14 February 2013
In today’s Guardian, Mary Beard says those of romantic inclination should turn to Ovid on Valentine’s Day. Ovid’s advice on how to pick up a partner and keep them is, says the Cambridge professor, “the usual mixture of sincerity, artifice and deception that underpins most romantic encounters”.
The Londoner has its own tip from Ovid: “et, quotiens scribes, totas prius ipse tabellas/ inspice: plus multae, quam sibi missa, legunt”, which translates as: “lovers, make sure you erase your wax tablets properly, because women are curious creatures and read more than they are meant to”. This still works in the age of email.
