Sen. 3.1CATŌ.CATO. Sen. 3.1Faciam ut poterō, Laelī.I will do it as well as I can, Laelius. Sen. 3.1Saepe enim interfuī querellīs aequālium meōrum, parēs autem vetere prōverbiō cum paribus facillimē congregantur, quae C. Salinātor, quae Sp. Albīnus, hominēs cōnsulārēs, nostrī ferē aequālēs, dēplōrāre solēbant, tum quod voluptātibus carērent, sine quibus vītam nūllam putārent, tum quod spernerentur ab eīs, ā quibus essent colī solitī;For I have often been present at the complaints of my contemporaries — and like, by the old proverb, most readily flocks with like — complaints which Gaius Salinator and Spurius Albinus, men of consular rank and of about my own age, used to make with lamentation, both that they lacked pleasures, without which they thought life was no life, and that they were scorned by those by whom they had been used to being courted; Sen. 3.1quī mihi nōn id vidēbantur accūsāre, quod esset accūsandum.but they seemed to me not to be blaming what ought to be blamed. Sen. 3.1Nam sī id culpā senectūtis accideret, eadem mihi ūsū venīrent reliquīsque omnibus maiōribus nātū, quōrum ego multōrum cognōvī senectūtem sine querellā, quī sē et libīdinum vinculīs laxātōs esse nōn molestē ferrent nec ā suīs dēspicerentur.For if this happened through the fault of old age, the same things would befall me and all other older men, many of whom I have known to pass an old age without complaint, men who did not take it ill that they had been set free from the chains of desire, and who were not despised by their own people.
Sen. 3.1Sed omnium istīus modī querellārum in mōribus est culpa, nōn in aetāte.But the fault in all complaints of this kind lies in character, not in age. Sen. 3.1Moderātī enim et nec difficilēs nec inhūmānī senēs tolerābilem senectūtem agunt, importūnitās autem et inhūmānitās omnī aetātī molesta est.For old men who are self-controlled and neither difficult nor ill-natured pass a tolerable old age, while peevishness and ill nature are troublesome at every age. Sen. 3.8LAELIUS.LAELIUS. Sen. 3.8Est, ut dīcis, Catō;It is as you say, Cato; Sen. 3.8sed fortasse dīxerit quispiam tibi propter opēs et cōpiās et dignitātem tuam tolerābiliōrem senectūtem vidērī, id autem nōn posse multīs contingere.but perhaps someone might say that old age seems more tolerable to you because of your resources and wealth and standing, and that this cannot fall to the lot of many. Sen. 3.8CATŌ.CATO. Sen. 3.8Est istuc quidem, Laelī, aliquid, sed nēquāquam in istō sunt omnia;That is indeed something, Laelius, but by no means does everything lie in it; Sen. 3.8ut Themistoclēs fertur Serīphiō cuidam in iūrgiō respondisse, cum ille dīxisset nōn eum suā, sed patriae glōriā splendōrem assecūtum: "nec herculē," inquit, "sī ego Serīphius essem, nec tū, sī Athēniēnsis, clārus umquam fuissēs."just as Themistocles is said to have answered a certain Seriphian in a quarrel, when the man had said that he had won his brilliance not through his own glory but through his country's: 'By Hercules,' he said, 'neither would I, if I were a Seriphian, nor would you, if you were an Athenian, ever have become famous.' Sen. 3.8Quod eōdem modō dē senectūte dīcī potest;And the same can be said of old age; Sen. 3.8nec enim in summā inopiā levis esse senectūs potest, nē sapientī quidem, nec īnsipientī etiam in summā cōpiā nōn gravis.for neither can old age be light amid extreme poverty, not even for a wise man, nor can it fail to be burdensome to a fool even amid the greatest plenty.
Sen. 3.9Aptissima omnīnō sunt, Scīpiō et Laelī, arma senectūtis artēs exercitātiōnēsque virtūtum, quae in omnī aetāte cultae, cum diū multumque vīxerīs, mīrificōs ecferunt frūctūs, nōn sōlum quia numquam dēserunt, nē extrēmō quidem tempore aetātis, quamquam id quidem maximum est, vērum etiam quia cōnscientia bene āctae vītae multōrumque bene factōrum recordātiō iūcundissima est.Altogether the most fitting weapons of old age, Scipio and Laelius, are the arts and the practice of the virtues, which, if cultivated at every age, bear wonderful fruit when you have lived long and much, not only because they never desert you, not even at the very end of life — although that indeed is a very great thing — but also because the consciousness of a life well spent and the memory of many good deeds are most pleasant.