ABSTRACT
This is the programmatic poem for the Monobiblos in which the poet's beloved is introduced [49–50]. Cynthia, as the first word of the book, would have served as its title. In the same way, the Aeneid was known as arma virumque. Thus, the identification, and at times down right confusion, between the topic of Propertius's poetry and the poetry itself is immediately introduced. The tone of the poem on the surface is one of unrelieved sorrow and suffering but the text reveals an ironic wit equally characteristic of Propertius. It proceeds by a series of abrupt transitions from one section to the next and makes the reader supply the connections between them. The sharp juxtapositions that characterize Propertian style mark its distinct nature from the more dreamlike nature of Tibullan elegy in which one part of the poem blends almost imperceptibly into the next.
