Treatises on Friendship and Old Age by Marcus Tullius Cicero

Treatises on Friendship and Old Age Reviews

• 
  Steve

  
  
  Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE)
  
  For not only is Fortune herself blind; often, too, she makes blind men of those whom she has taken to her bosom. In the end they are virtually driven out of their minds by pride and arrogance - and nothing in creation is more unbearable than an imbecile blessed by Fortune.()
  
  
  Cato Maior de Senectute (literally, something like Cato the Elder on Old Age) - usually just referred to as On Old Age - and De Amicitia (On Friendship) are two of the philosophical dialogues Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote during his final forced retirement from public life, after the assassination of Gaius Julius Caesar and during the rule of the Second Triumvirate of Octavian, Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus.(*) In the tradition of Plato's Socratic dialogues, Cicero places his own words into the mouth of a famous historical figure who has a very one-sided conversation with an small audience. In these late and digressive essays he takes deliberate aim at a much larger public than he did in earlier, philosophically more technical texts such as the Academica.
  
  In On Old Age, apparently written in 44 BCE, Cicero's puppet is Cato the Elder (the Censor) - a famous figure from the Republic of over a century earlier - who addresses the young Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (better known to history as Scipio Africanus the Younger) and Gaius Laelius Sapiens (a somewhat less famous figure who was Scipio's closest friend and would be consul in 140 BCE). With such a cast Cicero was certain that his readers would pay attention! But unlike Plato, Cicero clearly signals in a prologue that he was coming to word, not Cato.
  
  Scipio and Laelius ask Cato how it is that old age does not seem to be a burden to him, and in response Cicero has Cato identify four charges against old age:
  
  ...the first, because it takes us away from life's activities, the second, because it diminishes physical vigor, the third, because it deprives us of almost all pleasures, and the fourth, because it is only a short distance from death.
  
  He then argues against these points primarily by recalling eminent counterexamples, which, of course, is at best a pep talk, not an argument. For the first two charges Cicero advises a moderate lifestyle, physical exercise, displacing the emphasis from the physical to the mental and standing up for one's rights even if aged. For the third he argues, as a good Stoic, that one should count one's blessings when physical pleasures lose their attraction in old age, that
  
  if we should prove unable to rise above pleasure through the use of philosophic reasoning, we should be very grateful to old age, which causes us to no longer want what we ought never to have wanted.
  
  Instead, he advises mental pleasures and, in accord with the historical character of his puppet but also because Cicero's exiles on his estates had perhaps been revelatory, he waxes truly rhapsodic about the pleasures of farming.
  
  The fourth point - the fear of death - is pooh-poohed with:
  
  There are only two possible views: either death is the total extinction of ourselves, in which case it is of no importance whatever [this is the position taken by Lucretius in De Rerum Natura], or it conducts us to a place where we shall live forever, in which case it is something to be desired. (**)
  
  Then he gets to the point - death is faced by us all, not just by the old.
  
  Still you say, the young man has the hope of long life - a hope which the old cannot have. That hope is sheer wishful thinking...But the old man has nothing to look forward to at all. Even so, he is in better sort than the young, for he has obtained what the young only hope for: the young want to live a long life; the old have lived it.
  
  Cicero closes with a series of arguments in support of the notion that each of us has an immortal soul and eloquently welcomes the opportunity, after a long and full life, to rejoin or meet for the first time the souls of the Great and the Good after death.
  
  In De Amicitia, written shortly after On Old Age and explicitly referring to it, the puppet is an older Gaius Laelius shortly after the death of his bosom friend Scipio, and he is addressing his sons-in-law, Gaius Fannius Strabo and Quintus Mucius Scaevola, who have asked him how he is taking the death of his friend and then how he would define the principles of friendship.
  
  Curiously enough, directly after appealing to the popular mind by dismissing the highly idealized notions of wisdom and goodness in the Stoic tradition (where they are goals to be approached asymptotically, at best) as "productive of nothing but ill-will and misunderstanding," Cicero has Laelius paint an equally idealized picture of friendship in which
  
  nature has established social contact between countless numbers of men; yet friendship is so concentrated and restricted a thing that all the true affection in the world is shared by no more than a handful of individuals.
  
  After again scoffing at the distance between the mentioned Stoic ideals and ordinary life, he then writes:
  
  And I am not now speaking of the friendships of everyday folk, or of ordinary people - although even these are a source of pleasure and profit - but of true and perfect friendship, the kind that was possessed by those few friends who have gained names for themselves as friends. (!)
  
