d bodily strength? Are
there then no old men's employments to be after all conducted by the
intellect, even when bodies are weak? So then Q. Maximus did
nothing; nor L. Aemilius--our father, Scipio, and my excellent son's
father-in-law! So with other old men--the Fabricii, the Guru and
Coruncanii--when they were supporting the State by their advice and
influence, they were doing nothing! To old age Appius Claudius had the
additional disadvantage of being blind; yet it was he who, when the
Senate was inclining towards a peace with Pyrrhus and was for making a
treaty, did not hesitate to say what Ennius has embalmed in the verses:

Whither have swerved the souls so firm of yore?
Is sense grown senseless? Can feet stand no more?

And so on in a tone of the most passionate vehemence. You know the
poem, and the speech of Appius himself is extant. Now, he delivered
it seventeen years after his second consulship, there having been an
interval of ten years between the two consulships, and he having been
censor before his previous consulship. This will show you that at the
time of the war with Pyrrhus he was a very old man. Yet this is the
story handed down to us.

There is therefore nothing in the arguments of those who say that old
age takes no part in public business. They are like men who would say
that a steersman does nothing in sailing a ship, because, while some
of the crew are climbing the masts, others hurrying up and down the
gangways, others pumping out the bilge water, he sits quietly in the
stern holding the tiller. He does not do what young men do; nevertheless
he does what is much more important and better. The great affairs of
life are not performed by physical strength, or activity, or nimbleness
of body, but by deliberation, character, expression of opinion. Of these
old age is not only not deprived, but, as a rule, has them in a greater
degree. Unless by any chance I, who as a soldier in the ranks, as
military tribune, as legate, and as consul have been employed in various
kinds of war, now appear to you to be idle because not actively engaged
in war. But I enjoin upon the Senate what is to be done, and how.
Carthage has long been harbouring evil designs, and I accordingly
proclaim war against her in good time. I shall never cease to entertain
fears about her till I bear of her having been levelled with the ground.
The glory of doing that I pray that the immortal gods may reserve
for you, Scipio,