On Old Age
- Language:
- Latin
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~58,500 words · 278 passages
Cite this work
- APACicero. (n.d.). On Old Age. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/cato-maior-de-senectute-with-introduction-and-notes-by-marcus-tullius-cicero
- MLACicero. "On Old Age." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/cato-maior-de-senectute-with-introduction-and-notes-by-marcus-tullius-cicero.
- ChicagoCicero. On Old Age. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/cicero/cato-maior-de-senectute-with-introduction-and-notes-by-marcus-tullius-cicero.
What it is about
The Latin original of Cicero's dialogue on old age, of 44 BC, in a school edition with introduction and notes.
Context and history
Cicero was sixty-two, had just lost his daughter and the political world he had commanded, and put the defence of old age into the mouth of Cato the Elder, who is eighty-four in the year of the dialogue. The four charges against old age — that it withdraws us from affairs, weakens the body, takes away pleasure, and stands next to death — are answered one by one, and the underlying answer is always the same: what old age removes is what is no longer needed, and what it leaves is what matters. Dedicated to Atticus, like the 'De amicitia', and read without interruption ever since: Montaigne quotes it, and the translation Franklin printed was among the first classics stamped in America. The introduction and notes of this edition are the modern editor's, not Cicero's: they are there to help with the Latin, not to be cited.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Three years ago Mr. James S. Reid, of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, prepared for the Syndics of the University Press editions of Cicero's _Cato Maior de Senectute_ and _Laelius de Amicitia._ The thorough and accurate scholarship displayed, especially in the elucidation of the Latinity, immediately won for the books a cordial reception; and since then they have gained a permanent place in the esteem of English scholars. The present volume has the full authorization of Mr. Reid, and was prepared with the design of presenting to American students, in a form best adapted to their use, the results of his work. The Text remains substantially that of Mr. Reid; while mention is made in the notes of the most important variations in readings and orthography from other editions. The Introductions have been recast, with some enlargement; the analyses of the subject-matter in particular have been entirely remodelled. The Notes have been in some instances reduced, in others amplified,--especially by the addition of references to the standard treatises on grammar, history, and philosophy. It was at first the intention of the American editor to indicate by some mark the matter due to himself; but as this could hardly be done without marring the appearance of the page, and thus introducing a source of confusion to the student, it was not attempted. In the work of revision free use of the principal German and English editions has been made. To some the notes of the present edition may appear too copious. The aim throughout, however, has been not simply to give aid on difficult points, but to call attention to the finer usages of the Latin, and to add also whatever explanation seemed necessary to a clear understanding of the subject-m← Back to Cicero