[Aaron Poochigian]

I think part of my trouble in persuading the world that Propertius is the greatest Elegaic poet results from the fact that he does not translate well. His compression and amatory idioms are inimitable in English—I wouldn’t dare to try translating him. Still, maybe if we look closely at some Latin, a simple, non-allusive passage, and inch through it, I may be able to persuade some people of his greatness. In this poem, 2.9A, Propertius (that’s right, fuck that “the Narrator” and “the Speaker” shit) is complaining that Cynthia has been unfaithful. He says Penelope waited twenty years for Odysseus and, what, he’s gone for one night, and Cynthia has gone and gotten drunk and hooked up with some man whom she had screwed in the past. Propertius wonders what Cynthia would do if he were a soldier off on campaign and then goes, with his characteristic vulnerability:

nunc, quoniam ista tibi placuit sententia, cedam:

Now, because such a (terrible) thought (that I leave on campaign) was agreeable to you, I will yield. (“yield” picks up on the preceding military imagery.)

tela, precor, pueri, promite acuta magis,

Spears, boys! I beg you, break out really sharp spears!

figite certantes atque hanc mihi solvite vitam!

Make a contest of piercing me, release me from this life.

sanguis erit vobis maxima palma meus.

My blood will be your (the boys’) greatest palm of victory.

[He then makes a final statement to Cynthia.]

sidera sunt testes et matutina pruina

The stars are my witnesses and the morning frost (He hasn’t been sleeping because of Cynthia)

et furtim misero ianua aperta mihi,

and the door secretly opened for miserable little me,

te nihil in vita nobis acceptius umquam:

nothing in my life was ever more pleasing than you.

nunc quoque erit, quamvis sis inimica, nihil.

even now, though you are like an enemy to me, nothing ever will be (more pleasing than you).

nec domina ulla meo ponet vestigia lecto:

no other woman will leave her traces in my bed:

solus ero, quoniam non licet esse tuum.

I will be alone, because I can’t be yours.

atque utinam, si forte pios eduximus annos,

And I pray that, if I have by chance led a pious life,

ille vir in medio fiat amore lapis!

that man (the new/old lover) might turn to stone in the midst of his sex with you!