That which excels

Man, in every kind there is produced something which excels. In oxen, in dogs, in bees, in horses. Do not then say to that which excels, "Who, then, are you?" If you do, it will find a voice in some way and say, "I am such a thing as the purple in a garment. Do not expect me to be like the others, or blame my nature that it has made me different from the rest of men." - Epictetus. The Discourses. Book 3. Chapter 1.

Farnese Bull from the Baths of Caracalla possibly a Roman replica of a 2nd century BCE original by Apollonius and Tauriscus of Rhodes photographed at the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale di Napoli in Naples, Italy. This scullpture was commissioned at the end of the second century B.C.E. and carved from just one whole block of marble. It was imported from Rhodes, by Asinius Pollio, a Roman politician who lived during the years between the Republic and the Principate. It represents the myth of Dirce. She was tied to a wild bull by the sons of Antiope, Zeto and Amphion, who wanted to punish her for the ill-treatment inflicted on their mother, first wife of Lykos, King of Thebes.