The three poetic books of Ovid’s “Ars Amatoria” advised men and women of the Roman Empire on how to master the art of love. His witty love wisdom has been passed down through the ages. His poems taught both men and women how to seduce and have sexual encounters with each other through the art of love.

The first two books teach men how to flirt, talk, and make love to women. Ovid’s love poetry offers men and women wise and entertaining advice on how to find and keep a lover.

Even though modern people today live in a different time and place than the ancient Romans did, I think they will still find these books fascinating and interesting to read. This is why I chose to include parts of these books in a few articles I wrote. Many old ideas about love are still true and useful for people who love and study love today.

Therefore, I have taken a few of them from Anthony Kline’s translations of Ovid’s remarkable books and posted them on my blog (Kline, 2001).

The delightful verses of book 1 tell us about

“What Is His Task” (Part 1),

“How to Find Her” (Part 2),

“Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3),

“Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4),

“Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5),

“Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6),

“Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8),

“How to Win Her” (Part 9),

“How to Know the Maid” (Part 10),

“How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11),

“How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12),

“How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14),

“How to Captivate a Woman at Dinner” (Part 15),

“How to Make Promises and Deceive” (Part 16),

“How Tears, Kisses, Taking the Lead Can Help in Love Affairs” (Part 17), and

“Psychology Love Tricks in the Art of Love” (Parts 18-19).

Here it is Part IV of Ovid’s Book II, teaching why you need to be patient and comply in the art of love relationships.

You Need to Be Patient and Comply, Part IV of Book II:

“If she’s not charming or courteous enough, at your loving,

endure it and persist: she’ll soon be kinder.

You can get a curved branch to bend on the tree by patience:

you’ll break it, if you try out your full strength.

With patience you can cross the water: you’ll not

conquer the river by sailing against the flow.

Patience tames tigers and Numidian lions:

the farmer in time bows the ox to the plough.

Who was fiercer than Arcadian Atalanta?

Wild as she was she still surrendered to male kindness.

Often Milanion wept among the trees

at his plight and at the girl’s harsh acts:

often at her orders his shoulders carried the nets,

often he pierced wild boars with his deadly spear:

and he felt the pain of Hylaeus’s tense bow:

but that of another bow was still more familiar.

I don’t order you to climb in Maenalian woods,

holding a weapon, or carrying nets on your back:

I don’t order you to bare your chest to flying darts:

the tender commands of my arts are safe.

Yield to opposition: by yielding you’ll end as victor:

Only play the part she commands you to.

Condemn what she condemns: what she approves, approve:

say what she says: deny what she denies.

She laughs, you laugh: remember to cry, if she cries:

she’ll set the rules according to your expression.

If she plays, tossing the ivory dice in her hand,

throw them wrong, and concede on your bad throw:

If you play knucklebones, no prize if you win,

make out that often the ruinous low Dogs fell to you.

And if it’s draughts, the draughtsmen mercenaries,

let your champion be swept away by your glass foe.

Yourself, hold your girl’s sunshade outspread,

yourself, make a place for her in the crowd.

Quickly bring up a footstool to her elegant couch,

and slip the sandal on or off her sweet foot.

Often, even though you’re shivering yourself,

her hand must be warmed at your neglected breast.

Don’t think it shameful (though it’s shameful, you’ll like it),

to hold the mirror for her in your noble hands.

When his stepmother, Juno, was tired of sending him monsters,

Hercules, it’s said, who reached the heavens he’d shouldered,

held a basket, among the Lydian girls, and spun raw wool.

The hero of Tiryns complied with his girl’s orders:

go now, and endure the misgivings he endured.

Ordered to appear in town, make sure you arrive

before time, and don’t leave unless it’s late.

She tells you to be elsewhere: drop everything, run,

don’t let the crowd in the way stop you trying.

She’s returning home from another party at night:

when she calls for her slave you come too.

She’s in the country, says: ‘come’: Love hates a laggard:

if you’ve no wheels, travel the road on foot.

Don’t let bad weather, or parching Dog-days, stall you, or the roads whitened by falling snow.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

The three poetic books of “Ars Amatoria” by the Roman poet Ovid advised men and women of the Roman Empire on how to master the art of love. His witty wisdom of love has been passed down through the centuries. His poems taught both men and women how to use the art of love to seduce and have sexual encounters with each other.

The first two books teach men how to talk to, flirt with, and make love to a woman. In his love poetry, Ovid gives both men and women wise and interesting advice on how to find and keep a lover.

I think modern readers will still find these books fascinating and interesting to read, despite the fact that they live in a different time and society than the ancient Romans did. This is the reason I decided to write a few articles that included passages from these books. Many concepts about love are still valid and useful for contemporary lovers and love researchers.

So, I’ve taken some of them from Anthony Kline’s translations of Ovid’s remarkable books and put them here on my blog (Kline, 2001).

The captivating poetries of book 1 tell us about

“What Is His Task” (Part 1),

“How to Find Her” (Part 2),

“Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3),

“Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4),

“Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5),

“Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6),

“Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8),

“How to Win Her” (Part 9),

“How to Know the Maid” (Part 10),

“How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11),

“How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12),

“How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14),

“How to Captivate a Woman at Dinner” (Part 15),

“How to Make Promises and Deceive” (Part 16),

“How Tears, Kisses, Taking the Lead Can Help in Love Affairs” (Part 17),

“Psychology Love Tricks in the Art of Love” (Parts 18-19).

