Propertius' works

Propertius' works consist exclusively of poems in the elegiac metre. In the manuscripts they are divided into four books, containing respectively 22, 34, 25 and 11 elegies, making a total of 92. As, however, several of these are subdivided by modern editors, the total in modern editions is usually larger.

Most of the elegies in the first three books are on the subject of love. But there are some on other subjects. Several for instance, though outwardly attached to the love theme, are really concerned with Propertius' achievements and ambitions as a poet rather than with his feelings as a lover. In several again there is no pretence of a connexion with the love theme. Thus I, xxi is about the death of a kinsman of the poet in the Perusine war; I, xxii is about the poet's birthplace; III, xviii is a funeral elegy on the death of Augustus' heir Marcellus; III, xxii is an encomium on Italy; and so on.

Many, though not all, of the elegies that are concerned with love refer specifically to the feelings of Propertius for a mistress whom he calls Cynthia. This subject completely dominates the first book and is still prominent in the second; in the third book it falls into the background, and the last two elegies of that book (which are not necessarily the last in order of composition) declare the relationship at an end.