Cynthia is no more, but as Propertius lies in bed, her ghost appears to give him a trademark dressing-down. But is all as it seems? Perhaps we will find out in Propertius’s next poem…
Hear an extract in the original Latin and follow the poem in English with a parallel text here.
Cynthia is back from the grave, on an excursion with someone who looks like a rival for Propertius to visit a festival where a fearsome snake is to be fed by maidens in honour of Juno – and when she returns and catches Propertius up to no good, she gives him good reason to regret it. But in the preceding poem she was dead and buried: what is going on?
Find a suggestion, hear an extract from the original Latin and follow the whole poem in parallel text here.
Snake photo by Holger Krisp: see the photo credits page for licensing details.
Today’s new poem is the story as told by Ovid in the Metamorphoses of Daedalus the legendary craftsman and his son Icarus, who flew too close to the Sun
Lost in a dark wood, prevented from climbing to the sunny heights by a leopard, a lion and a she-wolf, Dante makes out a dim figure and appeals for help. The illustration is by a third visionary, William Blake.
Hear the Italian and follow in English here.
There is a portrait of Dante by Botticelli on his poet page here.
Even with Octavian in the ascendant, around 29 BCE Rome is still at risk from the legacy of civil war. In his Georgics, comparing the city to a racing chariot out of control, Virgil turns abruptly from the life of the countryside to implore the Gods to allow the future Emperor Augustus to restore its threatened fortunes.
Hear Virgil’s Latin and follow in English here.
The Trojan priest Laocoon pays the price for warning his fellow-citizens against bringing the Trojan horse into the city, as monstrous serpents crush first his two sons then Laocoon himself in their coils. Not only can you follow the Latin here, you can now also hear the poets Friedrich Schiller’s fine German version in our “Other Poems” section here.