^ ""^^a::^^-^^ 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 Prof. Robert V. Merrill 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Mrs. Robert V. Merrill
 
 Copa 
 
 The Hostess of the Inn
 
 Copa : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 A Neglected Classic 
 
 Its Reputed Authors, Cynthia and 
 
 Propertius, and the Story 
 
 of Keppler's Search 
 
 Edited by 
 
 Charles L. Dana and John Cotton Dana 
 
 The Elm Tree Press Woodstock Vermont 
 
 1909
 
 Copyright, The Elm Tree Press 
 No. Z. \
 
 6 9^^ 
 
 
 C-r 
 
 
 no^ 
 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction .... 
 
 9 
 
 Copa ..... 
 
 11 
 
 Argument .... 
 
 19 
 
 The Song of Surisca 
 
 21 
 
 Copa Keppler's Text 
 
 25 
 
 Cynthia ..... 
 
 27 
 
 To Cynthia . . . . . 
 
 30 
 
 Propertius ..... 
 
 33 
 
 Elegy IV 6 On the Death of Paetus . 40 
 
 72'7S34
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The following account of Dr. Keppler's deep and 
 long-continued interest in the neglected classic, 
 "Copa", and of his researches into the merits and 
 authorship of that poem, would make, by itself, an 
 interesting story. 
 
 To this story we have added the poem, in the 
 original and in translation ; a study of Propertius 
 who had something to do with the poem; and some 
 notes concerning Cynthia, the " golden girl ", who is 
 named as its author by Dr. Keppler. 
 
 Propertius was a poet of distinction, a forerunner 
 of the type of D'Annunzio ; he was one of the circle 
 of Macaenas, and a master of elegiac verse. .^ / y 
 
 His friend Cynthia, perhaps the illustris puella of '^ 
 
 the learned critic Broekhuizen, was a person to 
 whom, in the words of Martial, " Propertius gave 
 fame and received no less from her". She had 
 remarkable talents, even if she were not, as Keppler 
 thought, the lost Sappho of an Augustan inn.
 
 Fovetur itaque magno suo merito poetica civitate 
 illustris puella cujus nomen inter Romanae lyrae 
 cultrices adhuc desiderari piaculum fuerit. 
 
 J. Broukhusius 
 
 Therefore by her own merit there flourishes in the poetic com- 
 monwealth a noble woman whose name it would be a wrong to 
 have lacking among the cultivators of the Roman lyre.
 
 Copa: The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 I 
 
 There lived and flourished in Venice during the 
 past thirty years a well known German practitioner, 
 Dr. Fritz Keppler. He was a skillful surgeon, a 
 well-informed and resourceful physician, and he 
 kept up his active work and extensive practice till 
 the last year of his life. He was then attacked by 
 a malignant disease which caused his death in the 
 Spring of 1908, at the age of sixty-six. 
 
 Keppler in his early life was interested in literary, 
 political and economic subjects. He was associated 
 for a time with La Salle ; he wrote political articles, 
 fought many duels, and composed and published a 
 small book of verses. 
 
 But he laid aside politics and economics when he 
 came to Venice and entered enthusiastically into the 
 work of his profession. He acquired a large prac- 
 tice and established a clinic; he also incidentally 
 collected a large and valuable libraiy of medical and 
 general literature. One of his particular diversions, 
 outside of his practical work however, was the 
 Latin classics, in which his library was very rich.
 
 12 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 ,^ ■ 
 
 ' Among pieces attributed to some poet of the 
 
 Augustan period is a short poem called "Copa", 
 which means " The Hostess of the Inn". 
 This early attracted Keppler's interest, for he 
 thought it one of the most beautiful poems of the 
 classic period. 
 
 The author of the poem had never been definitely 
 
 known, and for many years Dr. Keppler says that he 
 
 read his Latin daily, trying to find some verse which 
 
 had the characteristics of the little piece, which he 
 
 called his "foundling". His labor was rewarded, 
 
 at least in a degree and to his own satisfaction, for 
 
 he finally reached the conclusion that the mysterious 
 
 •' l author was a certain lady named "Hostia", to whom 
 
 ,'^>^ the poet Propertius addressed his Elegies and to 
 
 y-^ whom that author says "Apollo had given all the 
 
 gifts of song". 
 
 Cum tibi praesertim Phoebus sua carmina donet. 
 
 El. I 2 
 
 Hostia was a well-known character in Rome. She 
 was probably the grand-daughter of a Latin poet 
 named Hostius. She had beauty, wit and talent for 
 music, poetry and dancing. Propertius addresses 
 his elegies to her under the name of Cynthia, 
 elegies which indicate that he was of the type of 
 Alfred de Musset and that Hostia, the gifted inspirer 
 of his work, while not perhaps his Roman George
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 13 
 
 Sand was at least able to write songs "equal to 
 those of Corinna and of Erinna". 
 
