This is a quote from Cicero in 55 BCE:

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work,  instead of living on public assistance.”

It appears we have we learned nothing in 2,064 years.

Thanks to Roger H for finding this very apropos quotation.