Cicero/Quotes from Cicero's de Senectute

Written by Cicero at the age of 62, in the voice of Cato, aged 84, and taking place in the year 150 B.C. The page numbers (all even) are from the Loeb edition. Unless otherwise specified, all translations are the original work of Gus Wiseman (Nafindix), with the exception of any additions or changes contributed by other users. The public domain sources of the Latin quotes are:

• Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, vol. XX, 1923; Latin text with facing English translation by William Armistead Falconer.
• ed. E. S. Shuckburgh, M. Tulli Ciceronis: Cato Maior de Senectute. London: Macmillan Co., 1895.

I. sec 2.-1 page 10

"Nunc autem visum est mihi de senectute aliquid ad te conscribere, hoc enim onere, quod mihi commune tecum est, aut iam urgentis aut certe adventantis senectutis et te et me etiam ipsum levari volo; etsi te quidem id modice ac sapienter, sicut omnia, et ferre et laturum esse certo scio."

For presently it occurred to me to dedicate something to you about old age, because this burden, yours and my own, either already pressing or certainly approaching, I wish to relieve from us both; and yet indeed I know for certain that you are bearing and will continue to bear that burden with moderation and wisdom, as all things.

I. sec 3.3 page 10

"Qui [Cato] si eruditius videbitur disputare quam consuevit ipse in suis libris, attribuito litteris Graecis, quarum constat eum perstudiosum fuisse in senectute."

If Cato will seem more eruditely to argue than was his custom in his own books, give the credit to Greek literature, of which it is know he was most studious in his old age.

II. sec 4.6 page 12

"Rem haud sane difficilem, Scipio et Laeli, admirari videmini. Quibus enim nihil est in ipsis opis ad bene beateque vivendum, eis omnis aetas gravis est; qui autem omnia bona a se ipsi petunt, eis nihil malum potest videri quod naturae necessitas adferat."

Cato: You seem to marvel at a thing really far from difficult. For in those with no internal means of living well and happily, every age is difficult; but in those who seek all good from themselves, nothing can seem evil that must follow from the laws of nature.

III. sec 7.8 page 16

"Nam si id culpa senectutis accideret, eadem mihi usu venirent reliquisque omnibus maioribus natu, quorum ego multorum cognovi senectutem sine querella, qui se et libidinum vinculis laxatos esse non moleste ferrent nec a suis despicerentur."

For if it falls upon the faults of old age, the same would apply to me and all our elders, of which I have known many who bear old age without complaint, who consider themselves liberated from the chains of lust, and are not despised by their friends.

III. sec 9.-4 page 16

"Nec enim in summa inopia levis esse senectus potest, ne sapienti quidem, nec insipienti etiam in summa copia non gravis."

For old age cannot be easy in the highest poverty, not even to the wise, nor can it fail to be burdensome to the unwise, even of the highest wealth.

IV. sec 15.5 page 24

"Etenim, cum complector animo, quattuor reperio causas, cur senectus misera videatur: unam, quod avocet a rebus gerendis; alteram, quod corpus faciat infirmius; tertiam, quod privet fere omnibus voluptatibus; quartam, quod haud procul absit a morte. Earum, si placet, causarum quanta quamque sit iusta una quaeque videamus."

For, when I embrace it in my mind, I think of four reasons why old age may seem miserable: first, because it withdraws  us from our affairs; second, because it makes the body weaker; third, because it deprives us of nearly all physical pleasures; fourth, because it is not far from death. Let us see, if you like, how true each of these causes might be.

VI. sec 17.0 page 26

"Nihil igitur adferunt qui in re gerenda versari senectutem negant, similesque sunt ut si qui gubernatorem in navigando nihil agere dicant, cum alii malos scandant, alii per foros cursent, alii sentinam exhauriant, ille autem clavum tenens quietus sedeat in puppi; non faciat ea, quae iuvenes; at vero multo maiora et meliora facit. Non viribus aut velocitate aut celeritate corporum res magnae geruntur, sed consilio, auctoritate, sententia; quibus non modo non orbari, sed etiam augeri senectus solet."

Therefore those bring nothing who deny old age to be versed in active affairs. They are like those who say a pilot does nothing in sailing, because when others are climbing the masts, running abut the gangways, working at the pumps, he sits quietly in the stern holding the wheel; he does not do the things the youths do; nay, he does much greater and better things. Great affairs are not conducted by muscles or velocity or dexterity of body, but by planning, authority, judgement; which qualities old age is usually not only not deprived of, but even abounds in.

VI. sec 20.1 page 28

"Quod si legere aut audire voletis externa, maximas res publicas ab adulescentibus labefactatas, a senibus sustentatas et restitutas reperietis."

If you all wish to read or hear foreign history, you will find that the greatest states have been overthrown by the young and sustained and restored by the old.

VII. sec 21.4 page 30

"Equidem non modo eos novi qui sunt, sed eorum patres etiam et avos, nec sepulcra legens vereor, quod aiunt, ne memoriam perdam; his enim ipsis legendis in memoriam redeo mortuorum."

