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[70]
The actor, for instance, to please his audience
need not appear in every act to the very end; it is
enough if he is approved in the parts in which he
plays; and so it is not necessary for the wise man
to stay on this mortal stage to the last fall of the
curtain.1 For even if the allotted space of life be
short, it is long enough in which to live honourably
[p. 83]
and well; but if a longer period of years should be
granted, one has no more cause to grieve than the
farmers have that the pleasant springtime has passed
and that summer and autumn have come. For
spring typifies youth and gives promise of future
fruits; while the other seasons are designed for
gathering in those fruits and storing them away.
1 Literally until (the words) “now applaud” (are spoken). All the plays of Terence and most of those of Plautus close with plaudite.
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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