Chapter 7

21 “But memory declines. I dare say it does, unless you exercise it, or if you are naturally rather slow. Themistocles had learned the names of all his fellow citizens. Do you suppose, then, that as he grew older he used to greet Aristides as Lysimachus? For my part, I know not only the men now living but their fathers and grandfathers as well. Nor, when I read tombstones, do I fear the loss of memory they are said to cause: reading them brings the dead back to my mind. I have never heard of an old man forgetting where he buried his treasure. They remember everything that matters to them: appointments to appear in court, who owes them money, and whom they owe.”

22 “And what of elderly lawyers, pontiffs, augurs, and philosophers? How much they remember! Old men retain their powers of mind, provided their interest and industry endure; and this applies not only to famous and honored men, but to those who lead quiet, private lives. Sophocles wrote tragedies into extreme old age. His sons thought that his devotion to writing made him neglect his property and brought him into court. Just as our custom allows fathers who mismanage their affairs to be forbidden control of their property, they asked the judges to remove him from its management as a man of unsound mind. The old man is said to have recited to the judges the play he had just written and was still working on, Oedipus at Colonus, and asked whether they thought it the work of someone whose mind was failing,”

23 “after which the judges acquitted him. Did old age, then, compel him to fall silent in his studies? Did it silence Homer, Hesiod, Simonides, or Stesichorus, or Isocrates and Gorgias, whom I mentioned before? Did it silence those foremost philosophers, Pythagoras and Democritus, or Plato and Xenocrates, or later Zeno and Cleanthes, or Diogenes the Stoic, whom you yourselves saw in Rome? Or did their pursuit of learning last as long as their lives?”

24 “But leave aside these exalted studies. I can name Roman farmers in the Sabine countryside, my neighbors and friends, without whose presence scarcely any important work is undertaken on their farms: sowing, harvesting, or storing the crops. In the other tasks this is less remarkable, for no one is so old that he does not think he can live another year. Yet these same men labor over things they know will bring them no benefit at all:He plants trees to serve another generation,as our Statius says in The Young Comrades.”

21 “‘But memory gets weaker.’ I agree, if you do not exercise it, or if your mind is naturally slow. Themistocles knew the names of all his fellow citizens. Do you think that when he grew older, he used to greet Aristides as Lysimachus? I know not only the people alive today but their fathers and grandfathers too. When I read gravestone inscriptions, I am not afraid of losing my memory, as people say you will. Reading those very inscriptions brings the dead back to my mind. No old person I have ever heard of forgot the hiding place of buried treasure. People remember everything they care about: their court dates, money due to them, and debts they must pay.”

22 “What about elderly legal experts, priests, augurs, and philosophers? How much they remember! Older people keep their mental abilities, provided they keep their interest and work at them. This applies not only to famous and respected men but also to ordinary people living quietly, out of public life. Even at a very great age, Sophocles kept writing tragedies. His sons believed his devotion to writing was making him neglect the family property, so they took him to court. Under our custom, fathers who mismanage their property can be barred from controlling it. In the same way, his sons wanted the judges to remove him from managing the family property as mentally unfit. The old man is said to have read the judges the play he was working on and had recently written, Oedipus at Colonus, and asked whether they thought that poem was the work of someone who had lost his mind,”

23 “and after he had read it, the judges voted to clear him. Did old age force him to stop his work? Did it silence Homer, Hesiod, Simonides, or Stesichorus? What about Isocrates and Gorgias, whom I mentioned earlier? Or those leading philosophers, Pythagoras and Democritus? Or Plato and Xenocrates, or later Zeno and Cleanthes? And did age silence Diogenes, the Stoic you yourselves once saw in Rome? Or did all of them keep working at their studies for as long as they lived?”

24 “But let us leave these godlike pursuits aside. I can name Roman farmers in the Sabine countryside, neighbors and friends of mine, without whose presence hardly any major work on the land is done, whether planting, gathering, or storing crops. This is less surprising with other kinds of work. However old they are, everyone thinks they might live for one more year. But these same men also work hard at things they know will do them no good at all:‘He plants trees to benefit another generation,’as our Statius says in his Synephebi.”