  Cicero continues his panegyric of perfect friendship and then looks closely at some aspects of the ethics of friendship. But as this review is already lengthy, let me close with two observations.
  
  As evidenced multiple times even in these essays having apparently nothing to do with the subject, Cicero was completely in favor of Rome's imperialist project, and, in a manner familiar from much more recent history, derides Hannibal as "bloodthirsty" but praises the Romans responsible for massacres in southern Italy, Greece and Carthage.(***)
  
  Second, I am struck in these texts once again by the high value placed on social esteem in the Greco-Roman world by even its leading lights; one could even say particularly by its leading lights. Despite all the talk of wisdom, virtue and goodness, Cicero's powerful desire for the acclaim of the people and the admiring recognition of the great and mighty surfaces again and again in these essays. Has anyone examined the relative roles of lust for power, greed and desire for social esteem in the lives and careers of public figures through history?
  
  
  () Donald, please take note.
  
  (*) Which ended for Cicero - due to the enmity of Mark Antony - when his head and hands were removed from his body (according to Plutarch, at least this was done after he was slain by the soldiers sent to eliminate him) and nailed to the rostrum in the Roman Forum. Perhaps it was karmatic payback for the people he had executed without trial (but on the order of the Roman Senate) during his consulship because of their supposed involvement in the Cataline conspiracy.
  
  (**) Cicero had not been exposed to the bizarre nightmare that is the Christian Hell.
  
  (***) Ah, the ever relevant King James version:
  
  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
• 
  Alp Turgut

  Cicero’nun ölmeden önce yazdığı son eserlerinden biri olan "Yaşlı Cato veya Yaşlılık Üzerine / On Old Age", yaşlılığın neden bir son olmadığını, hatta tam tersine gençliğe göre ne kadar farklı avantajları olduğunu Platon tarzı dialoglarla okuyucuya sunduğu güzel bir felsefe eseri. Akıcı dili ve kısalığı nedeniyle oldukça kolay okunabilir eserde şehvetin insan üzerindeki kötü etkisine odaklanılıyor. Roma edebiyatını ve felsefe tarihini tam olarak öğrenmek isteyenlere.
  
  04.10.2017
  İstanbul, Türkiye
  
  Alp Turgut
  
  
  http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...
• 
  R. Ar.

  Cicero ölmeden önce yazdığı son eserinde kendisinin de içinde bulunduğu yaşlılık evresi ile ilgili bir çok büyük düşünür, yönetici, komutan vs den alıntılar yaparak yanlışları, doğruları irdeliyor. En genel ifade ile konuyu Gorgias'ın ağzından

  Leontinili Gorgias da yüz yedi yaşına kadar yaşamış, gayretine ve çalışmasına ara vermemiştir. Niçin bu kadar uzun süre yaşamak istediği sorulunca “Yaşlılığı suçlamam için hiçbir nedenim yok,” demiştir. Eğitimli bir insana yakışan, harika bir cevap bu. Akılsızlar ise kendi kusurlarını ve suçunu yaşlılığa yükler.

  özetlemi�� ve daha sonra detaylandırmıştır. Yaşlılığın getirdiği olgunluğun büyük işler yapmak için lazım olduğunu

  Büyük işler kuvvet, hız ya da çeviklikle değil, düşünce, otorite ve karar verme yeteneğiyle yapılır; bunlar da yaşlılıkta azalmak şöyle dursun, daha da artar genellikle.

  diyerek açıklamış fakat bu yorum çok yüzeysel kalmıştır. Gelişim sürecinde düşünmeyi bırakmış ya da başkasına havale edilmiş bir beyinden beklenmesi gereken olgunluk ne derece olmalıdır? Bir başka konu ise unutkanlık.

  Yaşlılıkta hafıza zayıflarmış. İnanıyorum ki, çalıştırmazsan ve aksak bir doğan varsa, zayıflar. Themistocles tüm vatandaşların adını ezbere biliyordu, yaşı ilerleyince Aristides’i “Lysimachus” diye selamladığını mı sanıyorsunuz? Bir yaşlının, hâzinesini gömdüğü yeri unuttuğunu hiç duymadım. Yaşlılar özen gösterdikleri her şeyi, mahkeme günlerini, kimden alıp kime vermeleri gerektiğini iyi hatırlarlar.

  Bunun aksini kim söyleyebilir ? Bazen haklı olduğuna aşırı şekilde inanmanın verdiği körlük ile ileriye gittiği de oluyor tabi.

