Time is fleeting

Eheu, fugaces labuntur anni translates to “Alas, the fleeting years glide away.” Quintus Horatius Flaccus, also known as Horace, was the leading poet under rule of Augustus. Among his many works, he composed Odes (also known as Carmina), a collection of four books of Latin lyric poems. Book Two consisted of twenty poems, the most notable being Eheu fugaces, an ode to Postumus. It is unknown who Postumus was. The ode talks about the uselessness of hoarding treasure and begins: Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume, labuntur anni!
Kurt Vonnegut probably includes this first line of Eheu fugace with the first line of the song to show that time does pass on ahead. The song repeats over and over “to infinity” (Vonnegut 4) thus stating that time glides away. He probably also includes the first line of limerick to show that those who took him prisoner took all his wealth and health, but now they can't do anything. He cannot regain the time that passed by when he was being held prisoner because time glides away.
Additionally, Kurt Vonnegut probably decided to include Eheu, fugaces labuntur anni in his book because it related to his memories and how he wanted to write about them and make a lot of money (3). He wanted to hoard his treasure so that he might get rich, but he found it was not as easy of a task as he had thought it would be. He found that he could not recall enough information to write a book, thus showing that it was futile to hoard his treasures. Similarly, Horace's ode to Postumus is about the futility of hoarding treasures. The ode talks about the uselessness of hoarding treasures because death is inevitable. It does not matter how many riches one has.