Frases de Ovidio

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“Deja caer siempre tu anzuelo; en el lugar en el que menos esperes, habrá peces.”
Casus ubique valet; semper tibi pendeat hamus Quo minime credas gurgite, piscis erit.

“Que otros alaben los tiempos antiguos; yo me alegro de haber nacido en estos.”

“Descansa, el campo que ha descansado produce una hermosa cosecha.”

“Sed paciente y duro; algún día este dolor te será útil.”

“Compra lo necesario, no lo conveniente.”

“El que persigue ayudado por las alas del Amor es más veloz y no necesita descanso.”

“yo me abraso, y el amor reina en mi corazón deshabitado.”

“¡Desgraciado de mí! El niño tiene flechas
certeras. Yo me abraso, y el Amor
reina en mi corazón deshabitado.”

“Veo lo mejor y lo apruebo; sigo lo peor.”

“Aprender es lo correcto, aunque sea del enemigo.”

“Cuando Él, sea cual fuere de los dioses, hubo dispuesto ordenadamente de este modo y resuelto aquella masa caótica, y la hubo reducido, resuelta de ese modo, a partes cósmicas, empezó moldeando la Tierra como una bola poderosa para que su forma fuera la misma por todos lados… Y para que ninguna región careciera de su formas propias de vida animada, las estrellas y las formas divinas ocuparon el suelo del cielo, el mar correspondió a los peces relucientes para que fuera su hogar, la Tierra recibió a los animales y el aire móvil a los pájaros (…) Luego, nació el Hombre: (…) todos los animales van con la cabeza baja y fijan su mirada en el suelo, pero él dio al Hombre un rostro levantado y le ordenó que estuviera erecto y que elevara sus ojos al cielo.”

“El alma descansa cuando echa sus lágrimas; y el dolor se satisface con su llanto.”

“El placer más seguro es el menos placentero.”

“El egoísta tiene su corazón en la cabeza.”

“A una inteligencia pervertida, cualquier cosa la corrompe.”

“Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor.”

“Hay un camino en lo alto, visible en los cielos transparentes, llamando la Vía Láctea, que resplandece con brillo propio. Los dioses van por ella a la morada del gran Tonante y su residencia real… Allí los famosos y poderosos habitantes del cielo han sentado sus reales. Esta es la región que podría atraverme a llamar la [Vía] palatina del Gran Cielo.”

“No se desea lo que no se conoce.”

“El camino más seguro es el del medio.”

“Así, cuando asistieres a un festín en que abunden los dones de Baco, si una muchacha que te atrae se coloca cerca de ti en el lecho, ruega a este padre de la alegría, cuyos misterios se celebran por la noche, que los vapores del vino no lleguen a trastornar tu cabeza. Allí te será permitido dirigir a tu bella insinuantes discursos con palabras veladas que no escaparán a su perspicacia y se los aplicará a sí misma; escribe en la mesa con gotas de vino dulcísimas ternuras, en las que tu amiga adivine tu pasión avasalladora, y clava en los suyos tus ojos respirando fuego: un semblante mudo habla a las veces con singular elocuencia.”

“Como la ola es impulsada por la ola
 Y cada una, perseguida, persigue la ola por delante,
 Entonces el tiempo vuela y sigue, vuela y sigue,
 Siempre, para siempre y nuevo. Lo que era antes
 Se queda atrás; lo que nunca fue es ahora;
 Y cada momento que pasa se renueva.”

“Los hechos de la raza y de los antepasados, y lo que no hicimos nosotros mismos, apenas nos lo atribuimos como nuestro.”

“Bien vivió quien bien se escondió.”

“Aquella que retenga largo tiempo su poder, deberá servirse del mal de su amante.”

“Ants never head for an empty granary:
no friends gather round when your wealth is gone.”
Horrea formicae tendunt ad inania numquam: nullus ad amissas ibit amicus opes.

“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.

“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.

“No fairer law in all the land
Than that death-dealers die by what they've planned.”
Neque enim lex aequior ulla est, Quam necis artifices arte perire sua.

“So art lies hid by its own artifice.”

“Blemishes are hid by night and every fault forgiven; darkness makes any woman fair.”
Nocte latent mendae, vitioque ignoscitur omni, Horaque formosam quamlibet illa facit.

“It is convenient that there be gods, and, as it is convenient, let us believe that there are.”
Expedit esse deos, et, ut expedit, esse putemus.

“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.

