it so fit for nothing as for Homers bookes he lived a hundred and eight yeeres the place of his birth and Parents are unknown 10. Pythagoras called the Prince of Philosophers being indeed the first that called himselfe a Philosopher he was born at Samos and was the sonne of a Carver he had as it is reported 600 Disciples among whom was Architas the Tarentine He first taught that the soules of men departed went into other bodies which that he might the better perswade he affirmed that when he was first born he was Athalide the sonne of Mercurie and did obtaine of him this boone that he onely of all men might remember all the bodies that ever he should be changed out of Which he obtained and after affirmed that Athalide being dead he was changed into Euphorbus who being staine at Troy he was born again in the body of Hermotinus and after his death into the body of Delias a fisher man who was also called Pyrrhus and lastly he was made Pythagoras And that so all other mens soules did in like manner onely they alwayes forgat from whose body they last came he abstained from all flesh and fed only on roots and herbs he would be called Philosophus that is a lover of wisdome but not Sophius that is wise for he said that none but God was wise He dyed at Metapontum being 99 yeere old 11. Democritus born at Abderites his Father was a very rich man so that he feasted Xerxes great Army that drunke Rivers dry After his Fathers death he went to travaile and returned very poor where under the city wals he builded himselfe a silly cottage where he lived contemplating the works of nature He affirmed that all things were made of Atomes such as we see fleet in the sunne in a shiny day he was wont to laugh always what chance soever hapned as on the contrary Heraclitus alwaies wept He willingly abstaining from meat died when he was 104. yeers old 12. Xenocrates born in Calcedonia Plato's schollar he was somewhat blunt and very earnest and dry in his Communication he loved Plato very much he lived chastly and holily and wrote many good works and died being fourescore and twelve years old 13. Zeno the sonne of Pyrelus and the adopted sonne of Parmenides he learned his Philosophy of his adopted father wherein he was so excellent that Plato and Aristotle affirme he first invented logick he was the beginner of the Stoicks and is therefore called the prince of that sect he was a Governour in the Common-wealth he for the good of his Countrey conspired against Dionysius a Tyrant but was taken in the action and being examined of his confederats he accused all the Tyrants chief friends and told him that if he would hear him in private he would discover more whereupon the King bowing down his head to hear him he bit of his nose for this he was pounded in a stone mortar to make him confesse but he biting of his tongu and spitting it in his tormentors face died being 98. yeers old 14. Cleanthes a Stoick Philosopher and Schollar to Zeno he bore labour and griefe with such chearfulnesse that he was called an other Hercules He was very poor and when he wanted mony to buy paper he wrote the saying of Zeno on bones and shels 15. Rome built first by Romulus and Remus two brethren a City too well known of some sufficiently of all 16. Diogenes the Cynick Philosopher who when his father was imprisoned fled to Athens and became Antisthenes Scholar He lived ninety years and died as some say of the biting of a mad dog others say holding his breath he stiflled himselfe His Schollars made a Tombe for him and on the top thereof they set a dog His witty and satyricall learning are known of most men CHAP. VIII BUt that we may omit these divine studies I can name some of the I Sabine fields countrey 2 Romans my neighbours and familiars then whom none take more pains in the fields either in sowing gathering or sorting the fruits yet among them it is no marvell for there is none so old but that he thinkes to live one year more but they labour in things which they know do not at all belong unto them and as our friend Statius Caecilius saith in his Synephebis they plant trees which shall not give fruit till another age and after they are dead which makes the husband-man when any askes him for whom he sets those trees to answer for the immortall gods that would not that I only should receive the fruits of the earth from my predecessors but leave them also to my posterity That same 3 Caecilius wrote thus of age If old age brings no other faults this one enough will be By living long they oft behold the things they would not see And many times the things they would but youth it selfe is subject to that inconvenience But he wrote yet worse of age then that In age I take this thing to be the greatest misery To think the younger sort of men do hate their company Nay rather pleasant then hatefull is their company For as wise old men are delighted with young men indued with a vertuo us disposition and their age is made the easier that are worshipped and beloved of such so wise young men are rejoyced in the precepts of old men by which they are led to the studies of virtue neither do I perceive that I am lesse pleasant to you then you are to me Now you see that age is not faint and negligent but laborsome and alwayes doing something and indeavouring in such things as every mans study was in his former liâ—e but how if old men learne in their age also as we see 4 Solon boasting in his verses that he learned something every day grew an old man as I my self have done who now in my age have learned the Greek tongue which truly I took greedily as it were to satisfie a continuall thirst that those things might be known to me which you now see me use in examples And when I heard also whaâ— 5 Socrates had profited in musick I would have learned that â—oo for your ancients learned musick but truly I bestowed my pains in learning VIII TABLE of Annotations 1. SAbin fields a place where Cato had a countrey house not far of from Rome 2. Countrey Romans it is thought that he meant Fabritius 3. Caecilius Statius a comicall poet he wrote the comedy of Synephebis of two young men brought up together from their youth 4. Solon one of the seven wise men of Greece he was the sonne of Epistides and born at Salamina therefore called Salaminus he made many good lawes at Athens he builded a city in Sicilia and called it after his name Solos he died when he was ninety yeers old and was buried at Salamina 5. Socrates CHAP. IX NEither do I now desire the strength of youth no more then when I was young I did desire
Aedile foure years after I was made 6 Praetor which office I bear * Tutidanus and Cethegus being * Coss. and at that time he being a very old man pleaded the 7 Cincian lawes He not only waged warre stoutly when he was very old but by delaylng battail overthrew youthfull 8 Hannibal of whom our friend 9 Ennius thus writeth One man to us by long delayes restored the Common wealth He never lov'd vain glory more then he esteem'd our health The glory of the man therefore Shall still remain and flourish more But with what vigilancy did he take Tarentum when in my hearing he answered 10 Salinator who having lost the town fled into the Castle and bragging said O Quintus Fabius by my means thou hast taken Tarentum very true said he smiling for if thou hadst not lost it I had not wonne it neither was he more excellent in warre then in peace who being the second time 11 Consul 12 Spurius Carvillius his colleague in office not assisting him he of himselfe resisted with all his might 13 Caius Flaminius the 14 Tribune of the people who against the whole authority of the Senate went about to divide the Picean 15 and Galicane fields to each particular man when he was 16 augur he durst boldly affirme that that was done with the best aspects which was done for the safety of the Common-wealth I know many excellent things of the man but nothing more admirable then how he bore the death of his sonne 17 Marcus a singular man and a Consull I have in my hands the praise of the man which when we read what Philosopher do we not contemn yet was he not more excellent abroad and in the eyes of the people then at home and in his private house what speeches what precepts what knowledge of Philosophy and for a Roman very learned he kept all things in memory not only civill but externall warrs whose conference when I did greedily enjoy I did divine as it hath sithence hapned that he being dead there should be none of whom I might learne But wherefore speak I so much of Maximus because you may see that it was detestable to be spoken that such an old age was miserable IV. TABLE of Annotations 1. QUintus Fabius Maximus of the house of the Fabii a noble and right valiant kindred his family alone with their kindsfolks and adherents often overthrew Veients till at last being entrapped by deceit neere the river Cromera they were all slain in the battell except one that remained at Rome being a child of whom long after came this Quintus Maximus who lived to be 5 times consul and once Dictator he was called also Cunctator or the delayer because he by delayes overcame Hannibal 2. Tarentum a most famous city in Graecia built by Tarent the sonne of Neptune and by him so named it had great warres with the Romanes in the time of Cato 3. Capua the metropolitane city of Campania built according to Livie by Capys the captain of the Samnites of whom it took the name it had great warres with the Romans in the time of the Carthaginian warre 4. Qâ—aestor an ancient office among the Romans instituted first in the time of Numa Pompilius he was togather the tribute and mony of the people for the warres or otherwise The Treasurer 5. Aedile he that had the care of the reparations of the Temples of the gods and the Theaters of the common-people and the playes 6. Praetor An office in the city like our L. Major but of greater authority for by his power he might make and abolish Lawes at his pleasure 7. The Cincian law was first made by M. Cincius against bribery 8. Hannibal a valiant captain and governour of the Carthaginians he often overthrew the Romans but he was utterly overcome by Scipio Affricanus and as Plutarch writes at last he poisoned himself with poison he had in a ring Eutropius writes he was stoned to death by the Carthaginians for some offence but Livie sayes he was crucified on a crosse 9. Ennius vide 2. 