Note 67 — Chapter III · SHAKESPEARE’S ATTAINMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES WITH RESPECT TO THE FINE ARTS.
Reading edition
The ivory statue changed into a woman, which Ovid describes, Metamorphoses, bk. x. fab. viii. 12–16, is a description of kindred excellence to that of Shakespeare:
“Sæpe manus operi tentantes admovet, an sit
Corpus, an illud ebur: nec ebur tamen esse fatetur.
Oscula dat, reddique putat; loquiturque, tenetque;
Et credit tactis digitos insidere membris:
Et metuit, pressos veniat ne livor in artus.”