Sen. 8.1Et melius Caecilius dē sene alterī saeculō prōspiciente, quam illud īdem: " edepol, senectūs, sī nīl quicquam aliud vitī adportēs tēcum, cum advenīs, ūnum id sat est, quod diū vīvendō multa quae nōn volt videt.And Caecilius spoke better about the old man who looks ahead to another generation than in this, which is also his: 'By Pollux, old age, if you brought no other fault with you when you come, this one alone is enough, that by living long a man sees many things he does not wish.' Sen. 8.1" Et multa fortasse quae volt, atque in ea, quae nōn volt, saepe etiam adulēscentia incurrit.And many things, perhaps, that he does wish; and youth too often runs into things that it does not wish. Sen. 8.1Illud vērō īdem Caecilius vitiōsius: " tum equidem in senectā hoc dēputō miserrimum, sentīre eā aetāte eumpse esse odiōsum alterī.But this, again from Caecilius, is more faulty: 'Then truly in old age I count this most wretched, to feel at that age that one is hateful to another.' Sen. 8.1" Iūcundum potius quam odiōsum!Pleasant rather than hateful! Sen. 8.26Ut enim adulēscentibus bonā indole praeditīs sapientēs senēs dēlectantur, leviorque fit senectūs eōrum quī ā iuventūte coluntur et dīliguntur, sīc adulēscentēs senum praeceptīs gaudent, quibus ad virtūtum studia dūcuntur;For just as wise old men delight in young men endowed with a good disposition, and the old age of those who are courted and loved by the young becomes lighter, so young men rejoice in the precepts of old men, by which they are led to the pursuit of the virtues; Sen. 8.26nec minus intellegō mē vōbīs quam mihi vōs esse iūcundōs.and I perceive that I am no less pleasant to you than you are to me.
Sen. 8.26Sed vidētis, ut senectūs nōn modo languida atque iners nōn sit, vērum etiam sit operōsa et semper agēns aliquid et mōliēns, tāle scīlicet, quāle cuiusque studium in superiōre vītā fuit.But you see how old age is not only not feeble and inactive, but is even busy and always doing and undertaking something, of course of the same kind as each man's pursuits were in his earlier life. Sen. 8.26Quid, quī etiam addiscunt aliquid, ut et Solōnem versibus glōriantem vidēmus, quī sē cōtīdiē aliquid addiscentem dīcit senem fierī.And what of those who even go on learning something new, as we see Solon too glorying in his verses, where he says that he grows old learning something new every day? Sen. 8.26Et ego fēcī, quī litterās Graecās senex didicī, quās quidem sīc avidē arripuī quasi diūturnam sitim explēre cupiēns, ut ea ipsa mihi nota essent, quibus mē nunc exemplīs ūtī vidētis.And I have done the same, for I learned Greek literature as an old man, and I seized on it as greedily as if I longed to quench a long thirst, so that the very things became known to me which you now see me using as examples.
Sen. 8.26Quod cum fēcisse Sōcratem in fidibus audīrem, vellem equidem etiam illud, discēbant enim fidibus antīquī, sed in litterīs certē ēlabōrāvī.And when I heard that Socrates had done this with the lyre, I should have liked to do that too, for the ancients used to learn the lyre; but in literature at least I have worked hard.