Il dilemma tra amore e onore. Reciprocità e modelli etici in Catullo 76 e in Properzio (Elegie 2,23; 2,24A-B-C-)

Abstract

Poem 76 is probably the most significant text, among Catullan compositions, for investigating the issues of reciprocity-in-love and honour, which dispose the poet’s world. This paper aims to focus the debate between "benefacta" and "gratia", in comparison with some Propertian elegies that seem to propose very different solutions to the same ethical dispute, whether honour is better than love, or not.