How to be a Latin lover — Part 1

Adapted from “Latin Love Lessons” by Charlotte Higgins, Short Books

Where would you get advice on how to be a Latin lover? Well, would you believe straight from the horse’s mouth?

It seems the Romans were great chroniclers and writers of self-help books, especially on all things romantic.

First off, the poet Ovid on how to ensnare the love of your life, Roman-style. He believed in meticulous preparations — packaging is everything. Today we would call this a makeover :

For men

“Keep your nails pared and dirt-free;
Don’t let those long hairs sprout .”

But don’t go over the top with the boy-beauty regimes.

“Don’t think it’s a good idea to style your hair with curling irons, or depilate your legs with stinging pumice.”

For the ladies

“I was going to advise you about grim, goaty armpits and rough, bristling hair on your legs.”

Keep make-up discreet, he writes, and don’t give any hint of the trouble you’ve been to.

“… don’t let your lover find all those jars and bottles
On your dressing table: the best
Make-up remains unobtrusive.”

He’s also big on hair :

“What attracts us is elegance — so don’t neglect your hairstyle:
Looks can be made or marred by a skilful touch.
Nor will one style suit all: there are innumerable fashions,
And each girl should look in her glass
Before choosing what suits her reflection.
Long features go best with
A plain central parting: that’s how
Laodamia’s hair was arranged.
A round-faced lady
Should pile all her hair on top,
Leaving the ears exposed.
One girl should wear it down on
Her shoulders, like Apollo about to play
The lyre; another should braid it
in the style of the huntress
Diana, when she’s after some frightened beast,
Skirt hitched up. ”

Next : Get out and be seen.

Mention love poetry and most people will think of Shakespeare’s sonnets. Yet time moves on and some things become dated by their mode of expression; there are modern love poems that express more aptly what it is to be in love today.

Perhaps the greatest writer of love poetry in the last 100 years or so was the American poet, E.E. Cummings (often written in lower case - opinion is divided as to whether he actually insisted on this or not). He was also known for an avant garde approach to writing, his use of punctuation, capitalization and word placement being highly individual. But the effect of these breaks from tradition was to give his poetry an intense power as it forced us to see things through new eyes.

Consider how this poem, Somewhere I have never travelled, speaks to us of emotions felt so deeply that they are almost beyond expression:

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands