age that passed in a man till his old age was accounted of our Ancestors but as a race of that length which directed to honour so that the last age is more happy then the middle because it hath more authority and lesse labour The highest perfâ—ction in age is authority How great Majesty was in * L. Cecillius Metellus how great in Attillius * Collatinus whom the generall consent of all nations did allow to be the chiefe among the people the verses on his sepulchre are well known By right therefore he is to be held noble and of authority in whose praises the reports of all men do consent what men of wisedome have we seen of late Pub. Crossus the high Priest and after him Marcus * Lepidus that succeeded him in the office what should I speak of Paulus or of Affricanus or of Maximus whom I named before Not only iu whose speech but also in whose looks remained authority Age hath especially honoured age such reverence that it is more to be accounted of then all the pleasures of youth XVII TABLE of Annotations 1. CYrus Minor reigned in Persia 353. years after the building of Rome in the times of Aggaeus and Zacharias the Prophets in Judea 2. Marcus Valerius Corvinus fighting against a French souldur that challenged him in the lists a crow came and sat upon his head and smoâ—e her wings in his enemies face and so blinded him that Valerius obtained the victory and ever after was called Corvinus he was after both Consul and Dictator CHAP. XVIII BUt you must remember that in all this speech I have praised only that age which is built on the foundation of youth from whence it happened that that speech of mine wherein I affirmed that age to be miserable which only defended it selfe by speech was so generally applauded of all men for neither gray haires nor wrinckles get authority suddainly but the honest and vertuous deeds of the age before spent obtain the chiefest fruits of authority For these things are honourable which do seem but of small account v.z. to be saluted to be sought unto to have place given to them to be risen unto to be brought in to be conducted out and to give counsel which both among us and in other well mannerd cities is observed diligently T is said that Lisander of Lacedemon of whom I spake even now was wont to say that Lacedemon was a most fit and honest habitation for old age for nowhere was that age more reverenced or honoured then there It comes now to my mind that a certain old man at Athens at the plays comming in among the people no man would give him room but when he came among the Lacedemonians who when they come of an embassage sit all in one place they all rose up to him and received the old man to sit with them to whom when great praise was given for the courteous deed one of them said that the Athenians knew good manners but would not use them Many excellent Ceremonies are observed in our Colledge of Auguries whereof this which we speak of is one that every man in their consultations gives his opinion according to his age the oldest first and so downwards for Augurs are not only preferred before some that are honoured but also before many which besides their years and gravity are in office what are therefore the pleasures of the body to be compared to the rewards of authority which whosoever make th use of seemes to me to have gone well through the enterlude of his life and not like an unskilfull player to fayle in the last act CHAP. XIX BUt old men are froward unconstant peevish and crabbed and we complaine also that they are covetous but these be the faults of the manners not of the age but way wardnesse and those faults may have some excuse though not justly yet such may seem probable For sometimes they think they are mocked or despised and besides every small offence to a weak body is grievous all which not withstanding may be sweetned both by good manners arts and that may wel be seen both in the life and the play of those two Brothers in 1 Adelphus in 2 Terence how much crabbednesse in the one and how much courtesie in the other Even so the case stands for as all wines do not grow soure and tart in continuance so not all age I like severity in an old man but not bitternesse Bnt as for covetousnesse in age I know not what it meanes for there can be no greater absurdity then when the journey is almost done to take care to provide much more provision XIX TABLE of Annotations 1. ADelphus a comedy written by Terence wherein is shewed the difference of ages in two brothers the one Mitio a milde gentle man the other Demea a froward perverse man 2. Terence born at Carthage he wrote six Comedies which are now extant some report that he wrote more but they were drowned in a ship at sea he was well-beloved of Scipio and Laelius CHAP. XX THere remaineth the fourth cause which seemeth to vex and grieve our age very much the approching of death which surely followeth age at the heeles O miserable old man whatsoever thou be which canst not learne in all thy life forespent to despise death which is either plainly to be neglected if it kill the soule with the body or to be desired if it bring happinesse after life for no third way is found what should I then fear if after death I shall be either nothing or else happy but what fool though he be a young man is there that can tell whether he shall live till night for That age hath more causes of death then Age hath young men sooner fall into diseases their sicknesse is and more