Degeneration of the Culture
"Praestabat castas humilis fortuna Latinas quondam, nec vitiis contingi parva sinebant tecta labor somnique breves et vellere Tusco vexatae duraeque manus ac proximus urbi Hannibal et stantes Collina turre mariti. nunc patimur longae pacis mala: saevior armis luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem."
-- Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (60-127 AD), Saturae VI, 287
"Humble circumstances formerly kept the Latin women chaste; they were spared contact with vice because their houses were small, they worked hard, slept little, and their hands were roughed and calloused from working Tuscan wool, because Hannibal was just outside the gates and their men were on duty at the Collina tower. Now we are suffering the evils of a long peace: more destructive than war, luxury has come to stay with us and we are punished for our conquest of the world."
-- Juvenal, Satires VI, 287
Friday, September 28, 2007
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