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[7]
When the last-named
fate had befallen my country, and I had been
debarred from my former activities, I began to
cultivate anew these present studies that by their
means, rather than by any other, I might relieve
my mind of its worries and at the same time serve
my fellow-countrymen as best I could under the
circumstances. Accordingly, it was in my books
that I made my senatorial speeches and my forensic
harangues; for I thought that I had permanently
exchanged politics for philosophy. Now, however,
since I have begun to be consulted again about
public affairs, my time must be devoted to the State,
or, rather, my undivided thought and care must be
fixed upon it; and only so much time can be given
to philosophy as will not be needed in the discharge
of my duty to the commonwealth. But more of
this at another time; now let us return to the discussion with which we started.
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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