Propertius and Horace

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Propertius and HoraceAuthor(s): Friedrich SolmsenSource: Classical Philology, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Apr., 1948), pp. 105-109Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/265835

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PROPERTIUS AND HORACEFRIEDRICH SOLMSEN

IT is well known that in Propertius'third book the love theme occupies amuch smaller place than it does in thefirst and second books. The first poem thatactually treats of his love and his puella isiii. 6. In the preceding five poems (whichfor our purposes may be regarded as aunit)' Propertius is concerned not so muchwith his love as with his status as poet oflove. Poem iii. 1 was clearly written as aproem to the new collection, althoughiii. 3 could serve this purpose equally welland was perhaps at one time destined forthe place at the opening of this book.2 Inboth these elegies the poet is preoccupiedwith his standing and fame as the greatRoman poet of love and is anxious tomake clear that amor, not bellaor Romanhistory, is his subject. The same may besaid of iii. 2. All these elegies, especiallyiii. 1 and iii. 3, contrast sharply with theopening poem of the first book, in whichPropertius speaks of himself entirely aslover, describes love as his fate and dis-ease, and gives no thought as yet to hisstanding as poet. The opening poem of thesecond book clearly occupies in this re-spect an intermediate position betweeni. 1 and iii. 1 (for which we might againsubstitute iii. 3), doing justice to the spe-

1We are justified in including iii. 4 in this group,since this poem, which begins Arma deus Caesar ditesmeditatur ad Indos, is followed by iii. 5: Pacis Amordeus est, pacem veneramur amantes. By this arrange-ment Propertius reinforces the point which he hasagain and again made (iil. 1. 15 ff., 3. 15 if., 39 if.).Poem iii. 2 begins for me with Orphea detinuisse feraset concita dicunt, not with Carminis interea nostriredeamus in orbem.2 The poet's dream and initiation are motifs whichhave their traditional place in the proem of an epic orin the 7rpXoyosof a collection of elegies (like Cal-limachus' Aetia). For a careful study of the history ofthese motifs and of Propertius' innovations see ErichReitzenstein in Festschrift fur Richard Reitzenstein(Leipzig, 1931), pp. 52 ff.

cific character of Propertius' poetry aswell as to his personal fate. The divisionof this elegy into two, which some schol-ars have advocated,3 would, of course, de-stroy precisely this unique character ofthe poem and would eliminate the con-nection between his experience and his artwhich Propertius is anxious to bring out.I must reserve a consideration of this veryinteresting poem for another occasion andreturn to the poems which Propertiusplaced at the beginning of Book iii.Precisely because Propertius in thisbook is less concerned with his love andmore with his status as the poet of love,he is at pains to elaborate this status andto differentiate his tlos from other formsof life. It was probably from a desire tobroaden the basis of this fliosthat Proper-tius incorporated in these poems certainmotifs in which he normally is not muchinterested, e.g., that he has no wealth, nolarge farms, and that he has no desire forthem.4 Now, whatever reasons may ac-count for Propertius' taking up new sub-jects in Book iii, it is evident that one fac-tor that must be taken into account if weare properly to understand the group iii.1-5 is the publication of the first threebooks of Horace's Odes,which had takenplace between the publication of Proper-tius' second and third books. It is under

aThe second part (beginning at vs. 47, where, ac-cording to O. Ribbeck and others, a new elegy opens)has, in fact, much in common with i. 1 if allowance ismade for the different style of Book ii, as well as forthe fact that in this book Propertius heightens thetragic quality of his erotic experiences by frequentreferences to his death. Although a foreshadowing ofthe funus motif-the idea that his unhappy love willcause his death-may be found in i. 6. 25, it is, on thewhole, characteristic of, and confined to, ii (1. 47,51 if., 55f., 4. 17-24, 8. 17ff., 9. 37ff., 13. 18ff.,17. 13 f.).

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FRIEDRICH SOLMSENthe influence of Horace's Odesthat Proper-tius speaks in iii. 2 and iii. 5 of his lack ofinterest in material acquisitions;5 of theequalizing function of death, which knowsno distinction between rich and poor,noble and humble;6 of the general futilityof human efforts;7 and also-though thisperhaps is uncertain-of Prometheus' fa-tal mistake in fashioning man's mind.8Yet, of all the poems included in Hor-ace's three books, none seems to have ex-erted a greater fascination upon Proper-tius than the last of the whole collection,Exegi monumentum ; for this poem fur-nished him with a number of most im-

pressive symbols for the idea which be isnow particularly anxious to formulate-the immortality of his fame as a poet.9 InBook i his literary ambition had found arestrained expression, in Book ii he hadspoken with considerably greater con-fidence.10Since the publication of Book iihis renown had probably much increased,and his pride had grown correspondingly.In Book iii we find him casting about fornew subjects and new forms, yet at thesame time most anxious to consolidateand, if possible, to enhance the reputation

5 2. 9 ff. (cf. esp. Carm. ii. 18. 1 if.), 5. 2-5.6iii. 5. 13-18 (cf. Hor. i. 4. 13 if.; ii. 3. 21 if.,14. 9 if., 18. 32 ff.; iii. 1. 13 if.). Propertius' paritercorresponds to Horace's aequum (aequo pede, i. 4. 13;

aequa lege, iii. 1. 13; aequa tellus, ii. 18. 32). Propertiusis successful in finding new illustrations for the idea;vss. 15 f. have earned him the special praise of W. Y.Sellar (Horace and the Elegiac Poets [Oxford, 1899],pp. 310, 316).

