This dissertation studies the Elysian Fields, the Furies, and Tartarus in the Augustan elegists (Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid) and in several pseudepigraphic elegies (the Corpus Tibullianum, the pseudo-Ovidian Consolatio ad Liviam, and the pseudo-Vergilian Elegiae in Maecenatem). I ask three guiding questions: 1. Does there exist a trademark “elegiac” afterlife, distinct from the afterlife in epic poetry? 2. Can we speak of a “Propertian” underworld, as opposed to a “Tibullan” or “Ovidian” Hades? 3. How do the attitudes of the love elegists, both collectively and individually, change over time? I argue that the love elegists constantly negotiate and renegotiate genre, poetics, and changing social circumstances through such literary set pieces as Elysium, the Erinyes, and the prisoners of Tartarus (Tantalus, Ixion, Sisyphus, Tityos, and the Danaids). Chapter 1 demonstrates how the gates to the Elysian Fields — explicitly open to men and women in Tibullus, implicitly open only to women in Propertius, and evidently open only to birds in Ovid — close slowly over time. Chapter 2 proves that the Eumenides have a metaliterary function in the elegies of Propertius. Just as the Furies enforce a strict family hierarchy and maintain the natural order of the universe, so too do the sisters keep Propertius and Tarpeia in their proper generic spheres. Chapter 3 discusses the antagonistic attitude Tibullus harbors towards Tartarus and the sympathetic mindset Propertius has adopted. Tibullus understands the prisoners as mirror images of the various roadblocks that stand between him and romantic satisfaction. Propertius, meanwhile, sees the inmates as allies in love. Chapter 4 focuses specifically on Tartarus in Ovid’s elegies, with special interest in the poet’s changing treatment of the same myths before and after exile. Chapter 5 studies pseudepigrapha as early and important reception of the eschatological ideas advanced in Augustan love elegy.

The Hylas myth, in which the eponymous boy beloved of Heracles is raped by water nymphs while drawing water from a spring, seems to have been a wildly popular subject among the literary circles of Augustan Rome. Indeed the rape of Hylas had been so ubiquitous that Virgil himself could claim that no one was unfamiliar with it (Georgics 3.6: cui non dictus Hylas puer?). Yet despite this declaration, few renditions of the Hylas myth survive. Propertius 1.20, an Augustan era Latin poem in elegiac couplets, is one extant version of the rape of Hylas. While the similarities between this poem and Theocritus Idyll 13, a short Hellenistic hexameter poem composed well before Propertius, have long been observed by modern scholars, there has been no sustained effort to connect these two accounts of the Hylas myth conclusively. Instead, what little scholarly work that has been done on these poems either appraises them in isolation, or seeks a non-Theocritean template behind Propertius 1.20. With this thesis, I aim to prove definitively that Theocritus Idyll 13 is the major model for Propertius 1.20. In my first chapter, I provide a brief overview of the rape of Hylas throughout all of Greek and Latin literature. In my second chapter, I examine Theocritus Idyll 13 with particular attention to its wit, humour, and narrative. In my third chapter, I offer a thorough literary-critical appreciation of Propertius 1.20, establishing links to Idyll 13 wherever possible. Finally, in my conclusion, I consider the possible influence of other poets and mythographers upon Propertius, before appraising 1.20 both independently and within the context of the Propertian Monobiblos. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / The rape of Hylas is a minor event occurring during the famed expedition of the Argo. A handsome boy named Hylas, who is the beloved of the mighty hero Heracles, fetches water during a brief landing on their voyage to Phasis. As Hylas draws water from a spring, water nymphs abduct him. Heracles, now bereaved, rampages madly in futile search while the other Argonauts sail on without him. Such are the general details of the Hylas myth. This thesis examines two versions of the Hylas myth, the first by Theocritus, a third century BC Hellenistic poet, and the second by Propertius, a first century BC Roman poet. My objective is to prove definitively that these two accounts are connected, with Propertius having modelled his treatment on the rendition provided by Theocritus. This will be achieved through a thorough literary-critical appreciation, with particular focus on wit, humour, and narrative.

L’identification des contraintes financières et sociales qui sont sous-entendues dans la situation des personnages amoureux de la comédie de Ménandre – à partir de ses pièces et fragments subsistants et de ses adaptations en langue latine par Térence – permet d’éclairer la rhétorique de séduction ou de dissuasion employée par les divers personnages types de ce genre littéraire. Or, il existe un parallèle étroit entre ces discours et situations dramatiques et l’élégie érotique qui fleurit quelques siècles plus tard à Rome sous la plume de Tibulle, Properce et Ovide. Certains aspects déroutants de la rhétorique de séduction employée par les élégistes sont élucidés lorsqu’on les comprend dans le contexte dramatique de la comédie nouvelle : notamment, le poète narrateur se positionne dans la situation du jeune protagoniste amoureux de la comédie et la bien-aimée à qui il s’adresse se trouve dans la situation de la courtisane indépendante qui figure dans plusieurs pièces comiques. Cette recherche conclut qu’il existe une tension financière entre l’amant élégiaque et sa maîtresse qui, bien qu’elle soit passée sous silence par les poètes, influence les arguments utilisés par le narrateur à son égard et les propos imaginés ou rapportés de sa bien-aimée en retour. / The identification of the financial and social constraints that underlie Menander’s love plots helps in explaining the arguments contained in the persuasive and dissuasive discourses employed by the various archetypal characters of this literary genre. This research demonstrates that there is a narrow parallel between the rhetoric rooted in these narrative situations and the later works of the Latin love elegists in a way that elucidates some aspects of the elegiac discourse: the poet-narrator positions himself in the situation of the enamoured young man of new comedy and his beloved addressee’s situation corresponds to that of the independent mistress who appears in many comic plots.

L’identification des contraintes financières et sociales qui sont sous-entendues dans la situation des personnages amoureux de la comédie de Ménandre – à partir de ses pièces et fragments subsistants et de ses adaptations en langue latine par Térence – permet d’éclairer la rhétorique de séduction ou de dissuasion employée par les divers personnages types de ce genre littéraire. Or, il existe un parallèle étroit entre ces discours et situations dramatiques et l’élégie érotique qui fleurit quelques siècles plus tard à Rome sous la plume de Tibulle, Properce et Ovide. Certains aspects déroutants de la rhétorique de séduction employée par les élégistes sont élucidés lorsqu’on les comprend dans le contexte dramatique de la comédie nouvelle : notamment, le poète narrateur se positionne dans la situation du jeune protagoniste amoureux de la comédie et la bien-aimée à qui il s’adresse se trouve dans la situation de la courtisane indépendante qui figure dans plusieurs pièces comiques. Cette recherche conclut qu’il existe une tension financière entre l’amant élégiaque et sa maîtresse qui, bien qu’elle soit passée sous silence par les poètes, influence les arguments utilisés par le narrateur à son égard et les propos imaginés ou rapportés de sa bien-aimée en retour. / The identification of the financial and social constraints that underlie Menander’s love plots helps in explaining the arguments contained in the persuasive and dissuasive discourses employed by the various archetypal characters of this literary genre. This research demonstrates that there is a narrow parallel between the rhetoric rooted in these narrative situations and the later works of the Latin love elegists in a way that elucidates some aspects of the elegiac discourse: the poet-narrator positions himself in the situation of the enamoured young man of new comedy and his beloved addressee’s situation corresponds to that of the independent mistress who appears in many comic plots.