Laudator Temporis Acti

Augustine, Sermons 229H.3, in G. Morin, ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini Tractatus, sive, Sermones inediti: ex codice Guelferbytano 4096 (Kempten: Kösel, 1917), p. 48 (tr. Edmund Hill):

Nothing, after all, is so certain for anyone and everyone as death. Start at the beginning. People are conceived; perhaps they come to birth, perhaps they don't. They are born; perhaps they grow up, perhaps they don't. Perhaps they go to school, perhaps they don't; perhaps they marry, perhaps they don't; perhaps they'll have children, perhaps they won't; perhaps they'll have good ones, perhaps they'll have bad ones; perhaps they'll have good wives or husbands, perhaps bad ones; perhaps they'll be rich, perhaps they'll be poor; perhaps they will be of no account, perhaps they will be highly honored. Among all the other things, can this be said about them: "Perhaps they'll die, perhaps they won't"? So, every single person born falls into a disease, from which nobody born can escape. They all die of it, in the way in which one is in the habit of saying, "He's got dropsy, he's bound to die, nobody gets over it; he's riddled with elephantiasis, he's bound to die, nobody gets over it." So: "He's riddled with birth, he's bound to die, nobody gets over it."

Nihil enim tam certum est homini quam mors. Incipe ab initio. Conceptus est homo Nihil tam certum in utero: forte nascitur, forte non nascitur. Iam natus est: forte crescit, forte non crescit: forte discit literas, forte non discit literas: forte ducit uxorem, forte non ducit: forte habebit filios, forte non habebit: forte bonos habebit, forte malos habebit: forte bonam uxorem habebit, forte malam habebit: forte diues erit, forte pauper erit: forte ignobilis erit, forte honoratus erit. Numquid inter haec potest dici, Forte morietur, forte non morietur? Ergo omnis homo natus aegritudinem incidit, de qua nullus euadet natus. Moritur inde, quo modo solet dici. Ydrops est: necesse est moriatur, nemo inde euadet. Elefantiosus est: necesse est moriatur, nemo inde euadet. Natus est: necesse est moriatur, nemo inde euadet.