grievous and dangerous hey are healed with more pain and trouble so that few of them come to be old which if some of them happen to do they live more prudently and better then before for understanding counsell and reason is in age which if it were not there there could be no Cities But I return to death which as it were hangs over our heads thinke you that it is the particular fault of age when you see it common to youth I have well perceived not only by the death of my dear son but also of your 1 brothers Scipio who were expected to great dignity that death is common to all ages XX TABLE of Annotations 1. PAulus Aemylius had four sons two by adoption and two by another wife of which last two the one died five dayes before his triumph and the other three dayes after His sons by adoption were Scipio and Fabius CHAP. XXI BUt the young man hopes to live long which the old man cannot He hopes foolishly for what is greater folly then to account uncertain things for certain false for true the old man hath nothing to hope for more therefore he is in
better state then the former seeing that what the other wisheth for he hath obtained already the young man would live long the old man hath lived long O you immortall gods what is there in mans life that is of any long continuance for let us live long and we expect the years of the King of the * Taresians for I have seen it written that there was one Arganthonius at Gades which reigned eighty years and lived an hundred and twenty but to me nothing seemeth of long continuance of which there is any end for when that end shall come then that which is past flies away like smoak and that only will remaine which you have obtained by vertue and good deeds the houres you see runs on and the dayes and the moneths and the years neither doth the time past ever return nor can any tell what will follow That time which a man hath given him to live he ought to be contented with it for a good actor is not applauded in the midst of a Scene so a wise mans praise comes not till the end The time of our age is short indeed but long enough to live well and honestly But if your age seem longer then your youth you ought to grieve no more then the husbandman doth when the sweetnesse of the spring is past that the summer and the winter are come For the spring doth as it were signifie youth and shows what fruit will come the other seasons of plucking and gathering the fruit are compared to the latter times of our age For the fruit of age as I have said is the memory of the abundance of good deeds heretofore done all things which are done by the rules of God and nature are to be accounted good but it is a rule of nature that old men must die which also happeneth to young men though they resist it Therefore a young man seemeth to me to die like fire put out with water but old men like fire which being put out by no force is quietly consumed of it selfe and as apples on trees being not ripe are plucked of by violence but being ripe they fal of themselves so force taketh away the life of young men but ripenesse of age the life of old men which consideration is so pleasant to me that I seem to behold the eatth as a quiet port whether after a long and troublesome navigation I shall arrive The end of all ages is certain but the end of old age is uncertain which is death and a man may live therin uprightly and contemne death hence it comes that old men are more bold and hearty then young men which made that Solon answered to 1 Pysistratus the Tyrant when he asked him what made him so bold he answered old age But the end he answered old age But the end of life is then best when nature the minde being well and all the sences perfect doth dissolve the same work which she her selfe hath made For as that workeman which hath made a ship or building knowes best how to unjoyn it so the same nature which hath made a man best dissolves him that which is newly joyned is hardly sodered but old work is easily taken in pieces Now that little time of life which we have is not to be greedily desired of old men nor without cause to be refused and Pythagoras forbids that unlesse the Emperour which is God command we ought not to depart from our station and guard of life it is the 2 speech of Solon the wise when he wisheth his death to be lamented of his friends I beleeve he would be dear to them But I know not if Ennius wrote better or no No man shall weep my death Nor spend a sighing breath It seemes he thinketh not that death to be lamented which obtaineth immortality Now for the sense or pain of dying if there be any it remaineth but a small time especially in old men But this ought to be considered of in youth that wee might learne before to neglect death without which meditation no man can be of 〈◊〉 quiet minde T is certain we must die but when uncertain whether to day or no we know not therefore who can be quiet in minde while he feares death continually hanging over his head concerning which there needs no long disputation when I remember not only 3 L. Brutus who was slain in delivering his countrey not only * M. Marcellus whom after his death his cruellest enemies could not suffer to want honourable buriall and many others but also our legions of souldiers who as I have written in my book of Originals have often gone into those places with a chearfull and constant minde from whence they never looked to returne Shall therfore wise and learned