- On Old Age
On Old Age is an essay written by
Cicero in44 BC on the subject of aging and death. In addition to its profound subject matter, it has remained popular because its clear and beautiful language have made it a useful example for teaching Latin to students.The Latin title of the piece is "Cato Maior de Senectute". To lend his reflections greater import [ [http://www.pinkmonkey.com/dl/library1/gp003.pdf Cicero, "On Old Age", W. Melmoth, transl. pp. 2] ] , Cicero wrote his essay such that the esteemed
Cato the Elder was lecturing to Scipio Africanus andGaius 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 [ [http://www.ushistory.org/germantown/people/logan.htm Article on Logan an USHistory.org] ] . It was a favorite of former U.S. PresidentJohn Adams , and was selected for inclusion in theHarvard Classics .References
External links
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14945 Text in Latin with English introduction] at
Project Gutenberg
* [http://www.bartleby.com/9/2/1.html Text in English, from Bartleby] , translated by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/senectute.shtml Text in Latin] atThe Latin Library
* [http://slate.msn.com/id/9139/ Article in "Slate"]
* [http://www.uah.edu/student_life/organizations/SAL/texts/latin/classical/cicero/desenectute.html Overview of piece]
* ISBN 0-674-99170-2
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