Sen. 19.1Quarta restat causa, quae maximē angere atque sollicitam habēre nostram aetātem vidētur, appropinquātiō mortis, quae certē ā senectūte nōn potest esse longē.There remains the fourth reason, which seems most of all to distress and trouble our age: the approach of death, which certainly cannot be far from old age. Sen. 19.1Ō miserum senem, quī mortem contemnendam esse in tam longā aetāte nōn vīderit!O wretched old man, who in so long a life has not seen that death is to be despised! Sen. 19.1Quae aut plānē neglegenda est, sī omnīnō exstinguit animum, aut etiam optanda, sī aliquō eum dēdūcit ubi sit futūrus aeternus.Death is either to be utterly disregarded, if it entirely extinguishes the soul, or even to be wished for, if it leads the soul somewhere where it will be eternal. Sen. 19.1Atquī tertium certē nihil invenīrī potest.And yet certainly no third possibility can be found. Sen. 19.67Quid igitur timeam, sī aut nōn miser post mortem, aut beātus etiam futūrus sum?What then should I fear, if after death I am going to be either not wretched or even happy? Sen. 19.67Quamquam quis est tam stultus, quamvīs sit adulēscēns, cui sit explōrātum sē ad vesperum esse vīctūrum?And yet who is so foolish, however young he may be, as to be certain that he will live until evening?
Sen. 19.67Quīn etiam aetās illa multō plūrīs quam nostra cāsūs mortis habet: facilius in morbōs incidunt adulēscentēs, gravius aegrōtant, trīstius cūrantur.Indeed, that age has many more chances of death than ours: young men fall into illnesses more easily, are more gravely ill, and are cured with more difficulty. Sen. 19.67Itaque paucī veniunt ad senectūtem;And so few reach old age; Sen. 19.67quod nī ita accideret, melius et prūdentius vīverētur.if this did not happen so, men would live better and more wisely. Sen. 19.67Mēns enim et ratiō et cōnsilium in senibus est, quī sī nūllī fuissent, nūllae omnīnō cīvitātēs fuissent.For intelligence and reason and counsel are found in old men, and if there had been none of them, there would have been no states at all. Sen. 19.67Sed redeō ad mortem impendentem.But I return to impending death. Sen. 19.67Quod est istud crīmen senectūtis, cum id eī videātis cum adulēscentiā esse commūne?What sort of charge against old age is that, when you see that it is shared with youth? Sen. 19.68Sēnsī ego in optimō fīliō, tū in exspectātīs ad amplissimam dignitātem frātribus, Scīpiō, mortem omnī aetātī esse commūnem.I have felt in the case of my excellent son, and you, Scipio, in the case of your brothers, who were expected to reach the highest rank, that death is common to every age.
Sen. 19.68At spērat adulēscēns diū sē vīctūrum, quod spērāre īdem senex nōn potest.But a young man hopes to live long, which an old man cannot hope. Sen. 19.68Īnsipienter spērat;He hopes foolishly; Sen. 19.68quid enim stultius quam incerta prō certīs habēre, falsa prō vērīs?for what is more foolish than to take the uncertain for certain, the false for true? Sen. 19.68At senex nē quod spēret quidem habet.But an old man has not even anything to hope for. Sen. 19.68At est eō meliōre condiciōne quam adulēscēns, quoniam id quod ille spērat hic cōnsecūtus est: ille volt diū vīvere, hic diū vīxit.Yet he is in a better position than the young man, since what the young man hopes for, he has already obtained: the one wants to live long, the other has lived long. Sen. 19.69Quamquam, ō dī bonī, quid est in hominis nātūrā diū?And yet, good gods, what is there in man's nature that is long? Sen. 19.69Dā enim suprēmum tempus;For grant the furthest limit of time; Sen. 19.69exspectēmus Tartēssiōrum rēgis aetātem—fuit enim, ut scrīptum videō, Arganthōnius quīdam Gādibus, quī octōgintā regnāverat annōs, centum vīgintī vīxerat—sed mihi nē diūturnum quidem quicquam vidētur, in quō est aliquid extrēmum;let us look for the age of the king of the Tartessians — for there was, as I see it recorded, a certain Arganthonius at Gades, who had reigned eighty years and lived a hundred and twenty — but to me nothing seems even lasting in which there is something final; Sen. 19.69cum enim id advenit, tum illud, quod praeteriit, efflūxit;for when that comes, then what has passed has flowed away; Sen. 19.69tantum remanet, quod virtūte et rēctē factīs cōnsecūtus sīs.there remains only what you have achieved by virtue and right actions.
