d iv. of the MSS.
then become iv. and v. respectively. In the most recent editions,
however, the MSS. arrangement is retained, and it is here followed.

_Book_ i.--All the Elegies in Book i., except the last two, are
amatory. _El._ 2-10 belong to the first months of the poet's love,
when Cynthia was gracious, though capricious. She had refused to
accompany a rival of his, who was going to Illyricum as praetor (_El._
8); but afterwards she left Rome for Baiae, and the rest of the Book
is full of complaints of her harshness. _El._ 1, written after the
year of separation, introduces the whole Book in a melancholy strain.

The clearest indication of date in Book i. is 8, 21, 'Nam me non ullae
poterunt corrumpere taedae,' where Propertius protests that he will
never marry, in spite of the _Lex Iulia_ of B.C. 27. (He could not
legally marry a woman of Cynthia's class.) The Book was published
probably in B.C. 25, under the title of 'Cynthia.' Cf. ii. 24, 1,

'Cum sis iam noto fabula libro
et tua sit toto Cynthia lecta foro.'

Her name was a recommendation for the Book, and it was probably her
satisfaction at the fame which it brought her that caused her to
relent towards Propertius. Cf. Mart. xiv. 189,

'Cynthia, facundi carmen iuvenile Properti,
accepit famam, nec minus ipsa dedit.'

At all events, a few months afterwards we find the old relations
re-established; ii. 3, 3,

'Vix unum potes, infelix, requiescere mensem,
et turpis de te iam liber alter erit.'

_Book_ ii.--Cynthia is the theme of nearly all the thirty-four poems
of Book ii., which give lively expression to her lover's varying
moods. Only three Elegies (1, 10, and 31) are given to other subjects.

Of the few poems to which dates can be assigned, the earliest is _El._
31 (on the dedication of the temple of the Palatine Apollo, B.C. 28),
and the latest is _El._ 10, to Augustus (written shortly before the
invasion of Arabia by Aelius Gallus in B.C. 24. Cf. l. 16, 'et domus
intactae te tremit Arabiae'). The Book was therefore published B.C. 24
at the earliest.

_Book_ iii.--In this Book the poems on Cynthia form a far smaller
proportion; 7, 12, and 22 show the warmth of the poet's friendship;
events of national interest are treated in 4, 11, and 18. In 5, 23-47,
Propertius looks forward to spending his later years in the study of
natural science ('naturae perdiscere mores,' l. 25).

There are few hints of the date of any of the poems in