In his Controversiae 2.2.12, the Roman writer Seneca the Elder tells the story of how the poet Ovid once told all his friends that each of them could choose three lines they disliked from any of his poems, promising that, whichever lines they chose, he would remove.
His friends wrote down the three lines they most wanted to remove on their writing tablets, taking great care not to let any of the others see which lines they were writing down, so as to ensure impartiality.
Then, Ovid told them that he would also choose three lines from his poems, stating that these three lines would not be removed from the poems under any circumstances, even if one of his friends happened to have chosen them. His friends agreed to this condition, thinking it fair that Ovid should be allowed to ensure the safety of his favorite verses.
When his friends turned over their writing tablets to reveal which lines they had chosen, it was discovered that they had all selected the exact same ones: semibovemque virum semivirumque bovem (“Half-bull man and half-man bull”), a line describing the Minotaur from Ovid’s Ars Armatoria 2.24, and et gelidum Borean egelidumque Notum (“and cold Boreas and uncold Notus”), a line describing the winds from Ovid’s Amores 2.11.10, as well as an unspecified third line.
Then, Ovid turned over his own writing tablet to reveal the exact same three lines written on it.
Seneca uses this story as an example of how authors do not lack the judgement to discern which lines are their worst, but rather the willpower to remove those lines.