10. Salinator Consull with Claudius Nero he defended the Tarentins against the Romanes he flew Asdruball coming to help Hanniball his brother 11. Consul when Tarquinius Superbus that ravished Lucrecia was slaine and his stock banished the office of Consull instead of King began among the Romans it was performed by two men they had as great authority as the King onely they were but in Office one yeare 12. Spurius Carvillius Consull with Cato in the yeare of Rome 526. 13. Caius Flaminius Tribune when Cato was Consull who afterward being Censor expulsed Caius out of the Senate 14. Tribune was as it were the Solicitor for the people being first created after the Volsian Sabin warres They grew to so great authority that sitting in the Senate they would crosse whatsoever was decreed if they liked it not they ever withstood the Senate for the people it was a very factious office and full of strife often setting the people together by the eares with the Senate and the Senate with them They might not come into the Temples 15. The Galicane fields were wonne from the French-men and were to be divided to the souldiers 16. Augur was in great reverence with the Romans they were as Priests and by looking into the intrals of beasts and birds they prophesied of things to come They were first derived from the Hetrurians they had a Colledg and as it were a consultation-house to meet confer of Comets and Signs in the ayr for the good of the common people 17. Marcus Fabius he was the son of Maximus he was second Consul once in the yeer of Rome 506 and againe in the yeere 508 in his first Consulship he overcame the Carthaginians by Sea CHAP. V. NEither can every man be such as was Scipio or Maximus that the overthrows of Cities and battails by land fights by Sea triuÌ„phs and victories may be recorded of them yet the old age of a privat life wel and quietly before lead is very light and pleasing Such as we read the age of 1 Plato was who writing in the 81 yeares of his age dyed such was the age of 2 Socrates who is said to have written the booke 3 Planathenaicus in the ninety fourth year of his age whose Master 4 Gorgias Leontinus lived an hundred and seven yeares neither did he cease from his study who when he was asked why he would live so long answered that he had no cause yet to accuse age of an excellent answer and worthy of so learned a man For fooles lay the faults of their own on age which Ennius did not of whom I spake before Like to a valiant horse which oft in running man the best At Mount Olympus being old is let alone at rest He compareth this age to the age of a valiant and victorious horse and him you may well remember for the eleventh yeer after his death T. Flaminius and Marcus
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
the chief 3 steward in his drinking after the maÌ„ner of our ancestors and the use of moderate little cups as it is written in the banquet of Xenophon also that cooling in the Summer and again either the Sunne or the fire in the winter which I am wont to use among the 4 Sabines where I dayly fill up a Table with my neighbours and we spend the time as much as we can with divers conference sometimes even till midnight XIII TABLE of Annotations 1. CAius Duillus who triumphing for the first Carthaginian victory was not content with one dayes triumph but caused torches to be lighâ—ed in the night and musicians to play before him 2. Great mother was the image of Sibella of Phrygia or the mother of the gods which was brought to Rome from Pisunt whereupon the Romanes made great playes called Megalesia and also solemne feasts yearly 3. Stewards was as we chuse King and Queen in our sports at Christmas they were chosen in feasts among the Guests either by lot or voices they were to be as it were masters of the feast and tell pleasant stories to the Guests to passe the time withall 4. Sabins where Cato had a farme before he came to Rome and there he lived not farre from the city CHAP. XIV BUt there is not so great a tickling as it were of pleasure in old age no nor so much as a desire for nothing that is not wanted is desired Sophocles answered well to one that was well in yeares who demanded of him if he sometimes used not * dalience nay God forbid quoth he but I have willingly fled from them as from a cruel and furious master For to those who do desire it it is grievous to want it but to them that be satisfied it is better to be without so that they want not that desire not Therefore I say that it is better not to desire then to injoy But if youth do injoy these pleasures in greater measure Age also doth not altogether want them For as in the Play of the 1 Poet Turpius Ambinius he that sitteth in the neerest gallery is more delighted yet is he also delighted that sits in the furthest So youth beholding pleasures more neere is peradventure more delighted but age beholding them afar off is delighted as much as is sufficient But how great is the pleasure of age when the mind releafed from the slavery of lusts ambition contention emnity and all other such like concupiscence may be secure and as they say live at home with it selfe at rest But if it have supply as I may call it food of learning and study there is nothing more pleasant then a quiet old age we have known