Laudator Temporis Acti

Orosius 4 praef. 7-10 (tr. A.T. Fear):

7. In the same way, if someone were to get out of his soft bed in a comfortable bedroom one morning and, on going outside and seeing pools frozen over after an icy night and plants white with hoarfrost, exclaim, when confronted this unexpected sight, 'It's cold today', I would not think his attitude at all reprehensible, for he would be speaking as men normally do and with the common sense of these words.

8. But if he were to rush panic-stricken back to his bedroom, cover himself with his blankets or hide himself all the more deeply under the bed-clothes, shouting out that there had never been such cold as this not even in the Apennines when Hannibal was cut off by the snow and lost his elephants, horses, and most of his army,

9. I would not endure his talking such puerile drivel, but, indeed, would drag him from under his sheets, the evidence of his idleness, out into the crowd in a public place, and, having got him out of doors, show him the children playing in the frost, and because of it enjoying themselves and sweating.

10. In this way our wordy fuss-pot, corrupted by his delicate upbringing, would learn that his troubles came not from the violence of his times, but from his own idleness, and that, when we judge these matters, it is not that his ancestors endured a small amount of suffering, but rather that he is unable to endure even a small amount.

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7. quemadmodum si quis e mollissimis stratis cubiculoque percommodo matutinus egrediens nocturno gelu lacunarum dorsa obriguisse herbasque incanuisse prospiceret et inopinato visu admonitus diceret 'frigus est hodie': hic mihi nequaquam reprehendendus videretur, quia vel communi usu vel proprio sensu locutus esset.

8. at si trepidus in cubiculum recurrens stratisque sese adoperiens vel magis abdens clamaret, tantum omnino frigus esse quantum nec in Appennino aliquando fuerit, cum Hannibal elephantos equos plurimamque exercitus sui partem nivibus clausus atque oppressus amisit:

9. hunc ego puerilibus licentiis nausiantem non modo dicentem ista non ferrem, sed etiam ab ipsis stratis, otii sui testibus, in populum publicumque protraherem, eique foras producto infantes in eo atque ex eo gelu ludentes iucundantes sudantesque monstrarem,

10. ut verbosa nugacitas delicatis vitiata nutrimentis non in tempore violentiam sed in se esse segnitiam doceretur et in conparatione rerum diiudicanda non maiores parva tolerasse sed se nec parva tolerare sufficere probaretur.