 Et quantum ^olio cum temptat carmina plectro, 
 Par Aganippe^ ludere docta lyrs, 
 Et sua cum antiquse committit scripta CorinncC 
 Carminaque Erinnes non putat aequa suis. 
 
 EL II 3, 19 
 
 As to the literary value of the poem and the date 
 of its appearance there seem to be substantial 
 agreement. It is well known to Latin students, for 
 it used to be attributed to Virgil and is included in 
 his collected works in the older editions. 
 
 In Dunlop's History of Roman Literature, 1828, it 
 is translated in part. Dunlop says that "it is a 
 good-humored drinking song by the majestic author 
 of the Georgics and Aeneid." He adds, "A few of 
 the lines, although some barbarisms occur, are 
 written with considerable spirit." 
 
 Dunlop's translation is so bad that it brings tears 
 to the eyes, and I can but think his critical estimate 
 of Copa of little value. German critics are more 
 kindly. Hertzberg says, "This much is certain, the 
 author of Copa belonged to the best period of 
 Roman poetry; yet further, he must have held a 
 prominent place among the poets of his time; this 
 poem could not have been his only work." 
 
 Teuffel and Schwabe* say that Copa is an "Elegy 
 
 * History of Roman Literature. 
 
 ''vV_, ?
 
 tj 
 
 14 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 of the best time" written in the manner of Virgil, 
 but unlike him in its sprightly tone. 
 
 Broekhuizen thinks that the author of the poem 
 ought to occupy a high place among the cultivators 
 of the Roman lyre. Crutwell says that the poem 
 would be perfect if the first quatrain were omitted; 
 and he adds, "if it is not Virgil's we have lost in 
 its author a genre poet of the highest power." 
 
 It may be seen that Keppler's appreciation of the 
 poem does not lack support. 
 
 As to the authorship: the opinion at one time held 
 that it was an early poem of Virgil's seems to have 
 been generally abandoned. 
 
 A learned German critic, Herzberg, thought it 
 might be by Propertius, or by some one who knew 
 his Propertius well; for there are phrases and even 
 a whole line in Copa which are found in the Elegies 
 of that author. The Latin scholar, Broekhuizen, 
 thought it was written by a Roman lady of the time 
 of Augustus who was illustrious in poetic art. 
 
 Copa has also been attributed to the poet Florus 
 of the time of Hadrian ( Zell ), to a Septimus Severus 
 of the time of Flavian (Wemsdorf ), and to Caius 
 Valgius Rufus (Ilgen), a friend of Horace. 
 
 On the whole, Keppler says, the only well known 
 authors who have really much claim on Copa are 
 Virgil and Propertius ; then he proceeds to show why 
 it could be neither of these. The argument is long
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 15 
 
 and technical and would not especially interest the 
 reader. It is not difficult to disprove what is not at 
 all well established and so we are convinced that 
 Dr. Keppler makes out a case. 
 
 Keppler's argument that Hostia was the author 
 is, briefly, this : the poem was published about the 
 time of Propertius, it was written probably by a 
 woman ( Broekhuizen) and by one who knew that 
 author well and incorporated in it some of his 
 phrases and expressions. But these forms of ex- 
 pression were not in the true manner of that author, 
 who was learned, formal and complex, while Copa 
 is simple, unconventional and natural. Hence it 
 seems more Hkely that Propertius got his unusual 
 turns of expression from Copa than the reverse. 
 Now Propertius lived in intimate relations with 
 Hostia for five years. She was a poet of distinction 
 and a woman of unusual talents ; and she led the 
 kind of life which would make the sentiments of 
 Copa fit well to her poetic invention. Hence the 
 probability that Hostia was the authoress. 
 
 This exposition makes a monograph of sixty-five 
 pages and we are giving only an outline of his 
 reasoning. It gives the impression of being an 
 interesting guess. The most striking point is that 
 Propertius has used here and there in his Elegies 
 the style of Copa, which is not like his usual style 
 and which may easily have crept in from association
 
 16 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 with a natural poet, not one of the Schools or of 
 the Sodaliceum, the Poet's Club of that period. 
 
 The view that Copa was written by some illus- 
 trious woman had been suggested by Broekhuizen 
 two centuries ago and Keppler, thinking that he 
 had realized Broekhuizen's theory, dedicated his 
 book to this critic's memory and introduced his 
 argument with the quotation which we have placed 
 at the beginning of this work. 
 
