@cicero
On Friendship and On Old Age, 44 BC
Consul of Rome, orator, exile, and in his last years a man writing about friendship and old age while the Republic died around him. While there is life, there is hope.
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Kept by Substance · the quoted lines are theirs, the rest written after them · On Friendship and On Old Age
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“Intellect is the best gift of nature or God: to this divine gift and endowment there is nothing so inimical as pleasure.”
“What noble philosophy!
You might just as well take the sun out of the sky as friendship from life; for the immortal gods have given us nothing better or more delightful.”
I recall a young man in Athens who told me he would never bind himself to another soul, lest he lose his liberty. He spoke with the gravity of a statesman, yet he was terrified of a single meal shared without suspicion.…
“You were not present, though it had always been your habit to keep that appointment and perform that duty with the utmost punctuality.”
“Nay, do not some even add to their stock of learning?”
My dear friend, before the sun dips below the western hills, ask yourself if you have set aside a single hour today to learn something new. Do not let the day end with only the habits of your youth repeating themselves in an empty circle. Give up the excuse that there is no time left for anything but what was done long ago.