Here it is Part III of Ovid’s Book II, teaching why you need to be gentle and good-tempered in the art of love relationships.

You Need to Be Gentle and Good Tempered, Part III of Book II:

“Gentleness especially impresses minds favourably:

harshness creates hatred and fierce wars.

We hate the hawk that lives its life in battle,

and the wolf whose custom is to raid the timid flocks.

But the swallow, for its gentleness, is free from human snares,

and Chaonian doves have dovecotes to live in.

Away with disputes and the battle of bitter tongues:

sweet love must feed on gentle words.

Let married men and married women be checked by rebuffs,

and think in turn things always are against them:

that’s proper for wives: quarrelling’s the marriage dowry:

but a mistress should always hear the longed-for cooing.

No law orders you to come together in one bed:

in your rules it’s love provides the entertainment.

Approach her with gentle flatteries and words to delight

her ear, so that your arrival makes her glad.

I don’t come as a teacher of love for the rich:

he who can give has no need of my art:

He has genius who can say: ‘Take this’ when he pleases:

I submit: he delights more than my inventions.

I’m the poor man’s poet, who was poor when I loved:

when I could give no gifts, I gave them words.

The poor must love warily: the poor fear to speak amiss,

and suffer much that the rich would not.

I remember mussing my lady’s hair in anger:

how many days that anger cost me!

I don’t think I tore her dress, I didn’t feel it: but she

said so, and my reward was to replace it.

But you, if you’re wise, avoid your teacher’s faults,

and fear the harm that came from my offence.

Make war with the Parthians, peace with a civilised friend, and laughter, and whatever engenders love.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

Ovid’s advice on the art of love has been known for centuries due to his three poetic books of “Ars Amatoria.” He was a Roman poet from the time of the Roman Empire. The poems in his books taught men and women how to use the art of love to seduce and make love.

In a fascinating way, “Ars Amatoria” shows how the Roman aristocracy of the time lived a life of pleasure and sophistication. I believe people today can still learn something from Ovid’s advice.

In his first two books of “The Art of Love,” Ovid mostly advises men on how to find a woman and keep her. The beautiful verses of book 1 tell us about

“What Is His Task” (Part 1),

“How to Find Her” (Part 2),

“Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3),

“Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4),

“Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5),

“Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6),

“Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8),

“How to Win Her” (Part 9),

“How to Know the Maid” (Part 10),

“How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11),

“How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12),

“How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14),

“How to Captivate a Woman at Dinner” (Part 15),

“How to Make Promises and Deceive” (Part 16),

“How Tears, Kisses, Taking the Lead Can Help in Love Affairs” (Part 17),

“Psychology Love Tricks in the Art of Love” (Parts 18-19).

Here it is Part II of Ovid’s Book II, teaching a man why he needs gifts of mind in the art of love relationships.

You Need Gifts of Mind, Part II of Book II:

“Minos could not hold back those mortal wings:

I’m setting out to check the winged god himself.

He who has recourse to Thracian magic, fails,

to what the foal yields, torn from its new-born brow,

Medea’s herbs can’t keep love alive,

nor Marsian dirges mingled with magic chants.

If incantations only could enslave love, Ulysses

would have been tied to Circe, Jason to the Colchian.

It’s no use giving girls pale drugs:

drugs hurt the mind, have power to cause madness.

Away with such evils: to be loved be lovable:

something face and form alone won’t give you.

Though you’re Nireus loved by Homer of old,

or sweet Hylas ravished by the Naiades’ crime,

to keep your love, and not to find her leave you,

add gifts of mind to grace of body.

A sweet form is fragile, what’s added to its years

lessen it, and time itself eats it away.

Violets and open lilies do not flower forever,

and thorns are left stiffening on the blown rose.

And white hair will come to find you, lovely lad,

soon wrinkles will come, furrowing your skin.

Then nourish mind, which lasts, and adds to beauty:

it alone will stay till the funeral pyre.

Cultivate your thoughts with the noble arts,

more than a little, and learn two languages.

Ulysses wasn’t handsome, but he was eloquent,

and still racked the sea-goddesses with love.

How often Calypso mourned his haste,

and denied the waves were fit for oars!

She asked him again and again about the fall of Troy:

He grew used to retelling it often, differently.

They walked the beach: there, lovely Calypso too

demanded the gory tale of King Rhesus’s fate.

He, with a rod (a rod perhaps he already had)

illustrated what she asked in the thick sand.

‘This’ he said, ‘is Troy’ (drawing the walls in the sand):

‘This your Simois: imagine this is our camp.

This is the field,’ (he drew the field), ‘that was dyed

with Dolon’s blood, while he spied on Achilles’s horses.

here were the tents of Thracian Rhesus:

here am I riding back the captured horses at night.’

And he was drawing more, when suddenly a wave

washed away Troy, and Rhesus, and his camp.

Then the goddess said ‘Do you see what you place your trust in

for your voyage, waves that have destroyed such mighty names?’

So listen, whoever you are, fear to rely on treacherous beauty or own to something more than just the flesh.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

Among love scholars, the Roman poet of the ancient Roman Empire is well-known for his “Ars Amatoria” (The Art of Love), a three-volume instructional series of poems describing what love is and how to make love using the arts of seduction and intrigue.

The first two books of Ovid’s poems, “The Art of Love,” are addressed to men. They cover the topics of how to make love: “letting her miss you-but not for too long,” “not forgetting her birthday,” and “not asking about her age.”

His poetic words offer witty love advice to men and women in their love relationships. Some of his advice, I believe, is still relevant today and would be interesting to read.

