Foreigners

[abu nuwas]

"Blemishes are hid by night and every fault forgiven; darkness makes any woman fair" -- you must read Ovid, billy. He was a delightful pervert.

A propos of writing for money, it was the mainspring for many Roman writers: a rich patron, such as Maecenas, was the reason the Horaces and Virgils wrote. But he was a very cultured man himself.

I think some translations really do need some explanatory notes, to make sense of cultural practices. For example, when a Russian aristocrat offers two fingers, he is not saying fuck off, he is reminding someone of the difference in status. You might have been relegated from three fingers.