that 2 Caius Gallus your fathers familiar friend Scipio dyed when he had been studious in Astrology and Cosmography how often did he write both night and day and how much did he delight to tell us long before of the Eclipses of the Sunne and of the Moone Yet is age delighted in more light yet notwithstanding ingenuous studies How did Nevius rejoyce in his Bellum Punicum How did 3 Plautus delight in his Truculentus How in his Pseudalus I have seen also the old man * Livius who set forth a book six yeeres before I was borne Centonus and Tutidanus being Consuls and he lived till my youth what shall I speak of Licinius Crassus or of the Pontificall or civill Lawes or of this Publius Scipio who the other day was made High Priest All these whom I have here remembred being old men I have seen flourishing in these studies but what paines did * Marcus Cethegus also take in pleading being an old man whom Ennius doth rightly call the marrow of eloquence what therefore are the pleasures of banquets or playes or whores to be compared to these But these are the studies of learning which surely with the wise and well nurtred will grow up and increase together with their age as the commendable verse of Solon doth import * that he grew old learning every day something then which pleasure of mind what can be greater XIIII Table of Annotations 1. TUrpius Ambinius a poet who florished in the time of L. Sergius Artilius Praenestius and others 2. Caius Gallus Sulpitius was tribune the year before being Praetor he prognosticated the ectipse of the moon by the commandement of the Consull he was anorator and studied much the Greek Tongue 3. Plautus a Com call poet and very fimous but poore he was a miller and all day ground and in the night he wrote playes whereof his Truculentus and his Pseudolus were two CHAP. XV NOw I come to the pleasures of husband-men with which I am incredibly delighted which seems to me to come neerest the life of a wise man neither is it hindred by age The countrey-mans businesse lieth on the earth which never refuseth to be delved neither ever doth it render what it hath received without usury though some time with lesse yet for the most part with greater gain Yet am not I only delighted with the fruit but also with the nature and force of the earth it selfe which after it hath received the seeds into its softened and wrought bosome first it keeps it in being harrowed of whence this word * Harrowing which doth this is named afterward being heat with its vapor and embracement it spreads abroad and brings forth an herby greennesse which fastened with the little strings of the root by little and little increaseth and being erected upon a knotty stalke is at the last as it were included in a sheath out of which when it growes it yeeldeth fruit like grains and it is fortified from the biting of the lesser birds with the defence of the beards What should I now rehearse the setting springing and increase of vines I must needs say that you may know the pleasure and quietnesse of mine age I cannot be satisfied with delight I omit the force of all things nourished by the earth which of a little graine of a fig or Grape bringeth forth such great Trunked bodies and boughs of Trees twigs plants grafts sets roots do they not so spring as may delight any man with admiration The vine which by nature is falling and growes downwards unlesse it be under-propped to the end she may erect her selfe catcheth hold with her windings as with hands on whatsoever it meets which as it creeps with manifold turnings the art O husbandry corrects with a grafting knife least it should become wilde and overgrown therefore in the spring in those branches which be left it bringeth forth as it were at the joints of the twigs the buds of which after commeth the grape which increasing by the moisture of the earth and the heat of the sun is at the first but bitter but after growing ripe it becomes sweet being clothed with the broad leavs it is defended from the scorching of the sun yet
authority and severity he was twice consul he was the first raiser of his house he was wont to say that he repented three things one that ever he went by water when he might have gone by land the second that he let passe an idle day the third that he told any secret to his wife 9. Publius Scipio the adopted son of Affricanus Major the second Person of this dialogue was of Kinne to Cato he by the counsell of Cato was sent to Carthage in the third Carthaginian warre and utterly overthrew it 10. Caius Laelius the third person in this dialogue was an excellent young man a neer friend to Scipio of whose friendship Cicero wrote a book de Amicitia The Speakers M. CATO P. SCIPIO C. LAELIUS CHAP. 2. SCIPIO I Am often wont good M. Cato with this my friend Laelius to admire among other things your excellent and perfect wisedome but especially that we never perceived that your old age was troublesome which is so grievous to most old men that they say they bare a burden more grievous then 1 Aetna CATO Scipio and Laelius you seem to wonder at a thing not very hard For that age is only grievous to those that have no taste of wisdome and learning in themselves to make them live happily but to