 In Keppler's last months of illness he gave his 
 time to writing out the evidence we have gathered 
 here and just before his death finished his mono- 
 graph, in which he gives also his interpretation of 
 the poem as a piece of literature. It does not re- 
 quire great gifts to recognize deserved merit in 
 Copa. It is pleasingly descriptive, natural and 
 unpretentious and its climax is very effective. As 
 a whole it is a very interesting, human and convinc- 
 ing piece and it differs so wholesomely in its 
 simplicity from the ordinary lyrics, elegies and 
 satires of the " best Roman times " that we wish the 
 authoress had left more work to posterity. 
 
 And it is not only the merit of the poem and the 
 question of authorship, but also the intense interest 
 taken in it by Dr. Fritz Keppler that appeal to one 
 and give to the matter a modem and human 
 interest. 
 
 The spectacle of this brave and learned gentleman,
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 17 
 
 mortally ill, engaging his last days in putting before 
 the public his favorite gem of the Augustan classics 
 and trying to add a new name to the dwellers on 
 Parnassus, deserves a record. 
 Whether Hostia, or Cynthia, is a new-found Sappho 
 of an Augustan inn is of less moment.
 
 Dr. Fritz Keppler
 
 ARGUMENT 
 
 The poem represents the opening and exploitation '-^ 
 
 of an inn and summer garden, perhaps in the 
 suburbs of Rome. The "Copa " or hostess, Surisca, 
 appears before her guests dancing, and describes 
 the beauties and attractions of the place. The 
 narration, says Keppler, is like a kind of business 
 announcement of a new suburban resort, such as 
 we now see in our daily papers, done in verse. 
 
 " But out of this material, " Keppler adds, " the 
 poetess by the most simple and natural means has 
 built up an art-work of the first rank. In beautiful 
 flowing verses the poetess enumerates, one after the 
 other, the various delights the place affords. " 
 
 " From verse to verse she increases the expecta- 
 tions of the guests, and warms their fancy, and then 
 concludes quickly and dramatically with the boldest 
 imagery which any poet of the classic period has 
 ventured to present. " 
 
 The Copa, written in elegiac* verse, is usually 
 
 *The elegiac verse is made up of one line of hexameter, or six 
 feet ; and one of pentameter, or five feet. The verse therefore 
 was written in couplets, and it was especially used in epigram, 
 inscription and elegy. The two forms of meter, hexameter and 
 pentameter, were those most often employed and most fully 
 developed by the makers of Latin poetry.
 
 20 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 printed without sub-divisions, but it falls naturally 
 into quatrains and we have presented it in that way. 
 The incident of the guardian of the chapel, with 
 his scythe and " huge hips " and tired ass, has a 
 local and a mythological significance which is 
 obscure even to the pundits of today.
 
 The Song of Surisca 
 The Hostess of a Country Inn 
 
 r 
 
 The Hostess, Surisca, binds her head 
 
 with the fillet, and gracefully moving 
 
 her slender body to the castinets, j / 
 
 touched with the wine, goes thro' 
 
 the wanton dance in her famous Inn, 
 
 striking her elbow on the 
 
 clattering pipes. 
 
 " What profits it, if one be wearied 
 
 with the summer's heat, to keep - , , 
 
 away from the ever-thirsty turf ! 
 
 Here are flowery walks and little huts, 
 
 and cups and roses ; the flute and zither. 
 
 Here are summer-houses cooled 
 
 by shady branches ; "! 
 
 "And listen now to the pipe of the 
 
 shepherd sounding his rural notes 
 
 which sweetly clatter in the grove / / 
 
 of Menelaus,
 
 22 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 Here is new wine flowing from the 
 
 pitch-stained cask ; and a brook 
 
 runs by with a gurgling noise. 
 
 " Here are wreaths of violets twined with 
 
 the crocus, and festoons of fiery 
 
 yellow mixed with the rose ; 
 
 And lilies, washed in virgin 
 
 fountains, which the Nymphs 
 
 have brought in their wicker baskets. 
 
 " Here are the little cakes, dried, 
 
 in the rushes ; 
 
 And plums yellowed in the 
 
 autumnal day. 
 
 Here are chestnuts and shining 
 
 apples and all the ornaments 
 
 of Ceres and Venus and Bacchus ; 
 
 " Blood-red mulberries and grapes 
 on the slender vines ; and the blue- 
 green cucumber hangs from its stem. 
 Here is the guardian of the chapel, 
 armed with his willow hook, 
 not so terrible as he seems with 
 his vast figure. 
 
 " Come hither little brother : See how 
 the tired ass sweats ; Spare him ; 
 for he delights us.
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 23 
 
 Now the locusts break forth 
 again and again over 
 wooded fields ; 
 And the lizard lies hidden 
 in his cold retreat. 
 