old men feare that which young men rude and unletterd have contemned Truly me thinks that the satiety of all things makes also a satiety of life There are certain studies in children shall young men desire them there are others in youth shall age require them and there be studies in the last age therefore as the studies of former ages fail so do the studies of old age so that when the satiety or fulnesse of life commeth it bringeth also a fit time for death XXI Table of Annotations 1. PYsistratus King of Athens the sonne of Hippocrates he reigned at Athens when Servius Tullius reigned at Rome he made the first librarie at Athens which after Xerxes carried into Persia 2. The speech of Solon is in latin this Mors mea ne careat lacrymis linquamus amicis Maerorem ut celebrent funera nostra fletu Thus in English Let not my death want teares but leave to all Sorrow and grones to make my funerall 3. Lucius Brutus he deposed Tarquinius Superbus it is said that when for feare of Tarquin he counterfeited himselfe mad he was intreated by Tarquins sonnes to go with them to the oracle of Apollo to make them sport by the way whether they went to know which of them should reigne after their fathers death it was there answered that he which did first kisse his mother should rule whereupon they hasted home apace to their mother but Brutus understanding the oracles true meaning fell to the earth and kissed it as being the generall mother of all by which meanes he after expulsing of Tarquin for the rape of Lucretia did governe the common-wealth himselfe and was the first Consul he put to death his own sonnes for taking part with Tarquin he was stain by the lake Regulus in a battell CHAP. XXII I See no cause why I should not dare to tell you my opinion of death which I seem to behold the better because I am so much the neerer it I do verily beleeve that your fathers P. Scipio and C. Laelius most honourable men and my good friends do now live and indeed such a life as is only worthy to be called a life For while we are shut up in the
CATO MAIOR or THE BOOK OF OLD AGE First written by M.T. Cicero And now Excelently Englished by William Austin of Lincolnes Inne Esquire With annotations upon the names of the men and places Printed for William Leake JGoddard sculpsit CATO Major OR The Book of Old Age First written by M.T. CICERO And now excellently Englished by William Austin of Lincolns Inne Esquire With Annotations upon the names of the men and places LONDON Printed for William Leake and are to be sold at his Shop at the Sign of the Crown in Fleet-street between the two Temple gates 1648. THE STATIONER To the READER THis most excellent Book entituled Cato Major de senectute little in bulke but filled with pithie and substantiall diseourse smoothly couched elegantly and delightfully conveyed in every line written long since in the Latin Tongue by that most rare and grave Consul and Senator of Rome the glory of his time M. T. Cicero Prince of Orators needs no mans commendations all his workes being so famous and renowned amongst the learned so that I might well be silent had not I judged it fit to give the Reader an account how it came in this māner to be divulged It falling accidentally into my hands and I finding the translation and notes to be the labour of a worthy Gentleman of great parts learning and sufficiency whose name was therunto And the Book it selfe for variety of elegant passages deep Philosophical discourses being both delight full and usefull Personated by the most learned ancient and grave Senators Grandees of that age abasing and depressing all youthfull lusts commending and strengthening the venerable life of old age shewing the current of vertue wherein it ought to runne with the distance betwixt it and youth and how many wayes it doth exceed the same with the advantages it hath beyond youth declaring how they slighted death in this their age comforting themselves in all its Imperfections with that expected Immortality at hand the more aged they then were And having received the approbation of this learned Piece from divers persons of judgement and understanding I was upon these and other like considerations moved for the general good to publish it thus abroad unto the world beleeving that it will be a delight to the Aged and a great benefit to the unlearned in the Latin Tongue who may in their own Language read the sage wisedome of former times and see how the infirmities of age are recompensed with more rare perfections of minde and that it doth not so much destroy as change the delights of youth for better and so be prepared to bid that welcome which is approaching towards them If the excellency of this work with the worthinesse of the Author and Translator shall gain acceptation with the lovers of wisdom it will answer the expectation and reward the care of the Publisher THE PRAEFACE Or Epistle of 1. MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO TO 2. TITUS POMPONIUS ATTICUS CHAP. I. O TITUS if I ease the care which sticketh in your breast Which now doth vex and trouble you wherewith you are opprest Shall it be thought Worth ought FOr I may well salute you O ATTICUS with those Verses wherewith that right worthy though not welthy man 3 ENNIUS saluted 4 Flaminius although I surely know that you are not so troubled day and night as was he for I have perceived the moderation of your mind and I understand that you not only