Monday, March 20, 2017

Born today... Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso), March 20, 43 BC




All things are always changing,
But nothing dies. The Spirit comes and goes,
Is housed wherever it wills, shifts residence
From beasts to men, form men to beasts, but always
it keeps on living. As the pliant wax
Is stamped with new designs, and is no longer
What once it was, but changes form, and still
Is pliant wax, so do I teach that spirit
Is evermore the same, though passing always
To ever-changing bodies.

-Metamorphoses Book XV 165-8

image: God Pan, woodcut from Metamorphoses 1498


Francesco del Cossa... Allegory of March: Triumph of Minerva, fresco 1476-84


Happy Vernal Equinox! Image : Jacques LeMoyne de Morgues (1533–1588) Young Daughter of the Picts, watercolour and gouache, touched with gold on parchment c1585