The Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid, considered his magnum opus. Comprising 11,995 lines, 15 books and over 250 myths, the poem chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework.
“My son, I caution you to keep
The middle way, for if your pinions dip
Too low the waters may impede your flight;
And if they soar too high the sun may scorch them.
Fly midway.”
Insruit et natum: Medioque ut limite curras,
Icare, ait, moneo. Ne, si demissior ibis,
Unda gravet pennas; si celsior, ignis adurat.
Inter utrumque vola.
Book VIII, lines 203–206; translation by Brooks More
Metamorphoses (Transformations)
“Thus, while the mute creation downward bend
Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend,
Man looks aloft, and with erected eyes
Beholds his own hereditary skies.”
Pronaque quum spectent animalia cetera terram,
Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri
Jussit, et erectos ad sidera tollere vultus.
Book I, 84 (as translated by John Dryden)
Metamorphoses (Transformations)
“A creature of a more exalted kind
Was wanting yet, and then was Man designed;
Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast,
For empire formed, and fit to rule the rest.”
Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae
Deerat adhuc et quod dominari in cetera posset:
Natus homo est.
Book I, 76 (as translated by John Dryden)
Metamorphoses (Transformations)
“You will be safest in the middle.”
Medio tutissimus ibis.
Book II, 137
Variant translation: You will go most safely by the middle way.
Metamorphoses (Transformations)
“I see better things, and approve, but I follow worse.”
Video meliora, proboque, deteriora sequor.
Book VII, 20
Metamorphoses (Transformations)
“The workmanship excelled the materials.”
Materiam superabat opus
Book II, 5 https://books.google.ca/books?id=-64WAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA151&lpg=PA151&dq=%22the+workmanship+excelled%22+the+materials&source=bl&ots=p0eBvwqvZt&sig=mcbS595g29eyZFwktm3L2iuqtCw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjh_5GBwbXSAhXsy4MKHWJUC8EQ6AEIKjAG#v=onepage&q=%22the%20workmanship%20excelled%22%20the%20materials&f=false <br class="br">Metamorphoses (Transformations)
“It is right to learn even from an enemy.”
Fas est et ab hoste doceri.
Book IV, 428
Variant translations:
It is right to learn, even from the enemy.
Right it is to be taught even by the enemy.
It is right to be taught even by an enemy.
We can learn even from our enemies.
Metamorphoses (Transformations)
