"The Roman poet Propertius is best known as the writer who perfected the Latin love elegy, a technical as much as a psychological and cultural feat. Propertius has been admired for both his metrical genius and the modernity of his narrative flow." "Many of the poems here pay tribute to Cynthia, Propertius' romantic obsession, but the scope of these 107 elegies is broad. Propertius' poetry offers a look into life in the Augustan age, addressing social, political, and historical subjects. A contemporary of Vergil and Horace, Propertius has influenced scores of poets - from Ovid to Housman to Pound." "His poetry appears here for the first time in a dual-language edition with the translations facing the original Latin. Rendered into English by a poet who is also one of the nation's preeminent Propertius experts, the volume brings Propertius' difficult mix of vernacular and high literary allusion into contemporary language."--BOOK JACKET.