Laudator Temporis Acti

Vergil, Georgics 2.475-486 (tr. L.P. Wilkinson):

As for me, above all else I would that the sweet Muses
whose devotee I am, smitten with a great desire,
should accept me and show me the stars of the sky in their courses,
the various eclipses of the sun and the travails of the moon,
whence come earthquakes, what force makes the seas swell high
to break their barriers and subside to their level again,
why winter's suns make such haste to dip beneath the Ocean,
or what it is that delays the lingering nights.
But if some sluggishness of wit denies me access to this sphere of nature,
may the countryside and the streams that water its valleys be my delight,
let me love the rivers and woods, careless of fame ...

me vero primum dulces ante omnia Musae,        475
quarum sacra fero ingenti percussus amore,
accipiant caelique vias et sidera monstrent,
defectus solis varios lunaeque labores;
unde tremor terris, qua vi maria alta tumescant
obicibus ruptis rursusque in se ipsa residant,        480
quid tantum Oceano properent se tingere soles
hiberni, vel quae tardis mora noctibus obstet.
sin has ne possim naturae accedere partis
frigidus obstiterit circum praecordia sanguis,
rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes,        485
flumina amem silvasque inglorius...

476 percussus MPRrγ: perculsus M²ωγ¹