“To those who have not the means within themselves of a virtuous and happy life every age is burdensome…to those who seek all good from themselves nothing can seem evil that the laws of nature inevitably impose. To this class old age especially belongs, which all men wish to attain and yet reproach when attained; such is the inconsistency and perversity of Folly!”
People of a Certain Age, the lines above, and much of what follows, were written by Cicero in 44 B.C., published as De Senectude, or On Old Age, and translated by W.A. Falconer. The words offer great advice, much wisdom and caring, and some wry thoughts about sex and other pleasure of the body. The brackets are mine, and because the Roman sages tended not to write much about women in 44 B.C., everywhere it reads “men” or “him,” please mentally add the feminine.
The words also illustrate the remarkable continuity of human nature. This translation came to me from a younger friend who can read them in Latin if he chooses. I offer them, lines really about aging, on the third anniversary of my bi-weekly scribblings.
“…amid utter want old age cannot be a light thing, not even to a wise man; or to a fool, even amid utmost wealth, can it be otherwise than burdensome…the most suitable defenses of old age are the principles and practice of the virtues which, if cultivated in every period of life, bring forth wonderful fruit at the close of a long and busy career, not only because they never fail you even at the very end of life…but also because it is most delightful to have the consciousness of a life well spent and the memory of many deeds worthily performed.”
“Four reasons why old age appears to be unhappy: first, that it withdraws us from active pursuits; second, that it makes the body weaker; third, that it deprives us of almost all physical pleasures; and fourth, that it is not far removed from death.”
“[Regarding] withdraws us from active pursuits…Are there, then, no intellectual employments in which aged men [and women] may engage, even though their bodies are infirm? [This is] like those who would say that the pilot does nothing in the sailing of the ship because, while others are climbing the masts, or running about the gangways, or working at the pumps, he sits quietly in the stern and simply holds the tiller…”
“It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character and judgment; in these qualities old age is usually not only not poorer, but is even richer.”
“ I do not now feel the need of the strength of youth…any more than when a young man I felt the need of the bull or of the elephant. Such strengths as a man has he should use, and whatever he does should be done in proportion to his strength…let every man make a proper use of his strength and strive to his utmost, then assuredly he will have no regret for his (her) want of strength.”
“He who strives…to mingle youthfulness with age may grow old in body but old in spirit he will never be.”
“…the third ground for abusing old age…is that it is devoid of sensual pleasures. O glorious boon of age, if it does indeed free us from youth’s most vicious fault…if reason and wisdom did not enable us to reject pleasure, we should be very grateful to old age for taking away the desire to do what we ought not to do. For carnal pleasure hinders deliberation, is at war with reason, blindfolds the eyes of the mind, so to speak, and has no fellowship with virtue.”
“…old age, though it lacks immoderate banquet, may delight in temperate repasts.”
“Nothing can be more abounding in usefulness nor attractive in appearance than a well-tilled farm, and to its enjoyment old age not merely offers no obstacles but even entices and allures…Let others, then, have their weapons, their horses and their spears, their fencing-foils…old age can be happy without [them.]”
“…the fourth reason—one that seems especially calculated to render any time of life anxious and full of care—the nearness of death; for death, in truth, cannot be far away…clearly death is negligible, if it utterly annihilates the soul, or even desirable, if it conducts the soul to some place where it is to be forever…What shall I fear, if after death, I am destined to be either not unhappy or happy.”
“Old age is the final scene, as it were, in life’s drama, for which we ought to escape when it grows wearisome and certainly, when we have had our fill.”
“Such, my friends, are my views of old age. May you…attain it and thus be able to prove by experience the truth of what you have heard from me.”
May we all age well in the spirit of Cicero!
Daniel E. White
January 8, 2018