Chapter 12

39 “Next comes the third reproach against old age: they say it lacks pleasure. What a splendid gift of years, if it takes from us the very thing most corrupting in youth! Listen, my excellent young friends, to an old discourse of Archytas of Tarentum, a man of the first greatness and distinction. It was passed on to me when I was at Tarentum as a young man with Quintus Maximus. No more deadly scourge, he said, had nature given humanity than bodily pleasure, whose greedy desires rush recklessly and without restraint toward gratification.”

40 “From it spring betrayals of country, overthrows of states, secret dealings with the enemy. There is no crime, no evil deed, to which the lust for pleasure does not impel men. Sexual outrages, adulteries, and every such disgrace are roused by no lure but pleasure. Since neither nature nor any god had given humanity anything more excellent than the mind, nothing was so hostile to that divine gift and endowment as pleasure.”

41 “For where desire rules there is no place for self-control, and in pleasure’s kingdom virtue cannot stand at all.

“To make this clearer, he asked his hearers to imagine someone stirred by the greatest bodily pleasure it was possible to experience. No one, he thought, would doubt that while enjoying it such a person could neither think anything through nor achieve anything by reasoning or reflection. Nothing, therefore, was so hateful and so destructive as pleasure, since in its greatest and most prolonged form it extinguished all the mind’s light. Nearchus of Tarentum, our guest-friend, who had remained loyal to the Roman people, said that he had learned from his elders that Archytas spoke these words to Gaius Pontius the Samnite, father of the man who defeated the consuls Spurius Postumius and Titus Veturius in the battle at Caudium. Plato of Athens was present at that conversation; I find that he came to Tarentum in the consulship of Lucius Camillus and Appius Claudius.”

42 “Why tell you this? To show you that if reason and wisdom could not teach us to disdain pleasure, we should owe great thanks to old age for making us no longer desire what we ought not to desire. Pleasure obstructs judgment, is hostile to reason, dazzles, so to speak, the mind’s eyes, and has nothing in common with virtue.

“It was with reluctance that I expelled Lucius Flamininus, brother of the valiant Titus Flamininus, from the Senate seven years after his consulship; but I thought his lust deserved the censor’s mark. As consul in Gaul, he had been persuaded at a banquet by a prostitute to behead one of the prisoners condemned on a capital charge. He escaped punishment when his brother Titus was censor, immediately before me. But Flaccus and I could never approve such shameful, abandoned lust, which joined the disgrace of public command to private infamy.”

39 “Now comes the third criticism: people say that old age has no pleasures. What a wonderful gift from our years, if they remove the worst fault of youth! My excellent young friends, listen to a speech from long ago by Archytas of Tarentum, one of the greatest and most remarkable men. I heard it passed down when I was a young man at Tarentum with Quintus Fabius Maximus. He said that nature had given human beings no more deadly danger than bodily pleasure. The greedy cravings for it drive people recklessly, without any restraint, toward getting it.”

40 “He said it gave rise to betraying one’s country, overthrowing states, and secretly dealing with enemies. In short, the desire for pleasure could push people into any crime or evil action. Sexual misconduct, adultery, and every disgrace of that kind had no other attraction behind them but pleasure. Whether it was nature or some god that gave us our minds, nothing better had been given to human beings. And nothing was more hostile to this divine gift than pleasure.”

41 “When desire is in control, there is no room for restraint. Where pleasure rules, good character cannot survive at all.

“To make his point clearer, he asked people to imagine someone experiencing the most intense bodily pleasure possible. He thought nobody would doubt that while enjoying it the person could not think anything through or reach any result by reasoning or reflection. Nothing, then, was more hateful or destructive than pleasure. In a strong and prolonged form, it put out every light in the mind. Nearchus of Tarentum, our family friend who had stayed loyal to the Roman people, said he had heard the following account from older men. Archytas had said this to Gaius Pontius the Samnite. It was Pontius’s son who won at Caudium against Spurius Postumius and Titus Veturius, the two consuls. Plato of Athens was also present for the conversation. My research shows that he came to Tarentum when Lucius Camillus and Appius Claudius were consuls.”

42 “Why am I telling you this? So you understand how grateful we should be to old age if our own reason and wisdom cannot make us reject pleasure. It stops us wanting what we ought not want. Pleasure gets in the way of good decisions. It works against reason and, so to speak, blinds the mind’s eyes. It has nothing to do with virtue.

“I was unwilling to expel Lucius Flamininus, the brother of the very brave Titus Flamininus, from the Senate seven years after he had been consul. But I decided that his uncontrolled desire deserved an official mark of disgrace. When he was consul in Gaul, a prostitute persuaded him at a dinner to have one of the prisoners beheaded. The prisoner was under sentence of death for a capital crime. He went unpunished in the censorship of his brother Titus, the censor just before me. Flaccus and I, however, could not possibly accept such shameful, ruinous desire. It brought disgrace on his command as well as shame on his private life.”