“They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen.”

—  Ovid , book Ars amatoria

Book I, line 99 (tr. Henry T. Riley)
Compare: "And for to see, and eek for to be seye", Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales: "The Wife of Bath's Prologue", line 6134
Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love)

Original

Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen." by Ovid?
Ovid photo
Ovid 120
Roman poet -43–17 BC

Related quotes

Roger Ebert photo

“The day may never come when it is seen as funny.”

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter

Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/freddy-got-fingered-2001 of Freddy Got Fingered (20 April 2001)
Reviews, Zero star reviews
Context: This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels... The day may come when "Freddy Got Fingered" is seen as a milestone of neo-surrealism. The day may never come when it is seen as funny.

Ko Un photo

“That flower
seen as I went down—
as I was coming up
I couldn't see it”

Ko Un (1933) korean poet

Flowers of a Moment (2006), p. 46

Terry Pratchett photo

“I don't think I've found God, but I may have seen where gods come from.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

"I create gods all the time - now I think one might exist" (2008)
Context: So what shall I make of the voice that spoke to me recently as I was scuttling around getting ready for yet another spell on a chat-show sofa?
More accurately, it was a memory of a voice in my head, and it told me that everything was OK and things were happening as they should. For a moment, the world had felt at peace. Where did it come from?
Me, actually — the part of all of us that, in my case, caused me to stand in awe the first time I heard Thomas Tallis's Spem in alium, and the elation I felt on a walk one day last February, when the light of the setting sun turned a ploughed field into shocking pink; I believe it's what Abraham felt on the mountain and Einstein did when it turned out that E=mc2.
It's that moment, that brief epiphany when the universe opens up and shows us something, and in that instant we get just a sense of an order greater than Heaven and, as yet at least, beyond the grasp of Stephen Hawking. It doesn't require worship, but, I think, rewards intelligence, observation and enquiring minds.
I don't think I've found God, but I may have seen where gods come from.

Joyce Carol Oates photo
Jakaya Kikwete photo

“That day may come. But I’m not seeing it coming soon. We are still strong enough; we’re still popular; I think we are doing the right things.”

Jakaya Kikwete (1950) Tanzanian politician and president

When asked if the Opposition wins the elections.
Interviews, Interview with Financial Times, 2007-10-04 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d8a07e28-72a3-11dc-b7ff-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check1/

Alfred von Waldersee photo

“I pray to God that I may not have to live through what I see coming.”

Alfred von Waldersee (1832–1904) Prussian Field Marshal

The last entry in Waldersee's diary, dated 5 March 1904, the day of his death.

Dashiell Hammett photo
John Quincy Adams photo

“We know the redemption must come. The time and the manner of its coming we know not: It may come in peace, or it may come in blood; but whether in peace or in blood, LET IT COME.”

John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician, 6th president of the United States (in office from 1825 to 1829)

Remarks to "the colored people of Pittsburge, Pennsylvania" in 1843, as quoted in History of the Rebellion : Its Authors and Causes (1864) by Joshua Reed Giddings; Alabama Representative Dellet quoted the speech in the House of Representatives and added "though it cost the blood of thousands of white men?" Adams replied Though it cost the blood of millions of white men, let it come. Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.

Charles Mackay photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, I've Been to the Mountaintop (1968)
Context: Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like any man, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.