I presented the poetic excerpts of Ovid’s advice to men in my earlier articles on this blog. Those beautiful verses talk about “How to Find Her” (Part 2), “Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3), “Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4), “Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5), “Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6), “Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8), “How to Win Her” (Part 9), “How to Know the Maid” (Part 10), “How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11), “How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12), “How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14), “How to Captivate a Woman at Dinner” (Part 15), “How to Make Promises and Deceive” (Part 16), and “How Tears, Kisses, Taking the Lead Can Help in Love Affairs” (Part 17).

Here it is Part 1 of Ovid’s Book II, teaching a man what his task is in a love relationship with a woman.

His Task

“Sing out the Paean: sing out the Paean twice!

The prize I searched for falls into my net.

Delighted lovers grant my songs the palm,

I’m preferred to Hesiod and old Homer.

So Paris the stranger sailed, from hostile Amyclae’s shore,

under white sheets, with his ravished bride:

such was Pelops who brought you home Hippodamia,

borne on the foreign wheels of his conquering car.

What’s your hurry, young man? Your boat’s mid ocean,

and the harbour I search for is far away.

It’s not enough the girl’s come to you, through me, the poet:

she’s captured by my art, she’s to be kept by my art too.

There’s no less virtue in keeping than in finding.

There’s chance in the latter: the first’s a work of art.

Now aid me, your follower, Venus, and the Boy,

and Erato, Muse, now you have love’s name too.

Great my task as I try to tell what arts can make Love stay:

that boy who wanders so, through the vast world.

And he’s flighty, and has two wings on which he vanishes:

it’s a tricky job to pin him down.

Minos blocked every road of flight for his guest:

but Daedalus devised a bold winged path.

When he’d imprisoned the offspring of its mother’s sin,

the man half-bull, the bull who was half-man,

he said: ‘Minos, the Just, let my exile end:

let my native land receive my ashes.

And since I couldn’t live in my own country,

driven from it by cruel fate, still let me die there.

Give my boy freedom, if the father’s service was worthless:

or if power will not spare the child, let it spare the old.’

He spoke the words, but they, and so many others, were in vain:

his freedom was still denied him by the king.

When he realised this, he said: ‘Now, now, O Daedalus,

you have an object for your skilfulness.

Minos rules the earth and the waves:

neither land or sea is open for my flight.

The sky road still remains: we’ll try the heavens.

Jupiter, on high, favour my plan:

I don’t aspire to touch the starry spheres:

there is no way to flee the king but this.

I’d swim the Stygian waves, if Styx offered me a path:

through my nature new laws are mine.’

Trouble often sharpens the wits: who would think

any man could travel by the air-roads?

He lays out oar-like wings with lines of feathers,

and ties the fragile work with fastenings of string,

and glues the ends with beeswax melted in the flames,

and now the work of this new art’s complete.

Laughing, his son handled the wax and feathers

not knowing they were being readied for his own shoulders.

His father said of them: ‘This is the art that will take us home,

by this creation we’ll escape from Minos.

Minos bars all other ways but cannot close the skies:

as is fitting, my invention cleaves the air.

But don’t gaze at the Bear, that Arcadian girl,

or Bootes’s companion, Orion with his sword:

Fly behind me with the wings I give you: I’ll go in front:

your job’s to follow: you’ll be safe where I lead.

For if we go near the sun through the airy aether,

the wax will not endure the heat:

if our humble wings glide close to ocean,

the breaking salt waves will drench our feathers.

Fly between the two: and fear the breeze as well,

spread your wings and follow, as the winds allow.’

As he warns, he fits the wings to his child, shows

how they move, as a bird teaches her young nestlings.

Then he fastened the wings he’d fashioned to his own shoulders,

and poised his anxious body for the strange path.

Now, about to fly, he gave the small boy a kiss,

and the tears ran down the father’s cheeks.

A small hill, no mountain, higher than the level plain:

there their two bodies were given to the luckless flight.

And Daedalus moved his wings, and watched his son’s,

and all the time kept to his own course.

Now Icarus delights in the strange journey,

and, fear forgotten, he flies more swiftly, with daring art.

A man catching fish, with quivering rod, saw them,

and the task he’d started dropped from his hand.

Now Samos was to the left (Naxos was far behind

and Paros, and Delos beloved by Phoebus the god)

Lebinthos lay to the right, and shady-wooded Calymne,

and Astypalaea ringed by rich fishing grounds,

when the boy, too rash, with youth’s carelessness,

soared higher, and left his father far behind.

The knots give way, and the wax melts near the sun,

his flailing arms can’t clutch at thin air.

Fearful, from heaven’s heights he gazes at the deep:

terrified, darkness, born of fear, clouds his eyes.

The wax dissolves: he thrashes with naked arms,

and flutters there with nothing to support him.

He falls, and falling cries: ‘Father, O father, I’m lost!’

the salt-green sea closes over his open lips.

But now the unhappy father, his father, calls, ‘Icarus!

Where are you Icarus, where under the sky?

Calling ‘Icarus’, he saw the feathers on the waves. Earth holds his bones: the waters take his name.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

The “Ars Amatoria” teach men how psychology love tricks can aid in relationship affairs with women. Surprisingly, being pale, flexible, and wary of friends increases the likelihood of success in a relationship with a woman. 

