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How to Grow Old? Cicero Has Some Sage Advice By Richard Eisenberg
Next Avenue: Ben Franklin was such a fan of this book, he printed a translation in 1744, which was one of the earliest classical works published in America. Philip Freeman: In the 18th century, there were a lot of people reading Cicero in America, England and France. Ben Franklin had one of the few printing presses in Philadelphia, so he jumped on this. Next Avenue: There's a line in the book where Cicero says: 'Everyone hopes to reach old age, but when it comes, most of us complain about it.' Not much has changed in about 2000 years, has it? Philip Freeman: He says: If you reach the age of 800, you'd still be complaining about the fact that you were going to die.
You might not think that Cicero, the Roman philosopher and statesman who died in 43 BC, would have anything useful to tell us about growing old in 2023. Turns out, he does. The pearls of wisdom from Marcus Tullius Cicero shine in his slim book, "How to Grow Old." It's been translated by Pepperdine University classics professor Philip Freeman. Cicero wrote "How to Grow Old" at 62, about a year before his death. It's written as a fictional dialogue between the Roman leader Cato, 84, and two men in their 30s asking for his advice on growing older.
'Everyone hopes to reach old age, but when it comes, most of us complain about it.'
Next Avenue: One of Cicero's lessons I love: The mind is a muscle that must be exercised. He says: 'Our minds and spirits are like lamps of oil, and we'll grow dim with time if they're not replenished.' These days, we hear that keeping your brain sharp is a way to fend off dementia. Cicero was talking about reading and learning and conversing — and engaging with ideas. If you just retire mentally, you're going to grow old extremely fast.
I talked with Freeman, 61, about what we can learn from Cicero about aging well.
Next Avenue: 'How to Grow Old' is a small book, but Cicero packs a lot into 90 pages.
Read more stories like this on NextAvenue.org.
Philip Freeman: It's a summary of an awful lot of wisdom from an awful lot of sources with his own particular twist. A lot of it is based on his own life.
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