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Ars Amatoria

Elegy series by Ovid (2 AD)

The Ars amatoria (Art of Love) is an instructional elegy series in three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 AD.

Ut ameris, amabilis esto.

That you may be loved, be lovable.

Forma bonum fragile est.

A frail advantage is beauty.

... semper tibi pendeat hamus
Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit.

Ever let your hook be hanging; where you least believe it, there will be a fish in the stream.

Militiae species amor est.

Love is a kind of warfare.

... vacca deceptus acerna.

Deceived by the image of a cow.

Ipsa Venus pubem, quotiens velamina ponit,
  Protegitur laeva semireducta manu.

Venus herself never putteth off her veil, but with modest hand, she covereth her charms.

Quotes

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  • Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.
    • They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen.
      • Book I, line 99 (tr. Henry T. Riley)
      • Compare: "And for to see, and eek for to be seye", Chaucer, "The Wife of Bath's Prologue", line 6134


  • Nocte latent mendae, vitioque ignoscitur omni,
    Horaque formosam quamlibet illa facit.
    • Blemishes are hid by night and every fault forgiven; darkness makes any woman fair.
      • Book I, lines 249–250 (Bartlett, 9th ed.)


  • Utque viro furtiva venus, sic grata puellae.
      Vir male dissimulat: tectius illa cupit.
    • And as stolen love is pleasant to a man, so it is also to a woman; the man dissembles badly; she conceals desire better.
      • Book I, line 275 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Vacca deceptus acerna.
    • Deceived by the image of a cow of maple wood.
    • Book I, line 325 (tr. J. Lewis May)


  • Aut non rem temptes aut perfice.
    • Either don't try at all or make damned sure you succeed.
      • Book I, line 389 (tr. James Michie)
      • Variant translation: "Either make no venture or be successful." (J. H. Mozley)


  • Promittas facito: quid enim promittere laedit?
      Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest.
    • See that you promise: what harm is there in promises? In promises anyone can be rich.
      • Book I, line 443 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Pessima sit, nulli non sua forma placet.
    • Hideous though she be, there is none her own looks do not please.
      • Book I, line 614 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Iuppiter ex alto periuria ridet amantum.
    • Jupiter from on high smiles at the perjuries of lovers.


  • Expedit esse deos, et, ut expedit, esse putemus.
    • It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe that there are.
      • Book I, line 637 (Bartlett, 14th ed.)
      • Variant translation: "It is expedient there should be gods, and as it is expedient let us deem that gods exist." (J. H. Mozley)


  • Ludite, si sapitis, solas impune puellas:
      Hac minus est una fraude tuenda fides.
    Fallite fallentes: ex magna parte profanum
      Sunt genus: in laqueos quos posuere, cadant.
    • If you are wise, cheat women only, and avoid trouble; keep faith save for this one deceitfulness. Deceive the deceivers; they are mostly an unrighteous sort; let them fall into the snare which they have laid.
      • Book I, line 643 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Neque enim lex aequior ulla est,
    Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.
    • No fairer law in all the land
      Than that death-dealers die by what they've planned.
      • Book I, lines 655–656 (tr. Len Krisak)
      • Variant translation: "There is no juster law than that contrivers of death should perish by their own contrivances." (J. H. Mozley)


  • Intret amicitiae nomine tectus amor.


  •   Nomen amicitia est, nomen inane fides.
    Ei mihi, non tutum est, quod ames, laudare sodali;
      Cum tibi laudanti credidit, ipse subit.
    • Friendship is but a name, faith is an empty name. Alas, it is not safe to praise to a friend the object of your love; as soon as he believes your praises, he slips into your place.
      • Book I, line 740 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Heu facinus! non est hostis metuendus amanti;
      Quos credis fidos, effuge, tutus eris.
    Cognatum fratremque cave carumque sodalem:
      Praebebit veros haec tibi turba metus.
    • Ah, the reproach of it! no foe need a lover fear; fly those whom you deem faithful, and you will be safe. Kinsman, brother—beware of them and of thy boon companion; they will cause you real fears.
      • Book I, line 751 (tr. J. H. Mozley)