7 5. 11 f.8 Max Rothstein in his commentary (Die Elegiendes Sextus Propertius [2d ed.; Berlin, 1920]) comparesHor. i. 16. 13 ff. with Prop. iii. 5. 6. Propertius haspreserved no trace of Horace's subtle irony.9 The relevant passages are put together by H. E.Butler and E. A. Barber, The Elegies of Propertius(Oxford, 1933), p. xxiv. The authors speak in this con-nection of Propertius' plagiarisms, a term whichperhaps does more justice to Horace's feelings than toPropertius' achievements (cf. ibid., p. lxv: ElegiesI-III [of Book iii] conflate Callimachus with Hor-ace ).10i. 7. 10 if., 21 ff.; ii. 5. 27 ff., 13. 37 ff., 34. 93 ff.

which Books i and ii had brought him.Thus he would seize eagerly upon thenew forms which Horace had found toproclaim his poetic achievements.In iii. 2. 15 (17) ff.-fortunatameosi quaes celebra.taibello.carmina runtformae ot monumenta uae.namnequePyramidumumptusad sideraductinec Iovis Elei caelum mitatadomusnec Mausoleidives fortunasepulchrimortisab extremacondicione acant-we easily recognize echoes of Horace's iii.30. 1 f. Propertius concentrates not onHorace's altius but on his perennius; hedetaches this concept from the aes (inHorace's aere perennius) and applies itvery properly-but unlike Horace-to thearchitectural monumenta.1 To the onemonumentumof this kind which he foundin Horace he adds two others-a proce-dure quite in keeping with his poetic habitof piling up illustrations. Verse 20 showsno borrowing, but verses 21 f.-aut illis flammaaut imber subducet honoresannorumaut ictu ponderavicta ruent-are clearly a recasting of Horace's words.12It is fair to recognize that one of Horace'sideas-the superiority of literary monu-menta over the great works of architecture--is given an even more vigorous expres-sion and is, indeed, brought out moreclearly (other motifs having been discard-ed).13The final couplet, too-at non ingenio quaesitumnomenab aevoexcidet: ngenio tat sinemortedecus-

11Note the word monumenta in vs. 28, which pre-pares the ground for the reference to the pyramids andother buildings. The word as such has, however, noconnotations of 'monumentality' (Catullus 95. 9speaks of the parva monumenta of a fellow-poet).12 iii. 30. 3-5.13Horace's altius is perhaps not completely dis-carded but has been given a subordinate place

(sumptus ad sidera ducti, vs. 17; caelum imitata domus,vs. 18).

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FRIEDRICH SOLMSENfectly legitimate, and the result is a nobleand highly poetic train of thought, whichPropertius' contemporaries as well asposteritascould justly admire. Propertius'technique is the same as we find in otherpoems of his which deal with comparablesubjects;18he puts before our eyes in po-etic language a number of significant epi-sodes of the Trojan War. The couplet 29 f.,which at first seems to be only an array ofglittering names, yet at the end brings anew turn of thought in the words vix suanosset humus. And the last couplet of thissequence reaffirms the point made at thebeginning (exiguo sermone fores... quisnosceret)-it would be pedantic to holdagainst the poet that he has made a dis-tinction between Ilion and Troia.I have said that Propertius was success-ful in attempting a new development ofthe Horatian idea, and yet Nemesiscaught up with him, even though pedeclaudo. It was his bad luck that Horacehimself was, in the fourth book of his Odes,to deal with the same poetic ideas and thathe was to present his own version also ofthe Greek r60ros with which Propertiushad embroidered the thought of Ode iii.30. That he should do so in Book iv seemsnatural enough if we consider how muchhe, too, is preoccupied in this book withhis status as poet and how much thePindaric triad of ideas, apra, KXMOS, aoL86s,meant to him at that time.19It was leftto Horace to give the Greek r6Oros,hichand convincing expression of Propertius' own feelings.The fact that the motifs of this elegy can be iso-lated and their origin determined helps us to under-stand the genesis of this poem and the working ofPropertius' imagination but has no bearing upon theappraisal of the poetic qualities of the elegy.

18 See, e.g., ii. 1. 19-24, 27-34; iii. 3. 7-12, 9. 49 if.19 See besides iv. 9, esp. iv. 8 and also iv. 2. 19 ff.'Quem tu Melpomene (iv. 3) precedes the mostPindaric of Horace's odes (iv. 4) (cf. Hermann

Gundert, Pindar und sein Dichterberuf [Frankfurt,1935], pp. 26 if., 46 if. and passim; see also my paperin Zeitschrift fur Aesthetik, XXVI [1932], 149 if., esp.161 if.).