“The gods have their own rules.”
Sunt superis sua iura

“We take no pleasure in permitted joys.
But what's forbidden is more keenly sought.”
Quod licet ingratum est. Quod non licet acrius urit.

“My name shall never be forgotten.”
Nomenque erit indelebile nostrum.

“Chaos, a rough and unordered mass.”
Chaos, rudis indigestaque moles.

“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.

“Either don't try at all or make damned sure you succeed.”
Aut non rem temptes aut perfice.

“Seize Time; his swift foot can't be held.”
Utendum est aetate: cito pede labitur aetas.

“Jupiter from above laughs at lovers' perjuries.”
Iuppiter ex alto periuria ridet amantum.

“Our charms depart all on their own, so pluck the bloom.
For if you don't, it meets a wasted doom.”
Nostra sine auxilio fugiunt bona; carpite florem, Qui, nisi carptus erit, turpiter ipse cadet.

“They come to see; they come that they themselves may be seen.”
Spectatum veniunt, veniunt spectentur ut ipsae.

“Leave her alone. A fallow field soon shows its worth,
And rain is best absorbed by arid earth.”
Da requiem: requietus ager bene credita reddit

“Rage is for beasts, but shining peace for man.”
Candida pax homines, trux decet ira feras.

“Pointing to a pile of dust, that had collected, I foolishly begged to have as many anniversaries of my birth, as were represented by the dust. But I forgot to ask that the years should be accompanied by youth.”
Ego pulveris hausti ostendens cumulum, quot haberet corpora pulvis, tot mihi natales contingere vana rogavi; excidit, ut peterem iuvenes quoque protinus annos.

“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.

“No species remains constant: that great renovator of matter
Nature, endlessly fashions new forms from old: there’s nothing
in the whole universe that perishes, believe me; rather
it renews and varies its substance. What we describe as birth
is no more than incipient change from a prior state, while dying
is merely to quit it. Though the parts may be transported
hither and thither, the sum of all matter is constant.”
Nec species sua cuique manet, rerumque novatrix ex aliis alias reparat natura figuras: nec perit in toto quicquam, mihi credite, mundo, sed variat faciemque novat, nascique vocatur incipere esse aliud, quam quod fuit ante, morique desinere illud idem. cum sint huc forsitan illa, haec translata illuc, summa tamen omnia constant.

“And it is a smaller thing to suffer the punishment than to have deserved it.”
Estque pati poenam quam meruisse minus.

“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.

“O mortals, from your fellows' blood abstain,
Nor taint your bodies with a food profane:
While corn, and pulse by Nature are bestow'd,
And planted orchards bend their willing load;
While labour'd gardens wholesom herbs produce,
And teeming vines afford their gen'rous juice;
Nor tardier fruits of cruder kind are lost,
But tam'd with fire, or mellow'd by the frost;
While kine to pails distended udders bring,
And bees their hony redolent of Spring;
While Earth not only can your needs supply,
But, lavish of her store, provides for luxury;
A guiltless feast administers with ease,
And without blood is prodigal to please.”
Parcite, mortales, dapibus temerare nefandis corpora! sunt fruges, sunt deducentia ramos pondere poma suo tumidaeque in vitibus uvae, sunt herbae dulces, sunt quae mitescere flamma mollirique queant; nec vobis lacteus umor eripitur, nec mella thymi redolentia florem: prodiga divitias alimentaque mitia tellus suggerit atque epulas sine caede et sanguine praebet.

“The greater a man is, the more can his wrath be appeased; a noble spirit is capable of kindly impulses. For the noble lion 'tis enough to have overthrown his enemy; the fight is at an end when his foe is fallen. But the wolf, the ignoble bears harry the dying and so with every beast of less nobility. At Troy what have we mightier than brave Achilles? But the tears of the aged Dardanian he could not endure.”
Quo quisque est maior, magis est placabilis irae, et faciles motus mens generosa capit. corpora magnanimo satis est prostrasse leoni, pugna suum finem, cum iacet hostis, habet: at lupus et turpes instant morientibus ursi et quaecumque minor nobilitate fera. maius apud Troiam forti quid habemus Achille? Dardanii lacrimas non tulit ille senis.

“Habit makes all things bearable.”
Quod male fers, adsuesce, feres bene.

“Then the omnipotent Father with his thunder made Olympus tremble, and from Ossa hurled Pelion.”
Tum pater omnipotens misso perfregit Olympum fulmine et excussit subiectae Pelion Ossae.