all your life in the tedious pursuit of these inaccessible secrets. I do not wish you to spend all your mental energy needlessly wondering where winds retreat after causing shipwrecks. And finally, I do not desire you to spend the remainder of your days philosophizing indifferently.
      I cherish your peace, your glory, and your beauty combined. I do not desire this kind of study for you, which give a yellow hue to the complexion, hollow eyes, a gaunt face, which creases the forehead with wrinkles and make the mood dark and disturbing. I do not want you to avoid society and light, but only that you follow me to the edges of Parnassus. It is there, Erinna, that I wish to lead you. It is there that you will surpass me as soon as you have arrived. It is there where you will acquire a beauty that time, the years, the fashions, aging, and even death cannot steal from you. And it is finally there that you will understand perfectly that our gender is capable of everything it undertakes. You might tell me that I am not keeping my word by encouraging you towards poetry, for in the descriptions made of poets, it seems that beauty cannot coexist with their grimaces. Erinna, know that this is a false idea propagated by men wanting to believe that poetry, being divine, haunts those who practice it, just as divinations disturb those who deliver them. In reality, poetry is not a source of disturbance to its wielders, but rather a form of inspired and enriching artistic expression. But even if it were the case, your vision would not be less clear, for when the divination is pronounced, the priest regains his tranquility. And as soon as you have put down the pen, you will find your former charms.
        Moreover, I do not believe that you would burden your mind with such dark images, for I see nothing dark in your eyes. You will be the absolute master of the themes you wish to tackle, and among so many beauties found in nature, you can choose the one that will touch your desire the most. The description of a forest or a fountain, the complaints of a lover and a mistress, or the compliments of a worth will provide you with enough subjects to highlight the talents that the heavens have bestowed upon you. You were born with such great advantages that it would be selfish of you not to make good use of them. You will ask whether it is not praiseworthy enough for a beautiful woman that all the fine minds of her time pen verses for her without her needing to write her own praise. You may ask whether her glory is not better in this way than the other. But I will answer you that, whatever praise may be given you, it would be more glorious for you to have composed texts for all the famous figures of your century, for if you do it well, it is as if they had all written them for you.
       Trust me, Erinna, it is better to create the immortality of others rather than receive it, and to find one's own glory within oneself instead of expecting it from others. Descriptions made of you in such manner would only pass temporarily into posterity, like mere portraits painted for pleasure. Whereas if you write, your works will be admired more.

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