Horace and Propertius do not mention each other by name. Chronology forbids the identification of the bore in Hor. Sat. i. 9 with Propertius, who, on the same ground, cannot be meant in Sat. i. 10, 18,
‘Neque simius iste,
nil praeter Calvum et doctus cantare Catullum.’
But Hor. Ep. ii. 2, 87-101, is undoubtedly aimed at Propertius. Cf. especially l. 99,
‘Discedo Alcaeus puncto illius; ille meo quis?
quis nisi Callimachus? Si plus adposcere visus,
fit Mimnermus et optivo cognomine crescit.’
Though both poets belonged to the same literary circle, they differed widely in temperament as well as in age. With Tibullus, who was a member of Messalla’s circle, Propertius may have had no personal acquaintance; at all events, neither alludes to the other.
For Virgil Propertius expresses warm admiration in ii. 34, written during the composition of the Aeneid. Ovid, who calls him ‘blandus’ (Tr. ii. 465) and ‘tener’ (A.A. iii. 333), was an intimate friend of his; cf. Tr. iv. 10, 45 (quoted [p. 206]). The minor poets to whom he writes are Ponticus (i. 7 and 9), Bassus (i. 4), and a tragic poet, Lynceus (a pseudonym, ii. 34, 25).
(2) WORKS.
The extant Elegies, divided in the MSS. into four Books, are probably all that Propertius ever wrote. On account of the disproportionate length of Book ii., and the number ‘tres’ (which, however, may be said in anticipation) in ii. 13, 25,
‘Sat mea sat magna est si tres sint pompa libelli,
quos ego Persephonae maxima dona feram,’
some editors make Book ii. consist only of El. 1-9, and assign the remainder (10-34) to a new Book iii. Books iii. and 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.