“So does he strive to rescue your shade from the pyre and wages a mighty contest with Death, wearying the efforts of artists and seeking to love you in every material. But beauty created by toil of cunning hand is mortal.”

—  Statius , Silvae

i, line 7
Silvae, Book V

Original

Sic auferre rogis umbram conatur et ingens certamen cum Morte gerit, curasque fatigat artificum inque omni te quaerit amare metallo. Sed mortalis honos, agilis quem dextra laborat.

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Statius 93
Roman poet of the 1st century AD (Silver Age of Latin liter… 45–96

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