Laudator Temporis Acti

Plautus, Trinummus 281-300 (Philto to Lysiteles; tr. Paul Nixon):

My boy, I wish you to hold no converse with reprobates, in the streets or in the forum, none whatever. I know this age and what its moral standards are: a bad man wants a good man to be bad, and so be like himself. These bad men muddle our standards, mix them up; that wide-maw tribe, the grasping, the mean, the envious, regard things sacred as profane, public as private. It gripes me, it torments me, it is what I harp on day and night that you are to guard against. The only thing they think it wrong to lay their hands on is something that is out of reach. As for the rest—nab it and bag it, clear out and lie low! Ugh! When I see all this it brings tears to my eyes that I have lasted till such a race was born. Why not have hied me hence before to join the great majority? Why, these men praise the standards of our sires, and then be-sully what they so bepraise. My boy, I can dispense with your adopting such practices and letting them contaminate your character. Live as I live, by the good old standards, and carry out the precepts that you get from me. I cannot stand those filthsome, chaotic standards that disgrace good citizens. Take these injunctions of mine to heart, and many a blessing will you have within you.

nolo ego cum improbis te viris, gnate mi,
neque in via, neque in foro necullum sermonem exsequi.
novi ego hoc saeculum moribus quibu' siet:
malus bonum malum esse volt, ut sit sui similis;
turbant, miscent mores mali: rapax, avarus, invidus        285
sacrum profanum, publicum privatum habent, hiulca gens.
haec ego doleo, haec sunt quae me excruciant, haec dies noctes[que] tibi canto ut caveas.
quod manu non queunt tangere tantum fas habent quo manus apstineant,
cetera: rape trahe, fuge late—lacrumas haec mihi quom video eliciunt,        289-290
quia ego ad hoc genus hominum duravi. quin priu' me ad plures penetravi?
nam hi mores maiorum laudant, eosdem lutitant quos conlaudant.
hisce ego de artibu' gratiam facio, ne[u] colas neve imbuas ingenium.
meo modo et moribu' vivito antiquis, quae ego tibi praecipio, ea facito.        295-296
nihil ego istos moror faeceos mores, turbidos, quibu' boni dedecorant se.        297-298
haec tibi si mea imperia capesses, multa bona in pectore consident.        299-300

292 lutitant Ritschl: latitant codd.