Page:Catullus, Tibullus and Propertius.djvu/150

138 In the same spirit is breathed the address to the same patron in the ninth elegy of the fourth book, where, deprecating heroic poetry, Propertius gracefully professes his readiness to rise to the height of that high argument, if Mæcenas will set him an example of conquering his own innate dislike to prominence, and assume his proper rank and position. If it is true of the patron that—

the poet-client insinuates that it ought to be enough for himself—

Indeed, if ever his instinctive conviction of his proper métier is shaken by the importunities of those who would have won him over to the laureateship of the imperial eagles, he speedily and wisely recurs to his first and better judgment. It may be he had discovered that to cope with such a task he needed greater plasticity of character than accorded with his Umbrian origin—that he would have to smooth over defects, and magnify partial successes. Even where in the first elegy of the third book he seems to be qualifying for the office, and preluding his task by graceful compliments to Augustus, not only do the spectres of the slaughtered