https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/1636 Publications de Auteurs Melanie Racette-Campbell fr 0 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/1631 The elegiac love affair and mistress portrayed by the first century BCE Roman poet Propertius was a more important influence on the sixteenth century poet-courtesan Veronica Franco than has previously been credited. Scholarship has tended to focus on Franco’s reception of Ovid’s works, particularly the Heroides, but Propertius provides an important forerunner for Franco’s speaking subject in his main female character, Cynthia. Although she is an elegiac beloved, Cynthia’s speeches consistently undermine the elegiac worldview, especially the characterization of the lover as suffering and faithful and the beloved as fickle and cruel. Closer attention to Franco’s use of Propertius, through the example of two of her poems, Capitoli 17 and 20, provides a richer understanding of the intertextual relationship between them. At the same time, Franco’s work can add to our understanding of Propertius, as she is one of the earliest readers of Propertius to take his disruption of gender politics and fidelity seriously. ven., 31 oct. 2025 12:13:19 +0100 jeu., 27 nov. 2025 15:42:01 +0100 https://www.peren-revues.fr/eugesta/1631