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[2]
for I fain would lighten both for you and for me our
common burden1 of old age, which, if not already
pressing hard upon us, is surely coming on apace;
and yet I have certain knowledge that you, at all
events, are bearing and will continue to bear that
burden, as you do all others, with a calm and
philosophic mind. But when I resolved to write something on this theme you continually came before my
mind as worthy of a gift which both of us might enjoy
together. To me, at any rate, the composition of this
book has been so delightful that it has not only wiped
away all the annoyances of old age, but has even
made it an easy and a happy state. Philosophy, therefore, can never be praised as much as she deserves,
since she enables the man who is obedient to her
precepts to pass every season of life free from worry.
1 Cicero was then 62, Atticus 65.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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