Introduction to On Old Age and On Friendship, by Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Introduction to On Old Age

and On Friendship, by Marcus

Tullius Cicero Translated by E. S.

Shuckburgh

Treatises on Friendship and Old Ageby Marcus Tullius Cicero

De Amicitia Sections1, 2, 3, , !, ", #, $, %, 1&, 11, 12, 13, 1, 1!, 1", 1#, 1$, 1%, 2&, 21, 22, 23, 2, 2!, 2", 2#

INTO!"CTO# NOTE

MA'C(S T())*(S C*C+'O, the greatest o 'oman orators and the chie master o )atin prosestyle, -as born at Arpinum, .an/ 3,1&" 0/C/ is ather, -ho -as a man o property and belonged

to the class o the nights, mo4ed to 'ome -hen Cicero -as a child5 and the uture statesmanrecei4ed an elaborate education in rhetoric, la-, and philosophy, studying and practising under

some o the most noted teachers o the time/ e began his career as an ad4ocate at the age ot-enty6i4e, and almost immediately came to be recogni7ed not only as a man o brilliant talents

but also as a courageous upholder o 8ustice in the ace o gra4e political danger/ Ater t-o yearso practice he let 'ome to tra4el in 9reece and Asia, ta:ing all the opportunities that oered to

study his art under distinguished masters/ e returned to 'ome greatly impro4ed in health and in

proessional s:ill, and in #" 0/ C/ -as elected to the oice o ;uaestor/ e -as assigned to thepro4ince o )ilybarum in Sicily, and the 4igor and 8ustice o his administration earned him thegratitude o the inhabitants/ *t -as at their re;uest that he undertoo: in #& 0/ C/ the <rosecution

o =erres, -ho as <raetor had sub8ected the Sicilians to incredible e>tortion and oppression5 andhis successul conduct o this case, -hich ended in the con4iction and banishment o =erres, may

be said to ha4e launched him on his political career/ e became aedile in the same year, in "# 0/C/praetor, and in " 0/ C/ -as elected consul by a large ma8ority/ The most important e4ent o the

year o his consulship -as the conspiracy o Catiline/ This notorious criminal o patrician ran: hadconspired -ith a number o others, many o them young men o high birth but dissipated

character, to sei7e the chie oices o the state, and to e>tricate themsel4es rom the pecuniaryand other diiculties that had resulted rom their e>cesses, by the -holesale plunder o the city/

The plot -as unmas:ed by the 4igilance o Cicero, i4e o the traitors -ere summarily e>ecuted,

and in the o4erthro- o the army that had been gathered in their support Catiline himsel

perished/ Cicero regarded himsel as the sa4ior o his country, and his country or the momentseemed to gi4e grateul assent/

0ut re4erses -ere at hand/ During the e>istence o the political combination o <ompey, Caesar,

and Crassus, :no-n as the irst trium4irate, </ Clodius, an enemy o Cicero?s, proposed a la-

banishing any one -ho had put 'oman citi7ens to death -ithout trial/ This -as aimed at Ciceroon account o his share in the Catiline aair, and in March, !$ 0/ C/, he let 'ome/ The same day a

la- -as passed by -hich he -as banished by name, and his property -as plundered and

destroyed, a temple to )iberty being erected on the site o his house in the city/ During his e>ileCicero?s manliness to some e>tent deserted him/ e drited rom place to place, see:ing the

elated esources

• Cicero

@ On Friendship@ On Old Age@ Cicero Te>ts@ <rimary Te>t *nde>



protection o oicials against assassination, -riting letters urging his supporters to agitate or his

recall, sometimes accusing them o lu:e-armness and e4en treachery, bemoaning the ingratitudeo his? country or regretting the course o action that had led to his outla-ry, and suering rom

e>treme depression o4er his separation rom his -ie and children and the -rec: o his political

ambitions/ Finally in August, !# 0/ C/, the decree or his restoration -as passed, and he returnedto 'ome the ne>t month, being recei4ed -ith immense popular enthusiasm/ During the ne>t e-

years the rene-al o the understanding among the trium4irs shut Cicero out rom any leading part

in politics, and he resumed his acti4ity in the la-6courts, his most important case being, perhaps,the deence o Milo or the murder/ o Clodius, Cicero?s most troublesome enemy/ This oration, inthe re4ised orm in -hich it has come do-n to us, is ran:ed as among the inest specimens o the

art o the orator, though in its original orm it ailed to secure Milo?s ac;uittal/ Meantime, Cicero-as also de4oting much time to literary composition, and his letters sho- great de8ection o4er the

political situation, and a some-hat -a4ering attitude to-ards the 4arious parties in the state/ *n!! 0/ C/ he -ent to Cilicia in Asia Minor as proconsul, an oice -hich he administered -ith

eiciency and integrity in ci4il aairs and -ith success in military/ e returned to *taly in the endo the ollo-ing year, and he -as publicly than:ed by the senate or his ser4ices, but disappointed

in his hopes or a triumph/ The -ar or supremacy bet-een Caesar and <ompey -hich had orsome time been gradually gro-ing more certain, bro:e out in % 0/C/, -hen Caesar led his army

across the 'ubicon, and Cicero ater much irresolution thre- in his lot -ith <ompey, -ho -aso4erthro-n the ne>t year in the battle o <harsalus and later murdered in +gypt/ Cicero returned

to *taly, -here Caesar treated him magnanimously, and or some time he de4oted himsel tophilosophical and rhetorical -riting/ *n " 0/C/ he di4orced his -ie Terentia, to -hom he had been

married or thirty years and married the young and -ealthy <ublilia in order to relie4e himselrom inancial diiculties5 but her also he shortly di4orced/ Caesar, -ho had no- become supreme

in 'ome, -as assassinated in 0/C/, and though Cicero -as not a sharer in the conspiracy, heseems to ha4e appro4ed the deed/ *n the conusion -hich ollo-ed he supported the cause o the

conspirators against Antony5 and -hen inally the trium4irate o Antony, Octa4ius, and )epidus

-as established, Cicero -as included among the proscribed, and on December #, 3 0/C/, he -as:illed by agents o Antony/ is head and hand -ere cut o and e>hibited at 'ome/

The most important orations o the last months o his lie -ere the ourteen <hilippics deli4eredagainst Antony, and the price o this enmity he paid -ith his lie/

To his contemporaries Cicero -as primarily the great orensic and political orator o his time, and

the ity6eight speeches -hich ha4e come do-n to us bear testimony to the s:ill, -it, elo;uence,and <assion -hich ga4e him his pre6eminence/ 0ut these speeches o necessity deal -ith the

minute details o the occasions -hich called them orth, and so re;uire or their appreciation a ull:no-ledge o the history, political and personal, o the time/ The letters, on the other hand, are

less elaborate both in style and in the handling o current e4ents, -hile they ser4e to re4eal hispersonality, and to thro- light upon 'oman lie in the last days o the 'epublic in an e>tremely

4i4id ashion/ Cicero as a man, in spite o his sel6importance, the 4acillation o his political

conduct in desperate crises, and the -hining despondency o his times o ad4ersity, stands out asat bottom a patriotic 'oman o substantial honesty, -ho ga4e his lie to chec: the ine4itable all o

the common-ealth to -hich he -as de4oted/ The e4ils -hich -ere undermining the 'epublic bear

so many stri:ing resemblances to those -hich threaten the ci4ic and national lie o America to6

day that the interest o the period is by no means merely historical/

As a philosopher, Cicero?s most important unction -as to ma:e his countrymen amiliar -ith the

main schools o 9ree: thought/ Much o this -riting is thus o secondary interest to us in

comparison -ith his originals, but in the ields o religious theory and o the application ophilosophy to lie he made important irst6hand contributions/ From these -or:s ha4e been

selected the t-o treatises, on Old Age and on Friendship, -hich ha4e pro4ed o most permanent

and -idespread interest to posterity, and -hich gi4e a clear impression o the -ay in -hich ahigh6minded 'oman thought about some o the main problems? o human lie/



On Old Age, by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Translated by E. S. Shuckburgh

Treatises on Friendship and Old Age by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Cicero's e senectute !On Old Age" sections

# $ % & e(t section#. And should )y ser*ice, Titus, ease the +eight O care that +rings your heart, and dra+ the sting

-hich rankles there, +hat guerdon shall there he

FO/ 0 )ay address you, Atticus, in the lines in +hich Fla)ininus +as addressed by the )an,

+ho, poor in +ealth, +as rich in honour's gold,though 0 a) +ell assured that you are not, as Fla)ininus +as,

kept on the rack o care by night and day.

For 0 kno+ ho+ +ell ordered and e1uable your )ind is, and a) ully a+are that it +as not a surna)ealone +hich you brought ho)e +ith you ro) Athens, hut its culture and good sense. And yet 0 ha*e an

idea that you are at ti)es stirred to the heart by the sa)e circu)stances as )ysel. To console you or

these is a )ore serious )atter, and )ust be put o to another ti)e. For the present 0 ha*e resol*ed todedicate to you an essay on Old Age. For ro) the burden o i)pending or at least ad*ancing age,

co))on to us both, 0 +ould do so)ething to relie*e us both though as to yoursel 0 a) ully a+are that

you support and +ill support it, as you do e*erything else, +ith cal)ness and philosophy. 2ut directly 0

resol*ed to +rite on old age, you at once occurred to )e as deser*ing a git o +hich both o us )ighttake ad*antage. To )ysel, indeed, the co)position o this book has been so delightul, that it has not

only +iped a+ay all the disagreeables o old age, but has e*en )ade it lu(urious and delightul too.

e*er, thereore, can philosophy be praised as highly as it deser*es considering that its aithul discipleis able to spend e*ery period o his lie +ith unruled eelings. 3o+e*er, on other sub4ects 0 ha*e

spoken at large, and shall oten speak again5 this hook +hich 0 here+ith send you is on Old Age. 0 ha*e

put the +hole discourse not, as Alisto o Cos did, in the )outh o Tithonus6or a )ere able +ould ha*elacked con*iction6but in that o Marcus Cato +hen he +as an old )an, to gi*e )y essay greater +eight.

0 represent 7aelius and Scipio at his house e(pressing surprise at his carrying his years so lightly, and

Cato ans+ering the). 0 he shall see) to she+ so)e+hat )ore learning in this discourse than hegenerally did in his o+n books, put it do+n to the 8reek literature o +hich it is kno+n that he beca)e

an eager student in his old age. 2ut +hat need o )ore Cato's o+n +ords +ill at once e(plain all 0 eel

about old age.

M. Cato. 9ublius Cornelius Scipio Aricanus !the younger". 8aius 7aelius.$. :Scipio:. Many a ti)e ha*e 0 in con*ersation +ith )y riend 8aius 7aelius here e(pressed )y

ad)iration, Marcus Cato, o the e)inent, nay perect, +isdo) displayed by you indeed at all points,

but abo*e e*erything because 0 ha*e noticed that old age ne*er see)ed a burden to you, +hile to )ostold )en it is so hateul that they declare the)sel*es under a +eight hea*ier than Aetna.

:Cato:. ;our ad)iration is easily e(cited, it see)s, )y dear Scipio and 7aelius. Men, o course, +ho

ha*e no resources in the)sel*es or securing a good and happy lie ind e*ery age burdenso)e. 2utthose +ho look or all happiness ro) +ithin can ne*er think anything had +hich nature )akes

ine*itable. 0n that category beore anything else co)es old age" to +hich all +ish to attain, and at

+hich all gru)ble +hen attained. Such is Folly's inconsistency and unreasonableness< They say that it



is stealing upon the) aster than they e(pected. 0n the irst place, +ho co)pelled the) to hug an

illusion For in +hat respect did old age steal upon )anhood aster than )anhood upon childhood 0n

the ne(t place, in +hat +ay +ould old age ha*e been less disagreeable to the) i they +ere in their

eight6hundredth year than in their eightieth For their past, ho+e*er long, +hen once it +as past, +ouldha*e no consolation or a stupid old age. -hereore, i it is your +ont to ad)ire )y +isdo)6and 0

+ould that it +ere +orthy o your good opinion and o )y o+n surna)e o Sapiens6it really consists in

the act that 0 ollo+ ature, the best o guides, as 0 +ould a god, and a) loyal to her co))ands. 0t isnot likely, i she has +ritten the rest o the play +ell, that she has been careless about the last act like

so)e idle poet. 2ut ater all so)e =last= +as ine*itable, 4ust as to the berries o a tree and the ruits o

the earth there co)es in the ulness o ti)e a period o decay and all. A +ise )an +ill not )ake agrie*ance o this. To rebel against nature6is not that to ight like the giants +ith the gods

:7aelius:. And yet, Cato, you +ill do us a *ery great a*our !0 *enture to speak or Scipio as or

)ysel" i6since +e all hope, or at least +ish, to beco)e old )en6you +ould allo+ us to learn ro) youin good ti)e beore it arri*es, by +hat )ethods +e )ay )ost easily ac1uire the strength to support the

burden o ad*ancing age.

:Cato:. 0 +ill do so +ithout doubt, 7aelius, especially i, as you say, it +ill be agreeable to you both.

:7aelius: -e do +ish *ery )uch, Cato, i it is no trouble to you, to be allo+ed to see the nature o the bourne +hich you ha*e reached ater co)pleting a long 4ourney, as it +ere, upon +hich +e too are

bound to e)bark.

%. :Cato:. 0 +ill do the best 0 can, 7aelius. 0t has oten been )y ortune to bear the co)plaints o )yconte)poraries6like +ill to like, you kno+, according to the old pro*erb6co)plaints to +hich )en like

C. Salinator and Sp. Albinus, +ho +ere o consular rank and about )y ti)e, used to gi*e *ent. They

+ere, irst, that they had lost the pleasures o the senses, +ithout +hich they did not regard lie as lie atall> and, secondly, that they +ere neglected by those ro) +ho) they had been used to recei*e

attentions. Such )en appear to )e to lay the bla)e on the +rong thing. For i it had been the ault o

old age, then these sa)e )isortunes +ould ha*e beallen )e and all other )en o ad*anced years. 2ut

0 ha*e kno+n )any o the) +ho ne*er said a +ord o co)plaint against old age> or they +ere only tooglad to be reed ro) the bondage o passion, and +ere not at all looked do+n upon by their riends.

The act is that the bla)e or all co)plaints o that kind is to be charged to character, not to a particular

ti)e o lie. For old )en +ho are reasonable and neither cross6grained nor churlish ind old agetolerable enough5 +hereas unreason and churlishness cause uneasiness at e*ery ti)e o lie.

:7aelius: 0t is as you say, Cato. 2ut perhaps so)e one )ay suggest that it is your large )eans, +ealth,

and high position that )ake you think old age tolerable5 +hereas such good ortune only alls to e+. :Cato:. There is so)ething in that, 7aelius, but by no )eans all. For instance, the story is told o the

ans+er o The)istocles in a +rangle +ith a certain Seriphian, +ho asserted that he o+ed his brilliant

position to the reputation o his country, not to his o+n. =0 0 had been a Seriphian,= said he, =e*en 0should ne*er ha*e been a)ous, nor +ould you i you had been an Athenian. So)ething like this )ay

be said o old age. For the philosopher hi)sel could not ind old age easy to bear in the depths o

po*erty, nor the ool eel it anything but a burden though he +ere a )illionaire. ;ou )ay he sure, )y

dear Scipio and 7aelius, that the ar)s best adapted to old age are culture and the acti*e e(ercise o the*irtues. For i they ha*e been )aintained at e*ery period6i one has li*ed )uch as +ell as long6the

har*est they produce is +onderul, not only because they ne*er ail us e*en in our last days !though

that in itsel is supre)ely i)portant", but also because the consciousness o a +ell6spent lie and therecollection o )any *irtuous actions are e(ceedingly delightul.

&. Take the case o ?. Fabius Ma(i)us, the )an, 0 )ean, +ho reco*ered Tarentu). -hen 0 +as a

young )an and he an old one, 0 +as as )uch attached to hi) as i he had been )y conte)porary. Forthat great )an @ serious dignity +as te)pered by courteous )anners, nor had old age )ade any change

in his character. True, he +as not e(actly an old )an +hen )y de*otion to hi) began, yet he +as

ne*ertheless +ell on in lie> or his irst consulship ell in the year ater )y birth. -hen 1uite a stripling



0 +ent +ith hi) in his ourth consulship as a soldier in the ranks, on the e(pedition against Capua, and

in the ith year ater that against Tarentu). Four years ater that 0 +as elected ?uaestor, holding oice

in the consulship o Tuditanus and Cethegus, in +hich year, indeed, he as a *ery old )an spoke in

a*our o the Cincian la+ =on gits and ees.= o+ this )an conducted +ars +ith all the spirit o youth +hen he +as ar ad*anced in lie, and by his

persistence gradually +earied out 3annibal, +hen rioting in all the conidence o youth. 3o+ brilliant

are those lines o )y riend Ennius on hi)<For us, do+n beaten by the stor)s o ate,

One )an by +ise delays restored the State.

9raise or dispraise )o*ed not his constant )ood,True to his purpose, to his country's good<

o+n e*er6lengthening a*enues o a)e

Thus shines and shall shine still his glorious na)e.Again +hat *igilance, +hat proound skill did he sho+ in the capture o Tarentu)< 0t +as indeed in )y

hearing that he )ade the a)ous retort to Salinator, +ho had retreated into the citadel ater losing the

to+n5 =0t +as o+ing to )e, ?uintus Fabius, that you retook Tarentu).= ?uite so,= he replied +ith a

laugh> =or had you not lost it, 0 should ne*er ha*e reco*ered it.= or +as he less e)inent in ci*il liethan in +ar. 0n his second consulship, though his colleague +ould not )o*e in the )atter, he resisted as

long as he could the proposal o the tribune C. Fla)inius to di*ide the territory o the 9icenians and

8auls in ree allot)ents in deiance o a resolution o the Senate. Again, though he +as an augur, he*entured to say that +hate*er +as done in the interests o the State +as done +ith the best possible

auspices, that any la+s proposed against its interest +ere proposed against the auspices. 0 +as

cognisant o )uch that +as ad)irable in that great )an, but nothing struck )e +ith greaterastonish)ent than the +ay in +hich he bore the death o his son6a )an o brilliant character and +ho

had been consul. 3is uneral speech o*er hi) is in +ide circulation, and +hen +e read it, is there any

philosopher o +ho) +e do not think )eanly or in truth +as he only great in the light o day and in

the sight o his ello+6citiens> he +as still )ore e)inent in pri*ate and at ho)e. -hat a +ealth ocon*ersation< -hat +eighty )a(i)s< -hat a +ide ac1uaintance +ith ancient history< -hat an accurate

kno+ledge o the science o augury< For a /o)an, too, he had a great tincture o letters. 3e had a

tenacious )e)ory or )ilitary history o e*ery sort, +hether o /o)an or oreign +ars. And 0 used atthat ti)e to en4oy his con*ersation +ith a passionate eagerness, as though 0 already di*ined, +hat

actually turned out to be the case, that +hen he died there +ould be no one to teach )e anything.



Treatises on Friendship and Old Age

by Marcus Tullius CiceroCicero's e senectute !On Old Age" sections

# $ % & e(t section

#. And should )y ser*ice, Titus, ease the +eight O care that +rings your heart, and dra+ the sting



-hich rankles there, +hat guerdon shall there he

FO/ 0 )ay address you, Atticus, in the lines in +hich Fla)ininus +as addressed by the )an,

+ho, poor in +ealth, +as rich in honour's gold,

though 0 a) +ell assured that you are not, as Fla)ininus +as,kept on the rack o care by night and day.

For 0 kno+ ho+ +ell ordered and e1uable your )ind is, and a) ully a+are that it +as not a surna)e

alone +hich you brought ho)e +ith you ro) Athens, hut its culture and good sense. And yet 0 ha*e anidea that you are at ti)es stirred to the heart by the sa)e circu)stances as )ysel. To console you or

these is a )ore serious )atter, and )ust be put o to another ti)e. For the present 0 ha*e resol*ed to

dedicate to you an essay on Old Age. For ro) the burden o i)pending or at least ad*ancing age,co))on to us both, 0 +ould do so)ething to relie*e us both though as to yoursel 0 a) ully a+are that

you support and +ill support it, as you do e*erything else, +ith cal)ness and philosophy. 2ut directly 0

resol*ed to +rite on old age, you at once occurred to )e as deser*ing a git o +hich both o us )ighttake ad*antage. To )ysel, indeed, the co)position o this book has been so delightul, that it has not

only +iped a+ay all the disagreeables o old age, but has e*en )ade it lu(urious and delightul too.

e*er, thereore, can philosophy be praised as highly as it deser*es considering that its aithul disciple

is able to spend e*ery period o his lie +ith unruled eelings. 3o+e*er, on other sub4ects 0 ha*espoken at large, and shall oten speak again5 this hook +hich 0 here+ith send you is on Old Age. 0 ha*e

put the +hole discourse not, as Alisto o Cos did, in the )outh o Tithonus6or a )ere able +ould ha*e

lacked con*iction6but in that o Marcus Cato +hen he +as an old )an, to gi*e )y essay greater +eight.0 represent 7aelius and Scipio at his house e(pressing surprise at his carrying his years so lightly, and

Cato ans+ering the). 0 he shall see) to she+ so)e+hat )ore learning in this discourse than he

generally did in his o+n books, put it do+n to the 8reek literature o +hich it is kno+n that he beca)ean eager student in his old age. 2ut +hat need o )ore Cato's o+n +ords +ill at once e(plain all 0 eel

about old age.

