llustration by Frederico Righi
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD
Try wax to pave the way, pour it out on scraped tablets:
let wax be your mind’s true confidante.
Bring her your flattering words and play the lover:
and, whoever you are, add a humble prayer.
Achilles was moved by prayer to grant Hector’s body to Priam:
a god’s anger’s deflected by the voice of prayer.
Make promises: what harm can a promise do?
Anyone can be rich in promises.
Hope lasts, if she’s once believed in,
a useful, though deceptive, goddess.
If you’ve given, you can quite reasonably be forgotten:
she carried it off, and now she’s nothing to lose.
But if you don’t give, always appear about to:
like barren fields that always cheat the farmer,
like the gambler who goes on losing, lest he’s finally lost,
and calls the dice back endlessly into his eager hand.
This is the work, the labour, to have her without giving first:
and she’ll go on giving, lest she lose what she’s freely given.
So go on, and send your letter’s flattering words,
try her intention, test the road out first.
Cydippe was deceived by the message the apple brought,
and unaware the girl by her own words was caught.
I warn you, youths of Rome, learn the noble arts,
not just to defend some trembling client:
like the crowd, the grave judge, the elected senate,
a woman will give her hand, won by eloquence.
But let your powers be hidden, don’t display your eloquence:
let irksome words vanish from your speech.
Who, but a mindless fool, declaims to his sweet friend?
A strong letter often causes her displeasure.
Let your speech be credible, use ordinary words,
flattering though, speak as if you were present.
If she won’t receive the letter, returns it un-read,
stick to your plan, and hope she’ll read it later.
In time stubborn oxen come to the plough,
in time the horse learns to suffer the bridle:
constant use wears away an iron ring,
the curved plough’s lost to the endless furrow.
What’s harder than stone, softer than water?
Yet soft water carves the hardest stone.
Once steadfast you’ll conquer Penelope herself in time:
you’ll see Troy captive, though it’s captured late.
She reads and won’t reply? Don’t press her:
just let her keep on reading your flattery.
If she wants to read, she’ll want to answer what she’s read:
such things proceed by number and by measure.
Perhaps at first a cool letter comes to you,
asking: would you please not trouble her.
What she asks, she fears: what she doesn’t ask, she wants,
that you go on: do it, and you’ll soon get what you wish.
Translated by A. S. Kline 23/01/2026
everythinglatin.co.uk 
Leave a comment