The first part of customs-corruption, is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

The first step to the corruption of manners is banishing of truth.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

The first thing done in the corruption of manners is banishing truth.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

The first feature of corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Ives (1925)]

The first feature in the corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Zeitlin (1934)]

The first stage in the corruption of morals is the banishment of truth.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

There's no manner of Disgrace in this now-a-days, Hypocrisy is a modish Vice, and all modish Vices pass for Virtues.
[tr. Clitandre (1672)]

There is no longer any shame in acting thus: hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtues.
[tr. Van Laun (1876)]

There is no longer any shame in Hypocrisy; it is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtues.
[tr. Wall (1879)]

There is no longer any shame in acting thus. Hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtues.
[tr. Waller (1904)]

Nowadays there's no longer any disgrace in it; hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtues.
[tr. Page (1908)]

There's no shame in that any more nowadays: hypocrisy is a fashionable vice, and all fashionable vices pass for virtues.
[tr. Frame (1967)]

Men call that barbarisme which is not common to them.
[tr. Florio (1603)]

Every one gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.
[tr. Cotton (1686)]

Everyone gives the denomination of barbarism to what is not the custom of his country.
[tr. Friswell (1868)]

Every one gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.
[tr. Cotton/Hazlitt (1877)]

Every one calls "barbarism" whatever he is not accustomed to.
[tr. Ives (1925), 1.31]

Each man calls barbarism whatever is not his own practice.
[tr. Frame (1943)]

Everyone calls barbarism what is not customary to him.
[ed. Rat (1958), 1.31]

Everyone calls what he is not accustomed to barbarity.
[tr. Atkinson/Sices (2012)]

Often in early youth an opinion or custom seems absurd to us, which, with advancing years, we discover has some justification and so appears less absurd. Ought we to conclude from this that certain customs are not so ridiculous as others? One might sometimes be tempted to think that they were established by people who had read the book of life through, and that they are judged by those who, despite their intelligence, have only glanced at a few pages.
[tr. Hutchinson (1902)]

Often an opinion or custom seems absurd to us in early youth; but as we advance in life we see the reason for it, and it appears less fatuous. Must we conclude from this that certain customs actually are less absurd? One is sometimes led to suppose that they have been established by folk who have read the whole of the book of life, and that they are criticized by those who, in spite of their intelligence, have only read a page or two at best.
[tr. Mathers (1926)]

Often an opinion, a custom, seems absurd to begin with, when one is very young, and as one advances in life one learns the reason for it, and it seems less so. Must one conclude, then, that certain customs have become less ridiculous? At times one is drawn to the conclusion that they were established by persons who had read the book of life entire, and are judged by others who have read only a few pages.
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

Often an opinion, or a custom, begins to seem absurd in one's early youth, and, as life advances, one finds the reason for it; it seems less absurd. Is one ot conclude that certain customs are less ridiculous? One would sometimes be inclined to think that they had been laid down by people who had read the entire book of life, and that they are judged by people who, in spite of their intellect, have only read a few pages of it.
[tr. Pearson (1973)]

To the very young some opinions or customs seem absurd, but as you grow older you realize the reason behind them and they seem less absurd. Are we to conclude that certain customs aren't as ridiculous as they seem? There are times when you feel that they've been created by people who've read the book of life from cover to cover and that they're being judged by those who, however intelligent, have read only a few pages.
[tr. Parmée (2003), ¶ 20]

Morality refines customs and customs in turn refine morality.
[tr. Scrase/Mieder (1994)]

Such strength hath custome in each tender soule.
[tr. Ogilby (1649)]

So strong is Custom; such Effects can Use
In tender Souls of pliant Plants produce.
[tr. Dryden (1709), ll. 366-367]

So strong is habit's force in tender age.
[tr. Nevile (1767), l. 302]

So custom strongly sways the youthful year.
[tr. Sotheby (1800)]

