reunion with his deeply loved Tullia.

2. _Greek Sources._

All Cicero's philosophical and rhetorical writings were confessedly founded
more or less on Greek originals.[16] The stores from which he principally
drew in writing the Cato Maior are clearly indicated in several parts of
the work. Passages from Xenophon's _Oeconomicus_ are translated in Chapters
17 and 22. In Chapters 2 and 3 there is a close imitation of the
conversation between Socrates and Cephalus at the beginning of Plato's
_Republic_, while in Chapter 21 is reproduced one of the most striking
portions of the _Phaedo_, 72 E-73 B, 78-80.[17] The view of the divine
origin and destiny of the human soul contained in the passage from the
_Phaedo_ is rendered by Cicero in many of his works,[18] and was held by
him with quite a religious fervor and sincerity.

Besides these instances of special indebtedness Cicero, in composing the
Cato Maior, was no doubt under obligations of a more general kind to the
Greeks. The form of the dialogue is Greek, and Aristotelian rather than
Platonic.[19] But further, it is highly probable that Cicero owed to some
particular Greek dialogue on Old Age the general outline of the arguments
he there brings forward. Many of the Greek illustrative allusions may have
had the same origin, though in many cases Roman illustrations must have
been substituted for Greek. Whether the dialogue by Aristo Cius, cursorily
mentioned in the Cato Maior,[20] was at all used by Cicero or not it is
impossible to determine.[21]

3. _Purpose._

The Cato Maior is a popular essay in Ethics, applying the principles of
philosophy to the alleviation of one of life's chief burdens, old age. In
ancient times, when philosophy formed the real and only religion of the
educated class, themes like this were deemed to afford a worthy employment
for the pens even of the greatest philosophers. Such essays formed the only
substitute the ancients had for our Sermons. There can be no doubt of
Cicero's sincerity when he says that the arguments he sets forth in the
treatise had given him real comfort,[22] and the opening words of the
dedication show that he meant and hoped to administer the same comfort to
his friend Atticus, who indeed acknowledged the benefit he derived from the
work.[23] When Cicero wrote the treatise he was himself sixty-two years of
age, while his friend was three years older. He speaks, therefore, rather
euphemistically when he says that his purp