Tempus edax Rerum.

Which cannot be better exemplified than by the following lines:

–––– «Time lays his hand
On pyramids of brass, and ruins quite
What all the fond artificers did think
Immortal workmanship. He sends his worms
To books, to old records, and they devour
Th' inscriptions; he loves ingratitude,
For he destroys the memory of man».