518 cmThe Roman General Decius Mus sacrifices himself in a battle with the Latins, the fall of a secular saint. Sunlight streams down on the fallen warrior, He meets his death transfigured, almost extatic — an expression recognizable in the Laocoon or the Ecstasy of St. Theresa, and known as an “exemplum doloris” — a vision of pain borne with heroic dignity.