M. Cato. 9ublius Cornelius Scipio Aricanus !the younger". 8aius 7aelius.

$. :Scipio:. Many a ti)e ha*e 0 in con*ersation +ith )y riend 8aius 7aelius here e(pressed )yad)iration, Marcus Cato, o the e)inent, nay perect, +isdo) displayed by you indeed at all points,

but abo*e e*erything because 0 ha*e noticed that old age ne*er see)ed a burden to you, +hile to )ost

old )en it is so hateul that they declare the)sel*es under a +eight hea*ier than Aetna. :Cato:. ;our ad)iration is easily e(cited, it see)s, )y dear Scipio and 7aelius. Men, o course, +ho

ha*e no resources in the)sel*es or securing a good and happy lie ind e*ery age burdenso)e. 2ut

those +ho look or all happiness ro) +ithin can ne*er think anything had +hich nature )akesine*itable. 0n that category beore anything else co)es old age" to +hich all +ish to attain, and at

+hich all gru)ble +hen attained. Such is Folly's inconsistency and unreasonableness< They say that it

is stealing upon the) aster than they e(pected. 0n the irst place, +ho co)pelled the) to hug anillusion For in +hat respect did old age steal upon )anhood aster than )anhood upon childhood 0n

the ne(t place, in +hat +ay +ould old age ha*e been less disagreeable to the) i they +ere in their

eight6hundredth year than in their eightieth For their past, ho+e*er long, +hen once it +as past, +ould

ha*e no consolation or a stupid old age. -hereore, i it is your +ont to ad)ire )y +isdo)6and 0+ould that it +ere +orthy o your good opinion and o )y o+n surna)e o Sapiens6it really consists in

the act that 0 ollo+ ature, the best o guides, as 0 +ould a god, and a) loyal to her co))ands. 0t is

not likely, i she has +ritten the rest o the play +ell, that she has been careless about the last act likeso)e idle poet. 2ut ater all so)e =last= +as ine*itable, 4ust as to the berries o a tree and the ruits o

the earth there co)es in the ulness o ti)e a period o decay and all. A +ise )an +ill not )ake a

grie*ance o this. To rebel against nature6is not that to ight like the giants +ith the gods :7aelius:. And yet, Cato, you +ill do us a *ery great a*our !0 *enture to speak or Scipio as or

)ysel" i6since +e all hope, or at least +ish, to beco)e old )en6you +ould allo+ us to learn ro) you

in good ti)e beore it arri*es, by +hat )ethods +e )ay )ost easily ac1uire the strength to support the



burden o ad*ancing age.

:Cato:. 0 +ill do so +ithout doubt, 7aelius, especially i, as you say, it +ill be agreeable to you both.

:7aelius: -e do +ish *ery )uch, Cato, i it is no trouble to you, to be allo+ed to see the nature o the

bourne +hich you ha*e reached ater co)pleting a long 4ourney, as it +ere, upon +hich +e too are bound to e)bark.

%. :Cato:. 0 +ill do the best 0 can, 7aelius. 0t has oten been )y ortune to bear the co)plaints o )y

conte)poraries6like +ill to like, you kno+, according to the old pro*erb6co)plaints to +hich )en likeC. Salinator and Sp. Albinus, +ho +ere o consular rank and about )y ti)e, used to gi*e *ent. They

+ere, irst, that they had lost the pleasures o the senses, +ithout +hich they did not regard lie as lie at

all> and, secondly, that they +ere neglected by those ro) +ho) they had been used to recei*eattentions. Such )en appear to )e to lay the bla)e on the +rong thing. For i it had been the ault o

old age, then these sa)e )isortunes +ould ha*e beallen )e and all other )en o ad*anced years. 2ut

0 ha*e kno+n )any o the) +ho ne*er said a +ord o co)plaint against old age> or they +ere only tooglad to be reed ro) the bondage o passion, and +ere not at all looked do+n upon by their riends.

The act is that the bla)e or all co)plaints o that kind is to be charged to character, not to a particular

ti)e o lie. For old )en +ho are reasonable and neither cross6grained nor churlish ind old age

tolerable enough5 +hereas unreason and churlishness cause uneasiness at e*ery ti)e o lie. :7aelius: 0t is as you say, Cato. 2ut perhaps so)e one )ay suggest that it is your large )eans, +ealth,

and high position that )ake you think old age tolerable5 +hereas such good ortune only alls to e+.

:Cato:. There is so)ething in that, 7aelius, but by no )eans all. For instance, the story is told o theans+er o The)istocles in a +rangle +ith a certain Seriphian, +ho asserted that he o+ed his brilliant

position to the reputation o his country, not to his o+n. =0 0 had been a Seriphian,= said he, =e*en 0

should ne*er ha*e been a)ous, nor +ould you i you had been an Athenian. So)ething like this )ay be said o old age. For the philosopher hi)sel could not ind old age easy to bear in the depths o

po*erty, nor the ool eel it anything but a burden though he +ere a )illionaire. ;ou )ay he sure, )y

dear Scipio and 7aelius, that the ar)s best adapted to old age are culture and the acti*e e(ercise o the

*irtues. For i they ha*e been )aintained at e*ery period6i one has li*ed )uch as +ell as long6thehar*est they produce is +onderul, not only because they ne*er ail us e*en in our last days !though

that in itsel is supre)ely i)portant", but also because the consciousness o a +ell6spent lie and the

recollection o )any *irtuous actions are e(ceedingly delightul.&. Take the case o ?. Fabius Ma(i)us, the )an, 0 )ean, +ho reco*ered Tarentu). -hen 0 +as a

young )an and he an old one, 0 +as as )uch attached to hi) as i he had been )y conte)porary. For

that great )an @ serious dignity +as te)pered by courteous )anners, nor had old age )ade any changein his character. True, he +as not e(actly an old )an +hen )y de*otion to hi) began, yet he +as

ne*ertheless +ell on in lie> or his irst consulship ell in the year ater )y birth. -hen 1uite a stripling

0 +ent +ith hi) in his ourth consulship as a soldier in the ranks, on the e(pedition against Capua, andin the ith year ater that against Tarentu). Four years ater that 0 +as elected ?uaestor, holding oice

in the consulship o Tuditanus and Cethegus, in +hich year, indeed, he as a *ery old )an spoke in

a*our o the Cincian la+ =on gits and ees.=

o+ this )an conducted +ars +ith all the spirit o youth +hen he +as ar ad*anced in lie, and by his persistence gradually +earied out 3annibal, +hen rioting in all the conidence o youth. 3o+ brilliant

are those lines o )y riend Ennius on hi)<

For us, do+n beaten by the stor)s o ate,One )an by +ise delays restored the State.

9raise or dispraise )o*ed not his constant )ood,

True to his purpose, to his country's good<o+n e*er6lengthening a*enues o a)e

Thus shines and shall shine still his glorious na)e.

Again +hat *igilance, +hat proound skill did he sho+ in the capture o Tarentu)< 0t +as indeed in )y



hearing that he )ade the a)ous retort to Salinator, +ho had retreated into the citadel ater losing the

to+n5 =0t +as o+ing to )e, ?uintus Fabius, that you retook Tarentu).= ?uite so,= he replied +ith a

laugh> =or had you not lost it, 0 should ne*er ha*e reco*ered it.= or +as he less e)inent in ci*il lie

than in +ar. 0n his second consulship, though his colleague +ould not )o*e in the )atter, he resisted aslong as he could the proposal o the tribune C. Fla)inius to di*ide the territory o the 9icenians and

8auls in ree allot)ents in deiance o a resolution o the Senate. Again, though he +as an augur, he

*entured to say that +hate*er +as done in the interests o the State +as done +ith the best possibleauspices, that any la+s proposed against its interest +ere proposed against the auspices. 0 +as

cognisant o )uch that +as ad)irable in that great )an, but nothing struck )e +ith greater

astonish)ent than the +ay in +hich he bore the death o his son6a )an o brilliant character and +hohad been consul. 3is uneral speech o*er hi) is in +ide circulation, and +hen +e read it, is there any

philosopher o +ho) +e do not think )eanly or in truth +as he only great in the light o day and in

the sight o his ello+6citiens> he +as still )ore e)inent in pri*ate and at ho)e. -hat a +ealth ocon*ersation< -hat +eighty )a(i)s< -hat a +ide ac1uaintance +ith ancient history< -hat an accurate

kno+ledge o the science o augury< For a /o)an, too, he had a great tincture o letters. 3e had a

tenacious )e)ory or )ilitary history o e*ery sort, +hether o /o)an or oreign +ars. And 0 used at

that ti)e to en4oy his con*ersation +ith a passionate eagerness, as though 0 already di*ined, +hatactually turned out to be the case, that +hen he died there +ould be no one to teach )e anything.




by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Cicero's e senectute !On Old Age" sections9re*ious section @ B D e(t section

@. -hat then is the purpose o such a long dis1uisition on Ma(i)us 0t is because you no+ see that an

old age like his cannot conscientiously be called unhappy. ;et it is ater all true that e*erybody cannot be a Scipio or a Ma(i)us, +ith stor)ings o cities, +ith battles by land and sea, +ith +ars in +hich

they the)sel*es co))anded, and +ith triu)phs to recall. 2esides this there is a 1uiet, pure, and

culti*ated lie +hich produces a cal) and gentle old age, such as +e ha*e been told 9lato's +as, +ho

died at his +riting6desk in his eighty6irst year> or like that o 0socrates, +ho says that he +rote the book called The 9anegyric in his ninety6ourth year, and +ho li*ed or i*e years ater+ards> +hile his

)aster 8orgias o 7eontini co)pleted a hundred and se*en years +ithout e*er rela(ing his diligence or

gi*ing up +ork. -hen so)e one asked hi) +hy he consented to re)ain so long ali*e6= 0 ha*e noault,= said he, =to ind +ith old age.= That +as a noble ans+er, and +orthy o a scholar. For ools

i)pute their o+n railties and guilt to old age, contrary to the practice o Enniu, +ho) 0 )entioned

4ust no+. 0n the lines67ike so)e bra*e steed that ot beore The Oly)pic +reath o *ictory bore, o+ by the +eight o years

oppressed, Forgets the race, and takes his rest6

he co)pares his o+n old age to that o a high6spirited and successal race6horse. And hi) indeed you



)ay *ery +ell re)e)ber. For the present consuls Titus Fla)ininus and Manius Acilius +ere elected in

the nineteenth year ater his death> and his death occurred in the consulship o Caepio and 9hilippus,

the latter consul or the second ti)e5 in +hich year 0, then si(ty6si( years old, spoke in a*our o the

oconian la+ in a *oice that +as still strong and +ith lungs still sound> +hile be, though se*enty yearsold, supported t+o burdens considered the hea*iest o all6po*erty and old age6in such a +ay as to be all

but ond o the).

The act is that +hen 0 co)e to think it o*er, 0 ind that there are our reasons or old age being thoughtunhappy5 First, that it +ithdra+s us ro) acti*e e)ploy)ents> second, that it eneebles the body> third,

that it depri*es us o nearly all physical pleasures> ourth, that it is the ne(t step to death. O each o

these reasons, i you +ill allo+ )e, let us e(a)ine the orce and 4ustice separately.B. O7 A8E -0T3/A-S GS F/OM ACT0E EM97O;METS. Fro) +hich o the) o you

)ean ro) thosc carried on by youth and bodily strength Are there then no old )en's e)ploy)ents to

be ater all conducted by the intellect, e*en +hen bodies are +eak So then ?. Ma(i)us did nothing>nor 7. Ae)ilius6our ather, Scipio, and )y e(cellent son's ather6in6la+< So +ith other old )en6the

Fabricii, the 8uru and Coruncanii6+hen they +ere supporting the State by their ad*ice and inluence,

they +ere doing nothing< To old age Appius Claudius had the additional disad*antage o being blind>

yet it +as he +ho, +hen the Senate +as inclining to+ards a peace +ith 9yrrhus and +as or )aking atreaty, did not hesitate to say +hat Ennius has e)bal)ed in the *erses5

-hither ha*e s+er*ed the souls so ir) o yore 0s sense gro+n senseless Can eet stand no )ore

And so on in a tone o the )ost passionate *ehe)ence. ;ou kno+ the poe), and the speech o Appiushi)sel is e(tant. o+, he deli*ered it se*enteen years ater his second consulship, there ha*ing been

an inter*al o ten years bet+een the t+o consulships, and he ha*ing been censor beore his pre*ious

consulship. This +ill sho+ you that at the ti)e o the +ar +ith 9yrrhus he +as a *ery old )an. ;et thisis the story handed do+n to us.

There is thereore nothing in the argu)ents o those +ho say that old age takes no part in public

business. They are like )en +ho +ould say that a steers)an docs nothing in sailing a ship, because,

+hile so)e o the cre+ are cli)bing the )asts, others hurrying up and do+n the gang+ays, others pu)ping out the bilge +ater, he sits 1uietly in the stern holding the tiller. 3e does not do +hat young

)en do> ne*ertheless he does +hat is )uch )ore i)portant and better. The great aairs o lie are not

peror)ed by physical strength, or acti*ity, or ni)bleness o body, but by deliberation, character,e(pression o opinion. O these old age is not only not depri*ed, but, as a rule, has the) in a greater

degree. Gnless by any chance 0, +ho as a soldier in the ranks, as )ilitary tribune, as legate, and as

consul ha*e been e)ployed in *arious kinds o +ar, no+ appear to you to be idle because not acti*elyengaged in +ar. 2ut 0 en4oin upon the Senate +hat is to be done, and ho+. Carthage has long been

harbouring e*il designs, and 0 accordingly proclai) +ar against her in good ti)e. 0 shall ne*er cease to

entertain ears about her till 0 bear o her ha*ing been le*elled +ith the ground. The glory o doing that0 pray that the i))ortal gods )ay reser*e or you, Scipio, so that you )ay co)plete the task begun by

your grand6ather, no+ dead )ore than thirty6t+o years ago> though all years to co)e +ill keep that

great )an's )e)ory green. 3e died in the year beore )y censorship, nine years ater )y consulship,

ha*ing been returned consul or the second ti)e in )y o+n consulship. 0 then he had li*ed to hishundredth year, +ould he ha*e regretted ha*ing li*ed to be old For he +ould o course not ha*e been

practising rapid )arches, nor dashing on a oe, nor hurling spears ro) a distance, nor using s+ords at

close 1uarters6but only counsel, reason, and senatorial elo1uence. And i those 1ualities had not residedin us :seniors:, our ancestors +ould ne*er ha*e called their supre)e council a Senate. At Sparta,

indeed, those +ho hold the highest )agistracies are in accordance +ith the act actually called =elders.=

2ut i you +ill take the trouble to read or listen to oreign history, you +ill ind that the )ightiest Statesha*e been brought into peril by young )en, ha*e been supported and restored by old. The 1uestion

occurs in the poet ae*ius's :Sport:5

9ray, +ho are those +ho brought your State -ith such despatch to )eet its ate



There is a long ans+er, but this is the chie point5

A crop o brand6ne+ orators +e gre+, And oolish, paltry lads +ho thought they kne+.

For o course rashness is the note o youth, prudence o old age.

. 2ut, it is said, )e)ory d+indles. o doubt, unless you keep it in practice, or i you happen to beso)e+hat dull by nature. The)istocles had the na)es o all his ello+6citiens by heart. o you

i)agine that in his old age he used to address Aristides as 7ysi)achus For )y part, 0 kno+ not only

the present generation, but their athers also, and their grandathers. or ha*e 0 any ear o losing )y)e)ory by reading to)bstones, according to the *ulgar superstition. On the contrary, by reading the)

0 rene+ )y )e)ory o those +ho are dead and gone. or, in point o act, ha*e 0 e*er heard o any old

)an orgetting +here he had hidden his )oney. They re)e)ber e*erything that interests the)5 +hen toans+er to their bail, business appoint)ents, +ho o+es the) )oney, and to +ho) they o+e it. -hat

about la+yers, pontis, augurs, philosophers, +hen old -hat a )ultitude o things they re)e)ber<

Old )en retain their intellects +ell enough, i only they keep their )inds acti*e and ully e)ployed. or is that the case only +ith )en o high position and great oice5 it applies e1ually to pri*ate lie and

peaceul pursuits. Sophocles co)posed tragedies to e(tre)e old age> and being belie*ed to neglect the

care o his property o+ing to his de*otion to his art, his sons brought hi) into court to get a 4udicial

decision depri*ing hi) o the )anage)ent o his property on the ground o +eak intellect 66 4ust as inour la+ it is custo)ary to depri*e a patera)ilias o the )anage)ent o his property i he is

s1uandering it. There6upon the old poet is said to ha*e read to the 4udges the play he had on hand and

had 4ust co)posed 66 the :Oedipus Coloneus: 66 and to ha*e asked the) +hether they thought that the+ork o a )an o +eak intellect. Ater the reading he +as ac1uitted by the 4ury. id old age then

co)pel this )an to beco)e silent in his particular art, or 3o)er, 3esiod, Si)onides, or 0socrates and

8orgias +ho) 0 )entioned beore, or the ounders o schools o philosophy, 9ythagoras, e)ocritus,9lato, Henocrates, or later Ieno and Cleanthus, or iogenes the Stoic, +ho) you too sa+ at /o)e 0s

it not rather the case +ith all these that the acti*e pursuit o study only ended +ith lie

2ut, to pass o*er these subli)e studies, 0 can na)e so)e rustic /o)ans ro) the Sabine district,

neighbours and riends o )y o+n, +ithout +hose presence ar) +ork o i)portance is scarcely e*er peror)ed6+hether so+ing, or har*esting or storing crops. And yet in other things this s' less

surprising> or no one is so old as to think that he )ay not li*e a year. 2ut they besto+ their labour on

+hat they kno+ does not aect the) in any case53e plants his trees to ser*e a race to co)e,

as our poet Statius says in his Co)rades. or indeed +ould a ar)er, ho+e*er old, hesitate to ans+er

any one +ho asked hi) or +ho) he +as planting5 =For the i))ortal gods, +hose +ill it +as that 0should not )erely recei*e these things ro) )y ancestors, but should also hand the) on to the ne(t

generation.=

D. That re)ark about the old )an is better than the ollo+ing50 age brought nothing +orse than this, 0t +ere enough to )ar our bliss, That he +ho bides or )any

years Sees )uch to shun and )uch or tears.

;es, and perhaps )uch that gi*es hi) pleasure too. 2esides, as to sub4ects or tears, he oten co)es

upon the) in youth as +ell.A still )ore 1uestionable senti)ent in the sa)e Caecilius is5

o greater )isery can o age be told Than this5 be sure, the young dislike the old.

elight in the) is nearer the )ark than dislike. For Just as old )en, i they are +ise, take pleasure inthe society o young )en o good parts, and as old age is rendered less dreary or those +ho are courted

and liked by the youth, so also do young )en ind pleasure in the )a(i)s o the old, by +hich they are

dra+n to the pursuit o e(cellence. or do 0 percei*e that you ind )y society less pleasant than 0 doyours. 2ut this is enough to sho+ you ho+, so ar ro) being listless and sluggish, old age is e*en a

busy ti)e, al+ays doing and atte)pting so)ething, o course o the sa)e nature as each )an's taste

had been in the pre*ious part o his lie. ay, do not so)e e*en add to their stock o learning -e see



Solon, or instance, boasting in his poe)s that he gro+s old =daily learning so)ething ne+.= Or again

in )y o+n case, it +as only +hen an old )an that 0 beca)e ac1uainted +ith 8reek literature, +hich in

act 0 absorbed +ith such a*idity6in )y yearning to 1uench, as it +ere, a long6continued thirst6that 0

beca)e ac1uainted +ith the *ery acts +hich you see )e no+ using as precedents. -hen 0 heard +hatSocrates had done about the lyre 0 should ha*e liked or )y part to ha*e done that too, or the ancients

used to learn the lyre but, at any rate, 0 +orked hard at literature.





9re*ious section #K ## #$ e(t section

. or, again, do 0 no+ M0SS T3E 2O07; ST/E8T3 OF A ;OG8 MA !or that +as thesecond point as to the disad*antages o old age" any )ore than as a young )an 0 )issed the strength o

a bull or an elephant. ;ou should use +hat you ha*e, and +hate*er you )ay chance to be doing, do it

+ith all your )ight. -hat could be +eaker than Milo o Croton's e(cla)ation -hen in his old age he

+as +atching so)e athletes practising in the course, he is said to ha*e looked at his ar)s and to ha*ee(clai)ed +ith tears in his eyes5 =Ah +ell< these are no+ as good as dead.= ot a bit )ore so than

yoursel, you triler< For at no ti)e +ere you )ade a)ous by your real sel, but by chest and biceps.

Se(t. Aelius ne*er ga*e *ent to such a re)ark, nor, )any years beore hi), Titus Coruncanius, nor,)ore recently, 9. Crassus6all o the) learned 4uris6consults in acti*e practice, +hose kno+ledge o their

proession +as )aintained to their last breath. 0 a) araid an orator does lose *igour by old age, or his

art is not a )atter o the intellect alone, but o lungs and bodily strength. Though as a rule that )usicalring in the *oice e*en gains in brilliance in a certain +ay as one gro+s old6certainly 0 ha*e not yet lost

it, and you see )y years. ;et ater all the style o speech suitable to an old )an is the 1uiet and

une)otional, and it oten happens that the chastened and cal) deli*ery o an old )an elo1uent securesa hearing. 0 you cannot attain to that yoursel, you )ight still instruct a Scipio and a 7aelius. For +hat

is )ore char)ing than old age surrounded by the enthusias) o youth Shall +e not allo+ old age e*en

the strength to teach the young, to train and e1uip the) or all the duties o lie And +hat can be a

nobler e)ploy)ent For )y part, 0 used to think 9ublius and 8naeus Scipio and your t+o grandathers,7. Ae)ilius and 9. Aricanus, ortunate )en +hen 0 sa+ the) +ith a co)pany o young nobles about

the). or should +e think any teachers o the ine arts other+ise than happy, ho+e*er )uch their

bodily orces )ay ha*e decayed and ailed. And yet that sa)e ailure o the bodily orces is )ore oten brought about by the *ices o youth than o old age> or a dissolute and inte)perate youth hands do+n

the body to old age in a +orn6out state. Henophon's Cyrus, or instance, in his discourse deli*ered on

his death6bed and at a *ery ad*anced age, says that he ne*er percei*ed his old age to ha*e beco)e+eaker than his youth had been. 0 re)e)ber as a boy 7ucius Metellus, +ho ha*ing been created

9ontie( Ma(i)us our years ater his second consul6ship, held that oice t+enty6t+o years, en4oying

such e(cellent strength o body in the *ery last hours o his lie as not to )iss his youth. 0 need not



speak o )ysel> though that indeed is an old )an's +ay and is generally allo+ed to )y ti)e o lie.

on't you see in 3o)er ho+ re1uently estor talks o his o+n good 1ualities For he +as li*ing

through a third generation> nor had he any reason to ear that upon saying +hat +as true about hi)sel

he should appear either o*er *ain or talkati*e. For, as 3o)er says, =ro) his lips lo+ed discourses+eeter than honey,= or +hich s+eet breath he +anted no bodily strength. And yet, ater all, the

a)ous leader o the 8reeks no+here +ishes to ha*e ten )en like A4a(, but like estor5 i he could get

the), he eels no doubt o Troy shortly alling.#K. 2ut to return to )y o+n case5 0 a) in )y eighty6ourth year. 0 could +ish that 0 had been able to

)ake the sa)e boast as Cyrus> but, ater all, 0 can say this5 0 a) not indeed as *igorous as 0 +as as a

pri*ate soldier in the 9unic +ar, or as 1uaestor in the sa)e +ar, or as consul in Spain, and our yearslater +hen as a )ilitary tribune 0 took part in the engage)ent at Ther)opylae under the consul Manius

Acilius 8labrio> but yet, as you see, old age has not entirely destroyed )y )uscles, has not 1uite

brought )e to the ground. The Senate6house does not ind all )y *igour gone, nor the rostra, nor )yriends, nor )y clients, nor )y oreign guests. For 0 ha*e ne*er gi*en in to that ancient and )uch6

praised pro*erb5

Old +hen young 0s old or long.

