Cato Maior de Senectute ("Cato the Elder on Old Age") is an essay written by Cicero in 44 BC on the subject of aging and death. To lend his reflections greater import, [1] Cicero wrote his essay such that the esteemed Cato the Elder was lecturing to Scipio Aemilianus and Gaius Laelius Sapiens.
The original title of the work was Cato Maior. Its subtitle was De senectute, but this came to be preferred as a short title by later writers. Cicero himself refers to the work in his other writings generally as Cato Maior and once as Cato Maior qui est scriptus ad te de senectute. Possibly he calls it Cato in one instance. Plutarch, translating De senectute, calls it Περι γήνος (Peri genos) in Greek. Most manuscript copies of the text use the full title or some variant of it (e.g., Catonis de senectute). [2]
It was written by Cicero in his sixty-third year, and is addressed to his friend Atticus. [3] Cicero represents the discourse as delivered by the elder Cato (in his eighty-fourth year) on occasion of young Scipio and Laelius expressing their admiration at the wonderful ease with which he still bore the load of life. [4] Cicero acknowledges that the sentiments put into the mouth of Cato are really Cicero's own. [4] His purpose is to show that old age is not only tolerable, but comfortable by internal resources of happiness. [4] He examines the infirmities of old age under four general headings:—that it incapacitates from mingling in the affairs of the world—that it produces infirmities of body—that it stops the enjoyment of sensual gratifications—and that it brings us to the verge of death. [4] Some of these supposed disadvantages, he maintains, are imaginary, and for any real pleasures of which the old are deprived, others more refined and higher may be substituted. [4] Overall the view of old age is optimistic. [4] He denies, for instance, that the memory is impaired—that no old man ever forgot where he had concealed his treasure. [4] The whole work is illustrated by examples of eminent Roman citizens who had passed a respected and agreeable old age. [4]
A translation by the colonial American scholar James Logan was published by Benjamin Franklin, the first printing of a translation of a classic text in North America. [5] : 56 It was a favorite of former U.S. President John Adams, and was selected for inclusion in the Harvard Classics.
Quintus Ennius was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce, a town founded by the Messapians, and could speak Greek as well as Latin and Oscan. Although only fragments of his works survive, his influence in Latin literature was significant, particularly in his use of Greek literary models.
Marcus Porcius Cato, also known as Cato the Censor, the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write history in Latin with his Origines, a now fragmentary work on the history of Rome. His work De agri cultura, a rambling work on agriculture, farming, rituals, and recipes, is the oldest extant prose written in the Latin language. His epithet "Elder" distinguishes him from his great-grandson Cato the Younger, who opposed Julius Caesar.
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In publishing and graphic design, Lorem ipsum is a placeholder text commonly used to demonstrate the visual form of a document or a typeface without relying on meaningful content. Lorem ipsum may be used as a placeholder before the final copy is available. It is also used to temporarily replace text in a process called greeking, which allows designers to consider the form of a webpage or publication, without the meaning of the text influencing the design.
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De re publica is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. The work does not survive in a complete state, and large parts are missing. The surviving sections derive from excerpts preserved in later works and from an incomplete palimpsest uncovered in 1819. Cicero uses the work to explain Roman constitutional theory. Written in imitation of Plato's Republic, it takes the form of a Socratic dialogue in which Scipio Aemilianus takes the role of a wise old man.
De Divinatione is a philosophical dialogue about ancient Roman divination written in 44 BC by Marcus Tullius Cicero.
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O tempora, o mores is a Latin phrase that translates literally as "Oh the times! Oh the customs!", first recorded to have been spoken by Cicero. A more natural, yet still quite literal, translation is "Oh what times! Oh what customs!"; a common idiomatic rendering in English is "Shame on this age and on its lost principles!", originated by the classicist Charles Duke Yonge. The original Latin phrase is often printed as O tempora! O mores!, with the addition of exclamation marks, which would not have been used in the Latin written in Cicero's day.
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