Indeed not only have I known the living, but their fathers and grandfathers too, nor do I fear that by reading their epitaphs here, as they say, I should lose their memory; nay, these merely refresh my recollection of the dead.

VII. sec 22.4 page 30

"Sophocles ad summam senectutem tragoedias fecit; quod propter studium cum rem neglegere familiarem videretur, a filiis in iudicium vocatus est, ut, quem ad modum nostro more male rem gerentibus patribus bonis interdici solet, sic illum quasi desipientem a re familiari removerent iudices. Tum senex dicitur eam fabulam, quam in manibus habebat et proxime scripserat, Oedipum Coloneum, recitasse iudicibus quaesisseque, num illud carmen desipientis videretur, quo recitato sententiis iudicum est liberatus."

Sophocles wrote tragedies to the highest old age; on account of which dedication, when he was seeming to neglect his business affairs, he was called into court by his sons, so that, as by our custom heads of family are customarily restrained from wasting their estates, the judges would remove him from control of his property, as if he were an old fool. Then the old man is said to have read to the jury the play "Oedipus at Colonus", which he had just written and was revising, and then to have asked whether that poem was the work of an old fool. After that, he was acquitted by the verdict of the jury.

VII. sec 25.0 page 32

"Nec vero dubitat agricola, quamvis sit senex, quaerenti, cui serat respondere: ‘dis immortalibus, qui me non accipere modo haec a maioribus voluerunt, sed etiam posteris prodere.’"

Asked for whom he plants, the farmer, however old he may be, does not hesitate to reply, "For the immortal gods, who not only wished me to receive these blessings from my ancestors, but also to hand them on to posterity."

XI. sec 36.-3 page 44

"Resistendum, Laeli et Scipio, senectuti est, eiusque vitia diligentia compensanda sunt, pugnandum tamquam contra morbum sic contra senectutem; habenda ratio valetudinis, utendum exercitationibus modicis, tantum cibi et potionis adhibendum ut reficiantur vires, non opprimantur."

Old age must be resisted, my young friends, and her faults compensated by diligence; it must be fought as a disease; take measure of your wellness, use moderate exercise, eat and drink just enough to restore your strength and not to overburden it.

XI. sec 36.5 page 44

"Et corpora quidem exercitationum defatigatione ingravescunt, animi autem exercitando levantur."

And indeed the body grows heavy with the fatigue of exercise, while intellectual activity gives buoyancy to the mind.

XVI. sec 55.0 page 66

"Possum persequi permulta oblectamenta rerum rusticarum, sed haec ipsa, quae dixi, sentio fuisse longiora. Ignoscetis autem; nam et studio rusticarum rerum provectus sum, et senectus est natura loquacior, ne ab omnibus eam vitiis videar vindicare."

I am able to enlarge upon the very many delights of country life, but I realize that I have already said too much. But forgive me; for I am both carried away by enthusiasm for country life, and am myself an old man, making me naturally loquacious (lest I should seem to vindicate old age from all faults).

XVI. sec 57.2 page 68

"Brevi praecidam: agro bene culto nihil potest esse nec usu uberius nec specie ornatius; ad quem fruendum non modo non retardat, verum etiam invitat atque adlectat senectus."

I will be concise: nothing can be more plentiful in use nor attractive in appearance than a well-cultivated farm; the enjoyment of which old age not only does not retard, but even invites and entices.

XVII. sec 61.0 page 72

"Apex est autem senectutis auctoritas."

But the apex of old age is influence.

XVIII. sec 62.2 page 74

"Ex quo efficitur id quod ego magno quondam cum assensu omnium dixi, miseram esse senectutem quae se oratione defenderet."

Hence what I once said with the great assent of all present is realized, that old age is miserable that needs to defend itself with rhetoric and oratory [as apposed to prior deeds].

XVIII. sec 63.0 page 74

"Haec enim ipsa sunt honorabilia quae videntur levia atque communia, salutari, adpeti, decedi, adsurgi, deduci, reduci, consuli; quae et apud nos et in aliis civitatibus, ut quaeque optime morata est, ita diligentissime observantur."

For these very civilities are honorable which seem light and common, to be visited, to be sought after, to be made way for, to have men rise at your approach, to be led to and from the forum, to be asked for advice; these are most diligently observed here, and, to the extent of the moral goodness of their people, in other nations also.

XIX. sec 70.-2 page 80

"Quod cuique temporis ad vivendum datur, eo debet esse contentus."

We ought to be content with whatever time is given to each of us for living.

XXIII. sec 84.-3 page 94

"Et si quis deus mihi largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam et in cunis vagiam, valde recusem, nec vero velim quasi decurso spatio ad carceres a calce revocari."

And if some god indulges me, so that from this age I were made young, to weep in a cradle again, I would strongly object, nor in truth would I wish, having finished my race, as it were, to return to the starting line from the finish.