For )ysel, 0 had rather be an old )an a so)e+hat shorter ti)e than an old )an :beore: )y ti)e.Accordingly, no one up to the present has +ished to see )e, to +ho) 0 ha*e been denied as engaged.

2ut, it )ay be said, 0 ha*e less strength than either o you. either ha*e you the strength o the

centurion T. 9ontius5 is he the )ore e)inent )an on that account 7et there be only a properhusbanding o strength, and let each )an proportion his eorts to his po+ers. Such an one +ill

assuredly not be possessed +ith any great regret or his loss o strength. At Oly)pia Milo is said to

ha*e stepped into the course carrying a li*e o( on his shoulders. -hich then o the t+o +ould you preer to ha*e gi*en to you6bodily strength like that, or intellectual strength like that o 9ythagoras 0n

ine, en4oy that blessing +hen you ha*e it> +hen it is gone, don't +ish it back6unless +e are to think

that young )en should +ish their childhood back, and those so)e+hat older their youth< The course o

lie is i(ed, and nature ad)its o its being run but in one +ay, and only once> and to each part o ourlie there is so)ething specially seasonable> so that the eebleness o children, as +ell as the high spirit

o youth, the soberness o )aturer years, and the ripe +isdo) o old age6all ha*e a certain natural

ad*antage +hich should be secured in its proper season. 0 think you are inor)ed, Scipio, +hat yourgrandather's oreign riend Masinissa does to this day, though ninety years old. -hen he has once

begun a 4ourney on oot he does not )ount his horse at all> +hen on horseback he ne*er gets o his

horse. 2y no rain or cold can he be induced to co*er his head. 3is body is absolutely ree ro)unhealthy hu)ours, and so he still peror)s all the duties and unctions o a king. Acti*e e(ercise,

thereore, and te)perance can preser*e so)e part o one's or)er strength e*en in old age.

##. 2odily strength is +anting to old age> but neither is bodily strength de)anded ro) old )en.Thereore, both by la+ and custo), )en o )y ti)e o lie are e(e)pt ro) those duties +hich cannot

be supported +ithout bodily strength. Accordingly not only are +e not orced to do +hat +e cannot do>

+e are not e*en obliged to do as )uch as +e can. 2ut, it +ill be said, )any old )en are so eeble that

they cannot peror) any duty in lie o any sort or kind. That is not a +eakness to be set do+n as peculiar to B#d age5 it is one shared by ill health. 3o+ eeble +as the son o 9. Aricanus, +ho adopted

you< -hat +eak health he had, or rather no health at all< 0 that had not been the case, +e should ha*e

had in hi) a second brilliant light in the political horion> or he had added a +ider culti*ation to hisather's greatness o spirit. -hat +onder, then, that old )en are e*entually eeble, +hen e*en young

)en cannot escape it My dear 7aelius and Scipio, +e )ust stand up against old age and )ake up or

its dra+backs by taking pains. -e )ust ight it as +e should an illness. -e )ust look ater our health,use )oderate e(ercise, take 4ust enough ood and drink to recruit, but not to o*erload, our strength. or

is it the body alone that )ust be supported, but the intellect and soul )uch )ore. For they are like

la)ps5 unless you eed the) +ith oil, they too go out ro) old age. Again, the body is apt to get gross



ro) e(ercise> but the intellect beco)es ni)bler by e(ercising itsel. For +hat Caecilius )eans by =old

dotards o the co)ic stage = are the credulous, the orgetul, and the slipshod. These are aults that do

not attach to old age as such, but to a sluggish, spiritless, and sleepy old age. ;oung )en are )ore

re1uently +anton and dissolute than old )en> but yet, as it is not all young )en that are so, but the badset a)ong the), e*en so senile olly6usually called i)becility6applies to old )en o unsound character,

not to all. Appius go*erned our sturdy sons, i*e daughters, that great establish)ent, and all those

clients, though he +as both old and blind. For he kept his )ind at ull stretch like a ho+, and ne*erga*e in to old age by gro+ing slack. 3e )aintained not )erely an inluence, but an absolute co))and

o*er his a)ily5 his sla*es eared hi), his sons +ere in a+e o hi), all lo*ed hi). 0n that a)ily,

indeed, ancestral custo) and discipline +ere in ull *igour. The act is that old age is respectable 4ust aslong as it asserts itsel, )aintains its proper rights, and is not ensla*ed to any one. For as 0 ad)ire a

young )an +ho has so)ething o the old )an in hi), so do 0 an old one +ho has so)ething o a young

)an. The )an +ho ai)s at this )ay possibly beco)e old in body6in )ind he ne*er +ill. 0 a) no+engaged in co)posing the se*enth book o )y :Origins:. 0 collect all the records o anti1uity. The

speeches deli*ered in all the celebrated cases +hich 0 ha*e deended 0 a) at this particular ti)e getting

into shape or publication. 0 a) +riting treatises on augural, pontiical, and ci*il la+. 0 a), besides,





9re*ious section #% #& #@ #B e(t section

#%. 0 ha*e oten been told by )en older than )ysel, +ho said that they had heard it as boys ro) old)en, that 8aius Fabricius +as in the habit o e(pressing astonish)ent at ha*ing heard, +hen en*oy at

the head1uarters o king 9yrrhus, ro) the Thessalian Cineas, that there +as a )an o Athens +ho

proessed to be a =philosopher,= and air)ed that e*erything +e did +as to be reerred to pleasure.-hen he told this to Manius Curius and 9ublius ecius, they used to re)ark that they +ished that the

Sa)nites and 9yrrhus hi)sel +ould hold the sa)e opinion. 0t +ould be )uch easier to con1uer the),

i they had once gi*en the)sel*es o*er to sensual indulgences. Manius Curius had been inti)ate +ith

9. ecius, +ho our years beore the or)er's consulship had de*oted hi)sel to death or the /epublic.2oth Fabricius and Coruncanius kne+ hi) also, and ro) the e(perience o their o+n li*es, as +ell as

ro) the action o 9. ecius, they +ere o opinion that there did e(ist so)ething intrinsically noble and

great, +hich +as sought or its o+n sake, and at +hich all the best )en ai)ed, to the conte)pt andneglect o pleasure. -hy then do 0 spend so )any +ords on the sub4ect o pleasure -hy, because, ar

ro) being a charge against old age, that it does not )uch eel the +ant o any pleasures, it is its

highest praise.2ut, you +ill say, it is depri*ed o the pleasures o the table, the heaped up board, the rapid passing o

the +ine6cup. -ell, then, it is also ree ro) headache, disordered digestion, broken sleep. 2ut i +e

)ust grant pleasure so)ething, since +e do not ind it easy to resist its char)s,6or 9lato, +ith happy



inspiration, calls pleasure =*ice's bait,= because o course )en are caught by it as ish by a hook,6yet,

although old age has to abstain ro) e(tra*agant ban1uets, it is still capable o en4oying )odest

esti*ities. As a boy 0 oten used to see 8aius uilius the son o Marcus, then an old )ali, returning

ro) a dinner6party. 3e thoroughly en4oyed the re1uent use o torch and lute6player, distinctions+hich he had assu)ed though unprecedented in the case o a pri*ate person. 0t +as the pri*ilege o his

glory. 2ut +hy )ention others 0 +ill co)e back to )y o+n case. To begin +ith, 0 ha*e al+ays

re)ained a )e)ber o a =club =6clubs, you kno+, +ere established in )y 1uaestorship on the receptiono the Magna Mater ro) 0da. So 0 used to dine at their east +ith the )e)bers o )y club6on the

+hole +ith )oderation, though there +as a certain +ar)th o te)pera)ent natural to )y ti)e o lie>

but as that ad*ances there is a daily decrease o all e(cite)ent. or +as 0, in act, e*er +ont to )easure)y en4oy)ent e*en o these ban1uets by the physical pleasures they ga*e )ore than by the gathering

and con*ersation o riends. For it +as a good idea o our ancestors to style the presence o guests at a

dinner6table6seeing that it i)plied a co))unity o en4oy)ent6a :con*i*iu):, =a li*ing together.= 0t is a better ter) than the 8reek +ords +hich )ean =a drinking together,= or, =an eating together.= For they

+ould see) to gi*e the preerence to +hat is really the least i)portant part o it.

#&. For )ysel, o+ing to the pleasure 0 take in con*ersation, 0 en4oy e*en ban1uets that begin early in

the aternoon, and not only in co)pany +ith )y conte)poraries6o +ho) *ery e+ sur*i*e6but also+ith )en o your age and +ith yoursel*es. 0 a) thankul to old age, +hich has increased )y a*idity or

con*ersation, +hile it has re)o*ed that or eating and drinking. 2ut i anyone does en4oy these6not to

see) to ha*e proclai)ed +ar against all pleasure +ithout e(ception, +hich is perhaps a eeling inspired by nature60 ail to percei*e e*en in these *ery pleasures that old age is entirely +ithout the po+er o

appreciation. For )ysel, 0 take delight e*en in the old6ashioned appoint)ent o )aster o the east>

and in the arrange)ent o the con*ersation, +hich according to ancestral custo) is begun ro) the last place on the let6hand couch +hen the +ine is brought in> as also in the cups +hich, as in Henophon's

ban1uet, are s)all and illed by driblets> and in the contri*ance or cooling in su))er, and or +ar)ing

hy the +inter sun or +inter ire. These things 0 keep up e*en a)ong )y Sabine country)en, and e*ery

day ha*e a ull dinner6party o neighbours, +hich +e prolong as ar into the night as +e can +ith *ariedcon*ersation.

2ut you )ay urge6there is not the sa)e tingling sensation o pleasure in old )en. o doubt> but neither

do they )iss it so )uch. For nothing gi*es you uneasiness +hich you do not )iss. That +as a ineans+er o Sophocles to a )an +ho asked hi), +hen in e(tre)e old age, +hether he +as still a lo*er.

=3ea*en orbid<= he replied> =0 +as only too glad to escape ro) that, as though ro) a boorish and

insane )aster.= To )en indeed +ho are keen ater such things it )ay possibly appear disagreeable andunco)ortable to be +ithout the)> but to 4aded appetites it is pleasanter to lack than to en4oy. 3o+e*er,

he cannot be said to lack +ho does not +ant5 )y contention is that not to +ant is the pleasanter thing.

2ut e*en granting that youth en4oys these pleasures +ith )ore est> in the irst place, they areinsigniicant things to en4oy, as 0 ha*e said> and itL the second place, such as age is not entirely +ithout,

i it does not possess the) in prousion. Just as a )an gets greater pleasure ro) A)bi*ius Turpio i

seated in the ront ro+ at the theatre than i he +as in the last, yet, ater all, the )an in the last ro+ does

get pleasure> so youth, because it looks at pleasures at closer 1uarters, perhaps en4oys itsel )ore, yete*en old age, looking at the) ro) a distance, does en4oy itsel +ell enough. -hy, +hat blessings are

these6that the soul, ha*ing ser*ed its ti)e, so to speak, in the ca)paigns o desire and a)bition, ri*alry

and hatred, and all the passions, should li*e in its o+n thoughts, and, as the e(pression goes, shouldd+ell apart< 0ndeed, i it has in store any o +hat 0 )ay call the ood o study and philosophy, nothing

can be pleasanter than an old age o leisure. -e +ere +itnesses to C. 8allus6a riend o your ather's,

Scipio6intent to the day o his death on )apping out the sky and land. 3o+ oten did the light surprisehi) +hile still +orking out a proble) begun during the night< 3o+ oten did night ind hi) busy on

+hat he had begun at da+n< 3o+ he delighted in predicting or us solar and lunar eclipses long beore

they occurred< Or again in studies o a lighter nature, though still re1uiring keenness o intellect, +hat



pleasure ae*ius took in his :9unic -ar:< 9lautus in his :Truculentus: and :9seudolus:< 0 e*en sa+

7i*ius Andronicus, +ho, ha*ing produced a play si( years beore 0 +as born6in the consulship o Cento

and Tuditanus6li*ed till 0 had beco)e a young )an. -hy speak o 9ublius 7icinius Crassus's de*otion

to pontiical and ci*il la+, or o the 9ublius Scipio o the present ti)e, +ho +ithin these last e+ dayshas been created 9ontie( Ma(i)us And yet 0 ha*e seen all +ho) 0 ha*e )entioned ardent in these

pursuits +hen old )en. Then there is Marcus Cethegus, +ho) Ennius 4ustly called =9ersuasion's

Marro+ =6+ith +hat enthusias) did +e see hi) e(ert hi)sel in oratory e*en +hen 1uite old< -hat pleasures are there 'n easts, ga)es, or )istresses co)parable to pleasures such as these And they are

all tastes, too, connected +ith learning, +hich in )en o sense and good education gro+ +ith their

gro+th. 0t is indeed an honourable senti)ent +hich Solon e(presses in a *erse +hich 0 ha*e 1uoted beore6that he gre+ old learning )any a resh lesson e*ery day. Than that intellectual pleasure none

certainly can be greater.

#@. 0 co)e no+ to the pleasures o the ar)er, in +hich take a)aing delight. These are not hindered by any e(tent o old age, and see) to )e to approach nearest to' the ideal +ise )an's lie. For he has to

deal +ith the earth, +hich ne*er reuses its obedience, nor e*er returns +hat it has recei*ed +ithout

usury> so)eti)es, indeed, +ith less, but generally +ith greater interest. For )y part, ho+e*er. it is not

)erely the thing produced, but the earth's o+n orce and natural producti*eness that delight )e. Forrecei*ed in its boso) the seed scattered broadcast upon it, sotened and broken up, she irst keeps it

concealed therein !hence the harro+ing +hich acco)plishes this gets its na)e ro) a +ord )eaning

=to hide="> ne(t, +hen it has been +ar)ed by her heat and close pressure, she splits it open and dra+sro) it the greenery o the blade. This, supported by the ibres o the root, little by little gro+s up, and

held upright by its 4ointed stalk is enclosed in sheaths, as being still i))ature. -hen it has e)erged

ro) the) it produces an ear o corn arranged in order, and is deended against the pecking o thes)aller birds by a regular palisade o spikes.

eed 0 )ention the starting, planting, and gro+th o *ines 0 can ne*er ha*e too )uch o this pleasure6

to let you into the secret o +hat gi*es )y old age repose and a)use)ent. For 0 say nothing here o the

natural orce +hich all things propagated ro) the earth possess6the earth +hich ro) that tiny grain ina ig, or the grape6stone in a grape, or the )ost )inute seeds o the other cereals and plants, produces

such huge trunks and boughs. Mallet6shoots, slips, cuttings, 1uicksets, layers6are they not enough to ill

anyone +ith delight and astonish)ent The *ine by nature is apt to all, and unless supported dropsdo+n to the earth> yet in order to keep itsel upright it e)braces +hate*er it reaches +ith its tendrils as

though they +ere hands. Then as it creeps on, spreading itsel in intricate and +ild prousion, the

dresser's art prunes it +ith the knie and pre*ents it gro+ing a orest o shoots and e(panding to e(cessin e*ery direction. Accordingly at the beginning o spring in the shoots +hich ha*e been let there

protrudes at each o the 4oints +hat is ter)ed an Fro) this the grape e)erges and sho+s itsel> +hich,

s+ollen by the 4uice o the earth and the heat o the sun, is at irst *ery bitter to the taste, but ater+ardsgro+s s+eet as it )atures> and being co*ered +ith tendrils is ne*er +ithout a )oderate +ar)th, and yet

is able to +ard o the iery heat o the sun. Can anything be richer in product or )ore beautiul to

conte)plate 0t is not its utility only, as 0 said beore, that char)s )e, but the )ethod o its culti*ation

and the natural process o its gro+th5 the ro+s o uprights, the cross6pieces or the tops o the plants,the tying up o the *ines and their propagation by layers, the pruning, to +hich 0 ha*e already reerred,

o so)e shoots, the setting o others. 0 need hardly )ention irrigation, or trenching and digging the soil,

+hich )uch increase its ertility. As to the ad*antages o )anuring 0 ha*e spoken in )y book onagriculture. The learned 3esiod did not say a single +ord on this sub4ect, though he +as +riting on the

culti*ation o the soil> yet 3o)er, +ho in )y opinion +as )any generations earlier, represents 7aertes

as sotening his regret or his son by culti*ating and )anuring his ar). or is it only in cornields and)eado+s and *ineyards and plantations that a ar)er's lie is )ade cheerul. There are the garden and

the orchard, the eeding o sheep, the s+ar)s o bees, endless *arieties o lo+ers. or is it only

planting out that char)s5 there is also grating6surely the )ost ingenious in*ention e*er )ade by



husband)en.

iB. 0 )ight continue )y list o the delights o country lie> but e*en +hat 0 ha*e said 0 think is

so)e+hat o*er long. 3o+e*er, you )ust pardon )e> or ar)ing is a *ery a*ourite hobby o )ine,

and old age is naturally rather garrulous6or 0 +ould not be thought to ac1uit it o all aults.-ell, it +as in a lie o this sort that Manius Curius, ater celebrating triu)phs o*er the Sa)nites, the

Sabines, and 9yrrhus, spent his last days. -hen 0 look at his *illa6or it is not ar ro) )y o+n60 ne*er

can enough ad)ire the )an's o+n rugality or the spirit o the age. As Curius +as sitting at his hearththe Sa)nites, +ho brought hi) a large su) o gold, +ere repulsed by hi)> or it +as not, lie said, a

ine thing in his eyes to possess gold, but to rule those +ho possessed it. Could such a high spirit ail to

)ake old age pleasant2ut to return to ar)ers6not to +ander ro) )y o+n )etier. Tn those days there +ere senators, :i. e:.

old )en, on their ar)s. For 7. ?uinctius Cincinnatus +as actually at the plough +hen +ord +as

brought hi) that he had been na)ed ictator. 0t +as by his order as ictator, by the +ay, that C.Ser*ilius Ahala, the Master o the 3orse, seied and put to death Spurius Maelius +hen atte)pting to

obtain royal po+er. Curius as +ell as other old )en used to recei*e their su))onses to attend the

Senate in their ar)6houses, ro) +hich circu)stance the su))oners +ere called :*iatores: or

=tra*ellers.= -as these )en's old age an ob4ect o pity +ho ound their pleasure in the culti*ation o theland 0n )y opinion, scarcely any lie can be )ore blessed, not alone ro) its utility !or agriculture is

beneicial to the +hole hu)an race", but also as )uch ro) the )ere pleasure o the thing, to +hich 0

ha*e already alluded, and ro) the rich abundance and supply o all things necessary or the ood o)an and or the +orship o the gods abo*e. So, as these are ob4ects o desire to certain people, let us

)ake our peace +ith pleasure. For the good and hard6+orking ar)er's +ine6cellar and oil6store, as

+ell as his larder, are al+ays +ell illed, and his +hole ar)6house is richly urnished. 0t abounds in pigs, goats, la)bs, o+ls, )ilk, cheese, and. honey. Then there is the garden, +hich the ar)ers

the)sel*es call their = second litch.= A est and la*our is added to all these by hunting and o+ling in

spare hours. eed 0 )ention the greenery o )eado+s, the ro+s o trees, the beauty o *ineyard and

oli*e6gro*e 0 '+ill put it briely5 nothing can either urnish necessaries )ore richly, or present a airerspectacle, than +ell6culti*ated land. And to the en4oy)ent o that, old age does not )erely present no

hindrance6it actually in*ites and allures to it. For +here else can it better +ar) itsel, either by basking

in the sun or by sitting by the ire, or at the proper ti)e cool itsel )ore +holeso)ely by the help oshade or +ater 7et the young keep their ar)s then to the)sel*es, their horses, spears, their oils and

ball, their s+i))ing baths and running path. To us old )en let the), out o the )any or)s o sport,

lea*e dice and counters> but e*en that as they choose, since old age can be 1uite happy +ithout the).





9re*ious section # #D # $K e(t section



#. Henophon's books are *ery useul or )any purposes. 9ray go on reading the) +ith attention, as

you ha*e e*er done. 0n +hat a)ple ter)s is agriculture lauded by hi) in the book about husbanding

one's property, +hich is called :Oceono)icus:< 2ut to sho+ you that he thought nothing so +orthy o

a prince as the taste or culti*ating the soil, 0 +ill translate +hat Socrates says to Critobulus in that book5

=-hen that )ost gallant 7acedae)onian 7ysander ca)e to *isit the 9ersian prince Cyrus at Sardis, so

e)inent or his character and the glory o his rule, bringing hi) presents ro) his allies, he treated7ysander in all +ays +ith courteous a)iliarity and kindness, and, a)ong other things, took hi) to see

a certain park careully planted. 7ysander e(pressed ad)iration o the height o the trees and the e(act

arrange)ent o their ro+s in the 1uincun(, the careul culti*ation o the soil, its reedo) ro) +eeds,and the s+eetness o the odours e(haled ro) the lo+ers, and +ent on to say that +hat he ad)ired +as

not the industry only, but also the skill o the )an by +ho) this had been planned and laid out. Cyrus

replied5 '-ell, it +as 0 +ho planned the +hole thing these ro+s are )y doing, the laying out is all )ine>)any o the trees +ere e*en planted by o+n hand.' Then 7ysander, looking at his purple robe, the

brilliance o his person, and his adorn)ent 9ersian ashion +ith gold and )any 4e+els, said5 '9eople are

1uite right, Cyrus, to call you happy, since the ad*antages o high ortune ha*e been 4oined to an

e(cellence like yours.'=This kind o good ortune, then, it is in the po+er o old )en to en4oy> nor is age any bar to our

)aintaining pursuits o e*ery other kind, and especially o agriculture, to the *ery e(tre)e *erge o old

age. For instance, +e ha*e it on record that M. alerius Cor*us kept it up to his hundredth year, li*ingon his land and culti*ating it ater his acti*e career +as o*er, though bet+een his irst and si(th

consulships there +as an inter*al o si( and orty years. So that he had an oicial career lasting the

nu)ber o years +hich our ancestors deined as co)ing bet+een birth and the beginning o old age.Moreo*er, that last period o his old age +as )ore blessed than that o his )iddle lie, inas)uch as he

had greater inluence and less labour. For the cro+ning grace o old age is inluence.

