M/M: Agamemnon and Argynnus, Propertius III.7.61-64

 

sunt Agamemnonias testantia litora curas,
    quae notat Argynni poena Athamantiadae.
[hoc iuvene amisso classem non solvit Atrides,
    pro qua mactatast* Iphigenia mora.]

 *mactatast = mactata est

 

--Propertius El. III.7.61-64

 

This shore is a monument to Agamemnon’s grief;

it testifies to Argynnus’ suffering.

When this youth died, Agamemnon forbade his fleet to set sail,

and the delay* caused the death of Iphigenia.

*According to Trojan War myth:  while the Achaean forces were assembling at Aulis, Agamemnon shot a deer sacred to Artemis. In retaliation, Artemis refused to allow adequate sailing weather unless the king sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia.  In Propertius' version of the myth, Agamemnon's mourning caused the Achaean ships to miss the sailing season, but were able to resume their sailing with the sacrifice of Iphigenia.

PROPERTIUS	MAP:
Name:  Sextus Propertius Date:  50 – 15 BCE Works:  Elegies	REGION  1
BIO:	Timeline:
Propertius was an Italian-born Roman lyric poet whose love poetry provides insight into the mores of Augustan Rome. Like Catullus and Tibullus, Propertius used a pseudonym for the object of his attention; many of his love poems were addressed to “Cynthia.”	GOLDEN AGE ROME