Propertius, perhaps as princeps, had in-corporated in Roman poetry, its classicalform; it is his words, especially his vixerefortes anteAgamemnona,which have cometo mind in the past whenever an authori-tative statement of the idea was needed.In the first stanza of iv. 9 Horace re-affirmswhat he has said in iii. 30 about theimmortality of his poetic work (compareespecially quae longe sonantem natus adAufidum... with dicar qua violens ob-strepitAufidus . . . ).20 His own immortalityHorace this time does not explicitly assert.Not that the poet is completely merged inhis work-how could we fail to perceivethe significance of the first person in verbaloquor socianda chordis-but no specialpoint is made of this personal fame. Hor-ace is proud of his work, but with the ex-pression of this pride he combines-whatPropertius would not or could not do-anunqualified recognition of the superiorityof Homer.21The lyric poets of the Greeks(in whose footsteps Horace has followed)22are immortal; their work has remainedalive even though priores Maeonius tenetsedes Homerus. Propertius had put him-self directly beside Homer.Moreover, when Horace comes to dealwith the subjects on which Homer has be-stowed immortality,23he gives the r6oroa most strikingly original and brilliantnew turn. Instead of saying once morethat the Greek and Trojan heroes wouldhave been forgotten if there had been noHomer, he forces our minds to focus on thefact that there were great heroes and greatevents that have actually been forgotten.Five clauses of inexorable finality repeatwith extremely skilful stylistic variations

20 Cf. iii. 30. 10; iv. 9. 2.21 Verses 5 if.22 Cf. Propertius' references to his Greek models,Callimachus and Philitas (iii. 1. 1).23 Verses 13-28. Horace includes Helen's falling in

love with Paris, although it is not, strictly speaking, asubject of the Iliad. Propertius includes the episode ofthe wooden horse.

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the non solus, non semel, non primus mo-tif, inculcating in our mind the truthwhich is finally made explicit in the wordsomnes illacrimabiles urgentur ignotiquelonga nocte carent quia vate sacro.24Hor-ace's stanzas breathe a more heroic spiritthan Propertius' couplets, and the recur-ring conceit-non sola, primusve, non se-mel, etc.-gives Horace's poetic diction adegree of structure and a plastic qualitywhich raise it above the level of Proper-tius'-however cleverly varied-series ofepisodes.25The triumph of form is morecomplete in Horace; it would be so evenwithout the careful alternation betweenGreek and Trojan illustrations26and with-out the deliberate brevity of the threemiddle clauses, which contrast with thelonger sentences at the beginning and theend of the thought.Horace's ode includes no turn of phrase24 Professor Hutton refers me to Lucr. v. 324 ff.,where the opposite point is made. One may wonderwhether Horace deliberately flies in the face of anEpicurean tenet.

25 The aesthetic judgment regarding the passage inPropertius is made somewhat difficult by the fact thatthe end of vs. 27 is uncertain. Of the manuscripts,N has only Idaeum Simoenta Jovis. The other classof manuscripts (FLP) continues cunabula parvi, whichis unsatisfactory. Butler and Barber, like other editorsbefore them, accept G. Wolff's cum prole Scamandri.This suggestion would be attractive if there were otherinstances in which Propertius uses a hexameter to de-velop the exemplum given in the pentameter of thepreceding couplet.26 Some of these stylistic features are pointed outby Heinze in his commentary on iv. 9 (Adolf Kiess-ling and Richard Heinze, Horaz: Oden und Epoden[7th ed.; Berlin, 19301).

that reminds us of Propertius;27 rom thewording of this poem it would be impos-sible to decide whether Horace was ac-quainted with the first elegy of Propertius'third book. And yet, what person familiarwith the conditions of literary life at thetime could doubt that Horace knew thepoems which Propertius had placed at theopening of this book and in which he hadinvaded Horace's own domain and triedto improve upon his poetic conceptions byadding a reference to Homer and incor-porating the Greek To67os.These poemswere a challenge to the iraTr7p rov X0yov;yet it is in keeping with the tone and atti-tude of Horace's fourth book that, al-though cognizant of what Propertius haddone with his motifs and himself incor-porating the same Tr6OOSas well as a refer-ence to Homer), Horace steers clear ofanything that could be regarded as averbal echo or indebtedness. With soaringwing, he rises above Propertius' experi-ment. The fact (if it is a fact) that Horacelacked personal affection for Propertius28need not even have anything to do withthis attitude.CORNELL UNIVERSITY

27We may disregard the fact that Hector andDeiphobus, who illustrate Trojan bravery in Horace(vs. 22), appear also in Propertius' list of Trojanheroes (vss. 28 f.).28 This inference is commonly and probably cor-rectly drawn from Epist. ii. 2. 99 ff. (see the mostrecent discussion by Brooks Otis, TAPA, LXXVI

[1945], 188 ff.).

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Propertius and Horace