3o+ great +as that o 7. Caecilius Metellus< 3o+ great that o Atilius Calatinus, o*er +ho) the

a)ous epitaph +as placed, =ery )any classes agree in dee)ing this to ha*e been the *ery irst )ano the nation=< The line cut on his to)b is +ell kno+n. 0t is natural, then, that a )an should ha*e had

inluence, in +hose praise the *erdict o history is unani)ous. Again, in recent ti)es, +hat a great )an

+as 9ublius Crassus, 9ontie( Ma(i)us, and his successor in the sa)e oice, M. 7epidus< 0 needscarcely )ention 9aulus or Aricanus, or, as 0 did beore, Ma(i)us. 0t +as not only their senatorial

utterances that had +eight5 their least gesture had it also. 0n act, old age, especially +hen it has

en4oyed honours, has an inluence +orth all the pleasures o youth put together.#D. 2ut throughout )y discourse re)e)ber that )y panegyric applies to an old age that has been

established on oundations laid by youth. Fro) +hich )ay be deduced +hat 0 once said +ith uni*ersal

applause, that it +as a +retched old age that had to deend itsel by speech. either +hite hairs nor+rinkles can at once clai) inluence in the)sel*es5 it is the honourable conduct o earlier days that is

re+arded by possessing inluence at the last. E*en things generally regarded as triling and )atters o

course6being saluted, being courted, ha*ing +ay )ade or one, people rising +hen one approaches,

being escorted to and ro) the oru), being reerred to or ad*ice6all these are )arks o respect,obser*ed a)ong us and in other States6al+ays )ost sedulously +here the )oral tone is highest. They

say that 7ysander the Spartan, +ho) 0 ha*e )entioned beore, used to re)ark that Sparta +as the )ost

digniied ho)e or old age> or that no+here +as )ore respect paid to years, no6+here +as old ageheld in higher honour. ay, the story is told o ho+ +hen a )an o ad*anced years ca)e into the

theatre at Athens +hen the ga)es +ere going on, no place +as gi*en hi) any+here in that large

asse)bly by his o+n country)en> but +hen he ca)e near the 7acedae)onians, +ho as a)bassadorshad a i(ed place assigned to the), they rose as one )an out o respect or hi), and ga*e the *eteran a

seat. -hen they +ere greeted +ith rounds o applause ro) the +hole audience, one o the) re)arked5

=The Athenians kno+ +hat is right, but +ill not do it.= There are )any e(cellent rules in our augural



college, but a)ong the best is one +hich aects our sub4ect6that precedence in speech goes by

seniority> and augurs +ho are older are preerred only to those +ho ha*e held higher oice, but e*en to

those +ho are actually in possession o i)periu). -hat then are the physical pleasures to be co)pared

+ith the re+ard o inluence Those +ho ha*e e)ployed it +ith distinction appear to )e to ha*e playedthe dra)a o lie to its end, and not to ha*e broken do+n in the last act like unpractised players.

2ut, it +ill be said, old )en are retul, idgety, ill6te)pered, and disagreeable. 0 you co)e to that, they

are also a*aricious. 2ut these are aults o character, not o the ti)e o lie. And, ater all, retulnessand the other aults 0 )entioned ad)it o so)e e(cuse6not, indeed, a co)plete one, but one that )ay

possibly pass )uster5 they think the)6sel*es neglected, looked do+n upon, )ocked, 2esides +ith

bodily +eakness e*ery rub is a source o pain. ;et all these aults are sotened both by good characterand good education. 0llustrations o this )ay be ound in real lie, as also on the stage in the case o the

brothers in the :Adeiphi:. -hat harshness in the one, +hat gracious )anners in the other The act is

that, 4ust as it is not e*ery +ine, so it is not e*ery lie, that turns sour ro) keeping, Serious gra*ity 0appro*e o in old age, but, as in other things, it )ust be +ithin due li)its5 bitterness 0 can in no case

appro*e. -hat the ob4ect o senile a*arice )ay be 0 cannot concei*e. For can there be anything )ore

absurd than to seek )ore 4ourney )oney, the less there re)ains o the 4ourney

#. There re)ains the ourth reason, +hich )ore than anything else appears to tor)ent )en o )y ageand keep the) in a lutter6T3E EA/ESS OF EAT3, +hich, it )ust be allo+ed, cannot be ar

ro) an old )an. 2ut +hat a poor dotard )ust he be +ho has not learnt in the course o so long a lie

that death is not a thing to be eared eath, that is either to be totally disregarded, i it entirelye(tinguishes the soul, or is e*en to be desired, i it brings hi) +here he is to e(ist ore*er. A third

alternati*e, at any rate, cannot possibly be disco*ered. -hy then should 0 be araid i 0 a) destined

either not to be )iserable ater death or e*en to be happy Ater all, +ho is such a ool as to eelcertain6ho+e*er young he )ay be6that he +ill be ali*e in the e*ening ay, that ti)e o lie has )any

)ore chances o death than ours, ;oung )en )ore easily contract diseases> their illnesses are )ore

serious> their treat)ent has to be )ore se*ere. Accordingly, only a e+ arri*e at old age. 0 that +ere

not so, lie +ould be conducted better and )ore +isely> or it is in old )en that thought, reason, and prudence are to be ound> and i there had been no old )en, States +ould ne*er ha*e e(isted at all. 2ut

0 return to the sub4ect o the i))inence o death. -hat sort o charge is this against old age, +hen you

see that it is shared by youth 0 had reason in the case o )y e(cellent son6as you had, Scipio, in that o your brothers, +ho +ere e(pected to attain the highest honours6to realise that death is co))on to e*ery

ti)e o lie. ;es, you +ill say> but a young )an e(pects to li*e long> an old )an cannot e(pect to do so.

-ell, he is a ool to e(pect it. For +hat can be )ore oolish than to regard the uncertain as certain, thealse as true =An old )an has nothing e*en to hope.= Ah, but it is 4ust there that he is in a better

position than a young )an, since +hat the latter only hopes he has obtained. The one +ishes to li*e

long> the other has li*ed long.And yet, good hea*en< +hat is =long= in a )an's lie For grant the ut)ost li)it5 let us e(pect an age

like that o the Ning o the Tartessi. For there +as, as 0 ind recorded, a certain Agathonius at 8ades

+ho reigned eighty years and li*ed a hundred and t+enty. 2ut to )y )ind nothing see)s e*en long in

+hich there is any =last,= or +hen that arri*es, then all the past has slipped a+ay6only that re)ains to+hich you ha*e attained by *irtue and righteous actions. 3ours indeed, and days and )onths and years

depart, nor does past ti)e e*er return, nor can the uture be kno+n. -hate*er ti)e each is granted or

lie, +ith that he is bound to be content. An actor, in order to earn appro*al, is not bound to peror) the play ro) beginning to end> let hi) only satisy the audience in +hate*er act he appears. or need a

+ise )an go on to the concluding =plaudite.= For a short ter) o lie is long enough or li*ing +ell and

honourably. 2ut i you go arther, you ha*e no )ore right to gru)ble than ar)ers do because thechar) o the spring season is past and the su))er and autu)n ha*e co)e. For the +ord =spring= in a

+ay suggests youth, and points to the har*est to be5 the other seasons are suited or the reaping and

storing o the crops. o+ the har*est o old age is, as 0 ha*e oten said, the )e)ory and rich store o



blessings laid up in easier lie. Again, all things that accord +ith nature are to be counted as good. 2ut

+hat can be )ore in accordance +ith nature than or old )en to die A thing, indeed, +hich also belies

young )en, though nature re*olts and ights against it. Accordingly, the death o young )en see)s to

)e like putting out a great ire +ith a deluge o +ater> but old )en die like a ire going out because ithas burnt do+n o its o+n nature +ithout artiicial )eans. Again, 4ust as apples +hen unripe are torn

ro) trees, but +hen ripe and )ello+ drop do+n, so it is *iolence that takes lie ro) young )en,

ripeness ro) old. This ripeness is so delightul to )e, that, as 0 approach nearer to death, 0 see) as it+ere to be sighting land, and to be co)ing to port at last ater a long *oyage.

$K. Again, there is no i(ed borderline or old age, and you are )aking a good and proper use o it as

long as you can satisy the call o duty and disregard death. The result o this is, that old age is e*en)ore conident and courageous than youth. That is the )eaning o Solon's ans+er to the tyrant

9isistratus. -hen the latter asked hi) +hat he relied upon in opposing hi) +ith such boldness, he is

said to ha*e replied, =On )y old age.= 2ut that end o lie is the best, +hen, +ithout the intellect orsenses being i)paired, ature hersel takes to pieces her o+n handi+ork +hich she also put together.

Just as the builder o a ship or a house can break the) up )ore easily than any one else, so the nature

that knit together the hu)an ra)e can also best unasten it. Moreo*er, a thing reshly glued together is

al+ays diicult to pull asunder> i old, this is easily done.The result is that the short ti)e o lie let to the) is not to be grasped at by old )en +ith greedy

eagerness, or abandoned +ithout cause. 9ythagoras orbids us, +ithout an order ro) our co))ander,

that is 8od, to desert lie's ortress and outpost. Solon's epitaph, indeed, is that o a +ise )an, in +hichhe says that he does not +ish his death to be unacco)panied by the sorro+ and la)entations o his

riends. 3e +ants, 0 suppose, to be belo*ed by the). 2ut 0 rather think Ennius says better5

one grace )e +ith their tears, nor +eeping loud Make sad )y uneral rites<3e holds that a death is not a sub4ect or )ourning +hen it is ollo+ed by i))ortality.

Again, there )ay possibly be so)e sensation o dying and that only or a short ti)e, especially in the

case o an old )an5 ater death, indeed, sensation is either +hat one +ould desire, or it disappears

altogether. 2ut to disregard death is a lesson +hich )ust be studied ro) our youth up> or unless that islearnt, no one can ha*e a 1uiet )ind. For die +e certainly )ust, and that too +ithout being certain

+hether it )ay not be this *ery day. As death, thereore, is hanging o*er our head e*ery hour, ho+ can

a )an e*er be unshaken in soul i he ears it2ut on this the)e 0 don't think 0 need )uch enlarge5 +hen 0 re)e)ber +hat 7ucius 2rutus did, +ho

+as killed +hile deending his country> or the t+o ecii, +ho spurred their horses to a gallop and )et a

*oluntary death> or M. Atilius /egulus, +ho let his ho)e to conront a death o torture, rather than break the +ord +hich lie had pledged to the ene)y> or the t+o Scipios, +ho deter)ined to block the

Carthaginian ad*ance e*en +ith their o+n bodies> or your grandather 7ucius 9aulus, +ho paid +ith

his lie or the rashness o his colleague in the disgrace at Cannae> or M. Marcellus, +hose death note*en the )ost bloodthirsty o ene)ies +ould allo+ to go +ithout the honour o burial. 0t is enough to

recall that our legions !as 0 ha*e recorded in )y :Origins:" ha*e oten )arched +ith cheerul and loty

spirit to ground ro) +hich they belie*ed that they +ould ne*er return. That, thereore, +hich young

)en6not only uninstructed, but absolutely ignorant6treat as o no account, shall )en +ho are neitheryoung nor ignorant shrink ro) in terror As a general truth, as it see)s to )e, it is +eariness o all

pursuits that creates +eariness o lie. There are certain pursuits adapted to childhood5 do young )en

)iss the) There are others suited to early )anhood5 does that settled ti)e o lie called =)iddle age=ask or the) There are others, again, suited to that age, but not looked or in old age. There are,

inally, so)e +hich belong to Old age. Thereore, as the pursuits o the earlier ages ha*e their ti)e or

disappearing, so also ha*e those o old age. And +hen that takes place, a satiety o lie brings on theripe ti)e or death.







Cicero's e senectute !On Old Age" sections9re*ious section $# $$ $%

$#. For 0 do not see +hy 0 should not *enture to tell you )y personal opinion as to death, o +hich 0

see) to )ysel to ha*e a clearer *ision in proportion as 0 a) nearer to it. 0 belie*e, Scipio and 7aelius,

that your athers6those illustrious )en and )y dearest riends6are still ali*e, and that too +ith a lie+hich alone deser*es the na)e. For as long as +e are i)prisoned in this ra)e+ork o the body, +e

peror) a certain unction and laborious +ork assigned us by ate. The soul, in act, is o hea*enly

origin, orced do+n ro) its ho)e in the highest, and, so to speak, buried in earth, a place 1uiteopposed to its di*ine nature and its i))ortality. 2ut 0 suppose the i))ortal gods to ha*e so+n souls

broadcast in hu)an bodies, that there )ight be so)e to sur*ey the +orld, and +hile conte)plating the

order o the hea*enly bodies to i)itate it in the un*arying regularity o their lie. or is it only reasonand argu)ents that ha*e brought )e to this belie, but the great a)e and authority o the )ost

distinguished philosophers. 0 used to be told that 9ythagoras and the 9ythagoreans6al)ost nati*es o

our country, +ho in old ti)es had been called the 0talian school o philosophers6ne*er doubted that +e

had souls drated ro) the uni*ersal i*ine intelligence. 0 used be6sides to ha*e pointed out to )e thediscourse deli*ered by Socrates on the last day o his lie upon the i))ortality o the soul6Socrates

+ho +as pronounced by the oracle at elphi to be the +isest o )en. 0 need say no )ore. 0 ha*e

con*inced )ysel, and T hold6in *ie+ o the rapid )o*e)ent o the soul, its *i*id )e)ory o the pastand its prophetic kno+ledge o the uture, its )any acco)plish)ents, its *ast range o kno+ledge, its

nu)erous disco*eries 6that a nature e)bracing such *aried gits cannot itsel be )ortal. And since the

soul is al+ays in )otion and yet has no e(ternal source o )otion, or it is sel6)o*ed, 0 conclude thatit +ill also ha*e no end to its )otion, because it is not likely e*er to abandon itsel. Again, since the

nature o the soul is not co)posite, nor has in it any ad)i(ture that is not ho)ogeneous an!l si)ilar, 0

conclude that it is indi*isible, and, i indi*isible, that it cannot perish. 0t is again a strong proo o )enkno+ing )ost things beore birth, that +hen )ere children they grasp innu)erable acts +ith such

speed as to sho+ that they are not then taking the) in or the irst ti)e, but re)e)bering and recalling

the). This is roughly 9lato's argu)ent.

$$. Once )ore in Henophon +e ha*e the elder Cyrus on his deathbed speaking as ollo+s56=o not suppose, )y dearest sons, that +hen 0 ha*e let you 0 shall be no+here and no one. E*en +hen

0 +as +ith you, you did not see )y soul, but kne+ that it +as in this body o )ine ro) +hat 0 did.

2elie*e then that it is still the sa)e, e*en though you see it not. The honours paid to illustrious )en hadnot continued to e(ist ater their death, had the souls o these *ery )en not done so)ething to )ake us

retain our recollection o the) beyond the ordinary ti)e. For )ysel, 0 ne*er could be persuaded that

souls +hile in )ortal bodies +ere ali*e, and died directly they let the)> nor, in act, that the soul onlylost all intelligence +hen it let the unintelligent body. 0 belie*e rather that +hen, by being liberated

ro) all corporeal ad)i(ture, it has begun to be pure and undeiled, it is then that it beco)es +ise. And

again, +hen )an's natural ra)e is resol*ed into its ele)ents by death, it is clearly seen +hither each o



the other ele)ents departs5 or they all go to the place ro) +hich they ca)e5 but the soul alone is

in*isible alike +hen present and +hen departing. Once )ore, you see that nothing is so like death as

sleep. And yet it is in sleepers that souls )ost clearly re*eal their di*ine nature> or they oresee )any

e*ents +hen they are allo+ed to escape and are let ree. This sho+s +hat they are likely to be +henthey ha*e co)pletely reed the)sel*es ro) the etters o the body. -hereore, i these things are so,

obey )e as a god. 2ut i )y soul is to perish +ith )y body, ne*ertheless do you ro) a+e o the gods,

+ho guard and go*ern this air uni*erse, preser*e )y )e)ory by the loyalty and piety o your li*es.=$%. Such are the +ords o the dying Cyrus. 0 +ill no+, +ith your good lea*e, look at ho)e. o one, )y

dear Scipio, shall e*er persuade )e that your ather 9aulus and your t+o grandathers 9aulus and

Aricanus, or the ather o Aricanus, or his uncle, or )any other illustrious )en not necessary to)ention, +ould ha*e atte)pted such loty deeds as to be re)aindered by posterity, had they not seen in

their )inds that uture ages concerned the). o you suppose6to take an old )an's pri*ilege o a little

sel6praise6that 0 should ha*e been likely to undertake such hea*y labours by day and night, at ho)eand abroad, i 0 had been destined to ha*e the sa)e li)it to )y glory as to )y lie 3ad it not been

)uch better to pass an age o ease and repose +ithout any labour or e(ertion 2ut )y soul, 0 kno+ not

ho+, reusing to be kept do+n, e*er i(ed its eyes upon uture ages, as though ro) a con*iction that it

+ould begin to li*e only +hen it had let the body. 2ut had it not been the case that souls +erei))ortal, it +ould not ha*e been the souls o all the best )en that )ade the greatest eorts ater an

i))ortality o a)e.

Again, is there not the act that the +isest )an e*er dies +ith the greatest cheerulness, the )ost un+ise+ith the least on't you think that the soul +hich has the clearer and longer sight sees that it is starting

or better things, +hile the soul +hose *ision is di))er does not see it For )y part, 0 a) transported

+ith the desire to see your athers, +ho +ere the ob4ect o )y re*erence and aection. or is it onlythose +ho) 0 kne+ that 0 long to see> it is those also o +ho) 0 ha*e been told and ha*e read, +ho) 0

ha*e )ysel recorded in )y history. -hen 0 a) setting out or that, there is certainly no one +ho +ill

ind it easy to dra+ )e back, or boil )e up again like second 9elios. ay, i so)e god should grant )e

to rene+ )y childhood ro) )y present age and once )ore to be crying in )y cradle, 0 +ould ir)lyreuse> nor should 0 in truth be +illing, ater ha*ing, as it +ere, run the ull course, to be recalled ro)

the +inning6crease to the barriers. For +hat blessing has lie to oer Should +e not rather say +hat

labour 2ut granting that it has, at any rate it has ater all a li)it either to en4oy)ent or to e(istence. 0don't +ish to depreciate lie, as )any )en and good philosophers ha*e oten done> nor do 0 regret

ha*ing li*ed, or 0 ha*e done so in a +ay that lets )e think that 0 +as not born in *ain. 2ut 0 1uit lie as

0 +ould an inn, not as 0 +ould a ho)e. For nature has gi*en us a place o entertain)ent, not oresidence.

Oh glorious day +hen 0 shall set out to 4oin that hea*enly concla*e and co)pany o souls, and depart

ro) the tur)oil and i)purities o this +orld< For 0 shall not go to 4oin only those +ho) 0 ha*e beore)entioned, but also )y son Cato, than +ho) no better )an +as e*er born, nor one )ore conspicuous

or piety. 3is body +as burnt by )e, though )ine ought, on the contrary, to ha*e been burnt by hi)>

but his spirit, not abandoning, but e*er looking back upon )e, has certainly gone +hither he sa+ that 0

too )ust co)e. 0 +as thought to bear that loss heroically, not that 0 really bore it +ithout distress, but 0ound )y o+n consolation in the thought that the parting and separation bet+een us +as not to be or

long.

0t is by these )eans, )y dear Scipio,6or you said that you and 7aelius +ere +ont to e(press surpriseon this point, 6that )y old age sits lightly on )e, and is not only not oppressi*e but e*en delightul. 2ut

i 0 a) +rong in thinking the hu)an soul i))ortal, 0 a) glad to be +rong> nor +ill 0 allo+ the )istake

+hich gi*es )e so )uch pleasure to be +rested ro) )e as long as 0 li*e. 2ut i +hen dead, as so)einsigniicant philosophers think, 0 a) to be +ithout sensation, 0 a) not araid o dead philosophers

deriding )y errors. Again, i +e are not to be i))ortal, it is ne*ertheless +hat a )an )ust +ish6to

ha*e his lie end at its proper ti)e. For nature puts a li)it to li*ing as to e*erything else. o+, old age



is as it +ere the playing out o the dra)a, the ull atigue o +hich +e should shun, especially +hen +e

also eel that +e ha*e had )ore than enough o it.

This is all 0 had to say on old age. 0 pray that you )ay arri*e at it, that you )ay put )y +ords to a

practical test.





9re*ious section $# $$ $%$#. For 0 do not see +hy 0 should not *enture to tell you )y personal opinion as to death, o +hich 0

see) to )ysel to ha*e a clearer *ision in proportion as 0 a) nearer to it. 0 belie*e, Scipio and 7aelius,

that your athers6those illustrious )en and )y dearest riends6are still ali*e, and that too +ith a lie+hich alone deser*es the na)e. For as long as +e are i)prisoned in this ra)e+ork o the body, +e

peror) a certain unction and laborious +ork assigned us by ate. The soul, in act, is o hea*enly

origin, orced do+n ro) its ho)e in the highest, and, so to speak, buried in earth, a place 1uite

opposed to its di*ine nature and its i))ortality. 2ut 0 suppose the i))ortal gods to ha*e so+n souls broadcast in hu)an bodies, that there )ight be so)e to sur*ey the +orld, and +hile conte)plating the

order o the hea*enly bodies to i)itate it in the un*arying regularity o their lie. or is it only reason

and argu)ents that ha*e brought )e to this belie, but the great a)e and authority o the )ostdistinguished philosophers. 0 used to be told that 9ythagoras and the 9ythagoreans6al)ost nati*es o

our country, +ho in old ti)es had been called the 0talian school o philosophers6ne*er doubted that +e

had souls drated ro) the uni*ersal i*ine intelligence. 0 used be6sides to ha*e pointed out to )e thediscourse deli*ered by Socrates on the last day o his lie upon the i))ortality o the soul6Socrates

+ho +as pronounced by the oracle at elphi to be the +isest o )en. 0 need say no )ore. 0 ha*e

con*inced )ysel, and T hold6in *ie+ o the rapid )o*e)ent o the soul, its *i*id )e)ory o the pastand its prophetic kno+ledge o the uture, its )any acco)plish)ents, its *ast range o kno+ledge, its

nu)erous disco*eries 6that a nature e)bracing such *aried gits cannot itsel be )ortal. And since the

soul is al+ays in )otion and yet has no e(ternal source o )otion, or it is sel6)o*ed, 0 conclude that

it +ill also ha*e no end to its )otion, because it is not likely e*er to abandon itsel. Again, since thenature o the soul is not co)posite, nor has in it any ad)i(ture that is not ho)ogeneous an!l si)ilar, 0

conclude that it is indi*isible, and, i indi*isible, that it cannot perish. 0t is again a strong proo o )en

kno+ing )ost things beore birth, that +hen )ere children they grasp innu)erable acts +ith suchspeed as to sho+ that they are not then taking the) in or the irst ti)e, but re)e)bering and recalling

the). This is roughly 9lato's argu)ent.

$$. Once )ore in Henophon +e ha*e the elder Cyrus on his deathbed speaking as ollo+s56=o not suppose, )y dearest sons, that +hen 0 ha*e let you 0 shall be no+here and no one. E*en +hen

0 +as +ith you, you did not see )y soul, but kne+ that it +as in this body o )ine ro) +hat 0 did.