  • Ut dominam teneas, nec te mirere relictum,
      Ingenii dotes corporis adde bonis.
    Forma bonum fragile est, quantumque accedit ad annos
      Fit minor, et spatio carpitur ipsa suo.
    • That you may keep your mistress, nor marvel to find yourself abandoned, add gifts of mind to bodily advantages. A frail advantage is beauty, that grows less as time draws on, and is devoured by its own years.
      • Book II, lines 111–113 (tr. J. H. Mozley)
      • Variant translation: "Beauty's a frail flower." (James Michie)
      • Compare: "Brittle beautie, that nature made so fraile", Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, in Tottel's Miscellany (1557)


  • Non ego divitibus venio praeceptor amandi:
      Nil opus est illi, qui dabit, arte mea;
    Secum habet ingenium, qui, cum libet, 'accipe' dicit.
    • I come not to teach the rich to love; he who will give has no need of my art; he who when he pleases says, "Accept," has wit enough of his own.
      • Book II, line 161 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Si nec blanda satis, nec erit tibi comis amanti,
    Perfer et obdura: postmodo mitis erit.
    Flectitur obsequio curvatus ab arbore ramus:
    Frangis, si vires experiere tuas.
    Obsequio tranantur aquae: nec vincere possis
    Flumina, si contra, quam rapit unda, nates.
    • If she's cool and unwilling to be wooed,
      Just take it, don't weaken; in time she'll soften her mood.
      Bending a bough the right way, gently, makes
      It easy; use brute force, and it breaks.
      With swimming rivers it's the same—
      Go with, not against, the current.
      • Book II, lines 177–182 (tr. James Michie)
      • Variant translation: "Should she be neither kindly nor courteous to your wooing, persist and steel your resolve; one day she will be kind. By compliance is the curved bough bent away from the tree; you will break it if you try your strength. By compliance are waters swum; nor can you conquer rivers if you swim against the current's flow." (J. H. Mozley)


  • Pauperibus vates ego sum, quia pauper amavi;
    Cum dare non possem munera, verba dabam.
    • I am the poor man's poet; because I am poor myself and I have known what it is to be in love. Not being able to pay them in presents, I pay my mistresses in poetry.
      • Book II, lines 165–166 (tr. J. Lewis May)


  • Cede repugnanti; cedendo victor abibis.


  • Militiae species amor est; discedite, segnes:
      Non sunt haec timidis signa tuenda viris.
    • Love is a kind of warfare; avaunt, ye laggards! These banners are not for timid men to guard.
      • Book II, line 233 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Nec dominam iubeo pretioso munere dones:
     Parva, sed e parvis callidus apta dato.
    • Nor do I bid you give your mistress costly gifts; let them be small, but choose your small gifts cunningly and well.
      • Book II, line 261 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Quid tibi praecipiam teneros quoque mittere versus?
      Ei mihi, non multum carmen honoris habet.
    Carmina laudantur, sed munera magna petuntur:
      Dummodo sit dives, barbarus ipse placet.
    Aurea sunt vere nunc saecula: plurimus auro
      Venit honos: auro conciliatur amor.
    • Shall I bid you send tender verses also? Alas, a poem is not much honoured. Poems are praised, but costly gifts are sought; so he be wealthy, even a barbarian pleases. Now truly is the age of gold: by gold comes many an honour, by gold is affection gained.
      • Book II, line 273 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Dum novus errat amor, vires sibi colligat usu:
    Si bene nutrieris, tempore firmus erit.
    Quem taurum metuis, vitulum mulcere solebas:
    Sub qua nunc recubas arbore, virga fuit:
    Nascitur exiguus, sed opes adquirit eundo,
    Quaque venit, multas accipit amnis aquas.
    • Young love is errant, but it needs to get around;
      The time and practice make it strong and sound.
      That bull you fear, you petted when it wasn't big;
      What now you sleep beneath was once a twig.
      That little stream, in gaining waters as it goes,
      Grows stronger, till at last a river flows.
      • Book II, lines 339–344 (tr. Len Krisak)



  • Da requiem: requietus ager bene credita reddit.
    • Leave her alone. A fallow field soon shows its worth,
      And rain is best absorbed by arid earth.
      • Book II, line 351 (tr. Len Krisak)


