Old Times

On the eve of their last battle, Hrolf Kraki's men "...talked of olden days..." (Hrolf Kraki's Saga, p. 245)

After the battle:

"Nothing but a tale was left of a day which had been.
"Here ends the saga of Hrolf Kraki and his warriors." (p. 261)

After the Roman Empire:

"...among the memories is that there was, for a while, a life not given over entirely to naked survival." (Time Patrol, p. 604)

"The Bronze Age, the new age was coming...
"In the end it would go down, before the cruel age of iron. Yet a thousand fortunate years were no small achievement; and the spirit they brought to birth would endure. Through every century to come, the forgotten truth that men had once known generations of gladness must abide and subtly work."
-Poul Anderson, The Corridors Of Time (Frogmore, St Albans, Herts, 1968), p. 204.

"'It was in Britain after the Romans were gone, at the court of a warlord...he staved off the English invaders. His name was Artorius.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Boat Of A Million Years (London, 1991), p. 229.

After the Terran Empire:

"...a man from Atheia, which was supposed to have retained or regained almost as many amenities as Old Earth knew in its glory..." (Flandry's Legacy, p. 665)

For the good times...