Sextus Aurelius, a celebrated elegiac poet, who flourished between 31-15 B.C. The exact date of his birth is uncertain; but Mr Clinton brings forward satisfactory reasons for believing that it was about the year 51 B.C., being thus fourteen years younger than Horace, and eight younger than Livy. The place of his birth has also been disputed; but he himself states that he was a native of Umbria, though whether of Merania, Ameria, Hispellum, or Assisiun, is uncertain. He studied at Rome with the intention of devoting himself to the bar; but his love of poetry seduced him from the dry study of law, and he entirely withdrew from taking any share in the active business of life. He died at an early age, leaving behind him a collection of elegies divided into four books, of which the last is supposed to have been published by one of his friends after his death. Nobbe, a German critic, who has examined the subject with considerable care, thinks that the first book was published not before 29 B.C., and not after 27 B.C.; the second book not before 24 B.C.; the third not before 21 B.C.; the fourth not before 16 B.C.

Many of his elegies are addressed to his mistress Cynthia, to whom he remains constant, though he suffers much from her cruelty. The language is powerful, and the structure of the verse correct, though not without some peculiarities; as, for example, the close of the pentameter line with a word of several syllables. In comparing the elegies of Propertius with those of Tibullus, we perceive that there is less of tenderness and softness, less of that simplicity for which Tibullus is so eminently distinguished; but, on the other hand, there is more spirit, a greater reach of thought, and more power of expression. He possesses much of the spirit of the lyric poet, and had talents which fitted him for things of greater moment than those upon which he bestowed them. Propertius was a close imitator of the Greek writers; Callimachus and Philetas were the poets whom he more particularly followed, so that he was sometimes called the Roman Callimachus. Like Callimachus, he is fond of displaying his learning, and has frequent allusion to mythological subjects; but this at times is the cause of some obscurity, and detracts from that simplicity which is the soul of true elegiac poetry. The best separate edition is that of Lachmann, with notes, Leipzig, 1816, but they are generally published along with Catullus and Tibullus.