Great Throughts Treasury

"Report says that you, Fidentinus, recite my compositions in public as if they were your own. If you allow them to be called mine, I will send you my verses gratis; if you wish them to be called yours, pray buy them, that they may be mine no longer."

"See how the mountain goat hangs from the summit of the cliff; you would expect it to fall; it is merely showing its contempt for the dogs."

"See, how the liver is swollen larger than a fat goose! In amazement you will exclaim: Where could this possibly grow?"

"Seems buried in the juice which was his own."

"Selius affirms, in heav'n no gods there are: And while he thrives, and they their thunder spare, His daring tenet to the world seems fair."

"Service cannot be expected from a friend in service; let him be a freeman who wishes to be my master."

"She grieves sincerely who grieves unseen."

"Short is the life of those who possess great accomplishments, and seldom do they reach a good old age. Whatever thou lovest, pray that thou mayest not set too high a value on it."

"Since your legs, Phoebus, resemble the horns of the moon, you might bathe your feet in a cornucopia."

"Some are good, some are middling, the most are bad."

"Someone I flattered in a book pretends he owes me nothing. Oh the trash I have for friends."

"Sound sleep at night, and days from quarrels free."

"Stop abusing my verses, or publish some of your own."

"Such are thou and I: but what I am thou canst not be; what thou art any one of the multitude may be."

"Take while you can; brief is the moment of profit."

"Thais has black, Laecania white teeth; what is the reason? Thais has her own, Laecania bought ones."

"That which prevents disagreeable flies from feeding on your repast, was once the proud tail of a splendid bird."

"The "soft I wanted to believe you are a man, but rumor says you a queen. ""

"The African lions rush to attack bulls; they do not attack butterflies."

"The bee enclosed and through the amber shown"

"The bee is enclosed, and shines preserved, in a tear of the sisters of Phaeton, so that it seems enshrined in its own nectar. It has obtained a worthy reward for its great toils; we may suppose that the bee itself would have desired such a death."

"The book which you are reading aloud is mine, Fidentinus; but, while you read it so badly, it begins to be yours."

"The good man prolongs his life; to be able to enjoy one?s past life is to live twice."

"The mode of death is sadder than death itself."

"The produce of the vineyards has not failed everywhere, Ovidius. The heavy rains have been productive. Coranus made up a hundred jars by means of the water."

"The shameless Chloe placed on the tombs of her seven husbands the inscription, "The work of Chloe." How could she have expressed herself more plainly?""

"The swan murmurs sweet strains with a flattering tongue, itself the singer of its own dirge."

"The swifter hand doth the swift words outrun: Before the tongue hath spoke the hand hath done."

"The virtuous man is never a novice in worldly things."

"There are many different voice and languages; but there is but one voice of the peoples when you are declared to be the true "Father of your country.""

"There is no glory in outstripping donkeys."

"There is nothing more revolting than an old busybody."

"There's nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair."

"They [the hours] pass by, and are put to our account."

"They let out on hire their passions and eloquence. [Referring to lawyers.]"

"They praise those works, but read these."

"They praise those works, but they?re not the ones they read."

"This division of labour will lessen the task."

"This I ask, is it not madness to kill thyself in order to escape death?"

"Thou art the cause, O reader, of my dwelling on lighter topics, when I would rather handle serious ones."

"Though I often salute you, you never salute me first; I shall therefore, Pontilianus, salute you with an eternal farewell."

"'Tis a hard task not to surrender morality for riches."

"To be able to look back upon one's past life with satisfaction is to live twice."

"To have nothing is not poverty."

"To-morrow thou wilt live, didst thou say, Posthumus? To-day is too late; he is the wise man who lived yesterday."

"Tomorrow will I live, the fool does say; Today itself's too late; the wise lived yesterday."

"To-morrow you will live, you always cry; In what fair country does this morrow lie, That 'tis so mighty long ere it arrive? Beyond the Indies does this morrow live? 'Tis so far-fetched, this morrow, that I fear 'Twill be both very old and very dear. "To-morrow I will live," the fool does say: To-day itself's too late;--the wise lived yesterday."

"We know this to be all nonsense."

"What quick wit is found in sudden straits!"

"What's this that myrrh doth still smell in thy kiss, And that with thee no other odour is? 'Tis doubt, my Postumus, he that doth smell So sweetly always, smells not very well."