  Hangi söz, Crotonlu Milon'un sözünden daha acınası olabilir? Milon'un artık yaşlı olduğu dönemde sahada idman yapan atletleri görünce, kendi kaslarına bakarak şöyle dediği anlatılır: "Ah ah, bunlar artık birer ölü! " Ey aptal adam, kasların senden farklı değil ki, şöhretini kendin sayesinde değil, kolların ve kasların sayesinde kazandın.

  Yıllarca atlet olarak görev yapmış birinin yaşlandıktan sonra gördükleri karşısında iç çekmesi onun aptal olduğunu göstermez. Biz robot değiliz ki belli bir evreyi tamamladığımız zaman geçilmiş olan ile yaşadıklarımızı tamamen kesip atabilelim. Kendini dinleten yaşlıların özelliği;

  Çoğunlukla dili etkileyici olan yaşlı birinin iyi hazırlanmış, sakin konuşması kendisine dinleyici bulur. Bir insan bunu kendi başına başaramasa da, bir Scipio'ya ya da Laelius'a öğretebilir!

  Bu alıntı yaptıklarım ile birlikte işaretlediğim o kadar çok şey var ki hepsini yazsam karakter sınırı ancak yeter ya da insanlar okurken yarısında usanırlar. O yüzden yorumsuz şekilde aşağıda yapacağımız birkaç fazladan alıntı ile incelemeyi noktalayalım.
  
  

  Bu kuvvet eksikliği genelde yaşlılıktan ziyade gençlikteki hatalardan kaynaklanır, şehvet düşkünü olan, ölçüsüz gençlik, yaşlılığa dermansız bir beden bırakır.
  
  Kuvvetin bir ölçüsü olmalı, insan ulaşabileceğine uzanmalı, böylece yitirdiği kuvveti bü­yük bir özlemle anmayacaktır.
  
  Hep kendi çıkarını düşünmeyi, yani yaşlı açgözlülüğünü ise anlamıyorum. Öyle ya, yol kısaldık­ça yolluğu artırmaya çalışmaktan daha saçma ne olabilir?
  
  Ayrıca genç uzun yaşayacağını umut eder, yaşlı ise aynısını umut edemez. Aksi halde budalaca bir umut beslemiş olur. Kesin bir şey yerine belirsiz bir şeyi, ger­çek yerine sahte bir şeyi tercih etmekten daha ahmakça ne var? Bununla birlikte yaşlı, gençten daha iyi durumdadır zira gencin umut ettiği yere varmıştır. Genç uzun yaşamayı ister, yaşlı ise uzun yaşamıştır.
  
• 
  Shakiba Bahrami

  سیسرون فیلسوفی بوده که قبل میلاد مسیح زندگی میکرده. جنگ رفته، توی سنا بوده، مشرق‌زمین رو دیده، ازدواج ناموفق داشته، غم مرگ اولاد رو تجربه کرده و آخر سر هم به خاطر خطابه‌هاش تبعید و اعدام شده.
  توی این مقاله، سیسرون از پیری و مرگ میگه. صحبتاش شاید به نظر قدیمی بیاد ولی فلسفه رو هروقت بخونی، تازه‌ست(:
  پ.ن: فکر کنم این دومین مقاله فلسفیه که میخونم(رمان‌های فلسفی‌ای که خوندم رو کنار بذاریم)، قبل از این "در ستایش بطالت" راسل رو خونده بودم و فهمیدم فلسفه من رو سر شوق میاره:)) ولی اعتماد نمی‌کردم هرچیزی رو بخرم. این کتاب رو ه�� فقط بابت شکل جلدش خریدم چون جلدش یادآور انتشاراتش بود و من به علمی و فرهنگی، اعتماد داشتم.
  توی مقدمه مترجم اومده گفته که ممکنه ترجمه‌ش فلان و بیسار باشه که اولش ترسیدم مثل تجربه��ی قبلیم بشه بشه و ترجمه بد باشه ولی واقعا ترجمه خوبی بود و با اینکه اولش فکر کردم صد سال طول میکشه این نثر سخت رو بخونم((((: ولی به خودم اومدم و دیدم مقاله اول تموم شد. باتشکر از آقای حجازی بابت ترجمه‌ی زیباشون:)
• 
  Caterina

  Severek okunası, yaşlılık ve ölüm korkusu olanlara okumada ısrar edilesi kitap.
  
  Cicero, Cato'nun ağzından yaşlılığa dair düşüncelerini anlatıyor. Çeviri leziz...
• 
  Roy Lotz

  It’s about time that I read some Cicero. In the history of writing, it is difficult to overstate Cicero’s influence. To quote the most authoritative source I know,
  Wikipedia: “His influence on the Latin language was so immense that that the subsequent history of prose in not only Latin but European languages up to the 19th century was said to be either a reaction against or a return to his style.” It does seem that, until recently, everyone with any pretensions to education read him. I can’t count how often Cicero has been referenced in other “classic” books I’ve read. To give just a few examples, he pops up in St. Augustine’s Confessions, John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, and Montaigne’s
  Essays.
  