2elie*e then that it is still the sa)e, e*en though you see it not. The honours paid to illustrious )en had



not continued to e(ist ater their death, had the souls o these *ery )en not done so)ething to )ake us

retain our recollection o the) beyond the ordinary ti)e. For )ysel, 0 ne*er could be persuaded that

souls +hile in )ortal bodies +ere ali*e, and died directly they let the)> nor, in act, that the soul only

lost all intelligence +hen it let the unintelligent body. 0 belie*e rather that +hen, by being liberatedro) all corporeal ad)i(ture, it has begun to be pure and undeiled, it is then that it beco)es +ise. And

again, +hen )an's natural ra)e is resol*ed into its ele)ents by death, it is clearly seen +hither each o

the other ele)ents departs5 or they all go to the place ro) +hich they ca)e5 but the soul alone isin*isible alike +hen present and +hen departing. Once )ore, you see that nothing is so like death as

sleep. And yet it is in sleepers that souls )ost clearly re*eal their di*ine nature> or they oresee )any

e*ents +hen they are allo+ed to escape and are let ree. This sho+s +hat they are likely to be +henthey ha*e co)pletely reed the)sel*es ro) the etters o the body. -hereore, i these things are so,

obey )e as a god. 2ut i )y soul is to perish +ith )y body, ne*ertheless do you ro) a+e o the gods,

+ho guard and go*ern this air uni*erse, preser*e )y )e)ory by the loyalty and piety o your li*es.=$%. Such are the +ords o the dying Cyrus. 0 +ill no+, +ith your good lea*e, look at ho)e. o one, )y

dear Scipio, shall e*er persuade )e that your ather 9aulus and your t+o grandathers 9aulus and

Aricanus, or the ather o Aricanus, or his uncle, or )any other illustrious )en not necessary to

)ention, +ould ha*e atte)pted such loty deeds as to be re)aindered by posterity, had they not seen intheir )inds that uture ages concerned the). o you suppose6to take an old )an's pri*ilege o a little

sel6praise6that 0 should ha*e been likely to undertake such hea*y labours by day and night, at ho)e

and abroad, i 0 had been destined to ha*e the sa)e li)it to )y glory as to )y lie 3ad it not been)uch better to pass an age o ease and repose +ithout any labour or e(ertion 2ut )y soul, 0 kno+ not

ho+, reusing to be kept do+n, e*er i(ed its eyes upon uture ages, as though ro) a con*iction that it

+ould begin to li*e only +hen it had let the body. 2ut had it not been the case that souls +erei))ortal, it +ould not ha*e been the souls o all the best )en that )ade the greatest eorts ater an

i))ortality o a)e.

Again, is there not the act that the +isest )an e*er dies +ith the greatest cheerulness, the )ost un+ise

+ith the least on't you think that the soul +hich has the clearer and longer sight sees that it is startingor better things, +hile the soul +hose *ision is di))er does not see it For )y part, 0 a) transported

+ith the desire to see your athers, +ho +ere the ob4ect o )y re*erence and aection. or is it only

those +ho) 0 kne+ that 0 long to see> it is those also o +ho) 0 ha*e been told and ha*e read, +ho) 0ha*e )ysel recorded in )y history. -hen 0 a) setting out or that, there is certainly no one +ho +ill

ind it easy to dra+ )e back, or boil )e up again like second 9elios. ay, i so)e god should grant )e

to rene+ )y childhood ro) )y present age and once )ore to be crying in )y cradle, 0 +ould ir)lyreuse> nor should 0 in truth be +illing, ater ha*ing, as it +ere, run the ull course, to be recalled ro)

the +inning6crease to the barriers. For +hat blessing has lie to oer Should +e not rather say +hat

labour 2ut granting that it has, at any rate it has ater all a li)it either to en4oy)ent or to e(istence. 0don't +ish to depreciate lie, as )any )en and good philosophers ha*e oten done> nor do 0 regret

ha*ing li*ed, or 0 ha*e done so in a +ay that lets )e think that 0 +as not born in *ain. 2ut 0 1uit lie as

0 +ould an inn, not as 0 +ould a ho)e. For nature has gi*en us a place o entertain)ent, not o

residence.Oh glorious day +hen 0 shall set out to 4oin that hea*enly concla*e and co)pany o souls, and depart

ro) the tur)oil and i)purities o this +orld< For 0 shall not go to 4oin only those +ho) 0 ha*e beore

)entioned, but also )y son Cato, than +ho) no better )an +as e*er born, nor one )ore conspicuousor piety. 3is body +as burnt by )e, though )ine ought, on the contrary, to ha*e been burnt by hi)>

but his spirit, not abandoning, but e*er looking back upon )e, has certainly gone +hither he sa+ that 0

too )ust co)e. 0 +as thought to bear that loss heroically, not that 0 really bore it +ithout distress, but 0ound )y o+n consolation in the thought that the parting and separation bet+een us +as not to be or

long.

0t is by these )eans, )y dear Scipio,6or you said that you and 7aelius +ere +ont to e(press surprise



on this point, 6that )y old age sits lightly on )e, and is not only not oppressi*e but e*en delightul. 2ut

i 0 a) +rong in thinking the hu)an soul i))ortal, 0 a) glad to be +rong> nor +ill 0 allo+ the )istake

+hich gi*es )e so )uch pleasure to be +rested ro) )e as long as 0 li*e. 2ut i +hen dead, as so)e

insigniicant philosophers think, 0 a) to be +ithout sensation, 0 a) not araid o dead philosophersderiding )y errors. Again, i +e are not to be i))ortal, it is ne*ertheless +hat a )an )ust +ish6to

ha*e his lie end at its proper ti)e. For nature puts a li)it to li*ing as to e*erything else. o+, old age

is as it +ere the playing out o the dra)a, the ull atigue o +hich +e should shun, especially +hen +ealso eel that +e ha*e had )ore than enough o it.


practical test.

On Old Age, by Marcus Tullius

Cicero Translated by E. S. Shuckburgh


Cicero?s De senectute On Old AgeB sections

1 2 3 e>t section

1/ And should my ser4ice, Titus, ease the -eight O care that -rings your heart, and dra- thesting hich ran:les there, -hat guerdon shall there heE

FO' * may address you, Atticus, in the lines in -hich Flamininus -as addressed by the man,

-ho, poor in -ealth, -as rich in honour?s gold,

though * am -ell assured that you are not, as Flamininus -as,

:ept on the rac: o care by night and day/

For * :no- ho- -ell ordered and e;uable your mind is, and am ully a-are that it -as not a

surname alone -hich you brought home -ith you rom Athens, hut its culture and good sense/And yet * ha4e an idea that you are at times stirred to the heart by the same circumstances as

mysel/ To console you or these is a more serious matter, and must be put o to another time/For the present * ha4e resol4ed to dedicate to you an essay on Old Age/ For rom the burden o

impending or at least ad4ancing age, common to us both, * -ould do something to relie4e us boththough as to yoursel * am ully a-are that you support and -ill support it, as you do e4erything

else, -ith calmness and philosophy/ 0ut directly * resol4ed to -rite on old age, you at once

elated esources

• Cicero

@ *ntroduction to Cicero?s DeAmicitia On FriendshipB@ Cicero Te>ts@ <rimary Te>t *nde>



occurred to me as deser4ing a git o -hich both o us might ta:e ad4antage/ To mysel, indeed,

the composition o this boo: has been so delightul, that it has not only -iped a-ay all thedisagreeables o old age, but has e4en made it lu>urious and delightul too/ e4er, thereore, can

philosophy be praised as highly as it deser4es considering that its aithul disciple is able to spend

e4ery period o his lie -ith unruled eelings/ o-e4er, on other sub8ects * ha4e spo:en at large,and shall oten spea: again this hoo: -hich * here-ith send you is on Old Age/ * ha4e put the

-hole discourse not, as Alisto o Cos did, in the mouth o Tithonus6or a mere able -ould ha4e

lac:ed con4iction6but in that o Marcus Cato -hen he -as an old man, to gi4e my essay greater-eight/ * represent )aelius and Scipio at his house e>pressing surprise at his carrying his years solightly, and Cato ans-ering them/ * he shall seem to she- some-hat more learning in this

discourse than he generally did in his o-n boo:s, put it do-n to the 9ree: literature o -hich it is:no-n that he became an eager student in his old age/ 0ut -hat need o moreE Cato?s o-n -ords

-ill at once e>plain all * eel about old age/

M/ Cato/ <ublius Cornelius Scipio Aricanus the youngerB/ 9aius )aelius/

2/ GScipioG/ Many a time ha4e * in con4ersation -ith my riend 9aius )aelius here e>pressed my

admiration, Marcus Cato, o the eminent, nay perect, -isdom displayed by you indeed at all

points, but abo4e e4erything because * ha4e noticed that old age ne4er seemed a burden to you,-hile to most old men it is so hateul that they declare themsel4es under a -eight hea4ier than

Aetna/

GCatoG/ Hour admiration is easily e>cited, it seems, my dear Scipio and )aelius/ Men, o course,

-ho ha4e no resources in themsel4es or securing a good and happy lie ind e4ery age

burdensome/ 0ut those -ho loo: or all happiness rom -ithin can ne4er thin: anything had -hichnature ma:es ine4itable/ *n that category beore anything else comes old ageB to -hich all -ish to

attain, and at -hich all grumble -hen attained/ Such is Folly?s inconsistency andunreasonablenessI They say that it is stealing upon them aster than they e>pected/ *n the irst

place, -ho compelled them to hug an illusionE For in -hat respect did old age steal upon manhoodaster than manhood upon childhoodE *n the ne>t place, in -hat -ay -ould old age ha4e been

less disagreeable to them i they -ere in their eight6hundredth year than in their eightiethE Fortheir past, ho-e4er long, -hen once it -as past, -ould ha4e no consolation or a stupid old age/

hereore, i it is your -ont to admire my -isdom6and * -ould that it -ere -orthy o your goodopinion and o my o-n surname o Sapiens6it really consists in the act that * ollo- ature, the

best o guides, as * -ould a god, and am loyal to her commands/ *t is not li:ely, i she has -rittenthe rest o the play -ell, that she has been careless about the last act li:e some idle poet/ 0ut

ater all some last -as ine4itable, 8ust as to the berries o a tree and the ruits o the earth therecomes in the ulness o time a period o decay and all/ A -ise man -ill not ma:e a grie4ance o

this/ To rebel against nature6is not that to ight li:e the giants -ith the godsE

G)aeliusG/ And yet, Cato, you -ill do us a 4ery great a4our * 4enture to spea: or Scipio as ormyselB i6since -e all hope, or at least -ish, to become old men6you -ould allo- us to learn rom

you in good time beore it arri4es, by -hat methods -e may most easily ac;uire the strength tosupport the burden o ad4ancing age/

GCatoG/ * -ill do so -ithout doubt, )aelius, especially i, as you say, it -ill be agreeable to you

both/

G)aeliusG e do -ish 4ery much, Cato, i it is no trouble to you, to be allo-ed to see the nature o the bourne -hich you ha4e reached ater completing a long 8ourney, as it -ere, upon -hich -e

too are bound to embar:/

3/ GCatoG/ * -ill do the best * can, )aelius/ *t has oten been my ortune to bear the complaints omy contemporaries6li:e -ill to li:e, you :no-, according to the old pro4erb6complaints to -hich



men li:e C/ Salinator and Sp/ Albinus, -ho -ere o consular ran: and about my time, used to gi4e

4ent/ They -ere, irst, that they had lost the pleasures o the senses, -ithout -hich they did notregard lie as lie at all5 and, secondly, that they -ere neglected by those rom -hom they had

been used to recei4e attentions/ Such men appear to me to lay the blame on the -rong thing/ For

i it had been the ault o old age, then these same misortunes -ould ha4e beallen me and allother men o ad4anced years/ 0ut * ha4e :no-n many o them -ho ne4er said a -ord o

complaint against old age5 or they -ere only too glad to be reed rom the bondage o passion,

and -ere not at all loo:ed do-n upon by their riends/ The act is that the blame or all complaintso that :ind is to be charged to character, not to a particular time o lie/ For old men -ho arereasonable and neither cross6grained nor churlish ind old age tolerable enough -hereas

unreason and churlishness cause uneasiness at e4ery time o lie/

G)aeliusG *t is as you say, Cato/ 0ut perhaps some one may suggest that it is your large means,-ealth, and high position that ma:e you thin: old age tolerable -hereas such good ortune only

alls to e-/

GCatoG/ There is something in that, )aelius, but by no means all/ For instance, the story is told o

the ans-er o Themistocles in a -rangle -ith a certain Seriphian, -ho asserted that he o-ed his

brilliant position to the reputation o his country, not to his o-n/ * * had been a Seriphian, saidhe, e4en * should ne4er ha4e been amous, nor -ould you i you had been an Athenian/

Something li:e this may be said o old age/ For the philosopher himsel could not ind old age easyto bear in the depths o po4erty, nor the ool eel it anything but a burden though he -ere a

millionaire/ Hou may he sure, my dear Scipio and )aelius, that the arms best adapted to old ageare culture and the acti4e e>ercise o the 4irtues/ For i they ha4e been maintained at e4ery

period6i one has li4ed much as -ell as long6the har4est they produce is -onderul, not onlybecause they ne4er ail us e4en in our last days though that in itsel is supremely importantB, but

also because the consciousness o a -ell6spent lie and the recollection o many 4irtuous actionsare e>ceedingly delightul/

/ Ta:e the case o J/ Fabius Ma>imus, the man, * mean, -ho reco4ered Tarentum/ hen * -as a

young man and he an old one, * -as as much attached to him as i he had been mycontemporary/ For that great man ! serious dignity -as tempered by courteous manners, nor had

old age made any change in his character/ True, he -as not e>actly an old man -hen my de4otionto him began, yet he -as ne4ertheless -ell on in lie5 or his irst consulship ell in the year ater

my birth/ hen ;uite a stripling * -ent -ith him in his ourth consulship as a soldier in the ran:s,on the e>pedition against Capua, and in the ith year ater that against Tarentum/ Four years

ater that * -as elected Juaestor, holding oice in the consulship o Tuditanus and Cethegus, in-hich year, indeed, he as a 4ery old man spo:e in a4our o the Cincian la- on gits and ees/

o- this man conducted -ars -ith all the spirit o youth -hen he -as ar ad4anced in lie, and by

his persistence gradually -earied out annibal, -hen rioting in all the conidence o youth/ o-brilliant are those lines o my riend +nnius on himI

For us, do-n beaten by the storms o ate,

One man by -ise delays restored the State/<raise or dispraise mo4ed not his constant mood,

True to his purpose, to his country?s goodIDo-n e4er6lengthening a4enues o ame

Thus shines and shall shine still his glorious name/

Again -hat 4igilance, -hat proound s:ill did he sho- in the capture o TarentumI *t -as indeed inmy hearing that he made the amous retort to Salinator, -ho had retreated into the citadel ater

losing the to-n *t -as o-ing to me, Juintus Fabius, that you retoo: Tarentum/ Juite so, hereplied -ith a laugh5 or had you not lost it, * should ne4er ha4e reco4ered it/ or -as he less



eminent in ci4il lie than in -ar/ *n his second consulship, though his colleague -ould not mo4e in

the matter, he resisted as long as he could the proposal o the tribune C/ Flaminius to di4ide theterritory o the <icenians and 9auls in ree allotments in deiance o a resolution o the Senate/

Again, though he -as an augur, he 4entured to say that -hate4er -as done in the interests o the

State -as done -ith the best possible auspices, that any la-s proposed against its interest -ereproposed against the auspices/ * -as cognisant o much that -as admirable in that great man, but

nothing struc: me -ith greater astonishment than the -ay in -hich he bore the death o his son6a

man o brilliant character and -ho had been consul/ is uneral speech o4er him is in -idecirculation, and -hen -e read it, is there any philosopher o -hom -e do not thin: meanlyE or intruth -as he only great in the light o day and in the sight o his ello-6citi7ens5 he -as still more

eminent in pri4ate and at home/ hat a -ealth o con4ersationI hat -eighty ma>imsI hat a-ide ac;uaintance -ith ancient historyI hat an accurate :no-ledge o the science o auguryI For

a 'oman, too, he had a great tincture o letters/ e had a tenacious memory or military history o e4ery sort, -hether o 'oman or oreign -ars/ And * used at that time to en8oy his con4ersation

-ith a passionate eagerness, as though * already di4ined, -hat actually turned out to be the case,that -hen he died there -ould be no one to teach me anything/

On Old Age, by Marcus Tullius Cicero Translatedby E. S. Shuckburgh




1 2 3 e>t section

1/ And should my ser4ice, Titus, ease the -eight O care that -rings your heart, and dra- the

sting hich ran:les there, -hat guerdon shall there heE

FO' * may address you, Atticus, in the lines in -hich Flamininus -as addressed by the man,

-ho, poor in -ealth, -as rich in honour?s gold,

though * am -ell assured that you are not, as Flamininus -as,

:ept on the rac: o care by night and day/

For * :no- ho- -ell ordered and e;uable your mind is, and am ully a-are that it -as not asurname alone -hich you brought home -ith you rom Athens, hut its culture and good sense/

• Cicero


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And yet * ha4e an idea that you are at times stirred to the heart by the same circumstances as

mysel/ To console you or these is a more serious matter, and must be put o to another time/For the present * ha4e resol4ed to dedicate to you an essay on Old Age/ For rom the burden o

impending or at least ad4ancing age, common to us both, * -ould do something to relie4e us both

though as to yoursel * am ully a-are that you support and -ill support it, as you do e4erythingelse, -ith calmness and philosophy/ 0ut directly * resol4ed to -rite on old age, you at once

occurred to me as deser4ing a git o -hich both o us might ta:e ad4antage/ To mysel, indeed,

the composition o this boo: has been so delightul, that it has not only -iped a-ay all thedisagreeables o old age, but has e4en made it lu>urious and delightul too/ e4er, thereore, canphilosophy be praised as highly as it deser4es considering that its aithul disciple is able to spend

e4ery period o his lie -ith unruled eelings/ o-e4er, on other sub8ects * ha4e spo:en at large,and shall oten spea: again this hoo: -hich * here-ith send you is on Old Age/ * ha4e put the

-hole discourse not, as Alisto o Cos did, in the mouth o Tithonus6or a mere able -ould ha4elac:ed con4iction6but in that o Marcus Cato -hen he -as an old man, to gi4e my essay greater

-eight/ * represent )aelius and Scipio at his house e>pressing surprise at his carrying his years solightly, and Cato ans-ering them/ * he shall seem to she- some-hat more learning in this

discourse than he generally did in his o-n boo:s, put it do-n to the 9ree: literature o -hich it is:no-n that he became an eager student in his old age/ 0ut -hat need o moreE Cato?s o-n -ords

-ill at once e>plain all * eel about old age/

M/ Cato/ <ublius Cornelius Scipio Aricanus the youngerB/ 9aius )aelius/

2/ GScipioG/ Many a time ha4e * in con4ersation -ith my riend 9aius )aelius here e>pressed myadmiration, Marcus Cato, o the eminent, nay perect, -isdom displayed by you indeed at all

points, but abo4e e4erything because * ha4e noticed that old age ne4er seemed a burden to you,-hile to most old men it is so hateul that they declare themsel4es under a -eight hea4ier than

Aetna/

GCatoG/ Hour admiration is easily e>cited, it seems, my dear Scipio and )aelius/ Men, o course,-ho ha4e no resources in themsel4es or securing a good and happy lie ind e4ery age

burdensome/ 0ut those -ho loo: or all happiness rom -ithin can ne4er thin: anything had -hichnature ma:es ine4itable/ *n that category beore anything else comes old ageB to -hich all -ish to

attain, and at -hich all grumble -hen attained/ Such is Folly?s inconsistency andunreasonablenessI They say that it is stealing upon them aster than they e>pected/ *n the irst

place, -ho compelled them to hug an illusionE For in -hat respect did old age steal upon manhoodaster than manhood upon childhoodE *n the ne>t place, in -hat -ay -ould old age ha4e been

less disagreeable to them i they -ere in their eight6hundredth year than in their eightiethE Fortheir past, ho-e4er long, -hen once it -as past, -ould ha4e no consolation or a stupid old age/

hereore, i it is your -ont to admire my -isdom6and * -ould that it -ere -orthy o your goodopinion and o my o-n surname o Sapiens6it really consists in the act that * ollo- ature, the

best o guides, as * -ould a god, and am loyal to her commands/ *t is not li:ely, i she has -rittenthe rest o the play -ell, that she has been careless about the last act li:e some idle poet/ 0ut

ater all some last -as ine4itable, 8ust as to the berries o a tree and the ruits o the earth therecomes in the ulness o time a period o decay and all/ A -ise man -ill not ma:e a grie4ance o

this/ To rebel against nature6is not that to ight li:e the giants -ith the godsE

G)aeliusG/ And yet, Cato, you -ill do us a 4ery great a4our * 4enture to spea: or Scipio as ormyselB i6since -e all hope, or at least -ish, to become old men6you -ould allo- us to learn rom

you in good time beore it arri4es, by -hat methods -e may most easily ac;uire the strength tosupport the burden o ad4ancing age/

GCatoG/ * -ill do so -ithout doubt, )aelius, especially i, as you say, it -ill be agreeable to you

both/



G)aeliusG e do -ish 4ery much, Cato, i it is no trouble to you, to be allo-ed to see the nature o

the bourne -hich you ha4e reached ater completing a long 8ourney, as it -ere, upon -hich -etoo are bound to embar:/

3/ GCatoG/ * -ill do the best * can, )aelius/ *t has oten been my ortune to bear the complaints omy contemporaries6li:e -ill to li:e, you :no-, according to the old pro4erb6complaints to -hich

men li:e C/ Salinator and Sp/ Albinus, -ho -ere o consular ran: and about my time, used to gi4e