XXIII. sec 84.9 page 96

"O praeclarum diem, cum in illud divinum animorum concilium coetumque proficiscar cumque ex hac turba et conluvione discedam! Proficiscar enim non ad eos solum viros, de quibus ante dixi, verum etiam ad Catonem meum, quo nemo vir melior natus est, nemo pietate praestantior; cuius a me corpus est crematum, quod contra decuit ab illo meum, animus vero, non me deserens sed respectans, in ea profecto loca discessit, quo mihi ipsi cernebat esse veniendum. Quem ego meum casum fortiter ferre visus sum, non quo aequo animo ferrem, sed me ipse consolabar existimans non longinquum inter nos digressum et discessum fore."

Oh glorious day, when I will set out for that divine assembly of souls and depart this world of storm and filth. For I shall go to meet not only those men about whom I spoke before, but even my Cato, than whom no better man was ever born, none more distinguished in goodness; I burnt his body, though he should have burnt mine, but his soul, not deserting but ever looking back to me, surely has departed for those very places to which it knew that I myself must come. I appeared to bear this disaster bravely, not because I bore it with an untroubled heart, but because I was being constantly consoled by the thought that the digression and separation between us would not be long.

XXIII. sec 85.2 page 96

"Quod si in hoc erro, qui animos hominum inmortalis esse credam, libenter erro nec mihi hunc errorem, quo delector, dum vivo, extorqueri volo; sin mortuus, ut quidam minuti philosophi censent, nihil sentiam, non vereor, ne hunc errorem meum philosophi mortui irrideant."

But if I am wrong about this, in that I believe the souls of men to be immortal, I err happily; nor do I wish this error which delights me to be wrenched from me while I live; but if when dead, as certain little thinkers deem, I should perceive nothing, then I do not fear that, when these thinkers too are dead, they should laugh at my mistake.

XXIII. sec 85.14 page 98

"Haec habui de senectute quae dicerem, ad quam utinam veniatis, ut ea, quae ex me audistis, re experti probare possitis!"

These were the things I had to say about old age. May you both attain it, so that by experience in the matter you should be able to prove what you have heard from me.

Bonus: sec 51-54 page 62

The following are as translated by William Armistead Falconer:

[51] I come now to the pleasures of agriculture in which I find incredible delight; they are not one whit checked by old age, and are, it seems to me, in the highest degree suited to the life of the wise man. For these pleasures have an account in the bank of Mother Earth who never protests a draft, but always returns the principal with interest added, at a rate sometimes low, but usually at a high per cent. And yet what I enjoy is not the fruit alone, but I also enjoy the soil itself, its nature and its power. It takes the scattered grain of wheat within its soft, upturned breast, hides it from sight at first—it is hidden by harrowing, derived from a word meaning “to hide”—then, having warmed it with the heat of its embrace, expands it and from it brings forth a verdant blade, which, supported by fibrous roots, and maturing by degrees, stands erect upon its jointed stalk, enfolded in a sheath, when now, so to speak, it has arrived at man's estate; and, when it has emerged from the sheath, the ear comes to view with its grain in ordered rows and protected by a palisade of spikes against the attacks of the smaller birds.

[52] Why should I mention the origin, cultivation, and growth of the vine? But, that you may know what affords the recreation and delight of my old age, I will say that vine-culture gives me a joy of which I cannot get too much. For I pass over the inherent force of all those things which are generated from the earth—a force that, from the tiny fig-seed, or grape-stone, or from the smallest seeds of other fruits and plants, can produce such mighty trunks and boughs. Are not the results obtained from mallet-shoots, sprouts, cuttings, divisions, and layers enough to afford wonder and delight to any man? The vine which droops by nature and falls to the ground unless it has support, raises itself by its finger-like tendrils and enfolds in its embrace the props that hold it up; and as it turns and twists with many a varying course the skillful gardener with his pruning knife checks its growth lest it run to wood and spread too far.

[53] So, in early spring, the branches which are left at every joint bring forth a bud, from which the grape, offspring of this bud, appears, growing with the moisture of the earth and the heat of the sun; and though at first it is very bitter to the taste, it afterwards becomes sweet as it ripens; and, enwrapped in foliage, it has no lack of tempered warmth and turns aside the more ardent glances of the sun. What, I ask, can be more delicious to the taste or more alluring to the eye?

Indeed it is not only the utility of the vine, as I said before, that gives me joy, but I find joy also in its culture and very nature; in the even-spaced rows of stakes, with strips across the top; in the tying up of the branches; in the propagating of the plants; in the pruning of some branches (to which I have already referred), and in the leaving of others to grow at will.

Why need I allude to the irrigation, ditching, and frequent hoeing of the soil, whereby its productiveness is so much enhanced? Why need I discuss the advantage of manuring, already dealt with in my book on agriculture?

[54] This is a matter about which the learned Hesiod, though he wrote on agriculture,  has not one word to say. But Homer, who, I believe, lived many generations earlier, represents Laërtes as soothing his sorrow at the absence of his son in cultivating his farm and in manuring it, too. Nor does the farmer find joy only in his cornfields, meadows, vineyards, and woodlands, but also in his garden and orchard, in the rearing of his cattle, in his swarms of bees, and in the infinite variety of flowers. And not only does planting delight him, but grafting also, than which there is nothing in husbandry that is more ingenious.