SUFFERINGS OF THE MIND.

Philip. xi. 4.

Nam, quo major vis est animi, quam corporis, hoc sunt graviora ea, quæ concipiuntur animo quam illa, quæ corpore.

For in proportion as the strength of the mind is greater than that of the body, the sufferings of the mind are more severe than those which torment the body.

LAW.
Philip. xi. 12.

Est enim lex nihil aliud, nisi recta et a numine deorum tracta ratio, imperans honesta, prohibens contraria.

Law is nothing else but the rational principle, derived from the inspiration of the gods, approving what is honourable, and disapproving what is base.

AGE SUCCEEDS AGE.
Philip. xi. 15.

Nihil enim semper floret; ætas succedit ætati.
Nothing maintains its bloom for ever; age succeeds to age.

TO ERR IS HUMAN.

Philip. xii. 2.

Cujusvis hominis est errare; nullius, nisi insipientis, in errore perseverare. Posteriores enim cogitationes (ut aiunt) sapientiores solent esse.

Any man may commit a fault, but none but a fool will continue in it. Second thoughts are best, as the proverb says.

A PENITENT.
Philip. xii. 2.

Optimus est portus pœnitenti, mutatio consilii.
Change of conduct is the best refuge for a penitent.

DEATH FOR ONE'S COUNTRY.
Philip. xiv. 12.

O fortunata mors, quæ naturæ debita pro patriâ potissimum reddita!

O! happy death, which, though we owe it to nature, it is noble to suffer in defence of our country.

LIFE.

Philip. xiv. 12.

Brevis a naturâ nobis vita data est; at memoria bene redditæ vitæ sempiterna.

It is a brief period of life that is granted us by nature, but the recollection of a well-spent life never dies.

THE FOOL.

Senect. 2.

Quibus nihil opis est in ipsis ad bene beateque vivendum, iis omnis gravis est ætas : qui autem omnia bona a se ipsi petunt, iis nihil potest malum videri, quod naturæ necessitas afferat.

For know this, that those who have no aid or support within themselves to render their lives easy, will find every state irksome; while such as are convinced they must owe their happiness to themselves, and that if they cannot find it in their own breast, they will never meet with it from abroad, will never consider anything as an evil that is but a necessary effect of the established order of nature, which old age most undoubtedly is.

DEATH.
Senect. 2.

Sed tamen necesse fuit esse aliquid extremum, et tamquam in arborum baccis, terræque frugibus maturitate tempestivâ, quasi vietum, et caducum: quod ferendum est molliter sapienti. Quid enim est aliud, gigantum modo ballare cum diis, nisi naturæ repugnare ?

It was absolutely necessary that some term, some period, should be set, and that, as it is with the fruits of trees, and of the earth, seasons should be allowed for their springing, growing, ripening, and at last to drop. This wise men will submit to, and cheerfully bear; nor could anything else be meant by the stories told of the giants warring against the gods, than men's rebelling against nature and its laws.

DISCONTENT.
Senect. 3.

Importunitas autem, et inhumanitas omni ætati molesta est.

But a perverse temper, a fretful or an inhumane disposition, will, wherever they prevail, render any state of life whatsoever unhappy.

VIRTUE.
Senect. 3.

Aptissima omnino sunt, Scipio et Læli, arma senectutis, artes, exercitationesque virtutum, quæ in omni ætate cultæ, cum multum, diuque vixeris, mirificos efferunt fructus, non solum quia numquam deserunt, ne in extremo quidem tempore ætatis, (quamquam id maximum est,) verum etiam quia conscientia bene actæ vitæ, multorumque benefactorum recordatio, jucundissima est.

But the best armour of old age, Scipio and Lælius, is a wellspent life preceding it; a life employed in the pursuit of useful knowledge, in honourable actions and the practice of virtue; in which he who labours to improve himself from his youth will in age reap the happiest fruits of them; not only because these never leave a man, not even in the extremest old age, but because a conscience bearing witness that our life was well spent, together with the remembrance of past good actions, yields an unspeakable comfort to the soul.

GLORIOUS ACTIONS.

Senect. 6.

Non viribus, aut velocitatibus, aut celeritate corporum res magnæ geruntur: sed consilio, auctoritate, sententiâ: quibus non modo non orbari, sed etiam augeri senectus solet.

