Laudator Temporis Acti

Dio Cassius 50.25.2-4 (Octavian speaking before the Battle of Actium; tr. Earnest Cary):

[2] Who would not weep when he hears and sees Antony himself, the man twice consul, often imperator, to whom was committed in common with me the management of the public business, who was entrusted with so many cities, so many legions — [3] when he sees that this man has now abandoned all his ancestors' habits of life, has emulated all alien and barbaric customs, that he pays no honour to us or to the laws or to his fathers' gods, but pays homage to that wench [Cleopatra] as if she were some Isis or Selene, calling her children Helios and Selene, [4] and finally taking for himself the title of Osiris or Dionysus, and, after all this, making presents of whole islands and parts of the continents, as though he were master of the whole earth and the whole sea?

[2] τίς δ᾿ οὐκ ἂν θρηνήσειε καὶ ἀκούων καὶ ὁρῶν αὐτὸν τὸν Ἀντώνιον τὸν δὶς ὕπατον, τὸν πολλάκις αὐτοκράτορα, τὸν τὴν προστασίαν μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ τῶν κοινῶν ἐπιτραπέντα, τὸν τοσαύτας μὲν πόλεις τοσαῦτα δὲ στρατόπεδα ἐγχειρισθέντα, [3] νῦν πάντα μὲν τὰ πάτρια τοῦ βίου ἤθη ἐκλελοιπότα, πάντα δὲ τἀλλότρια καὶ βαρβαρικὰ ἐζηλωκότα, καὶ ἡμῶν μὲν ἢ τῶν νόμων ἢ τῶν θεῶν τῶν προγονικῶν μηδὲν προτιμῶντα, τὴν δ᾿ ἄνθρωπον ἐκείνην καθάπερ τινὰ Ἶσιν ἢ Σελήνην προσκυνοῦντα, καὶ τούς τε παῖδας 4αὐτῆς Ἥλιον καὶ Σελήνην ὀνομάζοντα, [4] καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον καὶ ἑαυτὸν Ὄσιριν καὶ Διόνυσον ἐπικεκληκότα, κἀκ τούτων, καθάπερ πάσης μὲν τῆς γῆς πάσης δὲ τῆς θαλάσσης κυριεύοντα, καὶ νήσους ὅλας καὶ τῶν ἠπείρων τινὰ κεχαρισμένον;

Id. 50.28.3:

And yet I can tell you of no greater prize that is set before you than to maintain the renown of your forefathers, to preserve your own proud traditions, to take vengeance on those who are in revolt against us, to repel those who insult you, to conquer and rule all mankind, to allow no woman to make herself equal to a man.

καίτοι μεῖζον οὐδὲν ἂν ἄλλο φήσαιμι ὑμῖν προκεῖσθαι τοῦ τὸ ἀξίωμα τὸ τῶν προγόνων διασῶσαι, τοῦ τὸ φρόνημα τὸ οἰκεῖον φυλάξαι, τοῦ τοὺς ἀφεστηκότας ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν τιμωρήσασθαι, τοῦ τοὺς ὑβρίζοντας ὑμᾶς ἀμύνασθαι, τοῦ πάντων ἀνθρώπων νικήσαντας ἄρχειν, τοῦ μηδεμίαν γυναῖκα περιορᾶν μηδενὶ ἀνδρὶ παρισουμένην.