Cato Maior de Senectute with Introduction and Notes by Marcus Tullius Cicero

"Cato Maior de Senectute", from Cicero, with Introduction and Notes by James S. Reid, 1882. Cicero was a Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer, orator, political theorist, consul and constitutionalist (106-43 BC).

Reproduction of the original: Cato Maior de Senectute by Cicero

n his youth, in preparation for a public career, Cicero devoted himself with ardour and success to the study of philosophy, and, during the whole of an exceptionally busy life, spent all his spare moments in reading and in the society of the learned. As a relaxation from public employment he produced in 55 B.C. his De oratore, in 54 his De republica and in 52 his De legibus. His choice of literature as his chief pursuit was due to political causes.

This is a complete critical edition of Cicero's Cato Maior de Senectute (On Old Age )with an introduction and commentary. The text is based on a fresh examination of the manuscript tradition while the introduction aims to place the work in the context of Cicero's writings on old age in the ancient world. The Roman and Ciceronian qualities of the work are emphasized, rather than the search for lost sources that occupied scholars in the past. Matters of text, language, and content are all considered equally in the commentary.