Jonathan Clark, University of Washington
Ecohorror is in vogue and it is my contention that Propertius’ Elegies have something to contribute to this subfield of ecocriticism. Recent work by Heather Sullivan has explored questions of plant-human hybridity and horror elements thereof in several works of science fiction (2022). My own impression of ecohorror asks questions of works with a focus on the vegetal and natural landscape, and how these forces, usually perceived as inert or subject to human influence, can lash back out with terrifying effects. In reading two of Propertius’ Elegies 1.20 and 4.7, through the lens of ecohorror, I contend that themes of a dangerous locus amoenus and plant-human hybridity contribute to the unsettling effects of these poems: 1.20 focusing on the loss of Hercules’ beloved Hylas, and 4.7 on the return of Cynthia, half-charred from her funeral pyre. Both poems show concern with vegetal forces: directly embodied in 1.20 by the rapacious tree nymphs, the Hamadryads, who drag Hylas away, and observed in 4.7 with Cynthia’s concern for ivy intermingling with her bones, and the poison which killed her.
Hylas’ name, as shown effectively by David Petrain (2000) is deliberately connected by Propertius with Greek ὕλη, cognate with Latin silva, making the first vegetal force of the poem Hylas himself. Metapoetic readings of Hylas as a figure have been in place since the Hellenistic period when Theocritus sets him as a generic newcomer against the epic Heracles in Idylls 13 (Heerink 2015). Hylas is interesting then not only for being plausibly read as an amateur poet, but also the poetic material for the poem itself – as well as now an example of plant-human hybridity. Even before he is taken by the Hamadryads, Hylas is already a part of the landscape.
As for Cynthia in 4.7, while her initial appearance does not feature any vegetal horror, plants do feature in her rhetoric against the narrator. Cynthia knows the cause of her death was poison in her wine (pallida vina 4.7.36). This duality of plants as life-giving but also deadly poisons is of thematic interest and is nicely exemplified in the ambiguity of φάρμακον or medicamen. Moreover, the fact that Cynthia has been poisoned by Chloris “Green”, with drugs provided by a certain Nomas (4.7.37) shows an interest in the biological agent behind her undoing, and the potential for punning on Propertius’ part, as seen with the lena Acanthis who is "prickly" in 4.5. Propertius’ interest in ecohorror is perhaps best seen in Cynthia’s concern with the ivy on her tomb. Either Cynthia requests ivy be put there as conjectured by Sandbach (1962), or she wishes to have it removed so that it does not interfere with her bones rubbing against the narrator’s. Striking is the image of praegante corymbo (4.7.79) which is actually a conjecture for the manuscript reading pugnante. Both possibilities seem horrific in their own right: whether fighting off hostile plant life even in death or being intermingled with chimeric, pregnant ivy.