Sen. 6.1Ā rēbus gerendīs senectūs abstrahit.Old age draws us away from active affairs. Sen. 6.1Quibus?From which? Sen. 6.1An eīs, quae iuventūte geruntur et vīribus?From those which are carried on by youth and strength? Sen. 6.1Nūllaene igitur rēs sunt senīlēs, quae vel īnfirmīs corporibus animō et mente administrentur?Are there then no affairs proper to old men, which may be managed by mind and intellect even when bodies are weak? Sen. 6.1Nihil ergō agēbat Q. Maximus, nihil L. Paulus, pater tuus, socer optimī virī fīlī meī?Did Quintus Maximus, then, do nothing, did Lucius Paulus, your father, the father-in-law of my excellent son, do nothing? Sen. 6.1Cēterī senēs, Fabriciī Curiī Coruncāniī, cum rem pūblicam cōnsiliō et auctōritāte dēfendēbant, nihil agēbant?The other old men, the Fabricii, the Curii, the Coruncanii, when they defended the state by their counsel and authority, were they doing nothing? Sen. 6.1Ad Appī Claudī senectūtem accēdēbat etiam ut caecus esset;To the old age of Appius Claudius was added blindness as well; Sen. 6.16tamen is, cum sententia senātūs inclīnāret ad pācem cum Pyrrhō foedusque faciendum, nōn dubitāvit dīcere illa, quae versibus persecūtus est Ennius: " quō vōbīs mentēs, rēctae quae stāre solēbant antehāc, dēmentis sēsē flexēre viāī?yet he, when the opinion of the senate was inclining towards making peace and a treaty with Pyrrhus, did not hesitate to say what Ennius has set out in verse: 'Whither have your minds, which used to stand upright before, turned themselves aside from the path in madness?' Sen. 6.16" cēteraque gravissimē, notum enim vōbīs carmen est, et tamen ipsīus Appī exstat ōrātiō.and the rest, with great force — for you know the poem, and besides, Appius' own speech survives.
Sen. 6.16Atque haec ille ēgit septemdecim annīs post alterum cōnsulātum, cum inter duōs cōnsulātūs annī decem interfuissent cēnsorque ante superiōrem cōnsulātum fuisset, ex quō intellegitur Pyrrhī bellō grandem sānē fuisse, et tamen sīc ā patribus accēpimus.And he did this seventeen years after his second consulship, when ten years had passed between the two consulships and he had been censor before his first consulship; from which it is understood that he was quite an old man at the time of the war with Pyrrhus, and yet this is how we have heard it from our fathers. Sen. 6.17Nihil igitur afferunt quī in rē gerendā versārī senectūtem negant, similēsque sunt ut sī quī gubernātōrem in nāvigandō nihil agere dīcant, cum aliī mālōs scandant, aliī per forōs cursent, aliī sentīnam exhauriant, ille clāvum tenēns quiētus sedeat in puppī;They bring forward nothing, then, who deny that old age is engaged in active affairs, and they are like those who would say that the helmsman does nothing in sailing, since some climb the masts, others run up and down the gangways, others bail out the bilge, while he sits quietly in the stern, holding the tiller; Sen. 6.17nōn faciat ea, quae iuvenēs;he may not do what the young men do; Sen. 6.17at vērō multō maiōra et meliōra facit.but in truth he does much greater and better things.
Sen. 6.17Nōn vīribus aut vēlōcitāte aut celeritāte corporum rēs magnae geruntur, sed cōnsiliō auctōritāte sententiā, quibus nōn modo nōn orbārī, sed etiam augērī senectūs solet.Great affairs are carried on not by strength or speed or quickness of body, but by counsel, authority and judgement, of which old age is usually not only not robbed but even given more. Sen. 6.18Nisi forte ego vōbīs, quī et mīles et tribūnus et lēgātus et cōnsul versātus sum in variō genere bellōrum, cessāre nunc videor, cum bella nōn gerō.Unless perhaps I, who as soldier and tribune and legate and consul have been engaged in wars of various kinds, seem to you to be idle now, since I am not waging wars. Sen. 6.18At senātuī quae sint gerenda praescrībō et quō modō;But I prescribe to the senate what is to be done and how; Sen. 6.18Carthāginī male iam diū cōgitantī bellum multō ante dēnūntiō, dē quā verērī nōn ante dēsinam quam illam excīsam esse cognōverō.against Carthage, long now plotting mischief, I declare war well in advance, and I shall not cease to fear her until I learn that she has been destroyed. Sen. 6.18Quam palmam utinam dī immortālēs, Scīpiō, tibi reservent, ut avī relliquiās persequāre, cuius ā morte tertius hic et trīcēsimus annus est, sed memoriam illīus virī omnēs excipient annī cōnsequentēs.May the immortal gods reserve that prize for you, Scipio, so that you may finish what your grandfather left; since his death this is the thirty-third year, but all the years that follow will receive the memory of that man.
Sen. 6.19Annō ante mē cēnsōrem mortuus est, novem annīs post meum cōnsulātum, cum cōnsul iterum mē cōnsule creātus esset.He died the year before I was censor, nine years after my consulship, having been elected consul for the second time when I was consul. Sen. 6.19Num igitur, sī ad centēsimum annum vīxisset, senectūtis eum suae paenitēret?Would he then, if he had lived to his hundredth year, have been sorry for his old age? Sen. 6.19Nec enim excursiōne nec saltū, nec ēminus hastīs aut comminus gladiīs ūterētur, sed cōnsiliō ratiōne sententiā, quae nisi essent in senibus, nōn summum cōnsilium maiōrēs nostrī appellāssent senātum.For he would not be using sallies or leaps, nor spears at a distance or swords at close quarters, but counsel, reason and judgement; and if these were not found in old men, our ancestors would not have called their highest council the senate. Sen. 6.19Apud Lacedaemoniōs quidem eī, quī amplissimum magistrātum gerunt, ut sunt, sīc etiam nōminantur, senēs.Among the Lacedaemonians, indeed, those who hold the highest office are called, just as they are, 'elders'. Sen. 6.20Quod sī legere aut audīre volētis externa, maximās rēs pūblicās ab adulēscentibus labefactātās, ā senibus sustentātās et restitūtās reperiētis.But if you wish to read or hear of foreign history, you will find that the greatest states have been undermined by young men, and propped up and restored by old men.
Sen. 6.20" Cēdō quī vestram rem pūblicam tantam āmīsistis tam citō?'Tell me, how did you lose so great a state of yours so quickly?' Sen. 6.20" sīc enim percontantur in Naevī poētae Lupō.for so they ask in the play The Wolf by the poet Naevius. Sen. 6.20Respondentur et alia et hoc in prīmīs: " prōveniēbant ōrātōrēs novī, stultī adulēscentulī.Various answers are given, and this above all: 'New orators were springing up, foolish young men.' Sen. 6.20" Temeritās est vidēlicet flōrentis aetātis, prūdentia senēscentis.Rashness, evidently, belongs to the age of bloom, prudence to the age of growing old.