Laudator Temporis Acti

Augustine, Sermons 171.4 (Patrologia Latina, vol. 38, cols. 934-935; tr. Edmund Hill):

What is joy in the world? Rejoicing in iniquity, rejoicing in infamy, rejoicing in what is dishonorable, rejoicing in what is vile. These are all the things the world rejoices in. And none of them would exist, if people didn't want them to. There are some things people do; others that are done to them, they endure even if they don't like it. So what is this world, and what is the joy of this world? I will tell you, brothers and sisters, as briefly as I can, as far as God helps me. Briefly, quickly, I'll tell you. What the world relishes is villainy that no one punishes. Let people indulge in dissolute living, in fornication, in the frivolities of the games; let them drown themselves in drink, befoul themselves with infamy—and suffer no harm: and there you have the joy of the world. Let these evil things I've listed not be chastised by famine, or by fear of war, or any other fear; not by any disease or any misfortunes at all; but let them all pass in material plenty, in bodily ease, in peace of mind—an evil mind: and again, there you have the joy of the world.

In saeculo gaudium quod est? Gaudere de iniquitate, gaudere de turpitudine, gaudere de dedecore, de deformitate. De his omnibus gaudet saeculum. Quae omnia non essent, nisi homines voluissent. Alia sunt quae faciunt homines, alia quae patiuntur, etsi nolunt, ferunt. Quid ergo est hoc saeculum, et quod est gaudium saeculi? Dico, fratres, breviter quantum possum, quantum Deus adiuvat; festinanter, breviter dico. Saeculi laetitia est impunita nequitia. Luxurientur homines, fornicentur, in spectaculis nugentur, ebriositate ingurgitentur, turpitudine foedentur, nihil mali patiantur: et videte saeculi gaudium. Ista mala quae commemoravi, non castiget fames, non belli timor, non aliquis timor, non aliquis morbus, non aliquae adversitates; sed sint omnia in rerum abundantia, in pace carnis, in securitate malae mentis: ecce videte saeculi gaudium.