propertius 3.11 - women's power

• Omphale - the queen of Lydia who forced Hercules to do the womanly act of "spinning"
• Semiramis - Babylonian queen, only female ruler of Assyrian empire, rumoured to have killed her husband
• Phlegrean Plain - site of the Gigantomachy, where Zeus overthrew the giants
• Canopus - Egyptian coastal town, known for debauchery and vices
• Marius - Roman general famous for military victories and army reform
• Curtius - brave Roman who threw himself in the chasm in the Forum, most valuable thing
• Corvus - held the bridge at Horatius' Way alone, against the Etruscans who tried to restore the monarchy
• Scipio - Roman general in the 2nd Punic war
• Camillus - Roman soldier with 4 triumphs
• Hannibal - Carthaginian general in 2nd Punic War
• Properius 3.11 was written in 23 BC
• Propertius lover was Cynthia who "enslaved" him
• Achilles was enthralled by Penthislea's beauty in death, "bright beauty that conquered the conquering hero"
• Antony is conspicuously absent
• "Witch of Colchis" - Medea who exerted power over Jason
• Cleopatra - "heaped insults on our army", Antony her "obscene husband"
• Egyptian morals - "noxious Alexandria" "queen of incestuous Canopus"
• Loyalty as the best protection for Rome

  • Examples of Romans who defended Rome
  • Curtius who threw himself in the chasm in the Forum
  • Corvus (held Hortius’ way against the Etruscans alone)
  • Decius
• Octavian's dominance - "With Caesar alive, Rome scarcely need fear Jove", "be mindful of Caesar"
• Names famous Roman generals, who are long gone implying Octavian has taken the mantle and their famous victories

  • "Where are..." repeated, anaphora
  • Africanus Scipio's "ships"
  • Camillus's "standards"
  • Bosphorus - Turkey, "captured by Pompey's might"
  • "Hannibal's spoils" - 2nd Punic war
  • Syphax' "Libyan trophies" - Masayeli tribe in Numidia
• Imperial mission - "be mindful of Caesar through all the Ionian sea"
• Egyptian threat

  • References the "stain" of Pompey's death at the hands of Ptolemy VIII and says it would be better if his funeral procession was on Phlegraean Plain - emphasising that the Egyptians are a threat as they threaten order just as the Giants did
  • Wanting to threaten Roman iconography, replace the "Roman trumpet" with the "rattle of the sistrum", cover the Tarpeian Rock with "foul mosquito nets" and give "judgements among Marius' weapons and statues"
  • Says it meant nothing to have "shattered Tarquin's axes" if Romans had to now "endure" Cleopatra = threatens democracy