 " Now if you are thirsty, rest and pour 
 
 out the cooling drink in a glass, 
 
 Or, if you wish, bring new cups 
 
 of crystal ; 
 
 Come here and rest your weary 
 
 limbs beneath the leafy shade ; f 
 
 and bind your heavy head with 
 
 garlands of flowers, - 
 
 " snatching beautiful kisses from 
 
 the mouth of the slender girl— 
 
 Let him perish who is too proud ! 
 
 What ! will you throw the perfumed 
 
 wreaths to the ungrateful ashes ? 
 
 Do you long to lie beneath that 
 
 stone with which your flowers are crowned ? 
 
 " Bring forth the wine and dice, 
 Let him perish who cares for 
 the morrow ! 
 
 Death, pulling your ear, says ; 
 ' Live, I come.' " 
 
 > /
 
 Copa 
 
 Keppler's Text 
 
 r^OPA Surisca, caput graeca redimita mitella, 
 Crispum sub crotalo docta movere latus, 
 Ebria famosa saltat lasciva tabema, 
 Et cubitum raucos excutiens calamos : 
 
 " Quid juvat aestivo defessum pulvere abesse 
 
 Quam potius bibulo decubuisse toro ? 
 Sunt topia et kalybae, cyathi, rosa, tibia, chordae, 
 
 Et triclia umbrosis frigida harundinibus. 
 
 En et, Maenalio quae garrit dulce sub antro, 
 
 Rustica pastoris fistula more sonat. 
 Est et vappa, cado nuper defusa picato. 
 
 Est strepitans rauco murmure rivus aquae ; 
 
 Sunt et cum croceo violae de flore corollae 
 
 Sertaque purpurea lutea mixta rosa 
 Et quae virgineo libata Achelois ab amne 
 
 Lilia vimineis attulit in calathis. 
 
 Sunt et cascoli, quos juncea fiscina siccat, '^- 
 
 Sunt autumnali cerea pruna die 
 Castaneaeque nucesque et suave rubentia mala, ' 
 
 Est hie munda Ceres, est Amor, est Bromius ; 
 
 /
 
 26 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 Sunt et mora cruenta, et lentis uva racemis 
 Et pendet junco caeruleus cucumis. 
 
 Est tuguri custos, armatus falce saligna, 
 Sed non et vasto est inguine terribilis. 
 
 Huic calybita veni. Lassus jam sudat asellus, 
 ' Parce illi : nostrum delicium est asinus '. 
 
 Nunc cantu crebro rumpunt arbusta cicadae. 
 Nunc vere in gelida sede lacerta latet : 
 
 Si sapis, aestivam recubans nunc prolue vitro, 
 Seu vis crystalli ferre novos calices ; 
 
 Hie age pampinea fessus requiesce sub umbra 
 Et gravidum rosco necte caput strophio, 
 
 Formosum tenerae decerpens ora puellae — 
 A pereat cui sunt prisca supercilia ! 
 
 Quid cineri ingrato servas bene olentia serta? 
 An ne coronato vis lapide ista tegi ? 
 
 Pone merum et talos. Pereat qui crastina curat ; 
 Mors aurem vellens ' vivite ', ait, ' venio '."
 
 Cynthia 
 
 We do not know the train of reasoning which led 
 the learned Broekhuizen to attribute Copa to an 
 illustris puella. Perhaps because it is a song by a 
 woman, and is informal and unlearned. Perhaps 
 because it sings of an Inn, and Broekhuizen may 
 have doubted if any male poet of the circle of Maece- 
 nas would sing of an Inn. Perhaps because a man 
 of that day would not sing about flowers or know so 
 much about them. Admitting the poem to be by a 
 woman, there was in Augustan times only one other 
 poetess besides Cynthia who could have written it, 
 — a noble lady named Sulpicia, who wrote certain 
 very charming love letters. But such of her work 
 as we have is not in the style of Copa. So we are 
 turned, as Keppler tells us we should be, to Cynthia, 
 — and she deserves further notice. 
 
 We have already spoken of her origin and position 
 in life. It is known that she was a person of beauty 
 and talent, but of a somewhat inconstant disposition.
 
 28 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 She had also a fiery temper, from which Propertius 
 suffered, but which nevertheless he loved. He says : 
 
 Dulcis ad hestemas fuerat mihi rixa lucemas, 
 etc. 
 
 El. IV 7 
 
 I was delighted with our quarrel last evening and 
 with all the reproaches of your frantic tongue. 
 
 He adds : 
 Nam sine amore gravi femina nulla dolet. 
 
 El. IV 7 
 
 Unless she is violently in love, no woman feels 
 offended. 
 
 And further : 
 Hostibus eveniat lenta puella meis. 
 
