Fresco from Livia’s Villa, now displayed in Museo Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Rome.

“Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,
Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.

Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.”

 

T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton (The Four Quartets )