Yes Or No (1893) John William Godward. True to elegiac convention, Propertius presents himself as a lover-poet who cannot abandon the woman he loves no matter how miserable she makes him feel. Even if she has dropped him, he claims he will never turn from her.
Quid mihi desidiae non cessas fingere crimen,
quod nobis Cynthia, Roma, moram?
tam multa illa meo divisast ,
quantum Hypanis Veneto dissidet Eridano;
nec consuetos amplexu nutrit amores 5
Cynthia, nec nostra dulcis in aure sonat.
olim gratus eram: non ullo cuiquam
contigit ut simili amare .
fuimus: num me deus obruit? an quae
lecta Prometheis dividit iugis? 10
non sum ego qui : mutat longa puellas.
quantus in exiguo fugit amor!
nunc primum longas solus cognoscere noctes
cogor et ipse meis esse gravis.
, qui potuit praesenti flere puellae 15
(non aspersus gaudet Amor ),
aut, si despectus, potuit mutare calores
(sunt quoque gaudia ).
mi neque amare aliam neque ab hac desistere fas est:
Predicate dative (i.e. a dative of purpose with the verb esse).
Prometheus was chained to the Caucasus mountains because he had enraged Jupiter by giving fire to mortals. The region is generally associated with witchcraft but some have seen a particular reference to the the magical plant that sprang from Prometheus’ blood, dripping from the wound made by an eagle that daily came to feed on his liver. Prometheus (1889) Briton Rivière
Propertius often uses pluperfect for imperfect.
In the previous poem, Propertius lamented the negative effect on their relationship of Cynthia’s trip to Baiae, a fashionable but notoriously decadent seaside resort. He imagined her lying around languorously waiting to be seduced by some passing man. Girl In A Yellow Drape (1901) John William Godward