Seneca. The garnered vices of so many years

Abound in us, we live in a base age

When crime is regnant, when wild lawlessness

Reigns and imperious passion owns the sway

Of shameless lust; the victress luxury

Plundered long since the riches of the world

That she might in a moment squander them.

[28]. Dante, Inf., III, 94-96 (tr. by Longfellow):

And unto him the Guide: “Vex thee not Charon;

It is so willed there where is power to do