Cruces Propertianae

Classical Quarterly 36 (1):182-198 (1986)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In classical antiquity Propertius' eloquence was renowned. His successor Ovid referred to the blandi praecepta Properti and to blandi…Propertius oris. Quintilian stated that to his taste the most tersus and elegans Latin elegist was Tibullus, but sunt qui Propertium malint. Martial mentioned the facundi carmen iuuenale Properti. Turn now from the opinions of ancient authors to those of some modern commentators as they try to elucidate various passages as presented in the extant manuscripts, and you encounter not the adjectives blandus, tersus, elegans, and facundus, but ‘strange’, ‘obscure’, ‘odd’, ‘slovenly’, and the like. A major reason for such striking differences of opinion should be evident. Ovid, to whom Propertius was blandi oris, read a text separated from Propertius' autograph by at most a few decades. Modern scholars, however, must form their text from a few relatively late manuscripts, none earlier than c. 1200, in which Propertius' eloquence has been obscured by over twelve centuries of careless blundering and deliberate interpolation by a succession of scribes. A generally accepted example of deliberate interpolation in the Propertian archetype is found at 2.32.3-6: nam quid Praenesti dubias, o Cynthia, sortes, quid petis Aeaei moenia Telegoni? cur tua te Herculeum deportant esseda Tibur? Appia cur totiens te uia †ducit anum†?, where the name of some neighbouring town is required in the fourth verse to balance Praeneste, Tusculum, and Herculeum in the preceding three.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Cruces Propertianae.J. D. Morgan - 1986 - Classical Quarterly 36 (01):182-.
Blandi Propertius Oris. [REVIEW]J. A. Richmond - 1981 - The Classical Review 31 (2):202-204.
Verse transpositions in Tibullus.H. -C. Günther - 1997 - Classical Quarterly 47 (02):501-.
Verse transpositions in Tibullus.H. -C. Günther - 1997 - Classical Quarterly 47 (2):501-509.
Propertius and Tibullus: early exchanges1.R. O. A. M. Lyne - 1998 - Classical Quarterly 48 (2):519-544.
A Latin Lover in Ancient Rome: Readings in Propertius and His Genre.Tara Welch - 2011 - American Journal of Philology 132 (3):513-516.
Some Problems in Propertius.F. H. Sandbach - 1962 - Classical Quarterly 12 (3-4):263-276.
Some Problems in Propertius.F. H. Sandbach - 1918 - Classical Quarterly 12 (2):263-276.
Some Problems in Propertius.F. H. Sandbach - 1962 - Classical Quarterly 12 (02):263-.
Propertius 2. 29. 38.J. P. Sullivan - 1961 - Classical Quarterly 11 (1-2):1-2.
Propertius' 'Paternal Ashes'.Archibald Allen - 1989 - Classical Quarterly 39 (01):264-.

Analytics

Added to PP
2017-02-20

Downloads
7 (#1,201,127)

6 months
3 (#445,838)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Propertiana.D. R. Shackleton Bailey - 1949 - Classical Quarterly 43 (1-2):22-.
Notes on the Christian Poems of Dracontius.A. Williams-Hudson - 1947 - Classical Quarterly 41 (3-4):95-.
Die Elegien des Sextus Propertius.Kirby Flower Smith & Max Rothstein - 1900 - American Journal of Philology 21 (4):460.

Add more references