The Roman poet Ovid of the second century AD wrote “Ars Amatoria” in three volumes of poems. His works depict the upper classes’ luxurious, elegant, and hedonistic lifestyles. Affluent ancient Romans enjoyed sensual, adventurous love. They enjoyed sexual and love affairs to pass the time. The ancient Roman culture revered the art of making love. Ovid’s books give wise advice and suggest love tricks on how to succeed in getting and maintaining love affairs.

“Ars Amatoria”, originally written in Latin, has been translated into other languages over the centuries. The English translation was titled “The Art of Love.” Ovid’s books have become the classic reading for love scholars and other people interested in the art of love.

At least, two versions of the texts of “The Art of Love” have been translated from Latin into English and published in the last two centuries. The first version of Ovid’s love poems was translated into literal English prose by Henry Riley (1816–1878), an English antiquarian and renowned interpreter of ancient literature of the 19th century. The books’ text was first published in 1885 and reprinted in 2014.

Another version of Ovid’s text was translated into English verses by Anthony Kline, a modern poet and translator of classical Roman poetry into English. He wrote the poetic forms of Ovid’s “Ars Amatoria” at the end of the 20th century. The texts were published online in 2001.

Both versions of the English text—literal translation by Henry Riley and poetic translation by Anthony Kline—are currently available online.

Modern men and women can still enjoy these books despite living in different eras, societies, and cultures than the ancient Romans. For those interested in cross-cultural love wisdom, I’ve posted excerpts from these books on this website.

Ovid’s first two books of poems describe how to find, captivate, and have love affairs with a woman. Ovid’s love advice and psychology love tricks are still relevant nowadays. Clever Ovid’s advice can help modern men and women in their love affairs. The texts of “Ars Amatoria” are considered the classics for love scholars. In the articles on this website, I’ve shared some of Anthony Kline’s translations of Ovid’s beautiful verses. What they talk about are “What Is His Task” (Part 1), “How to Find Her” (Part 2), “Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3), “Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4), “Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5), “Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6), “Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8), “How to Win Her” (Part 9), “How to Know the Maid” (Part 10), “How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11), “How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12), “How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14), “How to Captivate a Woman at Dinner” (Part 15), “How to Make Promises and Deceive” (Part 16), and “How Tears, Kisses, Taking the Lead Can Help in Love Affairs” (Part 17).

Here is Part 18, Teaching Men How Being Pale and Being Wary of Friends Can Be Used in Love Affairs

Let us read Ovid’s lessons on how these psychology love tricks work:

“A pale colour would shame a sailor on the ocean wave,

who’s blackened by the rays of the sun:

and shame the farmer who turns the soil with curved plough

and heavy harrow, underneath the heavens.

And you who seek the athlete’s crown, you too

would be ashamed if all your body was white.

Let all lovers be pale: it’s the colour fitting for love:

it suits, though fools have thought it of no value.

Orion wandered pale, for Side, in the woods,

Daphnis was pale for his reluctant Naiad.

Let your leanness show your heart: don’t think it a shame

to slip a cape over your shining hair:

Let youthful limbs be worn away by sleepless nights

and care, and the grief of a great love.

To gain your desire, be miserable,

and those who see you can say ‘You’re in love.’

Should I lament, warn you perhaps that right and wrong

are confused by all? Friendship and loyalty empty words.

Ah me, it’s not safe to praise your love to a friend:

if he believes your praise, he’ll steal her himself.

But Patroclus never disgraced Achilles’s bed:

and how modest Phaedra was with Pirithous.

Pylades loved Hermione, just as Phoebus Pallas,

or as Castor was twin to you Pollux.

Who hopes for that, hopes for apple-bearing tamarisks,

and looks for honey in the middle of the stream.

All delight in what’s shameful: care only for their pleasures,

and are pleased too when trouble comes to others.

Ah it’s a crime! It’s not their rivals that lovers fear:

flee those you think are friends, and you’ll be safe.

Beware of brothers, relatives, and dear friends: that crowd offers you true cause for fear.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

Here is Part 19, Teaching Men How Being Flexible Can Be Helpful in Love Affairs

Let us read Ovid’s teachings on how these psychology love tricks are supposed to work, shall we?

“I’ve done, but there’s diversity in women’s

hearts: a thousand minds require a thousand methods.

One soil doesn’t bear all crops: vines here

are good, olives there: this teems with healthy wheat.

There are as many manners of heart as kinds of face:

a wise man will adapt to many forms,

and like Proteus now, melt into the smooth waters,

now be a tree, now a lion, now a bristling boar.

These fish are speared, those caught on a hook:

others trawled in billowing nets with straining ropes.

One mode won’t suit you for every age-group:

the older hinds spot a trap from further off.

If the simple find you cunning, and the modest crude,

the poor things will straightaway mistrust themselves.

So it happens that she who fears to trust an honest man,

falls to the embrace of some low rascal.

Part of my task is left: part of the labour’s done.

Moor my boat here to the anchor-chains.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

Ovid’s first two books of poems describe how to find, captivate, and have love affairs with a woman. Ovid’s love advice and psychology love tricks are still relevant nowadays. Clever Ovid’s advice can help modern men and women in their love affairs. The texts of “Ars Amatoria” are considered the classics for love scholars. In the articles on this website, I’ve shared some of Anthony Kline’s translations of Ovid’s beautiful verses. What they talk about are “What Is His Task” (Part 1), “How to Find Her” (Part 2), “Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3), “Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4), “Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5), “Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6), “Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8), “How to Win Her” (Part 9), “How to Know the Maid” (Part 10), “How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11), “How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12), “How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14), “How to Captivate a Woman at Dinner” (Part 15), “How to Make Promises and Deceive” (Part 16), and “How Tears, Kisses, Taking the Lead Can Help in Love Affairs” (Part 17).

