Cicero's old-age advice

On aging without forgetting where you put your money

In an effort to class up “North of 65,” I turned to the famed Roman orator Cicero, and his work, “De Senectute,” or “On Old Age.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero is believed to have been in his early 60s when he wrote “De Senectute,” with its imaginary dialogue on aging between three Roman solons, the prickly Cato the Elder, general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus and friend-of-Scipio Gaius Laelius.

I read Cicero so you don’t have to.

Here’s s fine description of the work from one translation:

In On Old Age, Cicero offers a thoughtful and dignified defense of aging, arguing that old age, far from being a burden, brings wisdom, peace, and opportunity for continued contribution to society. Written as a dialogue, the work reflects on how to live virtuously and gracefully in life’s later years, celebrating the enduring value of experience, friendship, and intellectual activity.

Like many a modern politician, Cicero can be a bit of a windbag, so I’ll skip to the highlights.

There is good news on aging, from the Roman big shot’s point of view: Old age “LACKS SENSUAL PLEASURES.” When in Cicero’s Rome, that’s a good thing. “What a splendid service does old age render, if it takes from us the greatest blot of youth!”

(No Viagra for Cicero. Such was aging before the dawn of the pharmaceutical industry.)

In the text you’ll find a cautionary tale of passion gone bad: A Roman had to be expelled from the Senate because, “when he was in Gaul as consul, he had yielded to the entreaties of his paramour at a dinner party to behead a man who happened to be in prison condemned on a capital charge.”

Note that Team Cicero’s hands are so clean that it’s the paramour’s fault when a public official orders the beheading of a criminal. (Old men in power never change. That was Herod’s rationale for beheading John the Baptist.)

“De Senectute” shares a legend about Scipio’s “grandfather’s foreign friend Masinissa” when in his 90s:

“When he has once begun a journey on foot he does not mount his horse at all; when on horseback he never gets off his horse. By no rain or cold can he be induced to cover his head. His body is absolutely free from unhealthy humors, and so he still performs all the duties and functions of a king. Active exercise, therefore, and temperance can preserve some part of one’s former strength even in old age.”

You could say Cicero was MAHA for Roma, or MRHA (Make Rome Healthy Again). Except this isn’t “Eat Your Vegetables” advice, it’s seeing virtue in ignoring the elements and arthritis.

Don’t worry about being forgetful in your old age. One of the sages offered that he never heard “of any old man forgetting where he had hidden his money.”

That was centuries before passwords and PIN codes.

Here’s a good link to a text: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/cicero-on-old-age-de-senectute

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