Page:Cicero - de senectute (on old age) - Peabody 1884.djvu/43

Rh were worthy of your appreciation and of my own surname, —I am wise in this respect, that I follow and obey Nature, the surest guide, as if she were a god, and it is utterly improbable that she has well arranged the other parts of life, and yet, like an unskilled poet, slighted the last act of the drama. There must, however, of necessity, be some end, and, as in the case of berries on the trees and the fruits of the earth, there must be that which in its season of full ripeness is, so to speak, ready to wither and fall,—which a wise man ought to bear patiently. For to rebel against Nature is but to repeat the war of the Giants with the Gods.

Indeed, Cato, you will have rendered us a most welcome service—I will answer for Scipio—if, since we hope, indeed wish, at all events, to become old, we can learn of you, far in advance, in what ways we can most easily bear the encroachment of age.

I will render this service, Laelius, if, as you say, it will be agreeable to both of you.

We do indeed desire, Cato, unless it will give you too much trouble, since you have