Sen. 14.1Ego vērō propter sermōnis dēlectātiōnem tempestīvīs quoque convīviīs dēlector, nec cum aequālibus sōlum, quī paucī admodum restant, sed cum vestrā etiam aetāte atque vōbīscum, habeōque senectūtī magnam grātiam, quae mihi sermōnis aviditātem auxit, pōtiōnis et cibī sustulit.For my part, because of my delight in conversation, I take pleasure even in banquets that begin early, and not only with those of my own age, of whom very few remain, but also with men of your age and with you, and I owe great thanks to old age, which has increased my eagerness for conversation and taken away that for drink and food. Sen. 14.1Quod sī quem etiam ista dēlectant, nē omnīnō bellum indīxisse videar voluptātī, cuius est fortasse quīdam nātūrālis modus, nōn intellegō nē in istīs quidem ipsīs voluptātibus carēre sēnsū senectūtem.But if anyone delights even in those things — so that I may not seem to have declared war on pleasure altogether, of which there is perhaps a certain natural measure — I do not perceive that old age lacks feeling even for these very pleasures.
Sen. 14.1Mē vērō et magisteria dēlectant ā maiōribus īnstitūta et is sermō, quī mōre maiōrum ā summō adhibētur in pōculō, et pōcula, sīcut in Symposiō Xenophontis est, minūta atque rōrantia, et refrīgerātiō aestāte et vicissim aut sōl aut ignis hībernus.For my part, I delight both in the masterships of the feast instituted by our ancestors, and in the conversation which, in the ancestral manner, is begun from the head of the table over the cups, and in cups, as in Xenophon's Symposium, small and dew-sprinkling, and in cool air in summer and in turn the sun or the fire in winter. Sen. 14.1Quae quidem etiam in Sabīnīs persequī soleō convīviumque vīcīnōrum cōtīdiē compleō, quod ad multam noctem quam maximē possumus variō sermōne prōdūcimus.These things I am accustomed to pursue even in the Sabine country, and every day I fill out a banquet with my neighbours, which we prolong with varied conversation as late into the night as we possibly can. Sen. 14.47At nōn est voluptātum tanta quasi titillātiō in senibus.But there is not so great a tickling, as it were, of pleasures in old men.
Sen. 14.47Crēdō, sed nē dēsīderātiō quidem;I believe it, but neither is there the longing for them; Sen. 14.47nihil autem est molestum quod nōn dēsīderēs.and nothing is troublesome that you do not long for. Sen. 14.47Bene Sophoclēs, cum ex eō quīdam iam affectō aetāte quaereret, ūterēturne rēbus veneriīs, "dī meliōra!"Sophocles answered well when someone asked him, now that he was stricken in years, whether he still indulged in love: 'Gods forbid!' Sen. 14.47inquit;he said; Sen. 14.47"ego vērō istinc sīcut ā dominō agrestī ac furiōsō profūgī."'Indeed I have escaped from that as from a savage and raging master.' Sen. 14.47Cupidīs enim rērum tālium odiōsum fortasse et molestum est carēre, satiātis vērō et explētīs iūcundius est carēre quam fruī;For to those who desire such things it is perhaps hateful and troublesome to go without them, but to those who are sated and filled it is more pleasant to go without than to enjoy; Sen. 14.47quamquam nōn caret is, quī nōn dēsīderat;though indeed one who does not long for a thing does not go without it; Sen. 14.47ergō hoc nōn dēsīderāre dīcō esse iūcundius.therefore I say that this not longing is more pleasant.