 El. IV 7 
 
 May my enemies meet with an easy-tempered 
 mistress. 
 
 Propertius calls her often docta puella and credits 
 her with being the inspirer of his verse ; of giving, 
 in fact, as much as she received, for she led him to 
 use and develop his talents. 
 
 Cynthia was a blonde, either by nature or art. She 
 calls herself his " golden girl ". 
 
 Hie Tiburtina jacet aurea Cynthia. 
 
 E1.V7 
 
 Here in the soil of Tiber lies the Golden Cynthia.
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 29 
 
 She was tall, and of graceful figure, for which, he 
 says " she needed no medicine ". She had long hands, 
 and wonderful eyes. 
 
 Fulva coma est longaeque manus et maxima toto 
 Corpore, et incidit vel Jove digna soror. 
 
 EL II 2 
 
 Her hair is yellow and her hands are long; she is 
 tall and walks forth like a sister of Jove. 
 
 She was charming in conversation, able to sing, 
 dance, play the lyre and write poems equal to those 
 of the Greek poetess Corinna. She had in fact all 
 the gifts of which Venus and Minerva approve. And 
 it was to her credit that Propertius won her not by 
 his wealth, but by the merit of his songs. 
 
 Hanc ego non auro, non Indis flectere conchis, 
 Sed potui blandi carminis obsequio. 
 
 El. 18 
 
 Her not my gold could bend nor Indian Shells 
 But winning homage in loves villanelles. 
 
 She was fond of finery, and it is to be feared made 
 herself up when she went out to walk. Propertius 
 protests against these habits :
 
 30 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 To Cynthia 
 
 Why walk, my love, with burnished hair. 
 And flutt'ring folds of silken vest ? 
 
 No tress from Syrian myrrh is fair ; 
 All stranger arts thou should'st detest. 
 
 Spoil not with boughten gauds thy grace, 
 Nor mar thy form's own loveliness ; 
 
 Of pinching drugs be there no trace, 
 The uncloth'd Cupid to distress. 
 
 Earth's gorgeous hues in freedom bloom ; 
 
 The ivy's guide, its errant will; 
 The arbutus, far from fashion's doom, 
 
 'Mong wild rocks springs more fairly still. 
 
 The fiower'd brooks from pathways turn, 
 The unstain'd pebbles deck the strand : 
 
 From naught but Nature do they learn. 
 As songbirds fly the trainer's hand. 
 
 In simple ways did Phoebe lead 
 The am'rous Castor to her feet ; 
 
 Hilaria's charms made Pollux plead 
 His love with burning zeal, yet sweet. 
 
 Her virgin looks — no paint, no gem — 
 
 Apollo drew in fiercest chase. 
 In hope Marpesa's flight to stem, 
 
 And thrust himself in Idas' place.
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 31 
 
 The Pisan's milk white skin enflam'd 
 
 Apelles' hopeless brush to limn, 
 And fired the Phrygian, unasham'd. 
 
 To force her will and mate with him. 
 
 All these unaided won their swains ; 
 
 Their modest beauty made men slaves. 
 Shall Cynthia be less worth the pains 
 
 Of winning all a lover craves ? 
 
 The conquest of one longing heart 
 
 Adorns a maid with royal mien ; 
 So coyness be your better part. 
 
 As best becomes love's dainty queen ; 
 
 With Phoebus' added gift of song, 
 Deft fingers ling'ring on the lyre, 
 
 The merry wit that plays among 
 The words that mask your fond desire. 
 
 Endowe^d thus, in splendor dight, 
 Nor Venus' form, Minerva's mind. 
 
 Can ampler make the sheer delight 
 That flows from thee, forever kind. 
 
 So Cynthia, dear, contented stay 
 With thine own grace to hold my praise ; 
 
 Let flippant girls do what they may. 
 Ruthless to blot their fairest days : 
 No artifice our love betrays. 
 
 T. F. C. El. I 2 
 
 Cynthia was jealous and inconstant, and flirted with 
 a rich praetor while making love to the poor, — and 
 also inconstant— Propertius. She died rather early,
 
 32 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 and Propertius, who laments her in an Elegy, did not 
 survive her many years or write very good verse 
 after her decease. 
 
 Cynthia was not the hostess of an inn, but a woman 
 of good family. Yet she knew of such suburban 
 resorts as are described in Copa and she could, if she 
 wished, dance and play and sing "striking her elbow 
 on the clattering pipes ". 
 
 She could also inspire a love that was intense and 
 true. Were this not so, how could her lover have 
 written the following lines, which a critic, Postgate, 
 has called especially sublime. 
 
