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"GOODBYE TO ALL THA T"
such as Callimachus. 35
It has been observed that this is the first poem in Book 3 in which
Cynthia is actually named. and that Propertius only calls Cynthia by
name when he is ready to say goodbye to her. 36 Her name occurs at
line 9. and its placement is significant. for it is surrounded by the
words mutatis ... terris. Once again Propertius links Cynthia with
Rome and its environs: changing lands will sever their relationship.
this time for good. Also of significance is the following line. where
Propertius states that once Cynthia is absent from his eyes. love will be
far from his soul: quantum oculis. animo tam procul ibit amor. The
word oculis recalls the very first line of the monobiblos: Cynthia
prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis. "Cynthia first ensnared me with
her eyes. "37 This emphasis on eyes is in keeping with the highly visual
nature of Propertius' poetry. and prepares the reader for the extended
visual metaphor of the journey that follows.
Much as Catullus did in his dismissal of Lesbia at poem II. Propertius
envisages the journey as a means of creating a mental distance
between himself and his mistress. At elegy I.17.25-8 he unfurled his
sails to come back to Rome. love and society; here he hoists his sails to
farewell it:
Romanae turres et vos valeatis. amici.
qualiscumque mihi tuque. puella. vale!
You towers of Rome and you my friends. farewell.
And you. my love. whatever you have been to me. farewell!
(15-16)
The towers of Rome. Propertius' friends and Cynthia are dismissed in
a single couplet. 38 and Propertius then undergoes a sea-change. de-
35 It is true that Callimachus is nowhere mentioned in this poem and the journey
is towards Athens rather than Alexandria. On the other hand. as RF.
Thomas points out in "Callimachus back in Rome." in M.A. Harder et aJ.. OOs..
Callimachus (Groningen 1993) 208. intertextuality and allusion and the crossing
of genre boundaries were a vital part of Callimachean poetics. Athens. as the
source of so many different genres of literature as well as the visual arts functions
as a suitable destination for a student of Callimachus. Fedeli (above. n. 21)
620 takes a somewhat different view. arguing that it is mainly Menander (given
the epithet doctus) who symbolizes Hellenistic refinement. It is interesting. as he
points out. that doctus is also applied to Epicurus; the word is thus used three
times in this poem.
3 6 For instance. Camps (above. n. 30) 15I; Williams (above. n. 31) 417·
37 Compare also 2.15.12 and 2.15.23 for the close relationship between love and
the eyes in Propertius.
3 8 Sullivan (above. n. 7) II6 comments on Propertius' habit of addressing his
friends in his elegies. especially in his monobiblos; he attributes this to the influ-