  • Litore quot conchae, tot sunt in amore dolores;
      Quae patimur, multo spicula felle madent.
    • As many as the shells that are on the shore, so many are the pains of love; the darts that wound are steeped in much poison.
      • Book II, line 519 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Ipsa Venus pubem, quotiens velamina ponit,
      Protegitur laeva semireducta manu.
    • Venus herself never putteth off her veil, but with modest hand she covereth her charms.
      • Book II, lines 613–614 (tr. J. Lewis May)
      • The Cnidian Aphrodite of Praxiteles has this attitude, except that it is the right hand; it became a recognised type, as in the Venus de Medicis; cf. also Apuleius, Metamorphoses, 2. 17, 10. 31.
      • Variant translation: "Venus herself, as oft as she lays aside her robes, half stooping covers with her left hand her secret parts." (J. H. Mozley)


  • Quod male fers, adsuesce, feres bene.
    • Habit makes all things bearable.
      • Book II, line 647 (tr. James Michie)


  • Nominibus mollire licet mala: fusca vocetur,
      Nigrior Illyrica cui pice sanguis erit:
    Si straba, sit Veneri similis: si rava, Minervae:
      Sit gracilis, macie quae male viva sua est;
    Dic habilem, quaecumque brevis, quae turgida, plenam,
      Et lateat vitium proximitate boni.
    • With names you soften shortcomings; let her be called swarthy whose blood is blacker than Illyrian pitch; if cross-eyed, she is like Venus; yellow-haired, like Minerva; call her slender whose thinness impairs her health; if short, call her trim; if stout, of full body; let its nearness to a virtue conceal a fault.
      • Book II, line 657 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Nec quotus annus eat, nec quo sit nata, require,
      Consule, quae rigidus munera Censor habet.
    • Ask not how old she is, nor under what consul she was born; these are the duties of the stern Censor.
      • Book II, line 663 (tr. J. H. Mozley)


  • Utendum est aetate: cito pede labitur aetas.
    • Seize Time; his swift foot can't be held.
      • Book III, line 65 (tr. Len Krisak)


  • Nostra sine auxilio fugiunt bona; carpite florem,
    Qui, nisi carptus erit, turpiter ipse cadet.
    • Our charms depart all on their own, so pluck the bloom.
      For if you don't, it meets a wasted doom.
      • Book III, lines 79–80 (tr. Len Krisak)



  • Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus
    Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit.
    • Chance everywhere has power; ever let your hook be hanging; where you least believe it, there will be a fish in the stream.


  • Candida pax homines, trux decet ira feras.
    • Rage is for beasts, but shining peace for man.
      • Book III, line 502 (tr. Len Krisak)


  • Est deus in nobis, et sunt commercia caeli:
    Sedibus aetheriis spiritus ille venit.
    • We all conceal
      A god within us, we all deal
      With heaven direct, from whose high places we derive
      The inspiration by which we live.
      • Book III, lines 549–550 (tr. James Michie)


  • Caverit haec custos, pro charta conscia tergum
      Praebeat, inque suo corpore verba ferat.
    • Let your confidante make her shoulders your tablets, and let her body become a living letter.
      • Book III, line 626 (tr. J. Lewis May)
      • Variant translation: "Let the confidant offer her back for your note, and bear your words upon her body." (J. H. Mozley)


Classical and Foreign Quotations

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W. Francis H. King, ed. Classical and Foreign Quotations, 3rd ed. (1904), nos. 52, 97, 182, 196, 244, 258, 265, 596, 680, 693, 741, 766, 773, 791, 812, 813, 972, 1079, 1097, 1200, 1498, 1549, 1669, 1706, 1731, 1793, 1862, 2015, 2031, 2070, 2107, 2161, 2192, 2321A, 2398, 2433, 2513, 2579, 2587, 2607
  • Ævo rarissima nostro Simplicitas.
    • Most rare is now our old simplicity.
      • 1, 241 (tr. John Dryden).
      • Motto of Spectator 269, on Sir Roger de Coverly in Gray’s Inn Walks.


  • Amans semper, quod timet, esse putat.
    • A lover always believes it to be as he fears.
      • 3, 720.



