When Cynthia and Propertius are together, he is often suffering from her threats to leave him, her legendary temper and the hard times that she gives him, often deservedly, for his bad behaviour. In this poem, we have another set of problems, this time the ones caused by her absence, possibly among the luxury and temptations of the famous resort town of Baiae, if the preceding Elegy, No. 11, is anything to go by. She is far away; the distance feels enormous; he misses her; his nights are sad and lonely; she no longer loves him and he doesn’t know why; her presence would be something, even if she made him cry. And so on: these are mostly things that we have heard before, and we will hear them again. Finally, though, also not for the first or last time, Propertius declares that Cynthia is the only girl for him, and that he will never give her up.
See the illustrated blog post here.
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