Of such avail is custom in tender years.
[tr. Davidson (1854)]

So custom lords it o'er the youthful wood.
[tr. Blackmore (1871), l. 324]

Such is the force of habits formed in early years.
[tr. Wilkins (1873)]

So strong is custom formed in early years.
[tr. Rhoades (1881)]

So powerful is habit in things of tender age.
[tr. Bryce (1897)]

So strong is the habit of infancy.
[tr. Mackail (1899)]

So potent is early habit's control.
[tr. Way (1912)]

So loth to change
Are a young creature's ways.
[tr. Williams (1915)]

So strong is habit in tender years.
[tr. Fairclough (Loeb) (1916)]

So important are habits developed in early days.
[tr. Day-Lewis (1940)]

For habit dominates the early stage.
[tr. Bovie (1956)]

So much effect has habit on the young.
[tr. Wilkinson (1982)]

We grow accustomed to so much in tender years.
[tr. Kline (2001)]

How powerful the innate habits of tender plants!
[tr. Lembke (2004)]

So powerfully runs habit in the tender stems.
[tr. Johnson (2009)]

Such is the need, when young, of what's familiar.
[tr. Ferry (2015)]

It is not then true, that there is not a bridell and Master for Nature, Nay, she is guided and ruled by twaine: Custome I meane, and Reason.
[tr. Peterson (1576)]

Which being so, it is not true, that we are not furnished with reins, or a proper guide against the impetuosity of our nature: for we have two; one of which is Experience, and the other right Reason.
[tr. Graves (1774)]

Your apparel must be shaped according to the fashion of the time, and your calling [...] For we must not take upon us to alter customs at our will. For time doth beget them and time doth also wear them out.
[tr. Peterson (1576)]

Let your dress [...] be conformable to the customs of the age you live in, and suitable to your condition; for it is not in our power to alter the general fashions at our pleasure; which, as they are produced, so they are swallowed up by time.
[tr. Graves (1774)]

Not to imitate the folly of others is an effect of rare wisedome; for whatever is introduced by example and custome, is of great force. Some who have guarded against particular ignorance, have not been able to avoid the general.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

Keep yourself free from common Follies. This is a special stroke of policy. They are of special power because they are general, so that many who would not be led away by any individual folly cannot escape the universal failing.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

To keep free from the popular inanities, marks especially good sense. They are highly esteemed because so well introduced, and many a man who could not be trapped by some particular stupidity could not except the general.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

It's good to know something of the manners of severall Nations, that we may not think that all things against our Mode are ridiculous or unreasonable, as those are wont to do, who have seen Nothing.
[Newcombe ed. (1649)]

It is good to know something of the customs of different peoples in order to judge more sanely of our own, and not to think that everything of a fashion not ours is absurd and contrary to reason, as do those who have seen nothing.
[tr. Haldane & Ross (1911)]

It is good to know something of the customs of various peoples, so that we may judge our own more soundly and not think that everything contrary to our own ways is ridiculous and irrational, as those who have seen nothing of the world ordinarily do.
[tr. Cottingham, Stoothoff (1985)]

It is well to know something of the manner of various peoples, in order more sanely to judge our own, and that we do not think that everything against our modes is ridiculous, and against reason, as those who have seen nothing are accustomed to think.

Let a prudent man accommodate himself to the present, whether as to body, or mind, though the past may even seem better unto him. In manners onely that rule is not to be observed, seeing vertue is at all times to be practised.
[Flesher ed. (1685)]

In everything the taste of the many carries the votes; for the time being one must follow it in the hope of leading it to higher things. In the adornment of the body as of the mind adapt yourself to the present, even though the past appear better. But this rule does not apply to kindness, for goodness is for all time.
[tr. Jacobs (1892)]

The choice of the many carries the vote in every field. For the time being, therefore, it must be bowed to, in order to bring it to higher level: the man of wisdom accommodates himself to the present, even though the past seems better, alike in the dress of his spirit, as in the dress of his body. Only in the matter of being decent does this rule of life not apply, for virtue should be practiced eternally.
[tr. Fischer (1937)]

