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[15]
And, indeed, when I reflect on this subject I
find 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. Let
us, if you please, examine each of these reasons
separately and see how much truth they contain.
6. “Old age withdraws us from active pursuits.”
From what pursuits? Is it not from those which
are followed because of youth and vigour? Are
there, then, no intellectual employments in which
aged men may engage, even though their bodies are
infirm? Was there, then, no employment for
Quintus Maximus? And none, Scipio, for your
father Lucius Paulus, the father-in-law of that
best of men, my son? And those other old men, like
Fabricius, Curius, and Coruncanius—were they
doing nothing, when by their wisdom and influence
they were preserving the state?
To the old age of Appius Claudius was also added
blindness;
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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