In the Changing Rooms of the Public Baths
Offering to Fortuna Virilis
Learn now why you offer frankincense to Fortuna Virilis
in that place where the floor is moist with cooling water.
That place receives every woman once her garments are set aside,
and beholds every flaw of the uncovered form.
That She may veil these flaws and hide them from the eyes of men,
Fortuna Virilis grants this protection;
asking only for a pinch of frankincense in quiet prayer.
The Original Latin Text (Ovid, Fasti IV.145–150)
Discite nunc, quare Fortunae tura Virili
detis eo, gelida qui locus umet aqua.
Accipit ille locus posito velamine
cunctas et vitium nudi corporis omne videt;
Ut tegat hoc celetque viros,
Fortuna Virilis
praestat
et hoc parvo ture rogata facit.
Book 4 of Ovid's Fasti (lines 145–150) during the observation of the Kalends of April (April 1)
Translated & curated by E. Sylvia in collaboration with AI: original poetic interpretations of selections from Ovid's Fasti.
© 2026 E. Sylvia. All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the author.