And now my work is done/ Ovid
And now my work is done: no wrath of Jove, nor fire nor sword nor time, which would erode all things, has power to blot out this poem. Now, when it wills, the fatal day (which has only the body in its grasp) can end my years, however long or short their span. But, with the better part of me, I’ll gain a place that’s higher than the stars: my name, indelible, eternal, will remain. And everywhere that Roman power has sway, in all domains the Latins gain, my lines will be on people’s lips; and through all time— if poets’ prophecies are ever right— my name and fame are sure: I shall have life. (trans. Allen Mandelbaum) From the end of Metamophoses . Ovid knew his name will live on like the other great poets...