Propertius 4.8 (English reading) - Video

Latin couplets posted in subtitles. CAVETE- Depending on your YT settings it may try to auto-translate them..which is actually pretty funny, and even occasionally correct.

This English version is an adapted interpretation, I stray a bit from the literal grammar in order to tell the story. Besides, it's poetry. Let me know your favorite absurd accompanying image.

Latin version of the same: https://youtu.be/3TZ7w3BMz2I


some notes for y'all:

The poem opens immediately with a pledge, a pun, and foreshadowing the action to come.
disce, quid Esquilias hac nocte fugarit aquosas, cum uicina nouis turba cucurrit agris.
Learn--- what put the 'watery Esquilines' to flight this night, when a nearby crowd trampled through new fields!

'aquosas Esquilias' accusative plural pun. lit. 'the watery Esquiline women' or the female residents of the marshy hill. In other words, prostitutes.
'hac nocte' ablative. lit. 'on this (particular) night'
'fugarit' passive voice. lit. 'put to flight' or 'caused to flee'
'novis agris'-- new (drained) fields.

'hic ubi tam rare non perit hora morae' lit. 'here, where so rare an hour of delay doesn't pass'
'virgo tale iter omne cave' (Virgin- beware all such a journey!) or you could translate 'cave' as 'avoid such a journey!'.

Propertius likes to make frequent use of the vocative and imperative (like even with inanimate objects) as well as 'break the 4th wall' by providing meta-commentary. So he could be doing that here, i.e. briefly directly addressing one of the maidens sent to the Lanuvium rite while also just beginning to describe it, just to be dramatic; Or maybe the whole poem is meant as a cautionary tale (this would link to the opening 'Disce');
OR Is it possible that this 'Virgo' he is addressing is Cynthia herself?
I think we can assume he didn't want her going to the snake pit ritual; Did he try to convince her not to?? But she said said she was going and there's no arguing with her. So he's simultaneously worried, suspicious of her fidelity in her absence, but he's also planning to cheat on her with a couple of major Wh..courtesans. 'aquosas Esquilias'





I got tired. I'll type up more notes later.