“To take away life is a power which the vilest of the earth have in common; to give it belongs to gods and kings alone.”

—  Pietro Metastasio

Il torre altrui la vita
È facoltà commune
Al più vil della terra; il darla è solo
De' Numi, e de' Regnanti.
La Clemenza di Tito (1734), Act III, scene 7.

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Pietro Metastasio photo
Pietro Metastasio9
Italian poet and librettist (born 3 January 1698, died 12 A… 1698–1782

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