When his colleague Carvilius ftept afide,
The Tribune of the people would divide
To them the Gallic and the Picene field,
Against the fenate's will, he will not yield;
When being angry, boldly he declares
Thofe things were acted under happy stars,
From which the commonwealth found good effects,
But otherwise they came from bad afpécts.
Many great things of Fabius I could tell,
But his fon's death did all the reft excel;
(His gallant fon, though young, had conful been) His funeral oration I have feen
Often; and when on that I turn my eyes,
I all the old philofophers defpife.
Though he in all the people's eyes feem'd great,
Yet greater he appear'd in his retreat;
When feasting with his private friends at home,
Such counfel, fuch difcourfe, from him did come,
Such fcience in his art of augury,
No Roman ever was more learn'd than he;
Knowledge of all things prefent and to come,
Remembering all the wars of ancient Rome,
Nor only there, but all the world's befide :
Dying in extreme age, I prophefy'd
That which is come to pafs, and did difcern
From his furvivors I could nothing learn.
This long difcourfe was but to let you fee,
That his long life could not uneafy be.
Few like the Fabii or the Scipio's are
Takers of cities, conquerors in war.
Yet others to like happy age arrive,
Who modeft, quiet, and with virtue live:
Thus Plato writing his philofophy,
With honour after ninety years did die.
Th' Athenian ftory writ at ninety-four
By Ifocrates, who yet liv'd five years more;
His mafter Gorgias at the hundredth year
And feventh, not his ftudies did forbear :
And, ask'd, why he no fooner left the stage,
Said, he faw nothing to accufe old age.
None but the foolish, who their lives abuse,
Age, of their own mistakes and crimes, accufe.
All commonwealths (as by records is feen)
As by age preferv'd, by youth deftroy'd have been.
When the tragedian Nævis did demand,
Why did your commonwealth no longer stand?
'Twas anfwer'd, that their fenators were new,
Foolish and young, and fuch as nothing knew;
Nature to youth hot rashness doth difpence,
But with cold prudence age doth recompence;
But age, 'tis faid, will memory decay,
So (if it be not exercis'd) may;
Or, if by nature it be dull and flow:
Themiftocles (when ag'd) the names did know
Of all th' Athenians; and none grow fo old,
Not to remember where they hid their gold.
From age
fuch art of memory we learn,
To forget nothing, which is our concern ;
Their interest no prieft nor forcerer
Forgets, nor lawyer, nor philofopher;
No understanding memory can want,
Where wisdom ftudious industry doth plant.
Nor does it only in the active live,
But in the quiet and contemplative;
When Sophocles (who plays when aged wrote)
Was by his fons before the judges brought,
Because he pay'd the Mufes fuch refpect,
His fortune, wife, and children to neglect;
Almoft condemn'd, he mov'd the judges thus,
Hear, but instead of me, my Oedipus :
The judges hearing with applause, at th' end
Freed him, and faid, no fool fuch lines had penn'd.
What poets and what orators can I
Recount? what princes in philofophy?
Whose constant studies with their age did ftrive,
Nor did they those, though those did them survive.
Old hufbandmen I at Sabinum know,
Who for another year dig, plough, and fow.
For never any man was yet fo old,
But hop'd his life one winter more might hold.
Cæcilius vainly faid, each day we spend
Discovers fomething, which muft needs offend
But fometimes age may pleasant things behold,
And nothing that offends: He should have told
This not to age, but youth, who oftener fee
What not alone offends, but hurts, than we :
That I in him, which he in age, condemn'd,
That us it renders odious and contemn'd.
He knew not virtue, if he thought this truth;
For youth delights in age, and age in youth.
What to the old can greater pleasure be,
Than hopeful and ingenuous youth to see;
When they with reverence follow where we lead,
And in ftrait paths by our directions tread!
And ev'n my conversation here I see,
As well receiv'd by you, as yours by me.
'Tis difingenuous to accufe our age
Of idleness, who all our powers engage
In the fame ftudies, the fame courfe to hold;
Nor think our reason for new arts too old.
Solon the fage his progrefs never ceas'd,
But ftill his learning with his days increas'd;
And I with the fame greedinefs did feek,
As water when I thirst, to fwallow Greek;
Which I did only learn, that I might know
Thofe great examples, which I follow now :
And I have heard that Socrates the wife,
Learn'd on the lute for his laft exercise.
Though many of the ancients did the fame,
To improve knowledge was my only aim.
int' our fecond grievance I must break,
N&That lols of ftrength makes understanding weak.”
I grieve no more my youthful strength to want,
Than, young, that of a bull or elephant;
Then with that force content which nature gave,
Nor am I now difpleas'd with what I have.
When the young wrestlers at their sport grew warm,
Old Milo wept, to fee his naked arm;
And cry'd, 'twas dead: Trifler, thine heart, and head,
And all that's in them (not thy arm) are dead;
This folly every looker-on derides,
To glory only in thy arms and fides.
Our gallant ancestors let fall no tears,
Their ftrength decreafing by increasing years;
But they advanc'd in wisdom every hour,
And made the commonwealth advance in
But orators may grieve, for in their fides,
Rather than heads, their faculty abides;
Yet I have heard old voices loud and clear,
And still my own fometimes the fenate hear.
When th' old with smooth and gentle voices plead,
They by the ear their well-pleas'd audience lead :
Which, if I had not ftrength enough to do,
I could (my Lælius, and my Scipio)
What's to be done, or not be done, instruct,
And to the maxims of good life conduct.
Cneius and Publius Scipio, and (that man
Of men) your grandfire the great African,
Were joyful, when the flower of noble blood
Crowded their dwellings, and attending stood,
Like oracles their counfels to receive,
How in their progrefs they should act, and live.
And they whose high examples youth obeys,
Are not defpifed, though their strength decays,
And thofe decays (to fpeak the naked truth,
Though the defects of age) were crimes of youth.
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