  • Aut non tentaris, aut perfice.
    • Either carry it through, or don't make the attempt at all.
      • 1, 389.


  • Candidus in nauta turpis color: sequoris unda
    Debet et a radiis sideris esse niger.
    • I hate a fair-skinned sailor: he should be
      Tanned brown with wind and sun and the salt sea.


  • Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus:
    Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit.
    • There’s always room for chance, so drop your hook;
      A fish there’ll be where least for it you look.
      • 3, 425. Luck.
      • Semper T. P. H., legend of a James II (and Queen) medal, struck 1687, commemorating W. Phipps’ successful recovery of sunken treasure (£300,000) off Hispaniola.


  • Cede repugnanti: cedendo victor abibis.
    • Yield to your opponent: by yielding you will come off conqueror.
      • 2, 197.
      • A prudent concession is often tantamount to a victory.


  • Dummodo sit dives, barbarus ipse placet.
    • Provided he be rich, even a foreigner pleases well enough.
      • 2, 276.


  • Est deus in nobis, et sunt commercia cœli.
    • We poets have a god within, and hold communion with the sky.
      • 3, 549.


  • Est quiddam gestus edendi.
    • There's much in a person’s mode of eating.
      • 3, 755


  • Experto credite.
    • Believe one who knows.


  • Fac tantum incipias, sponte disertus eris.
    • Only begin, and you will become eloquent of yourself.
      • 1, 610.


  • Fallite fallentes: ex magna parte profanum
    Sunt genus; in laqueos quos posuere, cadant.
    • The cheaters cheat, mostly a godless gang;
      In their own nooses let the scoundrels hang.
      • 1, 645
      • Quoted in Georg Büchmann, Geflügelte Worte, 19th ed. (1898). Le trompeur trompé ("The Cheater Cheated"), title of a comic opera of Guilet and Gaveaux, 1799: and the Betrogene Betrüger (same meaning) of G. E. Lessing, Nathan, 3, 7.


  • Fertilior seges est alienis semper in agris;
    Vicinumque pecus grandius uber habet.
    • Crops are e’er richer in a neighbour's field;
      And neighbours’ kine produce a fuller yield.
      • 1, 349.


  • Forma bonum fragile est, quantumque accedit ad annos
      Fit minor: et spatio carpitur ipsa suo. [...]
    Et tibi jam cani venient, formose, capilli:
      Jam venient rugs, que tibi corpus arent.
    Jam molire animum, qui duret, et adstrue formæ.
      Solus ad extremos permanet ille rogos.
    • Fragile is beauty: with advancing years
      ’Tis less and less and, last, it disappears.
      Your hair too, fair one, will turn grey and thin;
      And wrinkles furrow that now rounded skin;
      Then brace the mind and beauty fortify,
      The mind alone is yours, until you die
      • 2, 119. Fragile is Beauty.


  • Forma viros neglecta decet.
    • An unstudied dress is most becoming to men.
      • 1, 509.


  • Ignoti nulla cupido.
    • No one desires the unknown.
      • Cf. On ne peut désirer ce qu’on ne connait pas. Voltaire, Zaire, 1, 1.


  • Ingenium mala sæpe movent.
    • Misfortune often quickens genius.
      • 2, 43.
      • Cf. Horace, Satires, 2, 8, 73 (tr. Philip Francis):
        Sed convivatoris, uti ducis, ingenium res
        Adversæ nudare solent, celare secundæ.
        Good fortune hides, adversity brings forth
        A host’s resources, and a general’s worth.


  • Innocui vivite, numen adest.
    • Lead innocent lives, for God is here.
      • 1, 640.
      • Inscribed over his Lecture Room by Linnæus. See D. H. Stoever’s Life of Linnæus, tr. by J. Trapp, London, 1794, p. 269.


  • Jurgia præcipue vino stimulata caveto:
    Aptior est dulci mensa merumque joco.
    • All brawls and quarrels strictly shun,
      And chiefly those in wine begun:
      For harmless mirth and pleasant jest
      Befit the board and bottle best.
      • 1, 591, 594.


  • Materiem, qua sis ingeniosus, habes.
    • You have materials with which to show your talent.
      • 2, 34.