 Ut caput in magnis ubi non est tangere signis 
 Ponitur hie imos ante corona pedes, 
 
 Sic nos nunc, inopes laudis condescendere 
 culmen, 
 
 Pauperibus sacris vilia tura damus. 
 
 Nondum etenim Ascraeos norunt mea carmina 
 fontes 
 
 El. Ill 1 
 
 As when, of lofty statues men can not touch 
 
 the head, they lay the garland here low at 
 
 the feet ; 
 So I, all powerless to climb in song thy glory's 
 
 height, present cheap incense in humble 
 
 offering; 
 For not yet have my strains reached the springs 
 
 of Helicon.
 
 Propertius
 
 Propertius 
 
 Dr. Keppler, in his Copa says that Propertius is 
 the only one of the recognized classic authors of 
 Rome who could have written that poem, had he 
 wished to do so ; and he adds that, though "Proper- 
 tius did not write it ", he must, in a very distinct 
 way, have helped its author. 
 
 There occur in Propertius two lines almost exactly 
 like lines in Copa. 
 
 Hie dulces cerasos, hie autumnalia pruna 
 Cemis et aestivo mora rubere die. 
 
 E1.V2 
 
 Here you see sweet cherries, and autumnal plums 
 and blood-red mulberries in a summer's day. 
 
 The occasion justifies us in calling attention to the 
 merits of Propertius, because he rightly deserves it 
 in this connection, and also because we are writing 
 under the sub-title of "a neglected classic "; — and 
 Propertius is one of the most neglected of the writers 1. "^ 
 
 of classic Latin.
 
 34 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 Sextus Propertius lived in Rome, B. C. 50-16. He 
 began the study of law, but gave it up for literature. 
 He had a moderate fortune and passed a rather idle 
 and uneventful life, mingling in the exclusive 
 literary circle of his time. He was a friend of Virgil 
 and of Ovid ; but was not liked by Horace. He was 
 well spoken of by his contemporaries and gained so 
 high a position in the poetic ranks that he was con- 
 fident of his own immortality. But his poetry dis- 
 appeared from literature for fourteen hundred years. 
 He was not known to the learned of mediaeval 
 times. In the middle of the fifteenth century a 
 manuscript copy of his writings was found beneath 
 a cask in the cellar of a wine-shop in Naples. (J. 
 Pontanus, quoted by Broeckhuizen.) His work soon 
 attracted the attention of critics and it became one 
 of the acknowledged classics of the Augustan period. 
 In late years Propertius has gained steadily in esteem 
 and appreciation. Few higher encomiums of a poet 
 have been given than those of this author by Sellar, 
 Duff, Postgate, Mackail and Crutwell.^ 
 
 * Propertius has within the present generation emerged from 
 comparative neglect to the place of chief favorite among the 
 elegiac poets. — Sellar, Roman Poets. 
 
 For poetic gifts of the highest order none of the elegists could 
 rival him. — Duff, Literary History of Rome. 
 
 In striking contrast to Virgil, Propertius is a genius of great and 
 indeed phenomenal precocity. — Mackail, Latin Literature. 
 
 He was by far the greatest master of pentameter that Rome 
 '^/ ever produced. — Crutwell, History of Roman Literature.
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 35 
 
 Propertius is not more difficult in Latin than other 
 Augustan poets. His themes, however, were chiefly 
 love or lament, and few of his poems have for the 
 modem reader a continuous charm. But he mas- 
 tered the elegiac verse and wrote it with a " richness 
 of coloring and sumptuousness of rhythm " surpass- 
 ing any that had been done in Rome. His first book, 
 Cynthia Monobiblos, created a sensation, and gave 
 him a place at once in the circle of Maecenas. 
 
 Propertius possessed in a high degree what his 
 contemporaries called blanditia, meaning thereby a 
 certain charm, a gift of intensive and melodious 
 expression which touches the feelings and stirs the 
 imagination. Modem critics agree in finding in his 
 poetry this quality and are fond of quoting certain 
 couplets and stanzas which have a remarkable 
 beauty due in part to this peculiar charm as well as 
 to his eloquence, /acwwJ/«, and his mastery of versi- 
 fication. Illustrations taken from their context are 
 apt to seem cold ; but we cite a few lines from Post- 
 gate and Duff, some of whose translations we have 
 used. 
 
 [ The lover is waiting the call of his mistress. ] 
 Me mediae noctes, me sidera prona jacentem, 
 
 Frigidaque Eoo me dolet aura gelu. 
 
 El. 1 16 
 
 The midnights, the setting stars, and the chill
 
 36 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 breeze of the cold dawn all pity me as I lie waiting 
 thee. 
 
 [ He gives a warning to Cynthia.] 
 Sunt apud infernos tot milia formosarum. 
 
 El. II 28 
 
 There be in hell a thousand ladies fair. 
 
