Prayer for His Lady’s Life
From Propertius, Elegiae, Lib. Iii, 26
Prayer for His Lady’s Life - form Summary
Elegiac Couplets' Restrained Plea
This poem is a translation of a Propertius elegy written in elegiac couplets. The alternating long and short lines (hexameter followed by pentameter) produce a disciplined alternation of statement and pause. That formal constraint frames the repeated petition to Persephone and Pluto, turning personal pleading into a classical litany. The couplets’ closure and the recurring refrain intensify the elegiac tone, making the plea feel both public and restrained.
Read Complete AnalysesHere let thy clemency, Persephone, hold firm, Do thou, Pluto, bring here no greater harshness. So many thousand beauties are gone down to Avernus, Ye might let one remain above with us. With you is lope, with you the white-gleaming Tyro, With you is Europa and the shameless Pasiphae, And all the fair from Troy and all from Achaia, From the sundered realms, of Thebes and of aged Priamus; And all the maidens of Rome, as many as they were, They died and the greed of your flame consumes them. Here let thy clemency, Persephone, hold firm. Do thou, Pluto, bring here no greater harshness. So many thousandfair are gone down to Avernus, Ye might let one remain above with us.
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