Promise to translate Latin poet (9)
I believe the answer is:
potential
'promise' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'translate latin poet' is the wordplay.
'translate' indicates an anagram (I've seen this in other clues).
'latin'+'poet'='latinpoet'
'latinpoet' anagrammed gives 'POTENTIAL'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for potential that I've seen before include "Capacity to become something" , "Latent talent" , "Powerful" , "Possible (capacities of a person or situation)" , "Latent abilities that may be developed" .)