brought a Sir-name from 5 Athens but also humanity and wisedome yet notwithstanding I suppose that you are sometimes much troubled with these matters where with I my self am the remedie for which griefes is both greater and to be referred till another time Now it seemeth good unto me to write something of old age For I will assay to ease both you and my self of the burden which is common to us both either of the age present or of the age to come though I know for truth that you will bear the weight of it moderately and wisely as you do all things but as soon as I determined to write of old age you came into my mind worthy of this gift which might be equally used by us both and beleeve me the making of this book was so delightfull to me that it did not only wipe away all the griefes of mine age but made it easie and pleasant Wherefore Philosophy can never be sufficiently praised which whosoever followeth may live all his life time without molestation of which we have * spoken much already and intend to speak more hereafter But this book of old age I have sent to you not attributing all the speech to 6 Tithon as 7 Aristo Chius doth least it should seem of small authority but to 8 Marcus Cate the old man whereby it may carry the greater grace and preeminence at whom I make 9 Scipio 10 Laelius wondering that he beare his age so easily and he answering them who if he speak more learnedly then he was wont to do in his bookes you must attribute it to the Greek tongue in which it is well known he was very studious in his age But what need more words for now the speech of Cato himself shall declare all our determination of old age I. TABLE of Annotations 1. MArcus Tullius Cicero The Author of this Book and many other most noble and excellent workes both of Philosophy and Oratory he was the sonne of a Knight at Rome he passed most of the most honourable offices in Rome he was a faithfull and earnest lover and defender of the Common-wealth which began to decay at his death having lost so good a member he was banished and after beheaded by the commandement of Antonius and Octavius 2. Titus Pomponius Atticus an honourable man and a great friend to Cicero he lived in great credit both with the Romans and with the Athenians from whence he brought the Sir-name of Atticus 3. Ennius an ancient Poet borne at Tarentum he was brought to Rome by Cato vide numero 8. 13. 4. Flaminius a grave Senator to whom Ennius wrote a Book of consolation when he grieved for his brothers expulsion out of the Senate 5. Athens a city in Greece between Macedon and Achaia built by Cecrops who raigned 50. years there it was called Athens by Minerva who is also called Athene it was the place or university of learning 6. Tithon the sonne of Laomedon beloved of Aurora he was counted a fool because when he was very old be requested to be turned into a Grashopper and might have had immortality 7. Aristo Chius a Philosopher of the Ile Coas who dedicated a Book to the former Tithon Cicero writes thus of him elegant and courteous Aristo but that gravity which ought to be in a Philosopher was not in him many excellent things were written by him but they carry no grace 8. Marcus Portius Cato whom Cicero here makes one of his speakers in his dialogue was a man of great honor
Attillius were made Consuls but he dyed when he was threescore and tenne yeers old Cepiâ— and Philippus being Consuls the second time when I being threescore and five in good strength and with a cleere voyce pleaded the 5 Voconian Law For so long lived Ennius he bore two burdens old age and poverty in such sort that he seemed almost to be delighted with them V. TABLE of Annotations 1. PLato the sonne of Aristo and Periander borne at Athens the same yeere and day that Apollo was borne at Delos a swarme of Bees when he was young light on his mouth when he lay in his Cradle in token of his Eloquence to come he was Scorates his Scholer after whose death he went to Philolanuan among the Pythagoreans and from thence to Egypt where he was healed of a disease by the Seawater wherefore he was wont to say the Sea ebbe dand flowed all manner of diseases When he dwell at Athens he brought into one volumn al the works of Pythag. Heraclitus and Socrates Dionysius the Tyrant when he had caused him to be sold and hearing that he was safely returned into his owne Country wrote to him that he would not either speake or write evil of him Who answered that he had not so much idle time as once to thinke of him he dyed being 84 yeere old 2. Socrates the sonne of Sophroniscus a Lapidary and Phenareta a Midwife borne at Athens master to Plato a man of great patience he had two wives Xantippe and the daughter of Aristidas he was wont to say that whether a man did marry or no he should repent he was often troubled with the scolding of Xantippe his curst wife but never moved Alcibiades whom he deerely loved was wont to tell him that he could not abide the railing of Xantippe yet quoth Socrates I can for I am used to it but quoth he canst thou abide the gagling of thy Geese at home Yea quoth Alcibiades for they lay me egges so quoth Socrates Xantippe brings me children He seldome wrote any thing saying that wisdome should be printed in mens hearts not on beasts skins He was judged to be the wisest man that lived by the Oracle of Apollo for which he was envyed and accufed that he would not worship Images and was condemned by fourescore judges to be