Propertius Elegy 3.12: Chaste and Faithful Galla

Written in the year

20 BC- Parthian Campaign

Significance

provides a dissenting voice which stressed the negative impact of Augustus' foreign campaigning

line 1- direct address

"Postumus how could...

... you leave Galla crying to follow Augustus' brave standard as a soldier?

- Propertius focuses on the negative impact of foreign campaigns on those left at home. Galla is the wife of the addressee of the poem postumus- who suffers becuase her partner is at war.

- Augustus= described as brave

line 2- personification

brave standard

line 2- greed

"was the glory of Parthia's spoils worth so much...

to you with Galla repeatedly begging you not to do it?"

The image of chaste and faithful galla in tears begging her husband not to leave her to go campaign aims to arouse sympathies of the reader. It is difficult to side with Augustus here, as the motivation for the parthian campaign is shown to be material greed. Where other poems emphasise the positives of foreign wars elogies 3.12 bluntly reminds the reader that some soldiers never return, imagining galla fearfully waiting for rumour of his death or the sight of his ashes

- asserts victory: glory

-loyalty and faithfulness of galla

line 4- offensive to Augustus' soldiers?

"may all you greedy ones perish"

line 5- loyalty

"and whoever else prefers his weapon to a faithful bride!"

line 6- direct address/ invective

You, you madman

line 7- metaphor

you will drink Araxes' (River in Parthia) water

line 8- loyalty

"she...will pine away"

line 9- personification

or the arrows of Medes (Parthians) enjoy your death

- negativity of war: pro pax romana?

line 9- poetic allusion

Medes (a more ancient race, connected to Parthia)

line 9-10- war

armoured knight on a golden horse

line 8- death

for fear your courage will cost you dear

line 10- death

some bit of you be brought back in an urn

line 11- offensive to Augustus' soldiers?

that's how they come back, those who fall in such places

line 12- direct address

O Postumus!

line 12-13: loyalty

you are three or four times blessed by Galla's chastity! your morals

deserve a different wife"

- commends Galla for her loyalty, in line with the idea of being a traditional Roman woman.

- leges Juliae

line 14- rhetorical question

"what shall a girl do with no fear to guard her...

with rome to instruct her in its voluptuousness"

- Propertius' criticism of Rome here? - Rome had been experiencing moral laxity, and the longer one stayed in Rome, the less moral someone would get.

voluptuousness- relating to or characterized by luxury or sensual pleasure. OVER INDULGENCE IN ROME?

- Galla is crying due to wars- thought to have been caused by the moral laxity of Rome in teh previous years. Is propertius being critical of Rome here? propaganda to improve morals??? evoke sympathy and makes the reader reflect on their actions- as though they're culpable for war.

line 15- loyalty

"gifts will not...

win Galla

- loyalty and marriage. Galla will not partake in adulterous behavior.

"postumus will be another Ulysses with a wifely wonder"

Odyssey and Postumus; Galla and Penelope

Experience of going on a foreign campaign is like into the journey of the mythical hero Ulysses (Odysseus) home is a great epic poem which tells the story of odysseus' travels, would have been well known to propertius' audience. The works of Homer who studied like school texts throughout the Roman world. The interesting question is does a comparison to Ulysses portray posthumous as a hero? if the answer is yes the poem itself could be described as somewhat supportive of augustus's wars if the answer is no, then it could be damning of them

lines 17-28 comparison of Galla and Postumus

loyal wife/ uncaring husband

lines 17-28- list

Odysseus' adventures

"10 years of war, the cicones mount ismara, calpe then the burning of your eye socket polyphemus, etc..."

line 29- loyalty

his wife stayed chaste at home. Aelia Galla will outdo penelope's loyalty"

- penelope remains at home, refusing suitors and being loyal to Ulysses