And having since observ’d in my travails, That all those whose opinions are contrary to ours, are not therefore barbarous or savage, but that many use as much or more reason then we; and having consider’d how much one Man with his own understanding, bred up from his childhood among the French or the Dutch, becomes different from what he would be, had he alwayes liv’d amongst the Chineses, or the Cannibals: And how even in the fashion of our Clothes, the same thing which pleas’d ten years since, and which perhaps wil please ten years hence, seems now to us ridiculous and extravagant. So that it’s much more Custome and Example which perswades us, then any assured knowledg.
[tr. Newcombe ed. (1649)]

I further recognized in the course of my travels that all those whose sentiments are very contrary to ours are yet not necessarily barbarians or savages, but may be possessed of reason in as great or even a greater degree than ourselves. I also considered how very different the self-same man, identical in mind and spirit, may have become, according as he is brought up from childhood amongst the French or Germans, or has passed his whole life amongst Chinese or cannibals. I likewise noticed how even in the fashions of one's clothing the same thing that pleased us ten years ago, and which will perhaps please us once again before ten years are passed, seems at the present time extravagant and ridiculous. I thus concluded that it is much more custom and example that persuade us than any certain knowledge.
[tr. Haldane & Ross (1911)]

Since then I have recognized through my travels that those with views quite contrary to ours are not on that account barbarians or savages, but that many of them make use of reason as much or more than we do. I thought, too, how the same man, with the same mind, if brought up from infancy among the French or Germans, develops otherwise than he would if he had always lived among the Chinese or cannibals; and how, even in our fashions of dress, the very thing that pleased us ten years ago, and will perhaps please us again ten years hence, now strikes us as extravagant and ridiculous. Thus it is custom and example that persuade us, rather than any certain knowledge.
[tr. Cottingham, Stoothoff (1985)]

Then, again, it is to no purpose they call us to the bar of custom. To make every thing yield to custom would be to do the greatest injustice. Were the judgments of mankind correct, custom would be regulated by the good. But it is often far otherwise in point of fact; for, whatever the many are seen to do, forthwith obtains the force of custom. But human affairs have scarcely ever been so happily constituted as that the better course pleased the greater number. Hence the private vices of the multitude have generally resulted in public error, or rawther that common consent in vice which these worthy men would have to be law.
[tr. Beveridge (1845)]

We have to make good a great deal of the contumely which has fallen on all those who, by their actions, have broken through the conventionality of some custom -- such people generally have been called criminals. Everybody who overthrew the existing moral law has hitherto, at least in the beginning, been considered a wicked man; but when afterwards, as sometimes happened, the old law could not be re-established and had to be abandoned, the epithet was gradually changed. History almost exclusively treats of such wicked men who, in the course of time, have been declared good men.
[tr. Volz (1903)]

One has to take back much of the defamation which people have cast upon all those who broke through the spell of a custom by means of a deed -- in general, they are called criminals. Whoever has overthrown an existing law of custom has hitherto always first been accounted a bad man: but when, as did happen the laws could not afterwards be reinstated and this fact was accepted, the predicate gradually changed -- history treats almost exclusively of these bad men who subsequently became good men!
[tr. Hollingdale (1997)]

Weak old Women oftentimes go without eating two or three days together; do but with-hold Meat one day from a Wrestler, he will cry out upon Olympian Jupiter; the same to whose Honor he shall exercise himself. He will cry he cannot bear it. Great is the Power of Custom.
[tr. Wase (1643)]

You may often hear of diminutive old women living without victuals three or four days; but take away a wrestler's provision for but one day, he will implore Jupiter Olympus, the very god for whom he exercises himself: he will cry out, It is intolerable. Great is the force of custom!
[tr. Main (1824)]

