Select Elegies Of Propertus

Select Elegies of Propertius (1958) by J. P. Postgate – Macmillan

ISBN: None
Condition: Good
Published: 1958
Provenance: Ex-school copy from Old Palace School, Croydon
Offered by: Crappy Old Books

There was a time when romantic disappointment was expressed through elaborate Latin poetry rather than an ill-advised text message sent at three o’clock in the morning. Love was an affliction, jealousy a literary opportunity, and the inability to secure the affections of a particular young woman could sustain an entire poetic career.

Welcome to Select Elegies of Propertius, edited by J. P. Postgate and published by Macmillan in 1958, a scholarly introduction to one of ancient Rome’s most accomplished practitioners of romantic obsession.

Sextus Propertius, writing during the reign of Augustus, was a poet whose principal concerns included love, heartbreak, mythology, personal suffering and the extraordinary inconvenience of having feelings.

Much of his poetry revolves around Cynthia, the mysterious woman whose affections inspired some of the finest love elegies in Latin literature. Their relationship, at least as presented by Propertius, was a magnificent succession of emotional triumphs, disappointments, reconciliations, jealousies and misunderstandings.

In other words, the sort of relationship that sensible friends would advise against, but which poets find absolutely indispensable.

Propertius approaches love with all the emotional restraint of a man who has misplaced his reason and decided to write several hundred lines of verse about the experience. Yet beneath the extravagance lies remarkable literary sophistication, with intricate allusions to Greek mythology, elegant poetic structures and a distinctly Roman appreciation of the complications of human desire.

J. P. Postgate’s scholarly selection provides an introduction to this fascinating literary world, accompanied by the academic seriousness expected of an era when classical education was considered essential preparation for respectable adulthood.

This particular copy has an additional historical attraction: it comes from Old Palace School in Croydon.

One can imagine generations of pupils struggling through Propertius’s intricate Latin constructions while contemplating the extraordinary unfairness of being required to analyse somebody else’s romantic difficulties nearly two thousand years after the unfortunate events.

Whether the pupils found Cynthia’s emotional complications more interesting than Latin grammar is another matter entirely.

Condition: Good. A respectable 1958 Macmillan edition showing the expected signs of age, handling and previous institutional ownership. Its school provenance adds an appealing educational dimension, recalling an age when translating Latin poetry was regarded as character-building rather than a potential infringement of human rights.

Naturally, there is no ISBN. Ancient Roman poets managed without international numbering systems, electronic catalogues or online literary criticism, although Propertius would undoubtedly have welcomed social media as another means of publicly lamenting his romantic misfortunes.

Offered by Crappy Old Books, where classical scholarship is welcomed, ancient heartbreak is sympathetically preserved, and customers are not required to demonstrate proficiency in Latin elegiac couplets.

A charming collectible for students of Latin literature, Roman poetry, classical education and the enduring human ability to turn an unsuccessful romance into a major artistic achievement.

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