A painting of the god of Love: poetics and rhetoric in Propertius 2.12

Abstract

In Propertius elegy 2.12, the god of Love is presented as the admirable work of a painter and as vehicle of erotic passion. In this poem, erotic passion is compared to a war caused by the god (militia amoris), motivating, on the hand, the lament (which is one of distinguishing features of the elegiac genre), and, on the other, triggering in the poet the desire to write verses that please the god. In this article, my aim is to observe rhetorical and poetic aspects of elegy 2.12, considering the treatment of the form and actions of Love personified. First, I will investigate possible antecedents of this elegy, looking at the choice of the commonplaces used in the construction of the image of the god. Secondly, I will observe aspects of the erotic πάθος as both a rhetorical artifice and poetic impulse. Finally, I will examine the connections between elegy 2.12 and other elegies of Propertius’ Books 1 and 2, with focus on the relationship of interdependency between the representations of the puer Amor as patron of poetry and of the elegiac puella (Cynthia) as object of Propertius’ elegies. Therefore, I will try to demonstrate how the characteristics of Love in elegy 2.12 may function as markers of a poetic programme that includes the erotic elegies of Propertius’ Books 1 and 2.