Sen. 5.1Quōrsum igitur haec tam multa dē Maximō?To what end, then, so much about Maximus? Sen. 5.1Quia profectō vidētis nefās esse dictū miseram fuisse tālem senectūtem.Because you surely see that it would be impious to say that such an old age was wretched. Sen. 5.1Nec tamen omnēs possunt esse Scīpiōnēs aut Maximī, ut urbium expugnātiōnēs, ut pedestrīs nāvālīsve pugnās, ut bella ā sē gesta, ut triumphōs recordentur.Yet not everyone can be a Scipio or a Maximus, to remember the storming of cities, battles on land and sea, wars waged by themselves, and triumphs. Sen. 5.1Est etiam quiētē et pūrē atque ēleganter āctae aetātis placida ac lēnis senectūs, quālem accēpimus Platōnis, quī ūnō et octōgēsimō annō scrībēns est mortuus, quālem Īsocratis, quī eum librum, quī Panathēnāicus īnscrībitur, quartō nōnāgēsimō annō scrīpsisse dīcit vīxitque quīnquennium posteā;There is also the calm and gentle old age of a life spent quietly, purely and gracefully, such as we are told was Plato's, who died writing in his eighty-first year, and such as was Isocrates', who says that he wrote the book entitled Panathenaicus in his ninety-fourth year, and he lived five years afterwards; Sen. 5.1cuius magister Leontīnus Gorgiās centum et septem complēvit annōs, neque umquam in suō studiō atque opere cessāvit.his teacher, Gorgias of Leontini, completed a hundred and seven years and never ceased from his study and his work.
Sen. 5.1Quī, cum ex eō quaererētur cūr tam diū vellet esse in vītā, "nihil habeō," inquit, "quod accūsem senectūtem."When he was asked why he wished to remain alive so long, 'I have nothing,' he said, 'for which to blame old age.' Sen. 5.14Praeclārum respōnsum et doctō homine dignum!A splendid reply, and worthy of a learned man! Sen. 5.14Sua enim vitia īnsipientēs et suam culpam in senectūtem cōnferunt, quod nōn faciēbat is, cuius modo mentiōnem fēcī, Ennius: " sīc ut fortis equus, spatiō quī saepe suprēmō vīcit Olympia, nunc seniō cōnfectus quiēscit.For fools lay their own vices and their own fault on old age, which Ennius, whom I mentioned just now, did not do: 'As a brave horse, which often won at Olympia on the final lap, now rests, worn out by age.' Sen. 5.14" Equī fortis et victōris senectūtī comparat suam;He compares his own old age to that of a brave and victorious horse; Sen. 5.14quem quidem probē meminisse potestis;and him you can indeed remember well; Sen. 5.14annō enim ūndēvīcēsimō post eius mortem hī cōnsulēs, T. Flāminīnus et M'. Acīlius, factī sunt;for the present consuls, Titus Flamininus and Manius Acilius, were elected in the nineteenth year after his death; Sen. 5.14ille autem Caepiōne et Philippō iterum cōnsulibus mortuus est, cum ego quīnque et sexāgintā annōs nātus lēgem Vocōniam magnā vōce et bonīs lateribus suāsissem.and he died in the consulship of Caepio and of Philippus for the second time, when I, at sixty-five years of age, had spoken for the Voconian law with a loud voice and good lungs.
Sen. 5.14Annōs septuāgintā nātus, tot enim vīxit Ennius, ita ferēbat duo quae maxima putantur onera, paupertātem et senectūtem, ut eīs paene dēlectārī vidērētur.At seventy years of age — for Ennius lived that long — he bore the two burdens that are thought the greatest, poverty and old age, in such a way that he seemed almost to take delight in them. Sen. 5.15Etenim, cum complector animō, quattuor reperiō causās cūr senectūs misera videātur: ūnam, quod āvocet ā rēbus gerendīs;Indeed, when I consider it in my mind, I find four reasons why old age seems wretched: one, that it calls us away from active affairs; Sen. 5.15alteram, quod corpus faciat īnfirmius;the second, that it makes the body weaker; Sen. 5.15tertiam, quod prīvet omnibus ferē voluptātibus;the third, that it deprives us of almost all pleasures; Sen. 5.15quartam, quod haud procul absit ā morte.the fourth, that it is not far from death. Sen. 5.15Eārum, sī placet, causārum quanta quamquē sit iūsta ūna quaeque videāmus.Let us see, if you please, how great and how just each of these reasons is.