poysoned which was forthwith done by the executioners 3. Panathenaicus a booke which Socrates wrote of all the noble ghests and deeds of the Athenians which Book is lost 4. Gorgias of Leontia an excellent Rhetorician the Scholler of Empedocles and master to Socrates and other excellent Phylosophers he got so much by his Art that he first set up a golden Statua in the Temple of Apollo He dyed as Plyny saith being a hundred and nine yeere old 5. The Voconian Law was made by Caius Voconius which was that no man should make his daughter his sole heyre which was after repealed by Domitianus Caesar CHAP. VI BUt when I consider in my mind I finde 4. causes why age may seem miserable the first that it hindereth men from doing their affaires the second it weakneth the body the third it taketh away all pleasures the fourth that it is neere death of these causes as much as they may prevaile and are just if you please we will see a little Doth age hinder us from our affaires From what From those which are done in youth and in strength are then the businesses of old men nothing Which though with weake bodies yet with strong minds may be done Then neither Quintus Maximus nor 1 Lucius Paulus your father Scipio the father in Law to my now dead 2 sonne and other old men when with counsel and authority they defended the Common-wealth did nothing The 3 Curii the 4 Fabritii the 5 Corimcam did nothing it happen that 6 Appius Claudius was blind in his age yet he doubted not when the Senate inclined to Peace with 7 Pyrrhus to say that which Ennius hath set dovvn in verses Whether now bend your minds a headlong fall to bring Which heretofore hadwont to stand as straight as any thing And many other things most gravely for you knovv the verse and Oration of Alpius is extant and these things he did seventeen yeere after his second Consulship vvhen there vvas ten yeeres betvveen each Consulship and he had been 8 Censor before the first of vvhich vvarre of Pyrrhus before spoken it is recorded it vvas great for so vve have received it from our fore-fathers Therefore they bring nothing vvhich affirme that old age is not busied in affaires and they are like them vvhich say the Pylatin sailing doth nothing vvhen some mad fellovves climbe the ropes others leap up and dovvn the hatches and others Pumpe But he holding the Sterne and sitting quietly in the Poope doth nâ—t as the young men do but farre better and that of more import great matters are compassed not by strength swiftnes and celerity of body but by counsel authority and vvisdome of vvhich things age is not deprived but stored unlesse you vvill say that I vvho have been souldier Tribune and Legate and Consul in divers vvarres do novv seeme to loyter vvhen I vvage not vvarre yet do I prescribe to the Senate vvhat things may be done and I shew them long before hovv Siege may be laid to subtill 9 Carthage of vvhich I vvill never cease to feare till I be assured that it bee rased to the ground which victorie I beseech the immortall Gods to reserve for you O Scipio that you may follovv the example of your Grandfather from whose death it is now this 33 yeeres yet his fame remains to all posterity he dyed a yeere before I was Censor nine yeeres after my Consullship who I being in the office was the second time made Consull Therefore if he had lived an hundred yeer should he have been aweary of his age Running leaping tilt and barriers are not fit exercises for age but wisdome counsell and discretion which unlesse they had been in old men our ancestors would never have called the chief councel a * Senate Among the Lacedemonians they which bear greatest Offices as they be so also are they called old men and if you will read of forrainge matters you shall find many Common-wealths overthrown by young men but restored and held up by old men Tell me how you have lost your great Common-wealth so quickly Thus it is answered in the play of the 10 Poet Naevius There came forth new Orators fooles and young men For rashnesse is a quality of youth but prudence of age VI TABLE of Annotations 1. LUcius Paulus Aemylianus an excellent man father to Scipio and brother in Law to Cato 2. Cato the sonne of Cato Major who valiantly fighting under Paulus Aemylius against Perseus was slaine he marryed Tertia the daughter to Paulus Aemylius 3. Curii 4. Fabritii a noble stock not only memorable for their severe life but their justice and continency
the strength of a Bull or an Elephant for that which is naturally ingraffed in a man that it becommeth him to use and to desire to do nothing above his strength For what speech can be more contemptible then that of 1 Milo Crotoniata who when he was an old man and saw the wrestlers exercising themselves in the 2 Chase is reported to have beheld his Armes and weeping to say But these are now dead no not them so much as thou thy selfe thou trifler for never wast thou â—nobled by thy virtue or wisedome but by thy beast-like force and strong armes 3 Sexius Aemylius spake no such thing nor 4 Titus Coruncanus many years before nor Publius Crassus of late of whom lawes were prescribed to the Citizens whose wisedome continued till their last gaspe IX TABLE of Annotations MIlo Crotoniata a man of such strength that at the games at Olympus he came in with an ox on his shoulders which with his bare fist he slew and some say immediately eat him his death for all his strength was miserable for comming into a wood