To be sure, we must always revere the days gone by, if we have any sense: those were the generations that produced this dominion of ours with their blood or sweat, and only an abundance of virtues could have made that possible.
vetustas quidem nobis semper, si sapimus, adoranda est. illa quippe saecula sunt quae hoc imperium vel sanguine vel sudore pepererunt, quod non nisi virtutum faceret ubertas.
"A peculiar anthologic maze, an amusing literary chaos, a farrago of quotations, a mere olla podrida of quaintness, a pot pourri of pleasant delites, a florilegium of elegant extracts, a tangled fardel of old-world flowers of thought, a faggot of odd fancies, quips, facetiae, loosely tied" (Holbrook Jackson, Anatomy of Bibliomania) by a "laudator temporis acti," a "praiser of time past" (Horace, Ars Poetica 173).
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Friday, March 06, 2015
Bygone Days
Macrobius, Saturnalia 3.14.2 (Rufius Albinus speaking; tr. Robert A. Kaster):