‘Parvaque tam magnis admoram fontibus ora,
unde pater sitiens Ennius ante bibit.’
In Propertius love of social pleasures appears side by side with a strain of deep melancholy e.g. in. 5, 21,
Me iuvat et multo mentem vincire Lyaeo
et caput in verna semper habere rosa,
contrasted with the numerous passages where he is thinking of the grave, e.g. ii. 1, 71,
‘Quandocumque igitur vitam mea fata reposcent,
et breve in exiguo marmore nomen ero.’
There is no greater patriot than Propertius. Cf. the denunciation of Cleopatra (iii. 11) and the frequency of the epithet ‘Romanus.’
OVID.
(1) LIFE.
Ovid’s own writings (especially Tr. iv. 10) supply nearly all the information we possess regarding his life. The biographies in the MSS. are valueless.
P. Ovidius Naso was his full name, in which the MSS. agree. He speaks of himself as Naso simply, and Statius and Martial refer to him by that name; Tacitus and the two Senecas use the nomen Ovidius.