The Art of Love (Modern Library Classics)

This is the best translation of the Art of Love I have come across. Written in rhyming couplets, it catches the energy of Ovid's original Latin which is so easily lost. This is a brilliant translation, if a little loose at times.Moreover the publishing of the Latin text as well is a great assest to this text.

Prose translations have their limitations; so I intend to sample poetic versions. However, Ovid is never dull and often outrageous, but Latin is used for the more explicit passages! My Latin was never sufficient to read any part of Ovid with precise comprehension!

An old classical favorite. The translations are well done; more on the eloquent and poetic side. Translations are not consistently literal but I appreciate the author’s intuition.

Very interesting book. I am constantly surprised by how similar our society is to the ancient Rome. I didn't know it was printed in Latin on one page and English on the other, a pleasant surprise. Don't know much Latin, but good to have and fun to look over at the original once in a while.

This book is amazing. I absolutely love that it has the original Latin on the left pages. As one who has studied Latin for four years, this book is great. The translation is generally excellent, a nice balance of the literal language and Ovid/the translator's wit and poetry.

Or at least, put it in a very positive way, that's what the smile on my face meant when I finished reading this beautiful piece written by Ovid during the first century A.D.; perhaps the "step by step" seduction handbook then and now, is even more remarkable by the fact that its wisdom applies the same in today's "complex" world.The Art of Love or "Ars Amatoria" is no doubt the result of the life of a very well traveled and educated man, for he is one of those few who understands the ways (and mistery) of the feminine soul... by the same token, Ovid gives us both sides of the coin in this Roman's elegy: the ways of the male spirit in order to seduce women, and the step by step guide for women to seduce and keep men... in other words, there's nothing new under the sun, BUT, the ways we perceive and apply knowledge...

Easily the most fascinating book to come out of antiquity. You come learn to realize just how little has changed.