The “Ars Amatoria” advised men on how tears, kisses, and taking the lead can aid in love affairs. These actions were important in the art of love to win a woman.

The Roman poet Ovid, who lived in the second century A.D., composed three volumes of poetry titled “Ars Amatoria.” His works depict the luxurious, elegant, and hedonistic lifestyles of the Roman Empire’s upper classes. People in that ancient culture enjoyed engaging in sensual and adventurous love affairs. To pass the time, they pursued sexual relationships and relished the pleasure of Cupid’s arrows. In that era of ancient Roman culture, the art of making love was held in the highest regard.

The books of Ovid’s “Ars Amatoria,” which were originally written in Latin, have been translated into other languages over the following centuries. Therefore, the educated upper classes of other societies were able to read them. In English, it was translated as “The Art of Love.” Nowadays, these Ovid’s books are essential reading for love scholars and other people interested in learning the art of love. The texts of the two versions of “The Art of Love” are currently accessible online. One text from an 1885 publication is a literal English translation in prose. Another text from 2001 was written in English verse.

Henry Riley (1816–1878), an English antiquarian and renowned interpreter of ancient literature of the 19th century, translated Ovid’s Latin poems into literal English prose. The text of the books was first published in 1885 and was reprinted in 2014.

Anthony Kline, a modern poet and translator of classical Roman poetry into English, translated the poetic forms of Ovid’s “Ars Amatoria” into English at the end of the 20th century and published it in 2001. The texts are accessible on the Internet.

Even though modern people live in a different era and society than the ancient Romans, I think they can still enjoy these books. I’ve published excerpts from these books on this website for people interested in cross-cultural love wisdom.

The poetry of “Ars Amatoria” offers men and women advice on finding and keeping a partner. Ovid’s first two books of poems detail how to meet, flirt with, and make love to a woman.

I believe Ovid’s advice on how to love is still applicable today. Ovid’s wise advice can be helpful for both modern men and women and scholars who study modern love. I’ve offered a few portions of Ovid’s remarkable verses, translated by Anthony Kline, in the articles published on this website. They’re talking about “What Is His Task” (Part 1), “How to Find Her” (Part 2), “Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3), “Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4), “Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5), “Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6), “Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8), “How to Win Her” (Part 9), “How to Know the Maid” (Part 10), “How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11), “How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12), “How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14), “How to Captivate a Woman at Dinner” (Part 15), and “How to Make Promises and Deceive” (Part 16).

Here is Part 17, Teaching How Tears, Kisses, and Taking the Lead Can Be the Art of Love  Here are the Ovid’s lessons on how tears, kisses, and taking the lead can aid in love affairs.

“And tears help: tears will move a stone:

let her see your damp cheeks if you can.

If tears (they don’t always come at the right time)

fail you, touch your eyes with a wet hand.

What wise man doesn’t mingle tears with kisses?

Though she might not give, take what isn’t given.

Perhaps she’ll struggle, and then say ‘you’re wicked’:

struggling she still wants, herself, to be conquered.

Only, take care her lips aren’t bruised by snatching,

and that she can’t complain that you were harsh.

Who takes a kiss, and doesn’t take the rest,

deserves to lose all that were granted too.

How much short of your wish are you after that kiss?

Ah me, that was boorishness stopped you not modesty.

Though you call it force: it’s force that pleases girls: what delights

is often to have given what they wanted, against their will.

She who is taken in love’s sudden onslaught

is pleased, and finds wickedness is a tribute.

And she who might have been forced, and escapes unscathed,

will be saddened, though her face pretends delight.

Phoebe was taken by force: force was offered her sister:

and both, when raped, were pleased with those who raped them.

Though the tale’s known, it’s still worth repeating,

how the girl of Scyros mated Achilles the hero.

Now the lovely goddess had given her fatal bribe

to defeat the other two beneath Ida’s slopes:

now a daughter-in-law had come to Priam

from an enemy land: a Greek wife in Trojan walls:

all swore the prescribed oath to the injured husband:

now one man’s grief became a nation’s cause.

Shamefully, though he gave way to a mother’s prayer,

Achilles hid his manhood in women’s clothes.

What’s this, Aeacides? Spinning’s not your work:

your search for fame’s through Pallas’s other arts.

Why the basket? Your arm’s meant to bear a shield:

why does the hand that will slay Hector hold the yarn?

Throw away the spindle wound laboriously with thread!

The spear from Pelion’s to be brandished by this hand.

By chance a royal virgin shared the room:

through her rape she learned he was a man.

That she was truly won by force, we must think:

but she still wanted to be won by force.

She often cried: ‘Stop!’ afterwards, when Achilles hurried on:

now he’d taken up stronger weapons than the distaff.

Where’s that force now? Why do you restrain

the perpetrator of your rape, Deidamia?

No doubt as there’s a sort of shame in having started first,

so it’s pleasant to have what someone else has started.

Ah! The youth has too much faith in his own beauty,

if he waits until she asks him first.

The man must approach first: speak the words of entreaty:

she courteously receives his flattering prayers.

To win her, ask her: she only wants to be asked:

give her the cause and the beginning of your longing.

Jupiter went as a suppliant to the heroines of old:

no woman ever seduced great Jupiter.

If you find she disdains the advent of your prayerful sighs,

leave off what you’ve begun, retrace your steps.