 [ Age does not change his love.] 
 
 Putris et in vacua requiescit navis harena 
 Et vetus in templo bellica parma vacat 
 At me ab amore diducet nulla senectus. 
 
 El. Ill 20 
 
 The rotten ship rests on the desert shore, and the 
 battered warshield hangs at ease on the temple; 
 but from thy love no age shall part me. 
 
 [The dead Cynthia visiting Propertius in a dream 
 reproaches him for not having attended her funeral.] 
 
 Denique quis curvum nostro te funere vidit ? 
 Atram quis lacrimis incaluisse togam ? 
 
 El.V 7 
 
 Who saw you bowed with grief at my funeral, 
 Making thy black toga hot with tears ? 
 
 [ Cornelia, a Roman matron, returns as a ghost to 
 her husband. She explains the quality of her 
 ghostness : ] 
 
 En sum, quod digitis quinque levatur, onus ! 
 
 El. V 11 
 
 I am but a weight that may be lifted by five 
 fingers !
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 37 
 
 Propertius had a precocious genius and we are told 
 that at the age of twenty he had done work compara- 
 ble to that of Keats' and Shelley's youth. If he had 
 not been precocious, however, he would have done 
 little, for he was a man of delicate constitution, and 
 he seemed to have long had an apprehension of his 
 early death. This is shown by frequent references 
 to the subject. 
 
 Una ratis fati nostros portabit amores 
 Caerula ad infernos velificata lacus. 
 
 El. II 28 
 
 Our loves must fare in one Doom's caravel, 
 Dark blue, with sails set for the meres of hell. 
 
 Dum nos fata sinunt, oculos satiemus amore 
 Nox tibi longa venit nee reditura dies. 
 
 El. II 15 
 
 Feast we our eyes on love while fate saith yea. 
 The long night comes with daybreak gone for aye; 
 Thou must not, while 'tis light, life's fruit eschew, 
 Give all thy kisses, they will still be few. 
 
 Copa ends with a reference to death and in this 
 respect is distinctly Propertian. 
 
 Goethe read the Elegies of Propertius and was 
 stirred to write something of the same kind. Per- 
 haps Milton had read the Elegy on Paetus before he 
 
 -nr
 
 38 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 wrote Lycidas, for the theme is the same in each. 
 Propertius laments the death of a young friend who 
 was lost at sea; and this is Milton's theme also. 
 Propertius invokes the Nymphs and asks why they 
 did not save his friend ; and Milton does the same. 
 Propertius protests against the quest of riches ; Mil- 
 ton sings of the vanity of ambition. Both poems are 
 rich in mythology. Both dwell upon the loss of the 
 body of their friend and its entombment in the seas. 
 
 Milton refers to the bones of Lycidas : 
 Ay me! Whilst thee the shores, and sounding 
 
 seas 
 Wash far away, where'er thy bones are hurled. 
 
 And Propertius : 
 
 Sed tua nunc volucres astant super ossa marinae, 
 Nunc tibi pro tumulo Carpathium omne marest." 
 
 Now the sea birds perch above thy bones ; 
 Thou hast the whole CaiiDathian sea for a tomb. 
 
 Milton refers to the unseaworthy ship which 
 caused the loss of Lycidas : 
 It was that fatal and perfidious bark, 
 Built in the Eclipse, and rigg'd with curses dark, 
 That sunk so low that sacred head of thine. 
 
 Propertius, too, curses the ships which were his 
 friend's undoing : 
 Rates curvas et leti . . . causas :
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 39 
 
 Milton invokes the Nymphs and asks why they did 
 not save Lycidas : 
 Where were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless 
 
 deep 
 Closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas ? 
 
 And Propertius : 
 O centum aequoreae Nereo genitori puellae, etc. 
 
 hundred daughters of father Nereus, 
 
 And you Thetis who hast suffered a mother's 
 
 grief, 
 You should have placed your arms beneath his 
 
 tired chin. 
 
 Milton asks that Lycidas' body be cared for: 
 Look homeward Angel now, and melt with ruth. 
 And, O ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth. 
 
 And Propertius : 
 
 Redditi corpus humo . . . 
 
 Paetum sponte tua, vilis arena, tegas. 
 
 Restore, ye waves, his body to the earth, 
 And cover Paetus, ye shifting sands, of your own 
 will. 
 
 The poem by Propertius is more direct and human 
 than a pastoral like that of Milton's could possibly 
 be, and the note of pathos in it is more convincing.
 
 40 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 Elegy IV. 6 
 
 On the Death of Paetus Who was Drowned 
 
 at Sea 
 
 Thou art, O Money ! the cause of anxious lives; 
 thro' thee we tread the path of death before our time. 
 
