On old age

Cato Maior de Senectute (Cato the Elder on Old Age) is an essay written by Cicero in 44 BC on the subject of aging and death. The Latin title of the piece is Cato Maior de Senectute. To lend his reflections greater import, Cicero wrote his essay such that the esteemed Cato the Elder was lecturing to Scipio Africanus and Gaius Laelius Sapiens.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, orator, lawyer and philosopher, who served as consul in the year 63 BC. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order, and is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

Translator: E. S. Shuckburgh