What shuns them, they desire the more: they hate what’s there:

remove her loathing by pursuing less.

The hoped-for love should not always be declared:

introduce desire hidden in the name of friendship.

I’ve seen the most severe of women fooled this way: he who once was a worshipper, became a lover.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

“Ars Amatoria” advised men on how to make promises and deceive a woman to seduce her. In the ancient Roman art of love, this was seen as a valuable skill in love affairs, among others.

Ovid, the Roman poet of the second century A.D., wrote three books of poems called “Ars Amatoria.” His texts portray the wealthy, elegant, and hedonistic lives of the upper classes of the Roman Empire. People in that ancient culture enjoyed sensual and adventurous things to do. To pass leisure time, they looked for sexual affairs and enjoyed the pleasure of Cupid’s arrows of love. In ancient Roman society of that period, the art of making love was held in the highest regard.

The books of “Ars Amatoria”, written by Ovid originally in Latin, were translated in subsequent centuries into other languages. In the English version, it was “The Art of Love.” Therefore, people of the educated upper classes in countries were able to read them. These works are considered essential reading by readers and love experts.

The two versions of “The Art of Love” texts are currently available for interested readers online. The earlier one of 1885 was in literal English translation in prose, and the latter one of 2001 was in English verses. During the 19th century, Henry Riley (1816–1878), an English antiquarian and renowned interpreter of ancient literature, translated Ovid’s poems from Latin into literal English prose. The text of the books was published for the first time in 1885 and reprinted in 2014.

At the end of the 20th century, Anthony Kline, a poet as well as an interpreter of classical Roman poems into English, translated the poetry of Ovid’s “Ars Amatoria” into English in its poetic forms. It was made available on the Internet in the year of 2001.

Even though modern people live in a different era and in a different type of society than the ancient Romans did, I believe they can still find these books fascinating and interesting to read. Therefore, for people who are interested in the cross-cultural wisdom of love, I have published articles on this website with excerpts from these books.

The poetry of “Ars Amatoria” about love is full of intelligent and interesting advice for both men and women about how to find and keep a partner. The first two books of Ovid’s poems were very specific about how to meet, flirt with, and make love to a woman.

Significant portions of Ovid’s advice on how to love are still applicable in today’s world and cultures. Ovid’s wise advice can be helpful for both modern men and women and scholars who study modern love. This is why I’ve quoted a few pieces of Ovid’s remarkable verses, translated by Anthony Kline, in the articles posted on this website. They’re speaking about “What Is His Task” (Part 1), “How to Find Her” (Part 2), “Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3), “Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4), “Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5), “Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6), “Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8), “How to Win Her” (Part 9), “How to Know the Maid” (Part 10), “How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11), “How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12), “How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14), and “How to Captivate a Woman at Dinner” (Part 15).

Here is Part 16, Teaching a Roman Man How to Make Promises and Deceive a Woman It may appear surprising in light of modern ethics, but Ovid also advised how to make promises and deceive a woman as the art of love. Here is his advice:

“Don’t be shy of promising: promises entice girls:

add any gods you like as witness to what you swear.

Jupiter on high laughs at lovers’ perjuries,

and orders Aeolus’s winds to carry them into the void.

Jupiter used to swear by the Styx, falsely, to Juno:

now he looks favourably on his own example.

Gods are useful: as they’re useful, let’s think they’re there:

take wine and incense to the ancient altars:

indifferent calm and it’s like, apathy, don’t chain them:

live innocently: the divine is close at hand:

pay what you owe, hold dutifully to agreements:

commit no fraud: let your hands be free from blood.

Delude only women, if you’re wise, with impunity:

where truth’s more to be guarded against than fraud.

Deceive deceivers: for the most part an impious tribe:

let them fall themselves into the traps they’ve set.

They say in Egypt the life-giving waters failed

in the fields: and there were nine years of drought,

then Thrasius came to Busiris, and said that Jove

might be propitiated by shedding a stranger’s blood.

Busiris told him: ‘You become Jove’s first victim,

and you be the stranger to give Egypt water.’

And Phalaris roasted impetuous Perillus’s body

in the brazen bull: the unhappy creator was first to fill his work.

Both cases were just: for there’s no fairer law

than that the murderous maker should perish by his art.

As liars by liars are rightfully deceived, wounded by their own example, let women grieve.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

Roman culture can teach modern men how to captivate a woman at dinner with their personal charm just by looking bold and presentable. Here is what the Roman poet Ovid advised in part 15 of his “Ars Amatoria.”

Ovid, a Roman poet from the second century, wrote “Ars Amatoria” about the art of love in three volumes. He depicted how people of the upper classes in the ancient Roman Empire of that time appreciated their lives. They highly regarded the art of love and time spent on sexual adventures, which were full of sensual and hedonistic delights.

Ovid’s Latin “Ars Amatoria” has been translated into English as “The Art of Love” and appreciated by educated people in the following historical periods across many cultures.

The two versions of the text of “The Art of Love” are currently available online for interested readers. The one from 1885 was a literal English translation in prose by an English antiquary and renowned translator of antique literature, Henry Riley (1816–1878). It was posted online in 2014. Another one was written in English verse at the end of the 20th century by the English poet and translator of classical Roman poems, Anthony Kline. It was published online in 2001 .

Even though modern people live in a different era and society than the ancient Romans, they can still enjoy these books. I’ve published excerpts from these books on this website for people interested in cross-cultural love wisdom.