4ent/ They -ere, irst, that they had lost the pleasures o the senses, -ithout -hich they did notregard lie as lie at all5 and, secondly, that they -ere neglected by those rom -hom they had

been used to recei4e attentions/ Such men appear to me to lay the blame on the -rong thing/ For

i it had been the ault o old age, then these same misortunes -ould ha4e beallen me and allother men o ad4anced years/ 0ut * ha4e :no-n many o them -ho ne4er said a -ord o

complaint against old age5 or they -ere only too glad to be reed rom the bondage o passion,and -ere not at all loo:ed do-n upon by their riends/ The act is that the blame or all complaints

o that :ind is to be charged to character, not to a particular time o lie/ For old men -ho arereasonable and neither cross6grained nor churlish ind old age tolerable enough -hereas

unreason and churlishness cause uneasiness at e4ery time o lie/

G)aeliusG *t is as you say, Cato/ 0ut perhaps some one may suggest that it is your large means,-ealth, and high position that ma:e you thin: old age tolerable -hereas such good ortune only

alls to e-/

GCatoG/ There is something in that, )aelius, but by no means all/ For instance, the story is told o

the ans-er o Themistocles in a -rangle -ith a certain Seriphian, -ho asserted that he o-ed his

brilliant position to the reputation o his country, not to his o-n/ * * had been a Seriphian, saidhe, e4en * should ne4er ha4e been amous, nor -ould you i you had been an Athenian/

Something li:e this may be said o old age/ For the philosopher himsel could not ind old age easyto bear in the depths o po4erty, nor the ool eel it anything but a burden though he -ere a

millionaire/ Hou may he sure, my dear Scipio and )aelius, that the arms best adapted to old ageare culture and the acti4e e>ercise o the 4irtues/ For i they ha4e been maintained at e4ery

period6i one has li4ed much as -ell as long6the har4est they produce is -onderul, not onlybecause they ne4er ail us e4en in our last days though that in itsel is supremely importantB, but

also because the consciousness o a -ell6spent lie and the recollection o many 4irtuous actionsare e>ceedingly delightul/

/ Ta:e the case o J/ Fabius Ma>imus, the man, * mean, -ho reco4ered Tarentum/ hen * -as a

young man and he an old one, * -as as much attached to him as i he had been mycontemporary/ For that great man ! serious dignity -as tempered by courteous manners, nor had

old age made any change in his character/ True, he -as not e>actly an old man -hen my de4otionto him began, yet he -as ne4ertheless -ell on in lie5 or his irst consulship ell in the year ater

my birth/ hen ;uite a stripling * -ent -ith him in his ourth consulship as a soldier in the ran:s,on the e>pedition against Capua, and in the ith year ater that against Tarentum/ Four years

ater that * -as elected Juaestor, holding oice in the consulship o Tuditanus and Cethegus, in-hich year, indeed, he as a 4ery old man spo:e in a4our o the Cincian la- on gits and ees/

o- this man conducted -ars -ith all the spirit o youth -hen he -as ar ad4anced in lie, and by

his persistence gradually -earied out annibal, -hen rioting in all the conidence o youth/ o-brilliant are those lines o my riend +nnius on himI



For us, do-n beaten by the storms o ate,

One man by -ise delays restored the State/<raise or dispraise mo4ed not his constant mood,

True to his purpose, to his country?s goodI

Do-n e4er6lengthening a4enues o ameThus shines and shall shine still his glorious name/

Again -hat 4igilance, -hat proound s:ill did he sho- in the capture o TarentumI *t -as indeed inmy hearing that he made the amous retort to Salinator, -ho had retreated into the citadel ater

losing the to-n *t -as o-ing to me, Juintus Fabius, that you retoo: Tarentum/ Juite so, he

replied -ith a laugh5 or had you not lost it, * should ne4er ha4e reco4ered it/ or -as he lesseminent in ci4il lie than in -ar/ *n his second consulship, though his colleague -ould not mo4e in

the matter, he resisted as long as he could the proposal o the tribune C/ Flaminius to di4ide theterritory o the <icenians and 9auls in ree allotments in deiance o a resolution o the Senate/

Again, though he -as an augur, he 4entured to say that -hate4er -as done in the interests o theState -as done -ith the best possible auspices, that any la-s proposed against its interest -ere

proposed against the auspices/ * -as cognisant o much that -as admirable in that great man, butnothing struc: me -ith greater astonishment than the -ay in -hich he bore the death o his son6a

man o brilliant character and -ho had been consul/ is uneral speech o4er him is in -idecirculation, and -hen -e read it, is there any philosopher o -hom -e do not thin: meanlyE or in

truth -as he only great in the light o day and in the sight o his ello-6citi7ens5 he -as still moreeminent in pri4ate and at home/ hat a -ealth o con4ersationI hat -eighty ma>imsI hat a

-ide ac;uaintance -ith ancient historyI hat an accurate :no-ledge o the science o auguryI Fora 'oman, too, he had a great tincture o letters/ e had a tenacious memory or military history o

e4ery sort, -hether o 'oman or oreign -ars/ And * used at that time to en8oy his con4ersation-ith a passionate eagerness, as though * already di4ined, -hat actually turned out to be the case,

that -hen he died there -ould be no one to teach me anything/





Cicero?s De senectute On Old AgeB sections<re4ious section ! " # $ e>t section

!/ hat then is the purpose o such a long dis;uisition on Ma>imusE *t is because you no- seethat an old age li:e his cannot conscientiously be called unhappy/ Het it is ater all true that

e4erybody cannot be a Scipio or a Ma>imus, -ith stormings o cities, -ith battles by land and sea,

-ith -ars in -hich they themsel4es commanded, and -ith triumphs to recall/ 0esides this there isa ;uiet, pure, and culti4ated lie -hich produces a calm and gentle old age, such as -e ha4e been

told <lato?s -as, -ho died at his -riting6des: in his eighty6irst year5 or li:e that o *socrates, -hosays that he -rote the boo: called The <anegyric in his ninety6ourth year, and -ho li4ed or i4e

years ater-ards5 -hile his master 9orgias o )eontini completed a hundred and se4en years-ithout e4er rela>ing his diligence or gi4ing up -or:/ hen some one as:ed him -hy he

consented to remain so long ali4e6 * ha4e no ault, said he, to ind -ith old age/ That -as a

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• Cicero

@ *ntroduction@ Cicero Te>ts@ <rimary Te>t *nde>



noble ans-er, and -orthy o a scholar/ For ools impute their o-n railties and guilt to old age,

contrary to the practice o +nniu%, -hom * mentioned 8ust no-/ *n the lines6

)i:e some bra4e steed that ot beore The Olympic -reath o 4ictory bore, o- by the -eight o

years oppressed, Forgets the race, and ta:es his rest6

he compares his o-n old age to that o a high6spirited and successal race6horse/ And him indeed

you may 4ery -ell remember/ For the present consuls Titus Flamininus and Manius Acilius -ereelected in the nineteenth year ater his death5 and his death occurred in the consulship o Caepioand <hilippus, the latter consul or the second time in -hich year *, then si>ty6si> years old,

spo:e in a4our o the =oconian la- in a 4oice that -as still strong and -ith lungs still sound5-hile be, though se4enty years old, supported t-o burdens considered the hea4iest o all6po4erty

and old age6in such a -ay as to be all but ond o them/

The act is that -hen * come to thin: it o4er, * ind that there are our reasons or old age beingthought unhappy First, that it -ithdra-s us rom acti4e employments5 second, that it eneebles

the body5 third, that it depri4es us o nearly all physical pleasures5 ourth, that it is the ne>t stepto death/ O each o these reasons, i you -ill allo- me, let us e>amine the orce and 8ustice

separately/

"/ O)D A9+ *TD'AS (S F'OM ACT*=+ +M<)OHM+TS/ From -hich o themE Do you meanrom thosc carried on by youth and bodily strengthE Are there then no old men?s employments to

be ater all conducted by the intellect, e4en -hen bodies are -ea:E So then J/ Ma>imus didnothing5 nor )/ Aemilius6our ather, Scipio, and my e>cellent son?s ather6in6la-I So -ith other old

men6the Fabricii, the 9uru and Coruncanii6-hen they -ere supporting the State by their ad4iceand inluence, they -ere doing nothingI To old age Appius Claudius had the additional

disad4antage o being blind5 yet it -as he -ho, -hen the Senate -as inclining to-ards a peace-ith <yrrhus and -as or ma:ing a treaty, did not hesitate to say -hat +nnius has embalmed in

the 4erses

hither ha4e s-er4ed the souls so irm o yoreE *s sense gro-n senselessE Can eet stand nomoreE

And so on in a tone o the most passionate 4ehemence/ Hou :no- the poem, and the speech o

Appius himsel is e>tant/ o-, he deli4ered it se4enteen years ater his second consulship, thereha4ing been an inter4al o ten years bet-een the t-o consulships, and he ha4ing been censor

beore his pre4ious consulship/ This -ill sho- you that at the time o the -ar -ith <yrrhus he -asa 4ery old man/ Het this is the story handed do-n to us/

There is thereore nothing in the arguments o those -ho say that old age ta:es no part in public

business/ They are li:e men -ho -ould say that a steersman docs nothing in sailing a ship,because, -hile some o the cre- are climbing the masts, others hurrying up and do-n the

gang-ays, others pumping out the bilge -ater, he sits ;uietly in the stern holding the tiller/ edoes not do -hat young men do5 ne4ertheless he does -hat is much more important and better/

The great aairs o lie are not perormed by physical strength, or acti4ity, or nimbleness o body,but by deliberation, character, e>pression o opinion/ O these old age is not only not depri4ed,

but, as a rule, has them in a greater degree/ (nless by any chance *, -ho as a soldier in theran:s, as military tribune, as legate, and as consul ha4e been employed in 4arious :inds o -ar,

no- appear to you to be idle because not acti4ely engaged in -ar/ 0ut * en8oin upon the Senate

-hat is to be done, and ho-/ Carthage has long been harbouring e4il designs, and * accordinglyproclaim -ar against her in good time/ * shall ne4er cease to entertain ears about her till * bear o

her ha4ing been le4elled -ith the ground/ The glory o doing that * pray that the immortal gods

may reser4e or you, Scipio, so that you may complete the tas: begun by your grand6ather, no-dead more than thirty6t-o years ago5 though all years to come -ill :eep that great man?s memory



green/ e died in the year beore my censorship, nine years ater my consulship, ha4ing been

returned consul or the second time in my o-n consulship/ * then he had li4ed to his hundredthyear, -ould he ha4e regretted ha4ing li4ed to be oldE For he -ould o course not ha4e been

practising rapid marches, nor dashing on a oe, nor hurling spears rom a distance, nor using

s-ords at close ;uarters6but only counsel, reason, and senatorial elo;uence/ And i those ;ualitieshad not resided in us GseniorsG, our ancestors -ould ne4er ha4e called their supreme council a

Senate/ At Sparta, indeed, those -ho hold the highest magistracies are in accordance -ith the

act actually called elders/ 0ut i you -ill ta:e the trouble to read or listen to oreign history, you-ill ind that the mightiest States ha4e been brought into peril by young men, ha4e beensupported and restored by old/ The ;uestion occurs in the poet ae4ius?s GSportG

<ray, -ho are those -ho brought your State ith such despatch to meet its ateE

There is a long ans-er, but this is the chie point

A crop o brand6ne- orators -e gre-, And oolish, paltry lads -ho thought they :ne-/

For o course rashness is the note o youth, prudence o old age/

#/ 0ut, it is said, memory d-indles/ o doubt, unless you :eep it in practice, or i you happen tobe some-hat dull by nature/ Themistocles had the names o all his ello-6citi7ens by heart/ Doyou imagine that in his old age he used to address Aristides as )ysimachusE For my part, * :no-

not only the present generation, but their athers also, and their grandathers/ or ha4e * any earo losing my memory by reading tombstones, according to the 4ulgar superstition/ On the

contrary, by reading them * rene- my memory o those -ho are dead and gone/ or, in point oact, ha4e * e4er heard o any old man orgetting -here he had hidden his money/ They remember

e4erything that interests them -hen to ans-er to their bail, business appointments, -ho o-esthem money, and to -hom they o-e it/ hat about la-yers, pontis, augurs, philosophers, -hen

oldE hat a multitude o things they rememberI Old men retain their intellects -ell enough, ionly they :eep their minds acti4e and ully employed/ or is that the case only -ith men o high

position and great oice it applies e;ually to pri4ate lie and peaceul pursuits/ Sophoclescomposed tragedies to e>treme old age5 and being belie4ed to neglect the care o his property

o-ing to his de4otion to his art, his sons brought him into court to get a 8udicial decision depri4inghim o the management o his property on the ground o -ea: intellect 66 8ust as in our la- it is

customary to depri4e a pateramilias o the management o his property i he is s;uandering it/

There6upon the old poet is said to ha4e read to the 8udges the play he had on hand and had 8ustcomposed 66 the GOedipus ColoneusG 66 and to ha4e as:ed them -hether they thought that the

-or: o a man o -ea: intellect/ Ater the reading he -as ac;uitted by the 8ury/ Did old age then

compel this man to become silent in his particular art, or omer, esiod, Simonides, or *socratesand 9orgias -hom * mentioned beore, or the ounders o schools o philosophy, <ythagoras,

Democritus, <lato, Kenocrates, or later Leno and Cleanthus, or Diogenes the Stoic, -hom you toosa- at 'omeE *s it not rather the case -ith all these that the acti4e pursuit o study only ended

-ith lieE

0ut, to pass o4er these sublime studies, * can name some rustic 'omans rom the Sabine district,neighbours and riends o my o-n, -ithout -hose presence arm -or: o importance is scarcely

e4er perormed6-hether so-ing, or har4esting or storing crops/ And yet in other things this s? lesssurprising5 or no one is so old as to thin: that he may not li4e a year/ 0ut they besto- their

labour on -hat they :no- does not aect them in any case

e plants his trees to ser4e a race to come,

as our poet Statius says in his Comrades/ or indeed -ould a armer, ho-e4er old, hesitate toans-er any one -ho as:ed him or -hom he -as planting For the immortal gods, -hose -ill it



-as that * should not merely recei4e these things rom my ancestors, but should also hand them

on to the ne>t generation/

$/ That remar: about the old man is better than the ollo-ing

* age brought nothing -orse than this, *t -ere enough to mar our bliss, That he -ho bides or

many years Sees much to shun and much or tears/

Hes, and perhaps much that gi4es him pleasure too/ 0esides, as to sub8ects or tears, he otencomes upon them in youth as -ell/

A still more ;uestionable sentiment in the same Caecilius is

o greater misery can o age be told Than this be sure, the young disli:e the old/

Delight in them is nearer the mar: than disli:e/ For .ust as old men, i they are -ise, ta:epleasure in the society o young men o good parts, and as old age is rendered less dreary or

those -ho are courted and li:ed by the youth, so also do young men ind pleasure in the ma>ims

o the old, by -hich they are dra-n to the pursuit o e>cellence/ or do * percei4e that you ind

my society less pleasant than * do yours/ 0ut this is enough to sho- you ho-, so ar rom beinglistless and sluggish, old age is e4en a busy time, al-ays doing and attempting something, ocourse o the same nature as each man?s taste had been in the pre4ious part o his lie/ ay, do

not some e4en add to their stoc: o learningE e see Solon, or instance, boasting in his poemsthat he gro-s old daily learning something ne-/ Or again in my o-n case, it -as only -hen an

old man that * became ac;uainted -ith 9ree: literature, -hich in act * absorbed -ith sucha4idity6in my yearning to ;uench, as it -ere, a long6continued thirst6that * became ac;uainted

-ith the 4ery acts -hich you see me no- using as precedents/ hen * heard -hat Socrates haddone about the lyre * should ha4e li:ed or my part to ha4e done that too, or the ancients used to

learn the lyre but, at any rate, * -or:ed hard at literature/




Cicero?s De senectute On Old AgeB sections<re4ious section % 1& 11 12 e>t section

%/ or, again, do * no- M*SS T+ 0OD*)H ST'+9T OF A HO(9 MA or that -as the second

point as to the disad4antages o old ageB any more than as a young man * missed the strength oa bull or an elephant/ Hou should use -hat you ha4e, and -hate4er you may chance to be doing,

do it -ith all your might/ hat could be -ea:er than Milo o Croton?s e>clamationE hen in his oldage he -as -atching some athletes practising in the course, he is said to ha4e loo:ed at his arms

and to ha4e e>claimed -ith tears in his eyes Ah -ellI these are no- as good as dead/ ot a bit

more so than yoursel, you trilerI For at no time -ere you made amous by your real sel, but by

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• Cicero




chest and biceps/ Se>t/ Aelius ne4er ga4e 4ent to such a remar:, nor, many years beore him,

Titus Coruncanius, nor, more recently, </ Crassus6all o them learned 8uris6consults in acti4epractice, -hose :no-ledge o their proession -as maintained to their last breath/ * am araid an

orator does lose 4igour by old age, or his art is not a matter o the intellect alone, but o lungs

and bodily strength/ Though as a rule that musical ring in the 4oice e4en gains in brilliance in acertain -ay as one gro-s old6certainly * ha4e not yet lost it, and you see my years/ Het ater all

the style o speech suitable to an old man is the ;uiet and unemotional, and it oten happens that

the chastened and calm deli4ery o an old man elo;uent secures a hearing/ * you cannot attain tothat yoursel, you might still instruct a Scipio and a )aelius/ For -hat is more charming than oldage surrounded by the enthusiasm o youthE Shall -e not allo- old age e4en the strength to

teach the young, to train and e;uip them or all the duties o lieE And -hat can be a nobleremploymentE For my part, * used to thin: <ublius and 9naeus Scipio and your t-o grandathers,

)/ Aemilius and </ Aricanus, ortunate men -hen * sa- them -ith a company o young noblesabout them/ or should -e thin: any teachers o the ine arts other-ise than happy, ho-e4er

much their bodily orces may ha4e decayed and ailed/ And yet that same ailure o the bodilyorces is more oten brought about by the 4ices o youth than o old age5 or a dissolute and

intemperate youth hands do-n the body to old age in a -orn6out state/ Kenophon?s Cyrus, orinstance, in his discourse deli4ered on his death6bed and at a 4ery ad4anced age, says that he

ne4er percei4ed his old age to ha4e become -ea:er than his youth had been/ * remember as aboy )ucius Metellus, -ho ha4ing been created <ontie> Ma>imus our years ater his second

consul6ship, held that oice t-enty6t-o years, en8oying such e>cellent strength o body in the4ery last hours o his lie as not to miss his youth/ * need not spea: o mysel5 though that indeed

is an old man?s -ay and is generally allo-ed to my time o lie/ Don?t you see in omer ho-re;uently estor tal:s o his o-n good ;ualitiesE For he -as li4ing through a third generation5 nor

had he any reason to ear that upon saying -hat -as true about himsel he should appear eithero4er 4ain or tal:ati4e/ For, as omer says, rom his lips lo-ed discourse s-eeter than honey, or

-hich s-eet breath he -anted no bodily strength/ And yet, ater all, the amous leader o the

9ree:s no-here -ishes to ha4e ten men li:e A8a>, but li:e estor i he could get them, he eelsno doubt o Troy shortly alling/

1&/ 0ut to return to my o-n case * am in my eighty6ourth year/ * could -ish that * had been ableto ma:e the same boast as Cyrus5 but, ater all, * can say this * am not indeed as 4igorous as *

-as as a pri4ate soldier in the <unic -ar, or as ;uaestor in the same -ar, or as consul in Spain,and our years later -hen as a military tribune * too: part in the engagement at Thermopylaeunder the consul Manius Acilius 9labrio5 but yet, as you see, old age has not entirely destroyed

my muscles, has not ;uite brought me to the ground/ The Senate6house does not ind all my4igour gone, nor the rostra, nor my riends, nor my clients, nor my oreign guests/ For * ha4e

ne4er gi4en in to that ancient and much6praised pro4erb

Old -hen young *s old or long/

For mysel, * had rather be an old man a some-hat shorter time than an old man GbeoreG my

time/ Accordingly, no one up to the present has -ished to see me, to -hom * ha4e been denied asengaged/ 0ut, it may be said, * ha4e less strength than either o you/ either ha4e you the

strength o the centurion T/ <ontius is he the more eminent man on that accountE )et there beonly a proper husbanding o strength, and let each man proportion his eorts to his po-ers/ Such

an one -ill assuredly not be possessed -ith any great regret or his loss o strength/ At OlympiaMilo is said to ha4e stepped into the course carrying a li4e o> on his shoulders/ hich then o the

t-o -ould you preer to ha4e gi4en to you6bodily strength li:e that, or intellectual strength li:e

that o <ythagorasE *n ine, en8oy that blessing -hen you ha4e it5 -hen it is gone, don?t -ish itbac:6unless -e are to thin: that young men should -ish their childhood bac:, and those

some-hat older their youthI The course o lie is i>ed, and nature admits o its being run but in

one -ay, and only once5 and to each part o our lie there is something specially seasonable5 sothat the eebleness o children, as -ell as the high spirit o youth, the soberness o maturer years,

and the ripe -isdom o old age6all ha4e a certain natural ad4antage -hich should be secured in its



proper season/ * thin: you are inormed, Scipio, -hat your grandather?s oreign riend Masinissa

does to this day, though ninety years old/ hen he has once begun a 8ourney on oot he does notmount his horse at all5 -hen on horsebac: he ne4er gets o his horse/ 0y no rain or cold can he

be induced to co4er his head/ is body is absolutely ree rom unhealthy humours, and so he still

perorms all the duties and unctions o a :ing/ Acti4e e>ercise, thereore, and temperance canpreser4e some part o one?s ormer strength e4en in old age/

11/ 0odily strength is -anting to old age5 but neither is bodily strength demanded rom old men/Thereore, both by la- and custom, men o my time o lie are e>empt rom those duties -hich

cannot be supported -ithout bodily strength/ Accordingly not only are -e not orced to do -hat

-e cannot do5 -e are not e4en obliged to do as much as -e can/ 0ut, it -ill be said, many oldmen are so eeble that they cannot perorm any duty in lie o any sort or :ind/ That is not a

