People say that Rome will perish, and there are some even who contend that it is perishing already.

And surely! But if that should come, it is because the youth are without faith, and without faith there can be no virtue.

People have abandoned also the strict habits of former days, and it never occurs to them that Epicureans will not stand against barbarians.

As for him, he--As for him, he was sorry that he had lived to such times, and that he must seek in pleasures a refuge against griefs which, if not met, would soon kill him.
When he had said this, he drew toward him a Syrian dancer, and kissed her neck and shoulders with his toothless mouth.

Seeing this, the consul Memmius Regulus laughed, and, raising his bald head with wreath awry, exclaimed,--"Who says that Rome is perishing?
What folly! I, a consul, know better.