Epistulae ex Ponto is a work of Ovid, in four books. It is especially important for our knowledge of Scythia Minor in his time.
“Tis hard, I admit, yet virtue aims at what is hard, and gratitude for such a service will be all the greater.”
Difficile est, fateor, sed tendit in ardua virtus
et talis meriti gratia maior erit.
Ovid book Epistulae ex Ponto
Difficile est, fateor, sed tendit in ardua virtus
et talis meriti gratia maior erit.
II, ii, 111-112; translation by Arthur Leslie Wheeler
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
“And it is a smaller thing to suffer the punishment than to have deserved it.”
Estque pati poenam quam meruisse minus.
Ovid book Epistulae ex Ponto
I, i, 62; translation by Arthur Leslie Wheeler
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
“Note too that a faithful study of the liberal arts humanizes character and permits it not to be cruel.”
Adde quod ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes
emollit mores nec sinit esse feros.
Ovid book Epistulae ex Ponto
II, ix, 47
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
“Shameful it is to say, yet the common herd, if only we admit the truth, value friendships by their profit.”
Turpe quidem dictu, sed, si modo vera fatemur,
vulgus amicitias utilitate probat.
Ovid book Epistulae ex Ponto
II, iii, 7-8; translation by Arthur Leslie Wheeler
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
“Though strength be lacking, yet the will is to be praised.”
Ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas.
Ovid book Epistulae ex Ponto
III, iv, 79
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
“Drops of water hollow out a stone.”
Gutta cavat lapidem
Ovid book Epistulae ex Ponto
IV, x, 5; Arthur Leslie Wheeler translation
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
“Gay was oft my song when I was gay, sad it is now that I am sad.”
Laeta fere laetus cecini, cano tristia tristis.
Ovid book Epistulae ex Ponto
III, ix, 35; translation by Arthur Leslie Wheeler
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
“Nor can one easily find among many thousands a single man who considers virtue its own reward. The very glory of a good deed, if it lacks reward, affects them not; unrewarded uprightness brings them regret. Nothing but profit is prized.”
Nec facile invenias multis in milibus unum,
virtutem pretium qui putet esse sui.
ipse decor, recte facti si praemia desint,
non movet, et gratis paenitet esse probum.
nil nisi quod prodest carum est.
Ovid book Epistulae ex Ponto
II, iii, 11-15; translation by Arthur Leslie Wheeler. Variant translation of gratis paenitet esse probum, in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 15th ed. (1980), p. 114: "It is annoying to be honest to no purpose."
Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters From the Black Sea)
