ec. 60 Cicero includes in _senectus_ the _aetas
seniorum_, and probably intended to include it here. In Tusc. 1, 34 Cic.
reckons three ages _pueritia adulescentia senectus_ as here; below in 74,
four periods, or five. -- QUAMVIS: = _quantumvis_. -- EFFLUXISSET:
subjunctive because the mood of _posset_, to which it stands in subordinate
relation _Cum_ here is purely temporal. See Roby, 1778; A. 342; G. 666; H.
529, II. -- POSSET: see n. on _esset_ above, 3.

5. SI ... SOLETIS ... SUMUS: the apodosis and protasis do not exactly
correspond; the sense really required is 'if that wisdom for which you
admire me does exist, it lies in this', etc. -- UTINAM ... ESSET: _esset_
here gives a greater appearance of modesty than would been expressed by
_sit_: 'would it were, as it certainly is not'. A. 267; G. 253; H. 483, 2.
-- COGNOMINE: Cato bore the title _sapiens_, even in his lifetime; see
Introd. _Cognomen_ is used in good Latin to denote both the family name and
the acquired by-name; in late Latin this latter is denoted by _agnomen_. --
IN HOC SAPIENTES: but above, 4 _rerum sapientiam_, not _in rebus_. The
genitive construction is not found with _sapiens_ used as noun or adjective
till late Latin times. -- NATURAM DUCEM etc.: Cato's claim to the title of
_sapiens_ does not rest on any deep knowledge of philosophy, but on
practical wisdom or common sense and experience in affairs. Cf. Lael. 6 and
19. In this passage Cicero has put into Cato's mouth phrases borrowed from
the Stoic philosophy, which declared the life of virtue to be life in
accordance with nature (_naturae convenienter vivere_ or [Greek:
homologoumenos te physei zen]). Cf. 71, n. on _secundum naturam_. --
TAMQUAM DEUM: observe _deum_ not _deam_, because nature is compared with,
and not identified with, a divine being. Cf. Fin. 5, 43 _eam (rationem)
quasi deum ducem subsequens_. -- AETATIS: here = _vitae_, life as a whole.
Cf. 2 _omne tempus aetatis_ and n.; also 13 _aetatis ... senectus_; 33, 64,
82. -- DESCRIPTAE: 'composed'; literally 'written out'. The reading
_discriptae_, which many editions give, does not so well suit the passage.
_Discribere_ is to map out, plan, arrange, put in order (see 59 _discripta_
and _discriptio_); the point here lies, however, not in the due arrangement
of the different scenes of a play, but in the careful working out of each
scene. _Ab ea_ must be supplied after _descriptae_ from _a qua_ above. --
ACTUM: the common comparison of l