Propertius 3.3’s Summary of Ennius’s Annales

Abstract

In 3.3, Propertius summarizes the third triad of Ennius’s Annales in such a way as to show that unconventional military tactics, such as deceptive strategies, result in success. Propertius uses this summary to strengthen the elegy– epic antithesis prevalent in the first five poems of Book 3, aligning unconventional military tactics with “a new path” (nova . . . semita) (3.3.26) toward poetic success in elegy, which Propertius also portrays with deceptive themes. The first twelve lines of Propertius 3.3 have generated scholarly debate, specifically over line 8’s Aemilia . . . rate. Visus eram molli recubans Heliconis in umbra, 1 Bellerophontei qua fluit umor equi, reges, Alba, tuos et regum facta tuorum, tantum operis, nervis hiscere posse meis; parvaque iam magnis admoram fontibus ora 5 unde pater sitiens Ennius ante bibit, et cecinit Curios fratres et Horatia pila, regiaque Aemilia vecta tropaea rate, victricesque moras Fabii pugnamque sinistram Cannensem et versos ad pia vota deos, 10 Hannibalemque Lares Romana sede fugantis, anseris et tutum voce fuisse Iovem.1 Reclining in the soft shade of Mount Helicon, 1 where water of the Bellerophontian horse flows, Alba, I seemed able to start to sing of your kings and the deeds of your kings, such an effort, with my strength; and I had already begun to move my lips to the great fountain, 5