"Ut dominam teneas, nec te mirere relictum, Ingenii dotes corporis adde bonis. Forma bonum fragile est, quantumque accedit ad annos Fit minor, et spatio carpitur ipsa suo."
— Ars Amatoria

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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PoetryOvid
Original Language: English

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That you may keep your mistress, nor marvel to find yourself abandoned, add gifts of mind to bodily advantages. A frail advantage is beauty, that grows less as time draws on, and is devoured by its own years. — Book II, lines 111–113 (tr. J. H. Mozley) — Variant translation: "Beauty's a frail flower." (James Michie) — Compare: "Brittle beautie, that nature made so fraile", Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, in Tottel's Miscellany (1557)