Pro pert i us Sextus Aurelius

, a Latin poet born at Mevania, in Umbria. His father was a Roman knight, whom August us proscribed, because he had followed the interest of Antony. He came to Rome, where his genius and poetical talents soon recommended him to the notice of the great and powerful. Mecænas, Gallus, and Virgil became his friends, and August us his patron. Mecænas wished him to attempt an epic poem, of which he proposed the emperor for hero; but Pro pert i us refused, observing that his abilities were unequal to the task. He died about 19 years before Christ, in the 40th year of his age. His works consist of four books of elegies, which are written with so much spirit, vivacity, and energy, that many authors call him the prince of the elegiac poets among the Latins. His poetry, though elegant, is not free from faults, and the many lascivious expre ions which he uses deservedly expose him to censure. Cynthia, who is the heroine of all his elegies, was a Roman lady, whose real name was Hostia, or Hostilia, of whom the poet was deeply enamoured. Though Mevania is more generally supposed to be the place of his birth, yet four other cities of Umbria have disputed the honour of it; He spill us, Ameria, Perusia, and A isium. The best edition is that of San ten i us, 4to, Utrecht, 1780; and when published together with Catullus and Tibullus, those of Grævius, 8vo, Utrecht, 1680, and of Vulpius, 4  vols. , Patavii, 1737, 1749, 1755, and the edition of Barbou, 12mo, Paris, 1754. Ovid , Tristia , bk. 2 , li. 465 ; bk. 4 , poem 10, li. 55 ; De Ars Am at or i a , bk. 3 , li. 333 .— Martial , bk. 8 , ltr. 73 ; bk. 14 , ltr. 189 .— Quintilian , bk. 10 , ch. 1 .— Pliny , bk. 6 , Letters ; bk. 9 , ltr. 22 .