Laudator Temporis Acti

Seneca, Oedipus 980-992 (tr. John G. Fitch):

We are driven by fate, and must yield to fate.
No anxious fretting can alter
the threads from that commanding spindle.
All that we mortal beings endure,
all that we do, comes from on high;
Lachesis secures the decrees of her distaff,
things that are spun by her harsh hands.
Everything travels on a path cut for it,
and the first day decides the last.
Not even a god can change events
which run in a woven series of causes.
Each person's commanding thread of life
continues unchanged by any prayer.

Fatis agimur: cedite fatis.        980
non sollicitae possunt curae
mutare rati stamina fusi.
quidquid patimur mortale genus,
quidquid facimus venit ex alto
servatque suae decreta colus        985
Lachesis dura revoluta manu.
omnia secto tramite vadunt,
primusque dies dedit extremum.
non illa deo vertisse licet,
quae nexa suis currunt causis.        990
it cuique ratus
prece non ulla mobilis ordo.

The Fates on a Roman sarcophagus
(Rome, Musei Capitolini)