them which see all perfection and consolation from their own experience nothing can seem heavy which the necessity of nature bringeth of which sort old age is chief which all desire to obtain and blame being obtained such is their unconstancy foolishnesse and perversity they say that it creepeth upon them ere they are * aware First let me aske who bade them over reckon themselves for how much sooner doth age creep on youth then youth on child-hood then how much more grievous would their age be to them if they should as well live to the eight hundred year as to the eighty year for the former age though long when it is past can asswage a foolish old age with no comfort Wherfore if you were wont to admire my wisedome which I wish were worthy of your opinion or our sirname in this I am wise that I follow nature as a god and her I do obey by whom it is not like that when the other parts of our age are well set down that the last part as it were by a carelesse Poet should be neglected And it is very necessary that there may be some end of our bodies like the fruits of trees and of the earth which wither and fall away with a timely ripenesse which ought of a wise man to be patiently borne for what other thing is meant by the 2 battell of the Giants against the Gods but the resisting of nature II TABLE of Annotations 1. AeTna a mountain in Cicilia that casts forth flames of fire at the top the Poets faine that Jupiter set this hill on the head of Tiphoeus the Giant which fought against him in the battell of the gods 2. The battell of the Gyants is in Ovids Metamorphosis where he fains that they heaped hils on hils thinking to winne heaven but were destroyed with lightning CHAP. III. LAELIUS BUt Cato you shall do a very acceptable thing to us that I may also promise for Scipio if because we would and we hope to be old men we may learne by you before by what means and reasons we may most easily bear that age incroaching on us CATO I will do it Laelius especially if as you say it will be acceptable to both of you SCIPIO Surely Cato unlesse it be troublesome to you we would learne what it is as if you had gone some long journey wherein we must enter to follow you CATO I will do it as I may Scipio for I have often been at the complaints of men of my sort for as the proverb is * birds of a feather flie together which 1 Caius Salinator and 2 Spurius Albinus men that have been Consuls and almost my equals in years were wont to make as well for that they wanted pleasures as that they were despised of them that were wont to worship them which men seemed to me to accuse that which was not to be accused For if that should fall out by the meanes of age the same by use would happen to me and to all other old men many of whose ages I know without complaint which are no whit greived that they are released from the bonds of lusts neither are they despised of their friends but the fault of such complaints is in the manners not in the age For moderate courteous and gentle old men do lead an easie life but inhumanity and importunity is hatefull in all ages LAELIUS It is as you say Cato but it may be that some wil object that to you by reason of your riches plenty and dignity your age seems tolerable but that cannot happen to all men CATO Truly Laelius that is somewhat but in no wise are all things under that predicament for as 3 Themistocles is reported to have answered a certain 4 Seriphian in a braul when he told him that he had gotten renoun not by his own but by his countreys glory neither answered Themistocles should I be unrenouned were I a Seriphian nor thou renouned wert thou an Athenian so it may be said of age for it cannot be pleasant no not to a wise man in extreme poverty nor grievous to a fool in great plenty III. TABLE of Annotations 1. CAius Livius Salinator Consul with M. Valcrius Messalla 562 years after the building of Rome 2. Spurius Postumus Albinus Consul with Quintus Marius Philippus Anno 568. ab urbe cond. 3. Themistocles an excellent Atheman who lived very dissolutely in his youth but in his agebore himselfe with great honor and credit he was of excellent memory he slew himselfe because he would not see the overthrow of his country 4. A Seriphian of the Isle Seripho which was amongst the Cyclades it was a place of much infamie by reason offenders were thither banished CHAP. IV. THe aptest weapons of age Scipio and Laelius are arts and exercises of vertue which observed at all times when you have lived long bring forth wonderfull fruit not only because they will never fail you no not in the extreemest part of your age which is much but because the confidence of a life heretofore well led and the remembrance of many good deeds is exceeding pleasant I being a young man so loved 1 Quintus Maximus the old man he which took 2 Tarentum as if he had been my equall in years For there was in that man gravity seasoned with courtesie neither had age changed his conditions yet when I first began to love him he was not very old but well stricken in years For the year that he was first Consul I was borne and in his fourth Consulship I being a young stripling went with him to 3 Capua in the fifth yeare I went 4 Questor to Tarentum then 5