-ea:ness to be set do-n as peculiar to "1d age it is one shared by ill health/ o- eeble -as theson o </ Aricanus, -ho adopted youI hat -ea: health he had, or rather no health at allI * that

had not been the case, -e should ha4e had in him a second brilliant light in the political hori7on5or he had added a -ider culti4ation to his ather?s greatness o spirit/ hat -onder, then, that old

men are e4entually eeble, -hen e4en young men cannot escape itE My dear )aelius and Scipio,-e must stand up against old age and ma:e up or its dra-bac:s by ta:ing pains/ e must ight it

as -e should an illness/ e must loo: ater our health, use moderate e>ercise, ta:e 8ust enoughood and drin: to recruit, but not to o4erload, our strength/ or is it the body alone that must be

supported, but the intellect and soul much more/ For they are li:e lamps unless you eed them-ith oil, they too go out rom old age/ Again, the body is apt to get gross rom e>ercise5 but the

intellect becomes nimbler by e>ercising itsel/ For -hat Caecilius means by old dotards o thecomic stage are the credulous, the orgetul, and the slipshod/ These are aults that do not

attach to old age as such, but to a sluggish, spiritless, and sleepy old age/ Houng men are morere;uently -anton and dissolute than old men5 but yet, as it is not all young men that are so, but

the bad set among them, e4en so senile olly6usually called imbecility6applies to old men ounsound character, not to all/ Appius go4erned our sturdy sons, i4e daughters, that great

establishment, and all those clients, though he -as both old and blind/ For he :ept his mind at ullstretch li:e a ho-, and ne4er ga4e in to old age by gro-ing slac:/ e maintained not merely an

inluence, but an absolute command o4er his amily his sla4es eared him, his sons -ere in a-eo him, all lo4ed him/ *n that amily, indeed, ancestral custom and discipline -ere in ull 4igour/

The act is that old age is respectable 8ust as long as it asserts itsel, maintains its proper rights,and is not ensla4ed to any one/ For as * admire a young man -ho has something o the old man inhim, so do * an old one -ho has something o a young man/ The man -ho aims at this may

possibly become old in body6in mind he ne4er -ill/ * am no- engaged in composing the se4enthboo: o my GOriginsG/ * collect all the records o anti;uity/ The speeches deli4ered in all the

celebrated cases -hich * ha4e deended * am at this particular time getting into shape or

publication/ * am -riting treatises on augural, pontiical, and ci4il la-/ * am, besides,






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• Cicero




<re4ious section 13 1 1! 1" e>t section

13/ * ha4e oten been told by men older than mysel, -ho said that they had heard it as boys romold men, that 9aius Fabricius -as in the habit o e>pressing astonishment at ha4ing heard, -hen

en4oy at the head;uarters o :ing <yrrhus, rom the Thessalian Cineas, that there -as a man oAthens -ho proessed to be a philosopher, and airmed that e4erything -e did -as to be

reerred to pleasure/ hen he told this to Manius Curius and <ublius Decius, they used to remar:

that they -ished that the Samnites and <yrrhus himsel -ould hold the same opinion/ *t -ould bemuch easier to con;uer them, i they had once gi4en themsel4es o4er to sensual indulgences/

Manius Curius had been intimate -ith </ Decius, -ho our years beore the ormer?s consulship

had de4oted himsel to death or the 'epublic/ 0oth Fabricius and Coruncanius :ne- him also, androm the e>perience o their o-n li4es, as -ell as rom the action o </ Decius, they -ere o

opinion that there did e>ist something intrinsically noble and great, -hich -as sought or its o-nsa:e, and at -hich all the best men aimed, to the contempt and neglect o pleasure/ hy then do

* spend so many -ords on the sub8ect o pleasureE hy, because, ar rom being a charge againstold age, that it does not much eel the -ant o any pleasures, it is its highest praise/

0ut, you -ill say, it is depri4ed o the pleasures o the table, the heaped up board, the rapid

passing o the -ine6cup/ ell, then, it is also ree rom headache, disordered digestion, bro:ensleep/ 0ut i -e must grant pleasure something, since -e do not ind it easy to resist its charms,6

or <lato, -ith happy inspiration, calls pleasure 4ice?s bait, because o course men are caught byit as ish by a hoo:,6yet, although old age has to abstain rom e>tra4agant ban;uets, it is still

capable o en8oying modest esti4ities/ As a boy * oten used to see 9aius Duilius the son oMarcus, then an old mali, returning rom a dinner6party/ e thoroughly en8oyed the re;uent use

o torch and lute6player, distinctions -hich he had assumed though unprecedented in the case oa pri4ate person/ *t -as the pri4ilege o his glory/ 0ut -hy mention othersE * -ill come bac: to my

o-n case/ To begin -ith, * ha4e al-ays remained a member o a club 6clubs, you :no-, -ereestablished in my ;uaestorship on the reception o the Magna Mater rom *da/ So * used to dine at

their east -ith the members o my club6on the -hole -ith moderation, though there -as acertain -armth o temperament natural to my time o lie5 but as that ad4ances there is a daily

decrease o all e>citement/ or -as *, in act, e4er -ont to measure my en8oyment e4en o theseban;uets by the physical pleasures they ga4e more than by the gathering and con4ersation o

riends/ For it -as a good idea o our ancestors to style the presence o guests at a dinner6table6seeing that it implied a community o en8oyment6a Gcon4i4iumG, a li4ing together/ *t is a better

term than the 9ree: -ords -hich mean a drin:ing together, or, an eating together/ For they-ould seem to gi4e the preerence to -hat is really the least important part o it/

1/ For mysel, o-ing to the pleasure * ta:e in con4ersation, * en8oy e4en ban;uets that begin

early in the aternoon, and not only in company -ith my contemporaries6o -hom 4ery e-sur4i4e6but also -ith men o your age and -ith yoursel4es/ * am than:ul to old age, -hich has

increased my a4idity or con4ersation, -hile it has remo4ed that or eating and drin:ing/ 0ut ianyone does en8oy these6not to seem to ha4e proclaimed -ar against all pleasure -ithout

e>ception, -hich is perhaps a eeling inspired by nature6* ail to percei4e e4en in these 4erypleasures that old age is entirely -ithout the po-er o appreciation/ For mysel, * ta:e delight e4en

in the old6ashioned appointment o master o the east5 and in the arrangement o thecon4ersation, -hich according to ancestral custom is begun rom the last place on the let6hand

couch -hen the -ine is brought in5 as also in the cups -hich, as in Kenophon?s ban;uet, are smalland illed by driblets5 and in the contri4ance or cooling in summer, and or -arming hy the -inter

sun or -inter ire/ These things * :eep up e4en among my Sabine countrymen, and e4ery day

ha4e a ull dinner6party o neighbours, -hich -e prolong as ar into the night as -e can -ith4aried con4ersation/

0ut you may urge6there is not the same tingling sensation o pleasure in old men/ o doubt5 butneither do they miss it so much/ For nothing gi4es you uneasiness -hich you do not miss/ That

-as a ine ans-er o Sophocles to a man -ho as:ed him, -hen in e>treme old age, -hether he



-as still a lo4er/ ea4en orbidI he replied5 * -as only too glad to escape rom that, as though

rom a boorish and insane master/ To men indeed -ho are :een ater such things it may possiblyappear disagreeable and uncomortable to be -ithout them5 but to 8aded appetites it is pleasanter

to lac: than to en8oy/ o-e4er, he cannot be said to lac: -ho does not -ant my contention is

that not to -ant is the pleasanter thing/

0ut e4en granting that youth en8oys these pleasures -ith more 7est5 in the irst place, they are

insigniicant things to en8oy, as * ha4e said5 and it the second place, such as age is not entirely-ithout, i it does not possess them in prousion/ .ust as a man gets greater pleasure rom

Ambi4ius Turpio i seated in the ront ro- at the theatre than i he -as in the last, yet, ater all,

the man in the last ro- does get pleasure5 so youth, because it loo:s at pleasures at closer;uarters, perhaps en8oys itsel more, yet e4en old age, loo:ing at them rom a distance, does

en8oy itsel -ell enough/ hy, -hat blessings are these6that the soul, ha4ing ser4ed its time, so tospea:, in the campaigns o desire and ambition, ri4alry and hatred, and all the passions, should

li4e in its o-n thoughts, and, as the e>pression goes, should d-ell apartI *ndeed, i it has in storeany o -hat * may call the ood o study and philosophy, nothing can be pleasanter than an old

age o leisure/ e -ere -itnesses to C/ 9allus6a riend o your ather?s, Scipio6intent to the day ohis death on mapping out the s:y and land/ o- oten did the light surprise him -hile still -or:ing

out a problem begun during the nightI o- oten did night ind him busy on -hat he had begun atda-nI o- he delighted in predicting or us solar and lunar eclipses long beore they occurredI Or

again in studies o a lighter nature, though still re;uiring :eenness o intellect, -hat pleasureae4ius too: in his G<unic arGI <lautus in his GTruculentusG and G<seudolusGI * e4en sa- )i4ius

Andronicus, -ho, ha4ing produced a play si> years beore * -as born6in the consulship o Centoand Tuditanus6li4ed till * had become a young man/ hy spea: o <ublius )icinius Crassus?s

de4otion to pontiical and ci4il la-, or o the <ublius Scipio o the present time, -ho -ithin theselast e- days has been created <ontie> Ma>imusE And yet * ha4e seen all -hom * ha4e mentioned

ardent in these pursuits -hen old men/ Then there is Marcus Cethegus, -hom +nnius 8ustly called<ersuasion?s Marro- 6-ith -hat enthusiasm did -e see him e>ert himsel in oratory e4en -hen

;uite oldI hat pleasures are there ?n easts, games, or mistresses comparable to pleasures suchas theseE And they are all tastes, too, connected -ith learning, -hich in men o sense and good

education gro- -ith their gro-th/ *t is indeed an honourable sentiment -hich Solon e>presses ina 4erse -hich * ha4e ;uoted beore6that he gre- old learning many a resh lesson e4ery day/ Than

that intellectual pleasure none certainly can be greater/

1!/ * come no- to the pleasures o the armer, in -hich N ta:e ama7ing delight/ These are nothindered by any e>tent o old age, and seem to me to approach nearest to? the ideal -ise man?s

lie/ For he has to deal -ith the earth, -hich ne4er reuses its obedience, nor e4er returns -hat ithas recei4ed -ithout usury5 sometimes, indeed, -ith less, but generally -ith greater interest/ For

my part, ho-e4er/ it is not merely the thing produced, but the earth?s o-n orce and naturalproducti4eness that delight me/ For recei4ed in its bosom the seed scattered broadcast upon it,

sotened and bro:en up, she irst :eeps it concealed therein hence the harro-ing -hich

accomplishes this gets its name rom a -ord meaning to hideB5 ne>t, -hen it has been -armedby her heat and close pressure, she splits it open and dra-s rom it the greenery o the blade/

This, supported by the ibres o the root, little by little gro-s up, and held upright by its 8ointed

stal: is enclosed in sheaths, as being still immature/ hen it has emerged rom them it produces

an ear o corn arranged in order, and is deended against the pec:ing o the smaller birds by aregular palisade o spi:es/

eed * mention the starting, planting, and gro-th o 4inesE * can ne4er ha4e too much o this

pleasure6to let you into the secret o -hat gi4es my old age repose and amusement/ For * saynothing here o the natural orce -hich all things propagated rom the earth possess6the earth

-hich rom that tiny grain in a ig, or the grape6stone in a grape, or the most minute seeds o the

other cereals and plants, produces such huge trun:s and boughs/ Mallet6shoots, slips, cuttings,;uic:sets, layers6are they not enough to ill anyone -ith delight and astonishmentE The 4ine by

nature is apt to all, and unless supported drops do-n to the earth5 yet in order to :eep itsel



upright it embraces -hate4er it reaches -ith its tendrils as though they -ere hands/ Then as it

creeps on, spreading itsel in intricate and -ild prousion, the dresser?s art prunes it -ith the :nieand pre4ents it gro-ing a orest o shoots and e>panding to e>cess in e4ery direction/ Accordingly

at the beginning o spring in the shoots -hich ha4e been let there protrudes at each o the 8oints

-hat is termed an From this the grape emerges and sho-s itsel5 -hich, s-ollen by the 8uice othe earth and the heat o the sun, is at irst 4ery bitter to the taste, but ater-ards gro-s s-eet

as it matures5 and being co4ered -ith tendrils is ne4er -ithout a moderate -armth, and yet is

able to -ard o the iery heat o the sun/ Can anything be richer in product or more beautiul tocontemplateE *t is not its utility only, as * said beore, that charms me, but the method o itsculti4ation and the natural process o its gro-th the ro-s o uprights, the cross6pieces or the

tops o the plants, the tying up o the 4ines and their propagation by layers, the pruning, to -hich* ha4e already reerred, o some shoots, the setting o others/ * need hardly mention irrigation, or

trenching and digging the soil, -hich much increase its ertility/ As to the ad4antages o manuring* ha4e spo:en in my boo: on agriculture/ The learned esiod did not say a single -ord on this

sub8ect, though he -as -riting on the culti4ation o the soil5 yet omer, -ho in my opinion -asmany generations earlier, represents )aertes as sotening his regret or his son by culti4ating and

manuring his arm/ or is it only in cornields and meado-s and 4ineyards and plantations that aarmer?s lie is made cheerul/ There are the garden and the orchard, the eeding o sheep, the

s-arms o bees, endless 4arieties o lo-ers/ or is it only planting out that charms there is alsograting6surely the most ingenious in4ention e4er made by husbandmen/

i"/ * might continue my list o the delights o country lie5 but e4en -hat * ha4e said * thin: is

some-hat o4er long/ o-e4er, you must pardon me5 or arming is a 4ery a4ourite hobby omine, and old age is naturally rather garrulous6or * -ould not be thought to ac;uit it o all aults/

ell, it -as in a lie o this sort that Manius Curius, ater celebrating triumphs o4er the Samnites,

the Sabines, and <yrrhus, spent his last days/ hen * loo: at his 4illa6or it is not ar rom myo-n6* ne4er can enough admire the man?s o-n rugality or the spirit o the age/ As Curius -as

sitting at his hearth the Samnites, -ho brought him a large sum o gold, -ere repulsed by him5or it -as not, lie said, a ine thing in his eyes to possess gold, but to rule those -ho possessed it/

Could such a high spirit ail to ma:e old age pleasantE

0ut to return to armers6not to -ander rom my o-n metier/ Tn those days there -ere senators, Gi/ eG/ old men, on their arms/ For )/ Juinctius Cincinnatus -as actually at the plough -hen -ord

-as brought him that he had been named Dictator/ *t -as by his order as Dictator, by the -ay,that C/ Ser4ilius Ahala, the Master o the orse, sei7ed and put to death Spurius Maelius -hen

attempting to obtain royal po-er/ Curius as -ell as other old men used to recei4e theirsummonses to attend the Senate in their arm6houses, rom -hich circumstance the summoners

-ere called G4iatoresG or tra4ellers/ as these men?s old age an ob8ect o pity -ho ound theirpleasure in the culti4ation o the landE *n my opinion, scarcely any lie can be more blessed, not

alone rom its utility or agriculture is beneicial to the -hole human raceB, but also as much romthe mere pleasure o the thing, to -hich * ha4e already alluded, and rom the rich abundance and

supply o all things necessary or the ood o man and or the -orship o the gods abo4e/ So, asthese are ob8ects o desire to certain people, let us ma:e our peace -ith pleasure/ For the good

and hard6-or:ing armer?s -ine6cellar and oil6store, as -ell as his larder, are al-ays -ell illed,and his -hole arm6house is richly urnished/ *t abounds in pigs, goats, lambs, o-ls, mil:,

cheese, and/ honey/ Then there is the garden, -hich the armers themsel4es call their secondlitch/ A 7est and la4our is added to all these by hunting and o-ling in spare hours/ eed *

mention the greenery o meado-s, the ro-s o trees, the beauty o 4ineyard and oli4e6gro4eE *

?-ill put it briely nothing can either urnish necessaries more richly, or present a airer spectacle,than -ell6culti4ated land/ And to the en8oyment o that, old age does not merely present no

hindrance6it actually in4ites and allures to it/ For -here else can it better -arm itsel, either by

bas:ing in the sun or by sitting by the ire, or at the proper time cool itsel more -holesomely bythe help o shade or -aterE )et the young :eep their arms then to themsel4es, their horses,

spears, their oils and ball, their s-imming baths and running path/ To us old men let them, out o



the many orms o sport, lea4e dice and counters5 but e4en that as they choose, since old age can

be ;uite happy -ithout them/





<re4ious section 1# 1$ 1% 2& e>t section

1#/ Kenophon?s boo:s are 4ery useul or many purposes/ <ray go on reading them -ith attention,as you ha4e e4er done/ *n -hat ample terms is agriculture lauded by him in the boo: about

husbanding one?s property, -hich is called GOceonomicusGI 0ut to sho- you that he thoughtnothing so -orthy o a prince as the taste or culti4ating the soil, * -ill translate -hat Socrates

says to Critobulus in that boo:

hen that most gallant )acedaemonian )ysander came to 4isit the <ersian prince Cyrus atSardis, so eminent or his character and the glory o his rule, bringing him presents rom his allies,

he treated )ysander in all -ays -ith courteous amiliarity and :indness, and, among other things,too: him to see a certain par: careully planted/ )ysander e>pressed admiration o the height o

the trees and the e>act arrangement o their ro-s in the ;uincun>, the careul culti4ation o thesoil, its reedom rom -eeds, and the s-eetness o the odours e>haled rom the lo-ers, and -ent

on to say that -hat he admired -as not the industry only, but also the s:ill o the man by -homthis had been planned and laid out/ Cyrus replied ?ell, it -as * -ho planned the -hole thing

these ro-s are my doing, the laying out is all mine5 many o the trees -ere e4en planted by o-nhand/? Then )ysander, loo:ing at his purple robe, the brilliance o his person, and his adornment

<ersian ashion -ith gold and many 8e-els, said ?<eople are ;uite right, Cyrus, to call you happy,since the ad4antages o high ortune ha4e been 8oined to an e>cellence li:e yours/?

This :ind o good ortune, then, it is in the po-er o old men to en8oy5 nor is age any bar to our

maintaining pursuits o e4ery other :ind, and especially o agriculture, to the 4ery e>treme 4ergeo old age/ For instance, -e ha4e it on record that M/ =alerius Cor4us :ept it up to his hundredth

year, li4ing on his land and culti4ating it ater his acti4e career -as o4er, though bet-een his irstand si>th consulships there -as an inter4al o si> and orty years/ So that he had an oicial career

lasting the number o years -hich our ancestors deined as coming bet-een birth and the

beginning o old age/ Moreo4er, that last period o his old age -as more blessed than that o hismiddle lie, inasmuch as he had greater inluence and less labour/ For the cro-ning grace o oldage is inluence/

o- great -as that o )/ Caecilius MetellusI o- great that o Atilius Calatinus, o4er -hom the

amous epitaph -as placed, =ery many classes agree in deeming this to ha4e been the 4ery irstman o the nationI The line cut on his tomb is -ell :no-n/ *t is natural, then, that a man should

ha4e had inluence, in -hose praise the 4erdict o history is unanimous/ Again, in recent times,-hat a great man -as <ublius Crassus, <ontie> Ma>imus, and his successor in the same oice, M/

)epidusI * need scarcely mention <aulus or Aricanus, or, as * did beore, Ma>imus/ *t -as not only

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their senatorial utterances that had -eight their least gesture had it also/ *n act, old age,

especially -hen it has en8oyed honours, has an inluence -orth all the pleasures o youth puttogether/

1$/ 0ut throughout my discourse remember that my panegyric applies to an old age that has beenestablished on oundations laid by youth/ From -hich may be deduced -hat * once said -ith

uni4ersal applause, that it -as a -retched old age that had to deend itsel by speech/ either

-hite hairs nor -rin:les can at once claim inluence in themsel4es it is the honourable conduct oearlier days that is re-arded by possessing inluence at the last/ +4en things generally regarded

as triling and matters o course6being saluted, being courted, ha4ing -ay made or one, people

rising -hen one approaches, being escorted to and rom the orum, being reerred to or ad4ice6allthese are mar:s o respect, obser4ed among us and in other States6al-ays most sedulously -here

the moral tone is highest/ They say that )ysander the Spartan, -hom * ha4e mentioned beore,used to remar: that Sparta -as the most digniied home or old age5 or that no-here -as more

respect paid to years, no6-here -as old age held in higher honour/ ay, the story is told o ho--hen a man o ad4anced years came into the theatre at Athens -hen the games -ere going on,

no place -as gi4en him any-here in that large assembly by his o-n countrymen5 but -hen hecame near the )acedaemonians, -ho as ambassadors had a i>ed place assigned to them, they

rose as one man out o respect or him, and ga4e the 4eteran a seat/ hen they -ere greeted-ith rounds o applause rom the -hole audience, one o them remar:ed

The Athenians :no- -hat is right, but -ill not do it/ There are many e>cellent rules in our

augural college, but among the best is one -hich aects our sub8ect6that precedence in speechgoes by seniority5 and augurs -ho are older are preerred only to those -ho ha4e held higher

oice, but e4en to those -ho are actually in possession o imperium/ hat then are the physicalpleasures to be compared -ith the re-ard o inluenceE Those -ho ha4e employed it -ith

distinction appear to me to ha4e played the drama o lie to its end, and not to ha4e bro:en do-nin the last act li:e unpractised players/

