Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. He enjoyed enormous popularity, but, in one of the mysteries of literary history, he was sent by Augustus into exile...
NationalityRoman
ProfessionPoet
military inspiration love-is
Love is a kind of military service
fear men wish
Everyone wishes that the man whom he fears would perish.
evil form thousand
There are a thousand forms of evil; there will be a thousand remedies.
military coward wish
It is the act of a coward to wish for death.
envy vices creeps
Envy, the meanest of vices, creeps on the ground like a serpent.
matter easy conversation
In an easy matter. Anybody can be eloquent.
wake-up genius difficulty
Difficulty is what wakes up the genius.
doe longing yearning
One does not yearn for that which is easily acquired.
broken bows leisure
Take away leisure and Cupid's bow is broken
dog boars
A boar is often held by a not-so-large dog.
time time-flies
Tempus fugit (time flies).
lying differences steps
Cunning leads to knavery. It is but a step from one to the other, and that very slippery. Only lying makes the difference; add that to cunning, and it is knavery.
art character faithful
Note too that a faithful study of the liberal arts humanizes character and permits it not to be cruel.
blame prison multitudes
Do not lay on the multitude the blame that is due to a few.