fretful, fidgety, ill-tempered, and
disagreeable. If you come to that, they are also avaricious. But these
are faults of character, not of the time of life. And, after all,
fretfulness and the other faults I mentioned admit of some excuse--not,
indeed, a complete one, but one that may possibly pass muster: they
think themselves neglected, looked down upon, mocked, Besides with
bodily weakness every rub is a source of pain. Yet all these faults are
softened both by good character and good education. Illustrations of
this may be found in real life, as also on the stage in the case of
the brothers in the _Adeiphi_. What harshness in the one, what gracious
manners in the other The fact is that, just as it is not every wine, so
it is not every life, that turns sour from keeping, Serious gravity I
approve of in old age, but, as in other things, it must be within due
limits: bitterness I can in no case approve. What the object of senile
avarice may be I cannot conceive. For can there be anything more absurd
than to seek more journey money, the less there remains of the journey?

19. There remains the fourth reason, which more than anything else
appears to torment men of my age and keep them in a flutter--THE
NEARNESS OF DEATH, which, it must be allowed, cannot be far from an old
man. But what a poor dotard must he be who has not learnt in the course
of so long a life that death is not a thing to be feared? Death, that is
either to be totally disregarded, if it entirely extinguishes the soul,
or is even to be desired, if it brings him where he is to exist forever.
A third alternative, at any rate, cannot possibly be discovered. Why
then should I be afraid if I am destined either not to be miserable
after death or even to be happy? After all, who is such a fool as to
feel certain--however young he may be--that he will be alive in the
evening? Nay, that time of life has many more chances of death than
ours, Young men more easily contract diseases; their illnesses are more
serious; their treatment has to be more severe. Accordingly, only a few
arrive at old age. If that were not so, life would be conducted better
and more wisely; for it is in old men that thought, reason, and prudence
are to be found; and if there had been no old men, States would never
have existed at all. But I return to the subject of the imminence of
death. What sort of charge is this against old age, when you see that it
is shared by youth? I had reason in th