'Tis my first rule, on nature, as my guide
Appointed by the Gods, I have rely'd;
And nature (which all acts of life designs)
Not like ill poets, in the last declines :
But some one part must be the last of all,
Which, like ripe fruits, muft either rot, or fall.
And this from nature must be gently borne,
Elfe her (as giants did the Gods) we fcorn.
LEL. But fir, 'tis Scipio's and my defiṛe,
Since to long life we gladly would aspire,
That from your grave inftructions we might hear,
How
we, like
you, may this great burthen bear.
CAT. This I refolv'd before, but now fhall do
With great delight, fince 'tis requir'd by you.
LEL. If to yourself it will not tedious prove,
Nothing in us a greater joy can move,
That as old travellers the young instruct,
Your long, our short experience may conduct.
CAT. 'Tis true (as the old proverb doth relate)
Equals with equals often congregate.
Two confuls (who in years my equals were)
When fenators, lamenting I did hear,
That age from them had all their pleasures torn,
And them their former suppliants now scorn :
They, what is not to be accus'd, accuse,
Not others, but themselves their age abuse;
Elfe this might me concern, and all my friends,
Whose chearful age, with honour, youth attends,
Joy'd that from pleasure's flavery they are free,
And all refpects due to their age they see,
In its true colours, this complaint appears
The ill effect of manners, not of years;
For on their life no grievous burthen lies,
Who are well-natur'd, temperate, and wife;
But an inhuman and ill-temper'd mind,
Not any eafy part in life can find.
LAL. This I believe; yet others may difpute,
Their age (as yours) can never bear fuch fruit
Of honour, wealth, and power, to make them fweet,
Not every one fuch happiness can meet.
CAT. Some weight your argument, my Lælius, bears, But not fo much as at firft fight appears. This anfwer by Themistocles was made, (When a Seriphian thus did him upbraid, You thofe great honours to your country owe, Not to yourself)-Had I at Seripho
Been born, fuch honour I had never feen,
Nor you, if an Athenian you had been :
So age, cloath'd in indecent poverty,
To the most prudent cannot easy be;
But to a fool, the greater his eftate,
The more uneafy is his age's weight.
Age's chief arts, and arms, are to grow wife,
Virtue to know, and known to exercife;
All just returns to age then virtue makes,
Nor her in her extremity forfakes ;
The fweeteft cordial we receive at laft,
Is confcience of our virtuous actions past.
I (when a youth) with reverence did look
On Quintus Fabius, who Tarentum took;
Yet in his age fuch chearfulness was seen,
As if his years and mine had equal been;
His gravity was mixt with gentleness,
Nor had his age made his good-humour lefs;
Then was he well in years (the fame that he
Was conful, that of my nativity)
(A ftripling then) in his fourth confulate
On him at Capua I in arms did wait.
I five years after at Tarentum wan
The quæftorship, and then our love began ;
And four years after, when I prætor was,
He pleaded, and the Cincian law did pass.
With ufeful diligence he us'd t' engage,
Yet with the temperate arts of patient age
He breaks fierce Hannibal's infulting heats;
Of which exploit thus our friend Ennius treats,
He by delay reftor'd the commonwealth,
Nor preferr'd rumour before public health.
"When I reflect on age, I find there are "Four caufes, which its mifery declare.
I. Because our body's ftrength it much impairs : 2. That it takes off our minds from great affairs: 3. Next, that our fenfe of picasure it deprives :
4. Laft, that approaching death attends our lives. "Of all thefe feveral caufes I'll difcourfe,
"And then of each, in order, weigh the force."
HE old from fuch affairs is only freed,
Which vigorous youth, and strength of body need;
But to more high affairs our age is lent,
Moft properly when heats of youth are spent.
Did Fabius, and your father Scipio
(Whose daughter my fon married), nothing do? Fabricii, Coruncani, Curii;
Whofe courage, counsel, and authority,
The Roman commonwealth reftor'd, did boast,
Nor Appius, with whose strength his fight was lost,
Who when the fenate was to peace inclin'd
With Pyrrhus, fhew'd his reason was not blind.
'Whither 's our courage and our wisdom come?
When Rome itself conspires the fate of Rome.
The reft with ancient gravity and skill
He fpake (for his oration 's extant still.)
'Tis feventeen years fince he had conful been
The fecond time, and there were ten between ?
Therefore their argument 's of little force,
Who age from great employments would divorce,
As in a ship some climb the fhrouds, t' unfold
The fail, fome fweep the deck, fome pump the hold;
Whilft he that guides the helm, employs his skill,
And gives the law to them, by fitting still.
Great actions lefs from courage, ftrength, and speed,
Than from wife counfels and commands proceed;
Thofe arts age wants not, which to age belong,
Not heat, but cold experience makes us ftrong.
A conful, tribune, general, I have been,
All forts of war I have paft through, and feen
And now grown old, I seem t' abandon it,
Yet to the fenate I prescribe what 's fit.
I every day 'gainft Carthage war proclaim,
(For Rome's deftruction hath been long her aim)
Nor fhall I cease till I her ruin fee,
Which triumph may the Gods defign for thee;
That Scipio may revenge his grandfire's ghoft,
Whole life at Cannæ with great honour loft
Is on record, nor had he weary'd been
With age, if he an hundred years had feen,
He had not us'd excurfions, fpears, or darts,
But counfel, order, and fuch aged arts;
Which, if our ancestors had not retain'd,
The fenate's name our council had not gain'd.
The Spartans to their highest Magistrate
The name of Elder did appropriate :
Therefore his fame for ever fhall remain,
How gallantly Tarentum he did gain,
With vigilant conduct, when that sharp reply
He gave to Salinator, I ftood by,
Who to the caftle fled, the town being loft,
Yet he to Maximus did vainly boast,
'Twas by my means Tarentum you
'Tis true, had you not loft, I had not gain'd.
And as much honour on his gown did wait,
As on his arms, in his fifth confulate.
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