Heroides

"Nil mihi rescribas, tu tamen ipse veni!"

"Write nothing back to me—yourself come!"

"Res est solliciti plena timoris amor."

"Love is a thing ever filled with anxious fear."

"Iam seges est ubi Troia fuit, resecandaque falce Luxuriat Phrygio sanguine pinguis humus."

"Now are fields of corn where Troy once was, and soil made fertile with Phrygian blood waves rich with harvest ready for the sickle."

"Tarde quae credita laedunt credimus."

"We are tardy in believing, when belief brings hurt."

"Exitus acta probat."

"The event proves well the wisdom of her course."

"Dicere quae puduit, scribere iussit amor."

"What modesty forbade me to say, love has commanded me to write."

"Si fuit errandum, causas habet error honestas."

"If 'twas my fate to err, my error had honourable cause."

"Abeunt studia in mores."

"Tastes change into character."

"Non veniunt in idem pudor atque amor."

"Modesty and love are not at one."

"Est virtus placitis abstinuisse bonis."

"There is virtue in abstinence from what delights."

"Pursuits grow into habits."

"The event justifies the deed."

"Dicere que puduit, scribere jussit amor."

"What shame forbade me speak, Love made me write."

"Nulla reparabilis arte Læsa pudicitia est: deperit illa semel."

"When once a woman’s virtue’s gone, No art the damage can atone: 'Tis ruined once for all."

"If I sinned, the sin has fair excuse."

"Cœpisti melius quam desinis: ultima primis Cedunt: dissimiles hic vir, et ille puer."

"You began better than you end: your last attempts must yield the palm to your previous achievements. How little does the man correspond to the promise of the boy!"

"Si qua voles apte nubere, nube pari."

"If you wish to marry suitably, marry your equal."

"Arbiter es formæ."

"You are the (or a) judge of beauty."

"Jam seges est ubi Troja fuit, resecandaque falce Luxuriat Phrygio sanguine pinguis humus."

"The scythe now reaps the corn where Ilion stood, And fields that fatten on the Trojans’ blood."

"Acceptissima semper Munera sunt, auctor quæ pretiosa facit."

"Those presents which derive their value from the donor are always the most acceptable."

"'Tis virtue to abstain from things that please."

"Tarda solet magnis rebus inesse fides."

"Confidence is slow in reposing itself in undertakings of any magnitude."

"An nescis longas regibus esse manus?"

"Don’t you know that kings have long arms?"