Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents and everyone is writing a book.. (Cicero c. 43 B.C)

Plus ca change. But the difference is that the world population in those days was (maybe) 50 million (who knows?). Now it is 8 billion, and of that there is the same proportion of the population that are scheming nutters, thieves, liars, greedy sons of bitches and homicidal maniacs. The proportion is a constant.

If peace of mind and a civilised society were both problematical in 43 B.C, how much more so are they now. Epicureanism is one way to navigate it all.