Sen. 19.69Hōrae quidem cēdunt et diēs et mēnsēs et annī, nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur nec quid sequātur scīrī potest.Hours indeed pass away, and days and months and years, nor does past time ever return, nor can it be known what is to follow. Sen. 19.69Quod cuique temporis ad vīvendum datur, eō dēbet esse contentus.Whatever time is given to each man for living, with that he ought to be content. Sen. 19.70Neque enim histriōnī, ut placeat, peragenda fābula est, modo in quōcunque fuerit āctū probētur;For an actor need not play the drama through to the end in order to please, provided he wins approval in whatever act he appears; Sen. 19.70neque sapientibus ūsque ad "plaudite" veniendum est, breve enim tempus aetātis satis longum est ad bene honestēque vīvendum;nor need the wise go on until the 'Applaud!', for a short span of life is long enough for living well and honourably; Sen. 19.70sīn prōcesserit longius, nōn magis dolendum est, quam agricolae dolent praeteritā vērnī temporis suāvitāte aestātem autumnumque vēnisse.but if one goes on further, one ought not to grieve any more than farmers grieve that, when the sweetness of springtime is past, summer and autumn have come.
Sen. 19.70Vēr enim tamquam adulēscentia significat ostenditque frūctūs futūrōs;For spring, like youth, signifies and shows the fruits to come; Sen. 19.70reliqua autem tempora dēmetendīs frūctibus et percipiendīs accommodāta sunt.the remaining seasons are suited to reaping and gathering the fruits. Sen. 19.71Frūctus autem senectūtis est, ut saepe dīxī, ante partōrum bonōrum memoria et cōpia.And the fruit of old age, as I have often said, is the memory and abundance of blessings won in earlier years. Sen. 19.71Omnia autem, quae secundum nātūram fīunt, sunt habenda in bonīs;Moreover, all things that happen in accordance with nature are to be counted as good; Sen. 19.71quid est autem tam secundum nātūram quam senibus ēmorī?and what is so much in accordance with nature as for old men to die? Sen. 19.71Quod idem contingit adulēscentibus adversante et repugnante nātūrā.The same thing befalls young men while nature opposes and resists. Sen. 19.71Itaque adulēscentēs mihi morī sīc videntur, ut cum aquae multitūdine flammae vīs opprimitur, senēs autem sīc, ut cum suā sponte, nūllā adhibitā vī, cōnsūmptus ignis exstinguitur, et quasi pōma ex arboribus, crūda sī sunt, vix ēvelluntur, sī mātūra et cocta, dēcidunt, sīc vītam adulēscentibus vīs aufert, senibus mātūritās;And so young men seem to me to die as when the force of a flame is smothered by a flood of water, but old men as when a fire that has burnt itself out goes out of its own accord, with no force applied; and just as apples, if they are unripe, are torn from the trees with difficulty, but if ripe and mellow, fall of themselves, so force takes life from young men, ripeness from old; Sen. 19.71quae quidem mihi tam iūcunda est, ut, quō propius ad mortem accēdam, quasi terram vidēre videar aliquandōque in portum ex longā nāvigātiōne esse ventūrus.and this ripeness is so pleasant to me that, the nearer I approach death, I seem, as it were, to be sighting land and to be about to come at last into harbour after a long voyage.