Cynthia: A Companion to the Text of Propertius

 Propertius is a poet of the Augustan period, a successor of the great Hellenistic elegiac poets Callimachus and Philitas, and a precursor of Ovid. His account of his fictionalized affair with his beloved alter ego Cynthia is the purest expression of the spirit of love elegy, setting them as a pair against war, epic, and (apparently) Augustus himself. This is an author read by virtually all students of Classical Latin. Cynthia provides a lucid attempt to understand and correct the many difficulties in the transmitted text. It consists of a commentary on the whole corpus, together with a prose translation (including alternative versions of ambiguous phrasing). In its clear exposition of technical problems, the book will serve as an introduction to Latin textual criticism in the modern age, and to elegiac poetic style.

Review: Heyworth has had the courage and conviction to offer us, in spite of everything, not only a reader friendly edition, but also a Herculean commentary... which represent a great step forward in clarifying both the Propertian recensio and emendato and we must therefore be profoundly grateful to him for having devoted so many years of study to the great poet of Assisi. We will be forever in his debt for his work, which deserves my fullest praise and respect. * Antonio Rami, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
Cynthia is an important contribution to scholarship and will be a useful resource * Richard Thomas, Times Literary Supplement *