For 'tis neither by bodily strength, nor swiftness, nor agility, that momentous affairs are carried on, but by judgment, counsel, and authority, the abilities for which are so far from failing in old age, that they truly increase with it.

RASHNESS.
Senect. 6.

Temeritas est videlicet florentis ætatis ; prudentia, senescentis.

For 'tis a truth but too well known, that rashness attends youth, as prudence doth old age.

POSTERITY.
Senect. 7.

Nec vero dubitet agricola, quamvis senex, quærenti, cui serat, respondere: Diis immortalibus, qui me non accipere modo hæc a majoribus voluerunt, sed etiam posteris prodere.

Nor, if you ask one of these men for whom it is he is thus labouring, will he be at any loss to answer thus: "I do it," he will say, "for the immortal gods, who, as they bestowed these grounds on me, require at my hands that I should transmit them improved to posterity, who are to succeed me in the possession of them."

ENERGY.
Senect. 9.

Quod est, eo decet uti: et quicquid agas, agere pro

viribus.

Whatever we take in hand, we ought to do it with all our might.

ITS OWN PECULIAR PERIOD ASSIGNED TO EVERY PART OF

LIFE.
Senect. 10.

Utrum igitur has corporis, an Pythagoræ tibi malis vires ingenii dari? denique isto bono utare, dum adsit: cum absit, ne requiras. Nisi forte adolescentes pueritiam, paullum ætate progressi adolescentiam debeant requirere. Cursus est certus ætatis, et una via naturæ, eaque simplex suaque cuique parti ætatis, tempestivitas est data; ut et infirmitas puerorum, et ferocitas juvenum, et gravitas jam constantis ætatis, et senectutis maturitas naturale quiddam habeat, quod suo tempore percipi debeat.

Now, if the choice were given you, which would you prefer, Milo's strength of body, or Pythagoras's abilities of mind? In short, while you have strength, use it; when it leaves you, no more repine for the want of it, than you did when lads that your childhood was past, or at the years of manhood that you were no longer boys. The stages of life are fixed; nature is the same in all, and goes on in a plain and steady course: every part of life, like the year, has its peculiar season: as children are by nature weak, youth is rash and bold; staid manhood more solid and grave; and so old age in its maturity has something natural to itself that ought particularly to recommend it.

MIND.
Senect. 11.

Corpora quidem defatigatione, et exercitatione ingravescunt; animi autem exercitando levantur.

The body, we know, when over-laboured, becomes heavy, and, as it were, jaded; but 'tis exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigour.

PASSIONS.

Senect. 12.

Nullam capitaliorem pestem, quam corporis voluptatem, hominibus dicebat a naturâ datam: cujus voluptatis avidæ libidines, temere, et effrenate ad potiundum incitarentur. Hinc patriæ proditiones, hinc rerumpublicarum eversiones, hinc cum hostibus clandestina colloquia nasci.

"The greatest curse, the heaviest plague," said he, "derived on man from nature, is bodily pleasure when the passions are indulged, and strong inordinate desires are raised and set in motion for obtaining it. For this have men betrayed their country; for this have states and governments been plunged in ruin; for this have treacherous correspondencies been held with public enemies; in short, there is no mischief so horrid, no villany so execrable, that this will not prompt to perpetrate."

MIND.
Senect. 12.

Cumque homini sive natura, sive quis deus nihil mente præstabilius dedisset; huic divino muneri, ac dono nihil esse tam inimicum, quam voluptatem.

'Tis owned, that the most noble and excellent gift of Heaven to man, is his reason; and 'tis as sure, that of all the enemies reason has to engage with, pleasure is the most capital.

PLEASURE.

Senect. 13.

Sed si aliquid dandum est voluptati, quoniam ejus blanditiis non facile obsistimus (divine enim Plato escam malorum, voluptatem appellat, quod eâ videlicet homines capiantur, ut hamo pisces) quamquam immoderatis epulis careat senectus, modicis tamen conviviis delectari potest.

Yet as nature has so ordered it, that pleasure should have a very strong hold of us, and the inclination to it appears deeply founded in our very composition, (and 'tis with too much justice that the divine Plato calls it the bait of evil, by which men are caught as fish with a hook;) therefore though age is not taken, nor can well bear with those splendid sumptuous feastings and revels, yet we are not so insensible to the pleasures of life, but that we can indulge ourselves.

PLEASURES OF AGRICULTURE.
Senect. 15.

Venio nunc ad voluptates agricolarum, quibus ego in