo Marte triumphus avi.'

His childhood was clouded by the early death of his father, and by the
confiscation of his estate in B.C. 41; iv. 1, 127,

'Ossaque legisti non illa aetate legenda
patris; et in tenues cogeris ipse lares,
nam tua cum multi versarent rura iuvenci,
abstulit excultas pertica tristis opes.'

His mother then took him to Rome, where he studied law for a short
time after assuming the _toga virilis_, but abandoned it in favour of
poetry; iv. 1, 131,

'Mox ubi bulla rudi demissast aurea collo,
matris et ante deos libera sumpta toga,
tum tibi pauca suo de carmine dictat Apollo
et vetat insano verba tonare foro.'

Meanwhile he was engaged in his first love affair with Lycinna, who is
otherwise unknown (iii. 15, 3 _s