Comment Re:BASICally (Score 2) 310
However, the above excert is from Livy's History of Rome, written around 25BC. So when you say it's trite, that's a bit of an understatement. 2000+ years we've been listening to this shit.
The first similar example that I know of is from Plato's Republic, Book VIII, 360 B.C.:
"And these are not the only evils, I said --there are several lesser ones: In such a state of society the master fears and flatters his scholars, and the scholars despise their masters and tutors; young and old are all alike; and the young man is on a level with the old, and is ready to compete with him in word or deed; and old men condescend to the young and are full of pleasantry and gaiety; they are loth to be thought morose and authoritative, and therefore they adopt the manners of the young."
Just have in mind that Plato was writing not simply about the kids "these days", he was writing about kids in democracy, which he considered to be the second worst type of state.