 Thou feedest with cruel food the weaknesses of 
 
 man;^ 
 and the seeds of Care spring from thy head. Thou 
 
 hast 
 led Paetus to stretch his sails towards Pharos. Thou 
 hast wrecked him, thrice and four times, in the 
 
 frenzied waters. 
 
 While following thee, he, unhappy one, 
 dies in his prime and tosses on the waves, 
 a fresh banquet for the fish of distant seas ; 
 his mother can not place him with due rites 
 in the kindly earth, nor bury him among his kin. 
 
 The sea birds, Paetus, now perch above thy bones ; 
 thou hast for a tomb the whole Carpathian sea.^ 
 
 Why tell how few thy years, my Paetus ! or how, 
 when tossing on the waves the name 
 of thy dear mother was upon thy lips ! 
 
 1 Tuo vitiis hominum crudelia pabula praebes. 
 
 2 Nunc tibi pro tumulo Carpathium omne mare est.
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 41 
 
 The billows have no gods ; ^ for all the ropes 
 which held thee to the rocks gave way before the 
 storms of night. 
 
 Go, build curved ships, causes of many deaths,— 
 of deaths prepared by human hands. The earth 
 was far too little for the Fates ; - and to it 
 we have added the great sea and by our art 
 have made broader the unhappy ways of Fortune. 
 
 Never do the ships grow old ; and even the harbor 
 breaks its faith. ^ 
 
 If Paetus had but been content to plough his 
 father's fields ; if he had given weight to friendly 
 
 words, 
 he would be living now, a pleasant guest 
 before his own Penates, poor, but safe 
 on land where winds blow little harm. Here Paetus 
 had not to hear the thunder of the storm, 
 nor tear his tender hands with cruel ropes ; 
 but he could lie within his chamber of cedar 
 or Orician ash, his head resting 
 on the many-colored pillows. 
 
 1 Non unda habet deos. 
 ^ Terra parum fuerat fatis, 
 adjecimus undas 
 
 "* haud ulla carina 
 Consenuit, fallit portus et ipse fidem.
 
 42 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 While he fought for life, the waves tore off 
 his nails and he swallowed the hateful water. 
 The merciless night saw him clinging to the 
 little plank :— 
 So many evils united that Paetus might die. 
 
 Yet, in this sad extremity, weeping he spoke 
 
 these words : 
 
 " Ye Gods ! who rule the waters of the Aegean sea, 
 
 Ye Winds ! and whatever wave is pressing down my 
 
 head, 
 
 whither do you take the tender years 
 
 of my unhappy youth ? 
 
 I have brought to your straits only innocent hands. 
 
 The god of the blue sea has set his trident 
 
 against me, 
 
 and I, wretched, shall be dashed upon the sharp 
 
 rocks of Alcyon : 
 
 But I pray the tempest may blow me upon the coast 
 
 of Italy ; it will be enough, if I may but get 
 
 to my mother's care." ^ 
 
 The wave caught him, speaking thus, and drew him 
 down in its writhing vortex. 
 These were the last words and this the last 
 day of Paetus. 
 
 1 Hoc de me satis erit si modo matris est.
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 43 
 
 O, ye hundred Daughters of father Nereus, 
 
 and thou, Thetis, who hast also known 
 
 a mother's grief, 
 
 you should have placed your arms beneath his tired 
 
 chin; 
 he could not have weighed down your hands. 
 
 Restore, ye waves, his body to the earth, — 
 
 his life is flown. And cover him of your own 
 
 accord, shifting sands ! 
 
 And when the sailor passes his tomb, 
 
 let him say: "Thou canst be a warning 
 
 even to the bold ". 
 
 But, thou, cruel north wind, shalt never see my 
 sails. I will be buried after a peaceful life 
 before the door of my home. 
 
 Whether Cynthia or Propertius wrote Copa, or 
 both or neither, we pay our tribute to Keppler for 
 awakening interest in a neglected classic and for 
 drawing attention also to the literary work of an 
 Augustan writer most likely to have been concerned 
 in its production. For Propertius not only copied 
 the Greek poetic measure, but also tamed and broke H^ — f--^- <3.^--^ 
 for his special and high artistic use a very wonderful 
 language previously used for war and business only. 
 The result was fruitful and interesting; for though 
 
 C-XSoL^} 
 
 t
 
 44 
 
 CoPA : The Hostess of the Inn 
 
 Latin poetry does not represent the muse in her 
 highest flights, it is unique among Uteratures in 
 forcefulness, and, to moderns, in the curious charm 
 and cryptic beauty of its dislocated constructions. 
 
 The Hostess of an Inn ( Copa ) 
 From an old Sepulchral Relief
 
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