  • Militat omnis amans, et habet sua castra Cupido:
    Attice, crede mihi, militat omnis amans.
    Que bello est habilis, Veneri quoque convenit, ætas;
    Turpe senex miles, turpe senilis amor.
    • Each lover’s a soldier, believe me, Serenus;
        Cupid too has his camp, for each lover must fight:
      The best age for war is the best age for Venus;
        Old soldiers, old lovers, are both a sad sight.
      • 1, 9, 1
      • Cf. 2, 233:
        Militiæ species amor est: discedite segnes;
        Non sunt hee timidis signa tuenda viris.
        Love is a kind of war: sluggards, depart!
        Its ranks cannot be kept by craven heart.


  • Neque enim lex equior ulla est
    Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.
    • This is the justest law that Heaven imparts,
      That murderers should die by their own arts.
      • 1, 655.


  • Nil consuetudine majus.
    • Nothing greater than habit.
      • 2, 345.


  • Nomen amicitia est, nomen inane fides.
    • Friendship, fidelity, are but empty names.
      • 1, 740.


  • Nostra sine auxilio fugiunt bona. Carpite florem,
    Qui nisi carptus erit, turpiter ipse cadet.
    • Pleasures fly without our helping; cull the blossom of to-day:
      Left upon its stalk, to-morrow of itself 'twill fall away.
      • 9. 79.


  • Odimus accipitrem qui semper vivit in armis.
    • I hate the hawk that always lives in arms.


  • Parcite paucarum diffundere crimen in omnes,
    Spectetur meritis quæque puella suis.
    • Do not visit the faults of a few on all: let every girl be considered on her own merits.
      • 3, 9.


  • Parva leves capiunt animos.
    • Small minds are affected by trifles.
      • 1, 159.


  • Perdis, et in damno gratia nulla tuo.
    • You lose, and get no thanks for it.
      • 1, 434.


  • Plausus tune arte carebat.
    • In those days applause was genuine and unaffected.
      • 1, 113.
      • Said of the games held by Romulus. Cf. 1, 106, Scena sine arte fuit.—"The stage then was devoid of art."


  • Promittas facito: quid enim promittere lædit?
    Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest.
    • Promise at large! what harm in promises?
      All may be rich in such commodities.
      • 1, 443.


  • Quæ venit ex tuto, minus est accepta voluptas.
    • Pleasure that is indulged in without risk loses half its attraction.
      • 3, 603.
      • Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.


  • Quis furor est census corpore ferre suo!
    • What madness to carry all one’s income on one’s back!
      • 3, 172.
      • Extravagant dress.


  • Restat iter cœlo: cœlo tentabimus ire;
    Da veniam cœpto, Jupiter alte, meo.
    • One way remains—by air: by air a way we'll try;
      Pardon the bold adventure, Jove most high!
      • 2. 37.
      • Ovid, in the name of Dædalus when he escaped from the labyrinth on wings.
      • When Gambetta left Paris by balloon to join his colleagues at Tours during the siege (October 1870), he might have employed the same language.
      • Variant translation: "There remains a way through the heavens; through the heavens we will attempt to go. High Jupiter, pardon my bold design."—James Wood, ed. Dictionary of Quotations (1893), p. 375.


  • Sæpe tacens vocem verbaque vultus habet.
    • Often a silent countenance conveys words and meaning of its own.
      • 1, 574.


  • Sic ruit in celebres cultissima fœmina ludos.
    • Thus every fashionable lady flocks to the celebrated games.
      • 1, 97.
      • The races in the Circus, or at Pompey’s theatre.


  • Sit tua cura sequi: me duce tutus eris.
    • You have only to follow: under my guidance you will be safe.
      • 2, 58.


  • Quis solem fallere possit?
    • Who can deceive the sun?
      • 2, 573.
      • Cf. Virgil, Georgica, 1, 463: Solem quis dicere falsum Audeat?—"Who will dare call the sun a deceiver?"


  • Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsæ.
    • The ladies come to see, and to be seen.
      • 1, 99.
      • Chaucer, Wyf of Bath, Prologue, 1. 6134, has "And for to see, and eke for to be seye."


Bibliography

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