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
argument
Agreeing to differ. [Lat., Discors concordia.]
may appearance
They come to see, they come that they themselves may be seen. [Lat., Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipse.]
anger hands ira
Anger assists hands however weak. [Lat., Quamlibet infirmas adjuvat ira manus.]
jewels simplicity found
Simplicity is a jewel rarely found.
passion way reason
Passion persuades me one way, reason another. I see the better and approve it, but I follow the worse.
running art moving
Take this at least, this last advice, my son: Keep a stiff rein, and move but gently on: The coursers of themselves will run too fast, Your art must be to moderate their haste.
men heaven darkness
Heavens! what thick darkness pervades the minds of men. [Lat., Pro superi! quantum mortalia pectora caecae, Noctis habent.]
god sublime danger
Nothing is so high and above all danger that is not below and in the power of God. [Lat., Nihil ita sublime est, supraque pericula tendit Non sit ut inferius suppositumque deo.]
god blood offering
As God is propitiated by the blood of a hundred bulls, so also is he by the smallest offering of incense. [Lat., Sed tamen ut fuso taurorum sanguine centum, Sic capitur minimo thuris honore deux.]
god heaven god-within-us
There is a God within us and intercourse with heaven. [Lat., Est deus in nobis; et sunt commercia coeli.]
lying eye panthers
The god we now behold with opened eyes, A herd of spotted panthers round him lies In glaring forms; the grapy clusters spread On his fair brows, and dangle on his head.
friendship herds advantage
The vulgar herd estimate friendship by its advantages. [Lat., Vulgus amicitias utilitate probat.]
friends crowds fortune
The rest of the crowd were friends of my fortune, not of me. [Lat., Caetera fortunae, non mea, turba fuit.]
men should fortune
Every man should stay within his own fortune. [Lat., Intera fortunam quisque debet manere suam.]