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[21]
7. But, it is alleged, the memory is impaired.
Of course, if you do not exercise it, or also if you
are by nature somewhat dull. Themistocles had
learned the names of all the citizens of Athens 1 by
heart; do you think, then, that after he became
[p. 31]
old he was wont to address as Lysimachus one who
in fact was Aristides?2 I, for instance, know not
only the people who are living, but I recall their
fathers and grandfathers, too; and as I read their
epitaphs I am not afraid of the superstition that,
in so doing, I shall lose my memory; for by reading
them I refresh my recollection of the dead. I
certainly never heard of any old man forgetting
where he had hidden his money! The aged remember everything that interests them, their
appointments to appear in court, and who are their
creditors and who their debtors.
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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