βούλετ᾽ ἔχειν, φρονίμοις ὄμμασι πειθόμενος:
ἀλλ᾽ ὅστις κακόμορφον ἰδών, τετορημένος ἰοῖς
  στέργει, μαινομένης ἐκ φρενὸς αἰθόμενος,
οὗτος ἔρως, πῦρ τοῦτο: τὰ γὰρ καλὰ πάντας ὁμοίως
  τέρπει τοὺς κρίνειν εἶδος ἐπισταμένους.
• That is not love if one, trusting his judicious eyes, wishes to possess a beauty. But he who seeing a homely face is pierced by the arrows and loves, set alight by fury of the heart—that is love, that is fire; for beauty delights equally all who are good judges of form." - Meaning and context.">
W. R. Paton, Greek Anthology, i, 171.
• CALL it not love when the delighted eye
Is lured by charms into captivity;
But when wild fires for weak attractions waste:
To pine for beauty is not love but taste.
 • R. Garnett, Idylls and Epigrams (1869), p. 15.
“

Οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ οὗτος ἔρως, εἴ τις καλὸν εἶδος ἔχουσαν
  βούλετ᾽ ἔχειν, φρονίμοις ὄμμασι πειθόμενος:
ἀλλ᾽ ὅστις κακόμορφον ἰδών, τετορημένος ἰοῖς
  στέργει, μαινομένης ἐκ φρενὸς αἰθόμενος,
οὗτος ἔρως, πῦρ τοῦτο: τὰ γὰρ καλὰ πάντας ὁμοίως
  τέρπει τοὺς κρίνειν εἶδος ἐπισταμένους.
• That is not love if one, trusting his judicious eyes, wishes to possess a beauty. But he who seeing a homely face is pierced by the arrows and loves, set alight by fury of the heart—that is love, that is fire; for beauty delights equally all who are good judges of form.

— Marcus Argentarius

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Οὐκ ἔσθ᾽ οὗτος ἔρως, εἴ τις καλὸν εἶδος ἔχουσαν
  βούλετ᾽ ἔχειν, φρονίμοις ὄμμασι πειθόμενος:
ἀλλ᾽ ὅστις κακόμορφον ἰδών, τετορημένος ἰοῖς
  στέργει, μαινομένης ἐκ φρενὸς αἰθόμενος,
οὗτος ἔρως, πῦρ τοῦτο: τὰ γὰρ καλὰ πάντας ὁμοίως
  τέρπει τοὺς κρίνειν εἶδος ἐπισταμένους.
• That is not love if one, trusting his judicious eyes, wishes to possess a beauty. But he who seeing a homely face is pierced by the arrows and loves, set alight by fury of the heart—that is love, that is fire; for beauty delights equally all who are good judges of form." in the context of "W. R. Paton, Greek Anthology, i, 171.
• CALL it not love when the delighted eye
Is lured by charms into captivity;
But when wild fires for weak attractions waste:
To pine for beauty is not love but taste.
 • R. Garnett, Idylls and Epigrams (1869), p. 15." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Marcus Argentarius" (Quotes, Anth. Pal. v. 89.) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

About Marcus Argentarius

Marcus Argentarius (fl. c. AD 60) was a Greek epigrammatist of the Roman period.