| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Ars Victrix |
| | | Austin Dobson (1840–1921) |
| | | | | Imitated from Théophile Gautier |
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| YES; when the ways oppose— | |
| When the hard means rebel, | |
| Fairer the work out-grows,— | |
| More potent far the spell. | |
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| O Poet, then, forbear | 5 |
| The loosely-sandalled verse, | |
| Choose rather thou to wear | |
| The buskin—strait and terse; | |
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| Leave to the tiro’s hand | |
| The limp and shapeless style; | 10 |
| See that thy form demand | |
| The labor of the file. | |
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| Sculptor, do thou discard | |
| The yielding clay,—consign | |
| To Paros marble hard | 15 |
| The beauty of thy line;— | |
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| Model thy Satyr’s face | |
| For bronze of Syracuse; | |
| In the veined agate trace | |
| The profile of thy Muse. | 20 |
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| Painter, that still must mix | |
| But transient tints anew, | |
| Thou in the furnace fix | |
| The firm enamel’s hue; | |
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| Let the smooth tile receive | 25 |
| Thy dove-drawn Erycine; | |
| Thy Sirens blue at eve | |
| Coiled in a wash of wine. | |
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| All passes. Art alone | |
| Enduring stays to us; | 30 |
| The Bust outlasts the throne,— | |
| The Coin, Tiberius; | |
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| Even the gods must go; | |
| Only the lofty Rhyme | |
| Not countless years o’erthrow,— | 35 |
| Not long array of time. | |
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| Paint, chisel, then, or write; | |
| But, that the work surpass, | |
| With the hard fashion fight,— | |
| With the resisting mass. | 40 |
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