in his age and seeing a tree gape in the midst being by some meanes cleft he trusting to his former strength thought to rend it in pieees but putting his fingers into the rift the tree suddainly closed and he being caugbt by the hands was there devoured by wolves 2. The chase at mount Olympus where once in five yeares were runnings wrestlings and such like for games first instituted by Hercules who there first wrestled himselfe they were had in such estimations among the Grecians that they counted their yeares by them 3. Sextus Aemylius a man excellently skilled in the lawes and ordinances of Rome 4. Titus Coruncanus he first professed the laws none of his writings remain but many of his witty sayings are to be found in Authors 5. Publius Crassus a very rich man and skilfull in the lawes of Rome he was Consull with Africanus CHAP. X. BUt it may be thought that an Orator may be weakned with age For that office consisteth not onely of wit but also of strength of body strong sides and voyce yet that shrilnesse of voyce doth altogether shew it self I know not by what meanes in old age which I my selfe have not yet lost and yet you see my yeares notwithstanding the speech of an old man is comely quiet remisse and the gentle and decked Oration of an eloquent old man makes audience to it selfe which singularity if you cannot obtaine yet may you give precepts to youth for what can be more pleasant then old age garded with the studies of youth Shal we not then leave that strength at least to age that it may teach youth bring them up and instruct them in all good duties then which what can be more necessary or more excellent So that to my understanding 1 Cnaeus and Publius Scipio and your two grand fathers Lucius Aemylius and Paulus Affricanus seemed happy in the company of noble young men Neither are any masters of good Arts to be thought unhappy though through their paines in teaching their strength wax old and decay for that defection and failing of strength is oftener caused by the faults of youth then of age for an intemperate and lustfull youth delivereth a corrupt and decrepit body to age Yet 2 Cyrus in 3 Xâ—nphon on his death bed denieth that ever he felt himself much weaker by age then he was in his youth I remember 4 Lucius Metellus when I was a boy who foure yeers after his second Consulship was made High-Priest and served in that office 22 yeeres he was of so good strength and health in his last age that he required not youth I need not speak much of my selfe though it be a thing that belongs to old men and it is granted to our age for doe you not see how often 5 Nestor doth brag in Homer of his own virtues for he had then lived three ages of man So that he needed not feare least that speaking the truth of himselfe he should be counted in solent or talkative for as Homer saith out of his mouth flowed words more sweet then hony which made that 6 Captaine of Greece never wish that he had ten such as strong 7 Ajax but ten such as wise Nestor which if he might obtaine he doubted not but that 8 Troy should soon be overthrown But I returne to my self I am now in the fourescore and fourth yeere of mine age I cannot truly say as Cyrus did but I would I could yet this I can say that though I am not of so great strength as I was being a souldier in the Carthaginian warre or Questor in the same warre or Consul in Spaine or foure yeeres after when being Tribune of the souldiers I fought at 9 Thermopylae Marcus Aâ—tillius Glabrio being Consul yet as you see old age hath not altogether weakned me it hath not overthrown me The Courts want not my strength nor the pleading places nor my friends nor my Glyents nor my ghests Neither did I ever assent to that old and lauded proverb that warns a man to be old quickly if he will be an old man long but I had rather be an old man man lesse while then make my selfe an old man before I were So that as yet no man could come and find me idle at home yet have I lesse strength then either of you neither have you the strength of 10 Titus Pontius the Centurion is he therefore better then you But let him make much of it it will not endure long Milo is said to have entered the Listes of Olympus with a live Oxe on his shoulders whether had you rather now have this mans strength of body or Pythagoras his strength of wit to be given you To conclude use that strength which you have while you have it but when it is gone require it not unlesse you thinke it a seemly thing of young men to require their child-hood againe and ancient men their youth There is but one course of age and one way of nature and the same simple and to every part of age its own timelines is given for as infirmity belongs to child-hood fiercenesse to youth and gravity to age so the true ripenesse of age hath a certaine natural gravity in it which ought to be used in it own time I thinke you have heard Scipio of King 11 Massinissa what he doth at this day being a man of ninety yeeres old when he goes any whether on foot he will never ride in that journey how far soever it be likewise when he rides a journey he will never alight neither could any storm make him weare his hat surely there is great drynesse of body in him therfore he may well execute all the offices and duties of a King Thus you see exercise and temperance way preserve some of the former strength even in old age X. TABLE of Annotations 1. CNaeus and Publius Scipio were brethren and cald