Tender old women often support a fast of two or three days. Withdraw his rations for one day from a wrestler; he will appeal to that Olympic Jove himself, for whom he exercises; he will cry out it impossible to bear it. Great is the force of habit.
[tr. Otis (1839)]

You may often hear of old women living without victuals for three or four days: but take away a wrestler's provisions but for one day, and he will implore the aid of Jupiter Olympius, the very God for whom he exercises himself: he will cry out that he cannot endure it. Great is the force of custom!
[tr. Yonge (1853)]

Feeble old women often endure hunger for two or three days. Take food away from an athlete for just one day. He will appeal to Jupiter, that Olympian Jupiter, the very one for whom he will be doing this training -- he will cry out that he can't bear it. Practice has great power.
[tr. Douglas (1990)]

Little old ladies often bear a two or three day period of fasting; but take away an athlete’s food for a day, and he will beg for relief from Jove! Olympian Jove, the one for whom he exercises! And he’ll tell you that he simply cannot bear it.
[tr. @sentantiq (2015)]

Old women regularly endure a lack of food for a period of three or four days; take from an athlete his food for a single day and he will appeal to olympian Jupiter, the very god in whose honor he trains, he will cry out that he can't bear it. The force of habit is considerable.
[tr. Davie (2017)]

The most absurd conventions, the most ridiculous formalities enjoy in France and elsewhere the protection of the phrase, "It's the custom.” It is the very phrase with which the Hottentots answer when the Europeans ask them why they eat grasshoppers, why they devour the vermin that crawl on them. They too say, “It’s the custom.”
[tr. Merwin (1969)]

The most absurd habits, the most ridiculous matters of etiquette enjoy in France and elsewhere the protection afforded by this phrase: "It is the custom." It is precisely this phrase which Hottentots produce when Europeans ask them why they eat grasshoppers, and why they devour the vermin with which they are infested. They also say: "It is the custom."
[tr. Pearson (1973)]

The most absurd customs, the most ridiculous etiquettes, are in France and elsewhere under the protection of this phrase: That's how things are. That is precisely the phrase that Hottentots say when Europeans ask them why they eat locusts; why they consume the vermin that they are covered in. They saÿ: "That's how things are."
[tr. Siniscalchi (1994)]

In France and elsewhere, the most absurd customs and protocol are justified by the statement "It's always been done like that." That's exactly what Hottentots tell Europeans when asked why they feed on locusts or the vermin on their bodies: "It's what we've always done."
[tr. Parmée (2003), ¶161]

Grandpa Wayback rises to remark: “I never expected to live to see the day when the girls would get sunburned on the places they do now.” Won by Will B. Rogers, Atlanta, Ga

I never expected to see the day when the girls would get sunburned in the places they do now.
[Albert Shaw, ed., Review of Reviews (1935-02)]

I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they do.
[P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton, Bring on the Girls: The Improbable Story of Our Life in Musical Comedy (1953)]

Few men expected to see the day when women would get sunburned in the places they do now.
[Louis T. Stanley, The London Season, "Feminine Wiles" (1956), used without attribution to Rogers]

I never expected to see the day when the girls would get sunburned in the places they do now.
[John Birch Society, American Opinion, Vol. 4 (1961)]

Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light & transient causes: and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. but when a long train of abuses & usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, & pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to subject them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government & to provide new guards for their future security.

• Popularly, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."
• "When I am at Rome, I fast on a Saturday; when I am at Milan, I do not. Follow the custom of the church where you are."
• "When I am here, I do not fast on the Sabbath; when I am in Rome, I fast on the Sabbath."
• Alternately given as "If you are at Rome, live in the Roman style; if you are elsewhere, live as they live there. [Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more; / Si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi.]" in J. Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience, I.i.5 (1660).

• Epistulae 36, 14 or 32
• Letter 54 to Januarius
• Epistle to Januarius, 2, sec. 18
• Epistle to Casualanus, 36, sec. 32