In this article, we apply the cognitive perspective to Latin linguistics through the medium of metaphor, a cognitive phenomenon par excellence, whether free or lexicalised. After revisiting the main Latin texts that deal with metaphor (Cicero, Quintilian), we look at “free” metaphors, highlighting the syntactic variety of the phrases and sentences in which they are found, as well as the role of received ideas, topoi shared by all speakers, in the choice of the metaphorical entity. We then turn to those lexicalised metaphors used for the denominations of natural entities that are the result of metaphoric transfer. These concern the names of marine animals transferred from the names of terrestrial animals and plants, as well as the names of constellations that have also been transferred from terrestrial entities. The source and reference point for the creation of these names is the human being, who projects himself onto the world, interpreting it according to his own experience. The further removed the named entities are from him, the more denominative metaphors he creates. There is thus a correlation between a high number of denominative metaphors and the low level of human knowledge about the denominated entities concerned. Metaphors thus reveal how the Latin linguistic community perceived the world.