propertius 4.6 - temple of palatine apollo

• written in 16 BC
• commemorates the dedication of the temple from its perspective
• describes Actium as a calm yet epic battle, with even the gods battling each other
• Apolloo embodies his warring side and then shifts back to his peaceful aspects at the end of the war to return to the celebratory theme at the beginning, a ring composition
• "Philetas’ ivy-clusters” - Reference to the ivy-wreath Greek poet Philetas wore. He was a great inspiration for Propertius
• “The waters of Cyrene” - Refers to poet Callimachus who was based in Alexandria but born in Cyrene
• Costmary - plant used for a sedative tea
• Muse - goddess of the arts
• Calliope - Muse of epic poetry
• Trojan Quirinus - deified Romulus
• Nereus - sea god, father of the Nereids
• Delos - Apollo's birthplace
• “Gazed on Agamemnon” - Reference to Book 1 of the Iliad when Apollo sent a plague to the Acheans because he was angry with Agamemnon
• "Destroyed the Python” - Reference to the epic battle Apollo had with a famed monster, the Python over Leto not being able to give birth/ the Python not letting him found his oracle at Delphi
• Alba Longa - a town founded by Ascanius and populated by Trojans
• “Falnernian wine presses” - famously good wine
• Sycambri - a Germanic tribe Augustus negotiated peace with after they defeated a Roman legion
• Cephean Meroe - ancient city bordering the Nile
• Augustus praised

  • Apollo says he is the “protector “ of Rome
• Augustus as having a close relationship with Apollo

  • Apollo’s “protection” aids the winds
  • Apollo “did not come with his hair streaming round his neck, or with the mild song of the…lyre” but with “that aspect” that "gazed on Agammemnon" and “destroyed the Python” to aid Aug in war
  • He speaks to Aug, saying "every arrow burdening my quiver favours you" "I lead the Julian prow with laurelled hand”
  • “Rome won, through Apollo’s loyalty” - also war presented as a foreign one
  • Apollo “gained” his temple through his efforts in war
• Celebratory/victorious tone - peace through war

  • Description of a sacrifice made to Apollo’s temple
  • Deified JC "marvelled" and says this victory is "evidence of my race"
  • “Triton honoured all with music”
  • “The goddesses of the sea applauded”
  • “Apollo the victor now demands my lyre, and sheds his weapons for the dance of peace”
  • “Let the Muse fire the mind of drunken poets"
• Fortune on the side of Augustus

  • “The enemy fleet was doomed by Trojan Quirinius”
  • “Fortune did not favour their oars alike” - of Ant’s fleet
  • Augustus’s ship has “sails filled by Jupiter’s favour”
  • “A strange flame shone, three times, snaking down in oblique fire” - omen from the gods showing they will win just like the one on Ascanius
  • “Their fleet rides an unwilling wind”
• Cleopatra undermined as an enemy

  • “The shameful javelins fit for a woman’s hand”
  • Apollo says in her ships you will find “hollow timber and painted terrors”
  • “The woman was punished” - suggests she died in battle
  • Simply called “the woman”
  • Explains away the absence of Cleo at the triumph - “What sort of triumph would one woman make in the streets where Jugurtha was once led!”
• War elevated

  • The Muse is invoked to create a song in “Caesar’s name”, elevating the Battle to an epic one
  • “Here the world’s forces gather”
  • Gods having a direct hand in the battle, Nereus and Apollo
  • Poem includes the deification of JC who “spoke from his comet” -> “I am a god: and this shows evidence of my race”
  • Triton and the goddesses of the sea applauded
• Religious piety

  • Describes a sacrifice being done at the temple
  • “Let purifying laurel smooth the priests’ fresh path”
  • Invokes the “Muse”
• Jugurtha - King of Numidia and epic enemy of Rome, defeated by Sulla and Marius