written more than 2000 years ago, Cicero’s On Old Age debunks stereotypes that persist today
- Written by Caillan Davenport, Professor of Classics and Head of the Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University
As the New Year festivities fade, each January reminds us of the passage of time. There is a tendency to look back with regret at roads not taken, and perhaps even despair at what the future holds.
Yet this time of year can also encourage more positive reflection. It was probably in early January of 44 BCE that Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman politician, orator, and philosopher, sat down to write On Old Age.
Bust of Cicero, Musei Capitolini.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY
He did so by adopting the persona of Cato the Elder, one of the most prominent statesmen of the third and second centuries, who lived from 234-149 BCE until his death at the age of 85.
While it was common in Greece and Rome for philosophical treatises to be written in the voice of a historical figure, Cicero makes clear in this book that the opinions of this character “Cato” represent his own views on old age.
The virtues of old age
Cicero addresses four criticisms of old age. The first two are that it forbids active pursuits and weakens the body. His forthright response is as applicable today as 2000 years ago:
It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgement; in these qualities old age is usually not only not poorer, but is even richer.
Cicero points out that the Roman senate derives its name from the fact that it was originally an assembly of old men, or senes in the original Latin. Older people have the wisdom, judgement, and experience necessary for good government.
Mosaic depicting Roman vine-workers (Cherchell Museum, Numidia)
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY
The final charge levelled against old age is that it means one is near to death. This can be easily dismissed, according to Cicero, because death can happen at any age.
Nay, even youth, much more than old age, is subject to the accident of death; the young fall sick more easily, their sufferings are more intense, and they are cured with greater difficulty. Therefore few arrive at old age, and, but for this, life would be lived in better and wiser fashion. For it is in old men that reason and good judgement are found, and had it not been for old men no state would have existed at all.
Life is transitory. We should make the best use of the time we have to live honourably, take delight in our good fortune, and face the inevitable with steadfastness. We can take comfort in the fact that our achievements will be remembered after we perish.
Lessons for today?
Throughout the treatise, Cicero successfully advocates for the dignity and value of growing old. He masterfully defends old age against many of the stereotypical charges still levelled against the elderly in the modern world.
But, the critics say, old men are morose, troubled, fretful, and hard to please; and, if we inquire, we shall find that some of them are misers, too. However, these are faults of character, not of age.
And yet we must remember that Cicero and his proxy character Cato were both extremely wealthy, aristocratic politicians who constituted a privileged minority in the Roman Republic. This criticism is addressed early on in the work:
For amid utter penury, old age cannot be a light thing, not even to a wise man; nor to a fool, even amid utmost wealth, can it be otherwise than burdensome.
This justification allows Cicero to develop his argument about the importance of virtue and good character extending well into old age. It reflects the fact that his intended audience was other wealthy men like him (the dedicatee of his book, his friend Titus Pomponius Atticus, was a fabulously rich businessman in his sixties).
Throughout the work, all the examples provided for the reader to emulate are great men from Greece, Rome, and neighbouring regions, such as the philosophers Plato and Pythagoras and the generals Scipio Africanus and Fabius Maximus, who fought against Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
This is a far cry from the world of the labourer or farmer working to feed his family. As classicist Tim Parkin has shown, there was no state support system for the elderly in ancient Rome and all assistance had to come from one’s relatives.
Silent on women and slaves
There is no discussion in On Old Age of the experience of women of any social status. We hear nothing about how the perils of childbearing cut many women down in their prime nor the situation of elderly widows, who were committed to looking after their children and grandchildren.
Moulded jug in the form of an elderly woman (ANU Classics Museum).
Bob Miller/ANU Classics Museum, CC BY
Though women were often traded and bartered as wives, Roman society still idolised the univira – literally the “one-man woman” – who never remarried after their husband’s death.
Nor is any mention made of the enslaved population who supported the leisurely retirement which Cicero so idolised or did all the hard labour on the estates owned by Cato. In his work On Agriculture, the real Cato wrote that “the old slave, the sick slave, and whatever else is superfluous” should be sold off, lest they compromise the workings of the estate.
Some enslaved people were able to buy their freedom, like Gaius Iulius Mygdonius, whose epitaph recorded that he was a Parthian, captured and enslaved by Romans in his youth. “From my boyhood onwards, I sought to reach old age”, he wrote on his tombstone, a poignant reminder of the adversity which he faced as human chattel.
Cicero’s work offers us salutary reminders about the joys of old age, but we should never forget that he represents the voice of privilege. For most Romans, men and women, free and enslaved, it was a daily struggle just to survive.
Authors: Caillan Davenport, Professor of Classics and Head of the Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University
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