0ut, it -ill be said, old men are retul, idgety, ill6tempered, and disagreeable/ * you come to

that, they are also a4aricious/ 0ut these are aults o character, not o the time o lie/ And, aterall, retulness and the other aults * mentioned admit o some e>cuse6not, indeed, a complete

one, but one that may possibly pass muster they thin: them6sel4es neglected, loo:ed do-nupon, moc:ed, 0esides -ith bodily -ea:ness e4ery rub is a source o pain/ Het all these aults are

sotened both by good character and good education/ *llustrations o this may be ound in real lie,as also on the stage in the case o the brothers in the GAdeiphiG/ hat harshness in the one, -hat

gracious manners in the other The act is that, 8ust as it is not e4ery -ine, so it is not e4ery lie,that turns sour rom :eeping, Serious gra4ity * appro4e o in old age, but, as in other things, it

must be -ithin due limits bitterness * can in no case appro4e/ hat the ob8ect o senile a4aricemay be * cannot concei4e/ For can there be anything more absurd than to see: more 8ourney

money, the less there remains o the 8ourneyE

1%/ There remains the ourth reason, -hich more than anything else appears to torment men omy age and :eep them in a lutter6T+ +A'+SS OF D+AT, -hich, it must be allo-ed, cannot

be ar rom an old man/ 0ut -hat a poor dotard must he be -ho has not learnt in the course o solong a lie that death is not a thing to be earedE Death, that is either to be totally disregarded, i

it entirely e>tinguishes the soul, or is e4en to be desired, i it brings him -here he is to e>istore4er/ A third alternati4e, at any rate, cannot possibly be disco4ered/ hy then should * be

araid i * am destined either not to be miserable ater death or e4en to be happyE Ater all, -ho issuch a ool as to eel certain6ho-e4er young he may be6that he -ill be ali4e in the e4eningE ay,

that time o lie has many more chances o death than ours, Houng men more easily contractdiseases5 their illnesses are more serious5 their treatment has to be more se4ere/ Accordingly,

only a e- arri4e at old age/ * that -ere not so, lie -ould be conducted better and more -isely5or it is in old men that thought, reason, and prudence are to be ound5 and i there had been no

old men, States -ould ne4er ha4e e>isted at all/ 0ut * return to the sub8ect o the imminence o



death/ hat sort o charge is this against old age, -hen you see that it is shared by youthE * had

reason in the case o my e>cellent son6as you had, Scipio, in that o your brothers, -ho -eree>pected to attain the highest honours6to realise that death is common to e4ery time o lie/ Hes,

you -ill say5 but a young man e>pects to li4e long5 an old man cannot e>pect to do so/ ell, he is

a ool to e>pect it/ For -hat can be more oolish than to regard the uncertain as certain, the alseas trueE An old man has nothing e4en to hope/ Ah, but it is 8ust there that he is in a better

position than a young man, since -hat the latter only hopes he has obtained/ The one -ishes to

li4e long5 the other has li4ed long/

And yet, good hea4enI -hat is long in a man?s lieE For grant the utmost limit let us e>pect an

age li:e that o the ing o the Tartessi/ For there -as, as * ind recorded, a certain Agathonius at9ades -ho reigned eighty years and li4ed a hundred and t-enty/ 0ut to my mind nothing seems

e4en long in -hich there is any last, or -hen that arri4es, then all the past has slipped a-ay6only that remains to -hich you ha4e attained by 4irtue and righteous actions/ ours indeed, and

days and months and years depart, nor does past time e4er return, nor can the uture be :no-n/hate4er time each is granted or lie, -ith that he is bound to be content/ An actor, in order to

earn appro4al, is not bound to perorm the play rom beginning to end5 let him only satisy theaudience in -hate4er act he appears/ or need a -ise man go on to the concluding plaudite/ For

a short term o lie is long enough or li4ing -ell and honourably/ 0ut i you go arther, you ha4eno more right to grumble than armers do because the charm o the spring season is past and the

summer and autumn ha4e come/ For the -ord spring in a -ay suggests youth, and points to thehar4est to be the other seasons are suited or the reaping and storing o the crops/ o- the

har4est o old age is, as * ha4e oten said, the memory and rich store o blessings laid up in easierlie/ Again, all things that accord -ith nature are to be counted as good/ 0ut -hat can be more in

accordance -ith nature than or old men to dieE A thing, indeed, -hich also belies young men,though nature re4olts and ights against it/ Accordingly, the death o young men seems to me li:e

putting out a great ire -ith a deluge o -ater5 but old men die li:e a ire going out because it hasburnt do-n o its o-n nature -ithout artiicial means/ Again, 8ust as apples -hen unripe are torn

rom trees, but -hen ripe and mello- drop do-n, so it is 4iolence that ta:es lie rom young men,ripeness rom old/ This ripeness is so delightul to me, that, as * approach nearer to death, * seem

as it -ere to be sighting land, and to be coming to port at last ater a long 4oyage/

2&/ Again, there is no i>ed borderline or old age, and you are ma:ing a good and proper use o itas long as you can satisy the call o duty and disregard death/ The result o this is, that old age is

e4en more conident and courageous than youth/ That is the meaning o Solon?s ans-er to thetyrant <isistratus/ hen the latter as:ed him -hat he relied upon in opposing him -ith such

boldness, he is said to ha4e replied, On my old age/ 0ut that end o lie is the best, -hen,-ithout the intellect or senses being impaired, ature hersel ta:es to pieces her o-n handi-or:

-hich she also put together/ .ust as the builder o a ship or a house can brea: them up moreeasily than any one else, so the nature that :nit together the human rame can also best unasten

it/ Moreo4er, a thing reshly glued together is al-ays diicult to pull asunder5 i old, this is easily

done/

The result is that the short time o lie let to them is not to be grasped at by old men -ith greedy

eagerness, or abandoned -ithout cause/ <ythagoras orbids us, -ithout an order rom ourcommander, that is 9od, to desert lie?s ortress and outpost/ Solon?s epitaph, indeed, is that o a

-ise man, in -hich he says that he does not -ish his death to be unaccompanied by the sorro-and lamentations o his riends/ e -ants, * suppose, to be belo4ed by them/ 0ut * rather thin:

+nnius says better

one grace me -ith their tears, nor -eeping loud Ma:e sad my uneral ritesI

e holds that a death is not a sub8ect or mourning -hen it is ollo-ed by immortality/



Again, there may possibly be some sensation o dying and that only or a short time, especially in

the case o an old man ater death, indeed, sensation is either -hat one -ould desire, or itdisappears altogether/ 0ut to disregard death is a lesson -hich must be studied rom our youth

up5 or unless that is learnt, no one can ha4e a ;uiet mind/ For die -e certainly must, and that too

-ithout being certain -hether it may not be this 4ery day/ As death, thereore, is hanging o4erour head e4ery hour, ho- can a man e4er be unsha:en in soul i he ears itE

0ut on this theme * don?t thin: * need much enlarge -hen * remember -hat )ucius 0rutus did,-ho -as :illed -hile deending his country5 or the t-o Decii, -ho spurred their horses to a gallop

and met a 4oluntary death5 or M/ Atilius 'egulus, -ho let his home to conront a death o torture,

rather than brea: the -ord -hich lie had pledged to the enemy5 or the t-o Scipios, -hodetermined to bloc: the Carthaginian ad4ance e4en -ith their o-n bodies5 or your grandather

)ucius <aulus, -ho paid -ith his lie or the rashness o his colleague in the disgrace at Cannae5 orM/ Marcellus, -hose death not e4en the most bloodthirsty o enemies -ould allo- to go -ithout

the honour o burial/ *t is enough to recall that our legions as * ha4e recorded in my GOriginsGBha4e oten marched -ith cheerul and loty spirit to ground rom -hich they belie4ed that they

-ould ne4er return/ That, thereore, -hich young men6not only uninstructed, but absolutelyignorant6treat as o no account, shall men -ho are neither young nor ignorant shrin: rom in

terrorE As a general truth, as it seems to me, it is -eariness o all pursuits that creates -earinesso lie/ There are certain pursuits adapted to childhood do young men miss themE There are

others suited to early manhood does that settled time o lie called middle age as: or themEThere are others, again, suited to that age, but not loo:ed or in old age/ There are, inally, some

-hich belong to Old age/ Thereore, as the pursuits o the earlier ages ha4e their time ordisappearing, so also ha4e those o old age/ And -hen that ta:es place, a satiety o lie brings on

the ripe time or death/






<re4ious section 21 22 23

21/ For * do not see -hy * should not 4enture to tell you my personal opinion as to death, o -hich

* seem to mysel to ha4e a clearer 4ision in proportion as * am nearer to it/ * belie4e, Scipio and

)aelius, that your athers6those illustrious men and my dearest riends6are still ali4e, and that too-ith a lie -hich alone deser4es the name/ For as long as -e are imprisoned in this rame-or: o

the body, -e perorm a certain unction and laborious -or: assigned us by ate/ The soul, in act,

is o hea4enly origin, orced do-n rom its home in the highest, and, so to spea:, buried in earth,a place ;uite opposed to its di4ine nature and its immortality/ 0ut * suppose the immortal gods to

ha4e so-n souls broadcast in human bodies, that there might be some to sur4ey the -orld, and-hile contemplating the order o the hea4enly bodies to imitate it in the un4arying regularity o

their lie/ or is it only reason and arguments that ha4e brought me to this belie, but the greatame and authority o the most distinguished philosophers/ * used to be told that <ythagoras and

the <ythagoreans6almost nati4es o our country, -ho in old times had been called the *talian

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• Cicero




school o philosophers6ne4er doubted that -e had souls drated rom the uni4ersal Di4ine

intelligence/ * used be6sides to ha4e pointed out to me the discourse deli4ered by Socrates on thelast day o his lie upon the immortality o the soul6Socrates -ho -as pronounced by the oracle at

Delphi to be the -isest o men/ * need say no more/ * ha4e con4inced mysel, and T hold6in 4ie-

o the rapid mo4ement o the soul, its 4i4id memory o the past and its prophetic :no-ledge o theuture, its many accomplishments, its 4ast range o :no-ledge, its numerous disco4eries 6that a

nature embracing such 4aried gits cannot itsel be mortal/ And since the soul is al-ays in motion

and yet has no e>ternal source o motion, or it is sel6mo4ed, * conclude that it -ill also ha4e noend to its motion, because it is not li:ely e4er to abandon itsel/ Again, since the nature o the soulis not composite, nor has in it any admi>ture that is not homogeneous anl similar, * conclude that

it is indi4isible, and, i indi4isible, that it cannot perish/ *t is again a strong proo o men :no-ingmost things beore birth, that -hen mere children they grasp innumerable acts -ith such speed

as to sho- that they are not then ta:ing them in or the irst time, but remembering and recallingthem/ This is roughly <lato?s argument/

22/ Once more in Kenophon -e ha4e the elder Cyrus on his deathbed spea:ing as ollo-s6

Do not suppose, my dearest sons, that -hen * ha4e let you * shall be no-here and no one/ +4en

-hen * -as -ith you, you did not see my soul, but :ne- that it -as in this body o mine rom-hat * did/ 0elie4e then that it is still the same, e4en though you see it not/ The honours paid to

illustrious men had not continued to e>ist ater their death, had the souls o these 4ery men notdone something to ma:e us retain our recollection o them beyond the ordinary time/ For mysel, *

ne4er could be persuaded that souls -hile in mortal bodies -ere ali4e, and died directly they letthem5 nor, in act, that the soul only lost all intelligence -hen it let the unintelligent body/ *

belie4e rather that -hen, by being liberated rom all corporeal admi>ture, it has begun to be pureand undeiled, it is then that it becomes -ise/ And again, -hen man?s natural rame is resol4ed

into its elements by death, it is clearly seen -hither each o the other elements departs or theyall go to the place rom -hich they came but the soul alone is in4isible ali:e -hen present and

-hen departing/ Once more, you see that nothing is so li:e death as sleep/ And yet it is insleepers that souls most clearly re4eal their di4ine nature5 or they oresee many e4ents -hen

they are allo-ed to escape and are let ree/ This sho-s -hat they are li:ely to be -hen they ha4ecompletely reed themsel4es rom the etters o the body/ hereore, i these things are so, obey

me as a god/ 0ut i my soul is to perish -ith my body, ne4ertheless do you rom a-e o the gods,-ho guard and go4ern this air uni4erse, preser4e my memory by the loyalty and piety o your

li4es/

23/ Such are the -ords o the dying Cyrus/ * -ill no-, -ith your good lea4e, loo: at home/ oone, my dear Scipio, shall e4er persuade me that your ather <aulus and your t-o grandathers

<aulus and Aricanus, or the ather o Aricanus, or his uncle, or many other illustrious men notnecessary to mention, -ould ha4e attempted such loty deeds as to be remaindered by posterity,

had they not seen in their minds that uture ages concerned them/ Do you suppose6to ta:e an oldman?s pri4ilege o a little sel6praise6that * should ha4e been li:ely to underta:e such hea4y

labours by day and night, at home and abroad, i * had been destined to ha4e the same limit tomy glory as to my lieE ad it not been much better to pass an age o ease and repose -ithout

any labour or e>ertionE 0ut my soul, * :no- not ho-, reusing to be :ept do-n, e4er i>ed its eyesupon uture ages, as though rom a con4iction that it -ould begin to li4e only -hen it had let the

body/ 0ut had it not been the case that souls -ere immortal, it -ould not ha4e been the souls oall the best men that made the greatest eorts ater an immortality o ame/

Again, is there not the act that the -isest man e4er dies -ith the greatest cheerulness, the most

un-ise -ith the leastE Don?t you thin: that the soul -hich has the clearer and longer sight seesthat it is starting or better things, -hile the soul -hose 4ision is dimmer does not see itE For my

part, * am transported -ith the desire to see your athers, -ho -ere the ob8ect o my re4erenceand aection/ or is it only those -hom * :ne- that * long to see5 it is those also o -hom * ha4e

been told and ha4e read, -hom * ha4e mysel recorded in my history/ hen * am setting out or



that, there is certainly no one -ho -ill ind it easy to dra- me bac:, or boil me up again li:e

second <elios/ ay, i some god should grant me to rene- my childhood rom my present age andonce more to be crying in my cradle, * -ould irmly reuse5 nor should * in truth be -illing, ater

ha4ing, as it -ere, run the ull course, to be recalled rom the -inning6crease to the barriers/ For

-hat blessing has lie to oerE Should -e not rather say -hat labourE 0ut granting that it has, atany rate it has ater all a limit either to en8oyment or to e>istence/ * don?t -ish to depreciate lie,

as many men and good philosophers ha4e oten done5 nor do * regret ha4ing li4ed, or * ha4e

done so in a -ay that lets me thin: that * -as not born in 4ain/ 0ut * ;uit lie as * -ould an inn,not as * -ould a home/ For nature has gi4en us a place o entertainment, not o residence/

Oh glorious day -hen * shall set out to 8oin that hea4enly concla4e and company o souls, anddepart rom the turmoil and impurities o this -orldI For * shall not go to 8oin only those -hom *

ha4e beore mentioned, but also my son Cato, than -hom no better man -as e4er born, nor onemore conspicuous or piety/ is body -as burnt by me, though mine ought, on the contrary, to

ha4e been burnt by him5 but his spirit, not abandoning, but e4er loo:ing bac: upon me, hascertainly gone -hither he sa- that * too must come/ * -as thought to bear that loss heroically, not

that * really bore it -ithout distress, but * ound my o-n consolation in the thought that theparting and separation bet-een us -as not to be or long/

*t is by these means, my dear Scipio,6or you said that you and )aelius -ere -ont to e>press

surprise on this point, 6that my old age sits lightly on me, and is not only not oppressi4e but e4endelightul/ 0ut i * am -rong in thin:ing the human soul immortal, * am glad to be -rong5 nor -ill

* allo- the mista:e -hich gi4es me so much pleasure to be -rested rom me as long as * li4e/ 0uti -hen dead, as some insigniicant philosophers thin:, * am to be -ithout sensation, * am not

araid o dead philosophers deriding my errors/ Again, i -e are not to be immortal, it isne4ertheless -hat a man must -ish6to ha4e his lie end at its proper time/ For nature puts a limit

to li4ing as to e4erything else/ o-, old age is as it -ere the playing out o the drama, the ullatigue o -hich -e should shun, especially -hen -e also eel that -e ha4e had more than enough

o it/

This is all * had to say on old age/ * pray that you may arri4e at it, that you may put my -ords toa practical test/






<re4ious section 21 22 23

21/ For * do not see -hy * should not 4enture to tell you my personal opinion as to death, o -hich* seem to mysel to ha4e a clearer 4ision in proportion as * am nearer to it/ * belie4e, Scipio and

)aelius, that your athers6those illustrious men and my dearest riends6are still ali4e, and that too-ith a lie -hich alone deser4es the name/ For as long as -e are imprisoned in this rame-or: o

the body, -e perorm a certain unction and laborious -or: assigned us by ate/ The soul, in act,

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• Cicero




is o hea4enly origin, orced do-n rom its home in the highest, and, so to spea:, buried in earth,

a place ;uite opposed to its di4ine nature and its immortality/ 0ut * suppose the immortal gods toha4e so-n souls broadcast in human bodies, that there might be some to sur4ey the -orld, and

-hile contemplating the order o the hea4enly bodies to imitate it in the un4arying regularity o

their lie/ or is it only reason and arguments that ha4e brought me to this belie, but the greatame and authority o the most distinguished philosophers/ * used to be told that <ythagoras and

the <ythagoreans6almost nati4es o our country, -ho in old times had been called the *talian

school o philosophers6ne4er doubted that -e had souls drated rom the uni4ersal Di4ineintelligence/ * used be6sides to ha4e pointed out to me the discourse deli4ered by Socrates on thelast day o his lie upon the immortality o the soul6Socrates -ho -as pronounced by the oracle at

Delphi to be the -isest o men/ * need say no more/ * ha4e con4inced mysel, and T hold6in 4ie-o the rapid mo4ement o the soul, its 4i4id memory o the past and its prophetic :no-ledge o the

uture, its many accomplishments, its 4ast range o :no-ledge, its numerous disco4eries 6that anature embracing such 4aried gits cannot itsel be mortal/ And since the soul is al-ays in motion

and yet has no e>ternal source o motion, or it is sel6mo4ed, * conclude that it -ill also ha4e noend to its motion, because it is not li:ely e4er to abandon itsel/ Again, since the nature o the soul

is not composite, nor has in it any admi>ture that is not homogeneous anl similar, * conclude thatit is indi4isible, and, i indi4isible, that it cannot perish/ *t is again a strong proo o men :no-ing

most things beore birth, that -hen mere children they grasp innumerable acts -ith such speedas to sho- that they are not then ta:ing them in or the irst time, but remembering and recalling

them/ This is roughly <lato?s argument/

22/ Once more in Kenophon -e ha4e the elder Cyrus on his deathbed spea:ing as ollo-s6

Do not suppose, my dearest sons, that -hen * ha4e let you * shall be no-here and no one/ +4en-hen * -as -ith you, you did not see my soul, but :ne- that it -as in this body o mine rom

-hat * did/ 0elie4e then that it is still the same, e4en though you see it not/ The honours paid toillustrious men had not continued to e>ist ater their death, had the souls o these 4ery men not

done something to ma:e us retain our recollection o them beyond the ordinary time/ For mysel, *ne4er could be persuaded that souls -hile in mortal bodies -ere ali4e, and died directly they let

them5 nor, in act, that the soul only lost all intelligence -hen it let the unintelligent body/ *belie4e rather that -hen, by being liberated rom all corporeal admi>ture, it has begun to be pure

and undeiled, it is then that it becomes -ise/ And again, -hen man?s natural rame is resol4edinto its elements by death, it is clearly seen -hither each o the other elements departs or they

all go to the place rom -hich they came but the soul alone is in4isible ali:e -hen present and-hen departing/ Once more, you see that nothing is so li:e death as sleep/ And yet it is in

sleepers that souls most clearly re4eal their di4ine nature5 or they oresee many e4ents -henthey are allo-ed to escape and are let ree/ This sho-s -hat they are li:ely to be -hen they ha4e

completely reed themsel4es rom the etters o the body/ hereore, i these things are so, obeyme as a god/ 0ut i my soul is to perish -ith my body, ne4ertheless do you rom a-e o the gods,

-ho guard and go4ern this air uni4erse, preser4e my memory by the loyalty and piety o your

li4es/

23/ Such are the -ords o the dying Cyrus/ * -ill no-, -ith your good lea4e, loo: at home/ o

one, my dear Scipio, shall e4er persuade me that your ather <aulus and your t-o grandathers<aulus and Aricanus, or the ather o Aricanus, or his uncle, or many other illustrious men not

necessary to mention, -ould ha4e attempted such loty deeds as to be remaindered by posterity,had they not seen in their minds that uture ages concerned them/ Do you suppose6to ta:e an old

man?s pri4ilege o a little sel6praise6that * should ha4e been li:ely to underta:e such hea4y

labours by day and night, at home and abroad, i * had been destined to ha4e the same limit tomy glory as to my lieE ad it not been much better to pass an age o ease and repose -ithout

any labour or e>ertionE 0ut my soul, * :no- not ho-, reusing to be :ept do-n, e4er i>ed its eyes

upon uture ages, as though rom a con4iction that it -ould begin to li4e only -hen it had let thebody/ 0ut had it not been the case that souls -ere immortal, it -ould not ha4e been the souls o

all the best men that made the greatest eorts ater an immortality o ame/



Again, is there not the act that the -isest man e4er dies -ith the greatest cheerulness, the most

un-ise -ith the leastE Don?t you thin: that the soul -hich has the clearer and longer sight seesthat it is starting or better things, -hile the soul -hose 4ision is dimmer does not see itE For my

part, * am transported -ith the desire to see your athers, -ho -ere the ob8ect o my re4erence

and aection/ or is it only those -hom * :ne- that * long to see5 it is those also o -hom * ha4ebeen told and ha4e read, -hom * ha4e mysel recorded in my history/ hen * am setting out or

that, there is certainly no one -ho -ill ind it easy to dra- me bac:, or boil me up again li:e

second <elios/ ay, i some god should grant me to rene- my childhood rom my present age andonce more to be crying in my cradle, * -ould irmly reuse5 nor should * in truth be -illing, aterha4ing, as it -ere, run the ull course, to be recalled rom the -inning6crease to the barriers/ For

-hat blessing has lie to oerE Should -e not rather say -hat labourE 0ut granting that it has, atany rate it has ater all a limit either to en8oyment or to e>istence/ * don?t -ish to depreciate lie,

as many men and good philosophers ha4e oten done5 nor do * regret ha4ing li4ed, or * ha4edone so in a -ay that lets me thin: that * -as not born in 4ain/ 0ut * ;uit lie as * -ould an inn,

not as * -ould a home/ For nature has gi4en us a place o entertainment, not o residence/

Oh glorious day -hen * shall set out to 8oin that hea4enly concla4e and company o souls, anddepart rom the turmoil and impurities o this -orldI For * shall not go to 8oin only those -hom *

ha4e beore mentioned, but also my son Cato, than -hom no better man -as e4er born, nor onemore conspicuous or piety/ is body -as burnt by me, though mine ought, on the contrary, to

ha4e been burnt by him5 but his spirit, not abandoning, but e4er loo:ing bac: upon me, hascertainly gone -hither he sa- that * too must come/ * -as thought to bear that loss heroically, not

that * really bore it -ithout distress, but * ound my o-n consolation in the thought that theparting and separation bet-een us -as not to be or long/

*t is by these means, my dear Scipio,6or you said that you and )aelius -ere -ont to e>press

surprise on this point, 6that )y old age sits lightly on )e, and is not only not oppressi*e but e*en

delightul. 2ut i 0 a) +rong in thinking the hu)an soul i))ortal, 0 a) glad to be +rong> nor +ill 0allo+ the )istake +hich gi*es )e so )uch pleasure to be +rested ro) )e as long as 0 li*e. 2ut i

+hen dead, as so)e insigniicant philosophers think, 0 a) to be +ithout sensation, 0 a) not araid o

dead philosophers deriding )y errors. Again, i +e are not to be i))ortal, it is ne*ertheless +hat a )an

)ust +ish6to ha*e his lie end at its proper ti)e. For nature puts a li)it to li*ing as to e*erything else. o+, old age is as it +ere the playing out o the dra)a, the ull atigue o +hich +e should shun,

especially +hen +e also eel that +e ha*e had )ore than enough o it.


practical test.

Introduction to On Old Age and On Friendship, by Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Transcript of Introduction to On Old Age and On Friendship, by Marcus Tullius Cicero