Ah, this guy.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BCE- 43 BCE) — the most famous speech-maker in the history of Ancient Rome — could be whiny, self-important, and blind to the way the powerful families of Rome enchanted him. But he is also truly sympathetic in the way he strived to uphold the political structure of the Republic before it collapsed into rule by emperors. For his efforts, he was executed — his severed head and hands put on public display to demonstrate the new rulers’ intolerance of any defiance.
Amidst his long career, Cicero managed to write a number of philosophical tracts, many of which remain relevant. One of these is “de Senectute,” or “on old age,” wherein Cicero thoughtfully praises the state of being old, addressing it in several ways. Influenced greatly by the Stoic philosophy, for instance, he states “I follow nature, the best of guides, as I would a God, and am loyal to her commands . . . . To rebel against nature — is it not that to fight like the giants with the Gods?”.
In the final section of the essay, Cicero wrestles with one of the most concerning aspects of being old — the fact that death is obviously near. And in this, Cicero draws comfort by comparing the life of the young to that of the old, noting that the young frequently die. Old people have what the young wish for — a long life. He reassures the reader that death is not to be feared, because it is “either to be totally disregarded, if it entirely extinguishes the soul, or is even to be desired, if it brings him to where he is to exist forever . . . Why then should I be afraid?”
Source(s): Image Wikimedia. De Senectute, sections 2 and 19, Fordham’s Ancient History Sourcebook. Translation, Evelyn Shuckburgh.
