Cato Maior de Senectute

On Old Age is an essay written by Cicero in 44 BC on the subject of aging and death. It has remained popular because of its profound subject matter as well as its clear and beautiful language. It is a standard text for teaching Latin to students in the second year.

The Latin title of the piece is "Cato Maior de Senectute". To lend his reflections greater import,^[1] Cicero wrote his essay such that the esteemed Cato the Elder was lecturing to Scipio Africanus and Gaius Laelius Sapiens.

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.^[2] It was a favorite of former U.S. President John Adams, and was selected for inclusion in the Harvard Classics.

Quotes

• The works of Nature must all be accounted good. (Latin: 'Omnia autem quae secundum naturam fiunt sunt habenda in bonis) (71)

References

External links

• Text in Latin with English introduction at Project Gutenberg
• Text in English, from Bartleby, translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh
• Text in Latin at The Latin Library
• Article in Slate
• Overview of piece
• ISBN 0-674-99170-2

v t e Marcus Tullius Cicero Personal life Political career Writings Works Rhetoric and Politics De Inventione De Oratore De Partitionibus Oratoriae De Optimo Genere Oratorum Brutus De Legibus Philosophical Hortensius (Cicero) De Finibus Tusculanae Quaestiones De Natura Deorum De Divinatione Cato Maior de Senectute Laelius de Amicitia De Officiis Orations Politcal Speeches De Imperio Cn. Pompei In Catilinam I-IV Post Reditum in Senatu Pro Milone Pro Marcello Pro Ligario Philippicae Judicial Speeches Pro Quinctio Pro Roscio Amerino Divinatio in Caecilium In Verrem Pro Tullio Pro Caecina Pro Cluentio Pro Archia Poeta Pro Caelio