Laudator Temporis Acti

Augustine, Expositions of the Psalms 102.17 (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, vol. 95/1, pp. 98-99; tr. Maria Boulding):

If you think this is not a fair picture of our life, see if you can find any pleasure in which there are no thorns. Choose what you want to be—a miser, a libertine, to mention only two. Or add a third possibility—an ambitious place-seeker. What a crop of thorns springs up in the quest for honors! How many thorns there are in the indulgence of lust, how many thorns in burning avarice! How much harassment do base loves bring with them? How much vexation do they create in this life? I am not even speaking of hell. Be careful not to become a hell for yourself.

Aut si est aliud vita nostra, si potes, convertere ad aliquam voluptatem, ubi spinas non sentias. Elige quod volueris, avarus, luxuriosus, ut duo ista sola dicamus; adde et tertium, ambitiosus. In honorum cupiditate quantae spinae! In ardore avaritiae quantae spinae! In luxuria libidinum quantae spinae! Amores turpes quantas molestias habent! Quantas sollicitudines hic in ista vita! Omitto gehennas. Vide ne iam ipse tibi gehenna sis!