The poetry of “Ars Amatoria” offers men and women advice on finding and keeping a partner. Ovid’s first two books of poems detail how to meet, flirt with, and make love to a woman.

Ovid’s advice on how to love is still relevant today and can be valuable for modern men and women. A few examples of Ovid’s remarkable verses, translated by Anthony Kline, are posted on this website. They’re quoting the pieces about “What Is His Task” (Part 1), “How to Find Her” (Part 2), “Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3), “Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4), “Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5), “Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6), “Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8), “How to Win Her” (Part 9), “How to Know the Maid” (Part 10), “How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11), “How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12), and “How to Woo and Seduce a Woman” (Parts 13 and 14).

Here is Part 15, Teaching a Roman Man How to Captivate a Woman Just by Looking Bold at Dinner

Here is the poetic advice of Ovid on how to captivate a woman at dinner:

“Ah, Bacchus calls to his poet: he helps lovers too,

and supports the fire with which he is inflamed.

The frantic Cretan girl wandered the unknown sands,

that the waters of tiny sea-borne Dia showed.

Just as she was, from sleep, veiled by her loose robe,

barefoot, with her yellow hair unbound,

she called, for cruel Theseus, to the unhearing waves,

her gentle cheeks wet with tears of shame.

She called, and wept as well, but both became her,

she was made no less beautiful by her tears.

Now striking her sweet breast with her hands, again and again,

she cried: ‘That faithless man’s gone: what of me, now?

What will happen to me?’ she cried: and the whole shore

echoed to the sound of cymbals and frenzied drums.

She fainted in terror, her next words were stifled:

no sign of blood in her almost lifeless body.

Behold! The Bacchantes with loose streaming hair:

Behold! The wanton Satyrs, a crowd before the god:

Behold! Old Silenus, barely astride his swaybacked mule,

clutching tightly to its mane in front.

While he pursues the Bacchae, the Bacchae flee and return,

as the rascal urges the mount on with his staff.

He slips from his long-eared mule and falls headfirst:

the Satyrs cry: ‘Rise again, father, rise,’

Now the God in his chariot, wreathed with vines,

curbing his team of tigers, with golden reins:

the girl’s voice and colour and Theseus all lost:

three times she tried to run, three times fear held her back.

She shook, like a slender stalk of wheat stirred by the wind,

and trembled like a light reed in a marshy pool.

To whom the god said: ‘See, I come, more faithful in love:

have no fear: Cretan, you’ll be bride to Bacchus.

Take the heavens for dowry: be seen as heavenly stars:

and guide the anxious sailor often to your Cretan Crown.’

He spoke, and leapt from the chariot, lest she feared

his tigers: the sand yielded under his feet:

clasped in his arms (she had no power to struggle),

he carried her away: all’s easily possible to a god.

Some sing ‘O Hymenaeus’, some ‘Bacchus, euhoe!’

So on the sacred bed the god and his bride meet.

When Bacchus’s gifts are set before you then,

and you find a girl sharing your couch,

pray to the father of feasts and nocturnal rites

to command the wine to bring your head no harm.

It’s alright here to speak many secret things,

with hidden words she’ll feel were spoken for her alone:

and write sweet nothings in the film of wine,

so your girl can read them herself on the table:

and gaze in her eyes with eyes confessing fire:

you should often have silent words and speaking face.

Be the first to snatch the cup that touched her lips,

and where she drank from, that is where you drink:

and whatever food her fingers touch, take that,

and as you take it, touch hers with your hand.

Let it be your wish besides to please the girl’s husband:

it’ll be more useful to you to make friends.

If you cast lots for drinking, give him the better draw:

give him the garland you were crowned with.

Though he’s below you or beside you, let him always be served first:

don’t hesitate to second whatever he says.

It’s a safe well-trodden path to deceive in a friend’s name,

though it’s a safe well-trodden path, it’s a crime.

That way the procurer procures far too much,

and reckons to see to more than he was charged with.

You’ll be given sure limits for drinking by me:

so pay attention to your mind and feet.

Most of all beware of starting a drunken squabble,

and fists far too ready for a rough fight.

Eurytion the Centaur died, made foolish by the wine:

food and drink are fitter for sweet jests.

If you’ve a voice, sing: if your limbs are supple, dance:

and please, with whatever you do that’s pleasing.

And though drunkenness is harmful, it’s useful to pretend:

make your sly tongue stammer with lisping sounds,

then, whatever you say or do that seems too forward,

it will be thought excessive wine’s to blame.

And speak well of your lady, speak well of the one she sleeps with:

but silently in your thoughts wish the man ill.

Then when the table’s cleared, the guests are free,

the throng will give you access to her and room.

Join the crowd, and softly approach her,

let fingers brush her thigh, and foot touch foot.

Now’s the time to speak to her: boorish modesty

fly far from here: Chance and Venus help the daring.

Not from my rules your eloquence will come:

desire her enough, you’ll be fluent yourself.

Your’s to play the lover, imitate wounds with words:

use whatever skill you have to win her belief.

Don’t think it’s hard: each think’s herself desired:

the very worst take’s pleasure in her looks.

Yet often the imitator begins to love in truth,

often, what was once imagined comes to be.

O, be kinder to the ones who feign it, girls:

true love will come, out of what was false.

Now secretly surprise her mind with flatteries,

as clear water undermines the hanging bank.

Never weary of praising her face, her hair,

her elegant fingers, and her slender feet.

Even the chaste like their beauty to be commended:

her form to even the virgin’s pleasing and dear.

