Horace and Propertius do not mention each other by name. Chronology forbids the identification of the bore in Hor. _Sat._ i. 9 with Propertius, who, on the same ground, cannot be meant in _Sat._ i. 10, 18, 'Neque simius iste, nil praeter Calvum et doctus cantare Catullum.' But Hor. _Ep._ ii. 2, 87-101, is undoubtedly aimed at Propertius. Cf. especially l. 99, 'Discedo Alcaeus puncto illius; ille meo quis? quis nisi Callimachus? Si plus adposcere visus, fit Mimnermus et optivo cognomine crescit.' Though both poets belonged to the same literary circle, they differed widely in temperament as well as in age. With Tibullus, who was a member of Messalla's circle, Propertius may have had no personal acquaintance; at all events, neither alludes to the other. For Virgil Propertius expresses warm admiration in ii. 34, written during the composition of the _Aeneid_. Ovid, who calls him 'blandus' (_Tr._ ii. 465) and 'tener' (_A.A._ iii. 333), was an intimate friend of his; cf. _Tr._ iv. 10, 45 (quoted p. 206). The minor poets to whom he writes are Ponticus (i. 7 and 9), Bassus (i. 4), and a tragic poet, Lynceus (a pseudonym, ii. 34, 25). (2) WORKS. The extant Elegies, divided in the MSS. into four Books, are probably all that Propertius ever wrote. On account of the disproportionate length of Book ii., and the number 'tres' (which, however, may be said in anticipation) in ii. 13, 25, 'Sat mea sat magna est si tres sint pompa libelli, quos ego Persephonae maxima dona feram,' some editors make Book ii. consist only of _El._ 1-9, and assign the remainder (10-34) to a new Book iii. Books iii. and iv. of the MSS. then become iv. and v. respectively. In the most recent editions, however, the MSS. arrangement is retained, and it is here followed. _Book_ i.--All the Elegies in Book i., except the last two, are amatory. _El._ 2-10 belong to the first months of the poet's love, when Cynthia was gracious, though capricious. She had refused to accompany a rival of his, who was going to Illyricum as praetor (_El._ 8); but afterwards she left Rome for Baiae, and the rest of the Book is full of complaints of her harshness. _El._ 1, written after the year of separation, introduces the whole Book in a melancholy strain. The clearest indication of date in Book i. is 8, 21, 'Nam me non ullae poterunt corrumpere taedae,' where Propertius protests that he will never marry, in spite of the _Lex Iulia_ of B.C. 27. (He could not legally marry a woman of Cynthia's class.) The Book was published probably in B.C. 25, under the title of 'Cynthia.' Cf. ii. 24, 1, 'Cum sis iam noto fabula libro et tua sit toto Cynthia lecta foro.' Her name was a recommendation for the Book, and it was probably her satisfaction at the fame which it brought her that caused her to relent towards Propertius. Cf. Mart. xiv. 189, 'Cynthia, facundi carmen iuvenile Properti, accepit famam, nec minus ipsa dedit.'