iii. _El._ 20
is apparently as early as B.C. 28; 18 certainly belongs to B.C. 23; 4
perhaps refers to the expedition against the Parthians planned in B.C.
22. The last-mentioned year is the earliest possible date of
publication.

_Book_ iv., in which there is no principle of arrangement, probably
appeared after the author's death. His archaeological tastes come out
in four Elegies written, in imitation of the +Aitia+ of
Callimachus, on Roman antiquities--_El._ 2 on Vertumnus, 4 on Tarpeia,
9 on Cacus, 10 on Jupiter Feretrius. In this way Propertius fulfilled
his promise to Maecenas, iii. 9, 49,

'Celsaque Romanis decerpta Palatia tauris
ordiar et caeso moenia firma Remo,
eductosque pares silvestri ex ubere reges,
crescet et ingenium sub tua iussa meum.'

_El._ 7 and 8 relate to Cynthia; in 7 her ghost appears to the poet.
_El._ 3, a letter from Arethusa to Lycotas, possibly suggested to Ovid
the plan of his _Heroides_, just as the antiquarian poems already
mentioned may have suggested the _Fasti_. The Book ends with a lament
for Cornelia, daughter of Scribonia, Augustus' first wife (_El._ 11).

The date of 6 and 11 is certainly not earlier than B.C. 16, while 8
seems to have been written before the rupture with Cynthia. The
antiquarian poems are considered by some to have been among
Propertius' earliest efforts.

Propertius was familiar with the whole range of Greek poetry--Homer
(iii. 1, 25-34), Mimnermus (i. 9, 11), Pindar (iii. 17, 40), the
dramatists, Theocritus, and Apollonius Rhodius. As his models he names
especially the Alexandrians Callimachus and Philetas, whom he claims
to follow more closely than any of his predecessors; iii. 1, 1,

'Callimachi Manes et Coi sacra Philetae,
in vestrum, quaeso, me sinite ire nemus.
Primus ego ingredior puro de fonte sacerdos
Itala per Graios orgia ferre choros.'

Cf. iv. 1, 64,

'Umbria Romani patria Callimachi.'

In wealth of mythological illustration Propertius is peculiarly
Alexandrian. He is continually drawing parallels and contrasts from
Greek legend; _e.g._ i. 15, Cynthia how unlike Calypso! iii. 12, Aelia
Galla a modern Penelope. Of Roman poets, he names as his predecessors
in amatory verse Virgil, Varro Atacinus, Catullus, Calvus, and
Cornelius Gallus (ii 34, 61-92). Once he dreams of writing an epic on
the Alban kings in the vein of Ennius; iii. 3, 5,

'Parvaque tam magnis admoram fontibus ora,
unde pater sitiens Ennius a