for old men to die (70-73);
the process of dying is brief and almost painless
(74); even young men and those without learning
often set the example of despising death
(75); and old age, just as the other periods
of life, has finally its season of ripeness and
satiety (76).

(c). Death is probably the gateway to a happy immortality 77-85
Tending towards proof of this are the arguments
stated in Plato; viz. the rapidity of the
mind's action, its powers of memory and invention,
its self-activity, indivisible nature and pre-existence
(78); also the arguments, attributed
to Cyrus, based upon the soul's immateriality,
the posthumous fame of great men and the
likeness of death to sleep (79-81); the instinctive
belief in immortality, so strong as even to
form an incentive for action (82); and, finally,
the speaker's own longing after immortality and
hope of union with those whom he once knew
and loved (83-85).

* * * * *

CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE

* * * * *

M. TULLI CICERONIS

CATO MAIOR

DE SENECTUTE.

* * * * *

1

_O Tite, si quid ego adiuero curamve levasso_
_quae nunc te coquit et versat in pectore fixa,_
_ecquid erit praemi?_

Licet enim mihi versibus isdem affari te, Attice, quibus affatur Flamininum

_ille vir haud magna cum re, sed plenus fidei,_

quamquam certo scio non, ut Flamininum,

_sollicitari te, Tite, sic noctesque diesque,_

novi enim moderationem animi tui et aequitatem, teque non cognomen solum
Athenis deportasse, sed humanitatem et prudentiam intellego. Et tamen te
suspicor isdem rebus quibus me ipsum interdum gravius commoveri, quarum
consolatio et maior est et in aliud tempus differenda. Nunc autem visum est
mihi de senectute aliquid ad te conscribere. 2 Hoc enim onere, quod mihi
commune tecum est, aut iam urgentis aut certe adventantis senectutis et te
et me ipsum levari volo: etsi te quidem id modice ac sapienter, sicut
omnia, et ferre et laturum esse certo scio. Sed mihi, cum de senectute
vellem aliquid scribere, tu occurrebas dignus eo munere, quo uterque
nostrum communiter uteretur. Mihi quidem ita iucunda huius libri confectio
fuit, ut non modo omnis absterserit senectutis molestias, sed effecerit
mollem etiam et iucundam senectutem. Numquam igitur laud