Why is losing the contest in the Phrygian woods

a cause of shame to Juno and Pallas still?

Juno’s peacock shows his much-praised plumage:

if you watch in silence, he’ll hide his wealth again.

Race-horses between races on the testing course, love it when necks are patted, manes are combed.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

I believe that these beautiful verses and sage advice from the Roman poet Ovid are just as applicable to modern men as they were to ancient Roman men.

Here are the simple ways to woo and seduce a woman just by being where she is and looking presentable, as the Roman poet Ovid advised Roman men in parts 13 and 14 of his “Ars Amatoria.”

In the second century A.D., the Roman poet Ovid created a trilogy of poems titled “Ars Amatoria.” Three books capture the magnificence and splendor of the Roman upper class. Affluent people in that ancient society enjoyed luxurious pursuits of life and sensuality. They took pleasure in entertainment and passing the time by engaging in sexual affairs and the adventures of Cupid’s arrows of amor. The art of making love was held in the highest regard in the cultural norms of ancient Roman society of that time.

Ovid’s poetry about love is full of sage and captivating advice for both men and women on how to find and keep a loved one. The first two books of Ovid’s poems went into great detail about how to meet, flirt with, and make love to a woman.

“Ars Amatoria,” originally written in Latin in the second century A.D., was translated into English as “The Art of Love.” The books became popular among the educated upper classes of other countries in the centuries that followed. Successive generations of readers and love experts have acknowledged these works as essential cultural reading.

Currently, the two versions of “The Art of Love” texts are available on the internet. The earlier one was created in 1885, while the more recent one was made in 2001. Henry Riley (1816–1878), an English antiquary and renowned translator of antique literature, took Ovid’s poems and rewrote them in literal prose during the 19th century. His translations were based on the books’ original forms of poetry. It was first released to the public in 1885 and was reprinted in 2014.

The poet and translator of classical Roman poems into English, Anthony Kline, adapted the poetry of Ovid’s “Ars Amatoria” for the English-speaking audience. In 2001, it was published on the World Wide Web.

In spite of the fact that contemporary people live in a different era and in a different kind of society than ancient Romans did, I believe that they will still find it fascinating and interesting to read these books. Because of this, I have published a number of articles that include passages taken from these books. A great deal of the advice given by Ovid about how to love remains relevant in today’s world and modern cultures. Ovid’s smart suggestions can be of assistance to contemporary men and women and to scholars exploring modern love. Consequently, I’ve quoted a few pieces of Ovid’s amazing books, translated by Anthony Kline, in the articles on this website. They’re speaking about … “What Is His Task” (Part 1), “How to Find Her” (Part 2), “Search for Love While Walking” (Part 3), “Search for Love while at the Theatre” (Part 4), “Search for Love at the Races or Circus” (Part 5), “Triumphs that Are Good to Attract a Woman” (Part 6), “Search for Love around the Dinner-Table and on the Beach” (Parts 7 and 8), “How to Win Her” (Part 9), “How to Know the Maid” (Part 10), “How to Be Attentive to Her” (Part 11), and “How to Make Promises of Love to Her” (Part 12).

Here is Part 13, Teaching a Roman Man How to Please and Attract a Woman Just by Being Where She Is.

“Meanwhile, if she’s being carried, reclining on her bed,

secretly approach your lady’s litter,

and to avoid offering your words to odious ears,

hide what you can with skill and ambiguous gestures.

If she’s wandering at leisure in the spacious Colonnade,

you join here there also, lingering, as a friend:

now make as if to lead the way, now drop behind,

now go on quickly, and now take it slow:

don’t be ashamed to slip amongst the columns,

a while, then move along side by side:

don’t let her sit all beautiful in the theatre row without you:

what you’ll look at is the way she holds her arms.

Gaze at her, to admire her is fine:

and to speak with gestures and with glances.

And applaud, the man who dances the girl’s part:

and favour anyone who plays a lover.

When she rises, rise: while she’s sitting, sit: pass the time at your lady’s whim.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

I think these beautiful verses and pieces of smart advice from the Roman poet Ovid can be helpful for modern men no less than for the Roman men of the past.

Here is Part 14, Teaching a Roman Man How to Entice and Seduce a Woman by Looking Presentable

“Don’t delight in curling your hair with tongs,

don’t smooth your legs with sharp pumice stone.

Leave that to those who celebrate Cybele the Mother,

howling wildly in the Phrygian manner.

Male beauty’s better for neglect: Theseus

carried off Ariadne, without a single pin in his hair.

Phaedra loved Hippolytus: he was unsophisticated:

Adonis was dear to the goddess, and fit for the woods.

Neatness pleases, a body tanned from exercise:

a well fitting and spotless toga’s good:

no stiff shoe-thongs, your buckles free of rust,

no sloppy feet for you, swimming in loose hide:

don’t mar your neat hair with an evil haircut:

let an expert hand trim your head and beard.

And no long nails, and make sure they’re dirt-free:

and no hairs please, sprouting from your nostrils.

No bad breath exhaled from unwholesome mouth:

don’t offend the nose like a herdsman or his flock.

Leave the rest for impudent women to do, or whoever’s the sort of man who needs a man.”

Kline, A. S. (2001). Translation of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria: The Art of Love.

How wonderful these verses are, aren’t they? Once again, I believe these wonderful verses and sage pieces of advice from the Roman poet Ovid can be helpful for contemporary men in the same way that they were helpful for Roman men in the past.