Sen. 14.48Quod sī istīs ipsīs voluptātibus bona aetās fruitur libentius, prīmum parvulīs fruitur rēbus, ut dīximus, deinde eīs, quibus senectūs, etiam sī nōn abundē potītur, nōn omnīnō caret.But if the prime of life enjoys those very pleasures more gladly, in the first place it enjoys trifling things, as we have said, and in the second, things which old age, even if it does not possess them in abundance, does not altogether lack. Sen. 14.48Ut Turpiōne Ambiviō magis dēlectātur quī in prīmā caveā spectat, dēlectātur tamen etiam quī in ultimā, sīc adulēscentia voluptātēs propter intuēns magis fortasse laetātur, sed dēlectātur etiam senectūs, procul eās spectāns, tantum quantum sat est.Just as the man who watches Turpio Ambivius in the front row takes more delight, but the man in the back row takes delight too, so youth, looking at pleasures close at hand, perhaps rejoices more, but old age too takes delight, watching them from afar, as much as is enough. Sen. 14.49At illa quantī sunt, animum tamquam ēmeritīs stīpendiīs libīdinis ambitiōnis, contentiōnum inimīcitiārum, cupiditātum omnium sēcum esse sēcumque, ut dīcitur, vīvere!But how much is it worth that the mind, having served out its campaigns, as it were, of lust, of ambition, of rivalries, of enmities, of all desires, should be with itself and, as the saying goes, live with itself!
Sen. 14.49Sī vērō habet aliquod tamquam pābulum studī atque doctrīnae, nihil est ōtiōsā senectūte iūcundius.And if it has some fodder, so to speak, of study and learning, nothing is more pleasant than an old age of leisure. Sen. 14.49Vidēbāmus in studiō dīmētiendī paene caelī atque terrae Gallum familiārem patris tuī, Scīpiō.We used to see Gallus, your father's friend, Scipio, absorbed in the study of measuring almost the whole sky and earth. Sen. 14.49Quotiēns illum lūx noctū aliquid dēscrībere ingressum, quotiēns nox oppressit cum māne coepisset!How often did daylight overtake him when he had begun to draw some figure at night, how often night when he had begun in the morning! Sen. 14.49Quam dēlectābat eum dēfectiōnēs sōlis et lūnae multō ante nōbīs praedīcere!How it delighted him to foretell to us long in advance eclipses of the sun and moon! Sen. 14.50Quid in leviōribus studiīs, sed tamen acūtīs?What of lighter pursuits, which still demand a keen mind? Sen. 14.50Quam gaudēbat Bellō suō Pūnicō Naevius, quam Truculentō Plautus, quam Pseudolō!How Naevius rejoiced in his Punic War, how Plautus in his Truculentus, how in his Pseudolus!
Sen. 14.50Vīdī etiam senem Līvium, quī, cum sex annīs ante quam ego nātus sum fābulam docuisset Centōne Tuditānōque cōnsulibus, ūsque ad adulēscentiam meam prōcessit aetāte.I saw old Livius too, who, having produced a play six years before I was born, in the consulship of Cento and Tuditanus, lived on in years right up to my youth. Sen. 14.50Quid dē P. Licinī Crassī et pontificī et cīvīlis iūris studiō loquar aut dē huius P. Scīpiōnis, quī hīs paucīs diēbus pontifex maximus factus est?Why should I speak of the zeal of Publius Licinius Crassus for both pontifical and civil law, or of that of our Publius Scipio here, who within these last few days has been made chief pontiff? Sen. 14.50Atque eōs omnīs, quōs commemorāvī, hīs studiīs flagrantīs senēs vīdimus.And all these men whom I have mentioned we have seen as old men burning with these pursuits. Sen. 14.50M. vērō Cethēgum, quem rēctē "suādae medullam" dīxit Ennius, quantō studiō exercērī in dīcendō vidēbāmus etiam senem!And Marcus Cethegus, whom Ennius rightly called 'the marrow of persuasion', with what zeal we used to see him exercising himself in speaking, even as an old man!
Sen. 14.50Quae sunt igitur epulārum aut lūdōrum aut scortōrum voluptātēs cum hīs voluptātibus comparandae?What pleasures, then, of feasts or games or harlots are to be compared with these pleasures? Sen. 14.50Atque haec quidem studia doctrīnae, quae quidem prūdentibus et bene īnstitūtīs pariter cum aetāte crēscunt, ut honestum illud Solōnis sit, quod ait versiculō quōdam, ut ante dīxī, senēscere sē multa in diēs addiscentem, quā voluptāte animī nūlla certē potest esse maior.And these indeed are the pursuits of learning, which in men of good sense and good training grow along with their age, so that there is honour in that saying of Solon's, in a certain verse, as I said before, that he grows old learning many things each day; and than that pleasure of the mind there can surely be none greater.