  I suppose this is no surprise. Until quite recently, the language of scholarship was Latin, and Cicero is widely considered to be the prince of Latin prose. His skill and influence in writing seem so unanimously acknowledged, it makes me wonder about our language. If a poll was taken to determine who was the greatest English prose stylist, I’m sure answers would widely diverge. Yet the results are in for Latin prose, and it’s Cicero with a landslide.
  
  Too bad I can’t read Latin. I have to content myself with a translation. I can at least hope that an echo of his eloquence can be caught in our barbarous tongue. And indeed, these two shorts works were pleasant reading. From what I hear, Latin grammar allows for much more subtlety than does our language, so I can only imagine how much is lost.
  
  In both these pieces, Cicero adopts a trick of Plato’s and writes a dialogue. But this is more of a framing device than a true format. Both works quickly shift into a long monologue, befitting the style of an orator, such as he was. But this attempted emulation of Plato runs deeper, as Cicero emulates Plato’s subject-matter as well. This is most clear in On Old Age, which covers similar ground, and makes similar points, as Plato does in his Apology and Phaedo.
  
  But Cicero doesn’t have a mind for logical argument of this kind. Like his attempts at dialogue form, Cicero runs out of steam, and hastily returns to his usual style. Remember, Cicero was a politician, and thus has practiced the art of political rhetoric: to tell you exactly what you already believed, but in beautiful and high-flown language. Just so, I doubt that anyone will learn anything substantial about either old age or friendship from this book. I mean, we all have friends and grandparents.
  
• 
  Noah Goats

  I love Cicero; he’s one of the heroes of Roman history, but I’m not sure these essays have aged particularly well. Supposedly they are written with extreme elegance and style in their original Latin, but none of that came through in the translation I read. These pieces read like sermons. Uplifting, filled with good sentiments, but not offering any particularly interesting ideas. I think a modern reader, like myself, can appreciate them best as windows into the mind of one of the greatest men ever to live in the Roman Republic.
  
  I read the free kindle version of this book, and it was riddled with typos.
• 
  Mario Pérez Díaz

  Leer autores clásicos supone per se un deleite, con Cicerón no lo es menos.
  Su fuerza en el discurso unido al formato dialogado tan platónico hacen que la lectura sea fluida. Si bien los escritos del mejor orador de roma pierden fuerza si no son en la lengua en la que fueron concebidos.
  Los temas tratados son inmanentes a nuestras preocupaciones presentes; la amistad y la muerte siguen y seguirán presentes en nuestras sociedades. El enfoque cercano al pensamiento estoico de estos temas ayuda a una mejor reflexión, no obstante es un libro más por el deleite de leer a Cicerón que por sacar enseñanzas.
• 
  Daniel Piva

  Livro muito impressionante pela concisão, objetividade, agudeza de pensamento e percepção, e tudo isso transmitido em uma linguagem fluente e de fácil acesso.
  Parabéns ao tradutor.
  Recomendo a todos os jovens, principalmente, quanto ao tema "amizade".
  Recomendo a todos 40, e 50 em diante, para refletirem sobre seu passado, e o que pretendem fazer no futuro.
  Recomendo, também a conselheiros, tanto de jovens como de idosos.
• 
  Mohammad Ali Shamekhi

  از این دو رساله که به طور خلاصه و به صورت آزاد ترجمه شده اند، عیش پیری را می پسندم اما راز دوستی را نه چندان. البته پسندیدن صرفا به عنوان نوعی اندرز و حکمت نه همچون نوشتار دقیق فلسفی - که البته خود سیسرو ( یا کیکِرو ) هم چنین ادعایی ندارد.
  
  رساله ی دوم یعنی راز دوستی بر دوستی مبتنی بر تقوا و فضیلت تأکید فراوان دارد - به پیروی از ارسطو. اما من دوستی را چنین مقید نمی بینم. اتفاقا دوستی در افت و خیزهای انسانی بارزتر است تا فضایل و کمالات. دوستی پشتوانه ای است برای آدمیان تا بدانند حتی اگر خطایی کنند جایی برای اتکا هست. دوستی پر جوش و خروش برای ما است که آدمیان معمول و درگیر در زندگی ایم و نه از آن خردمندان. دوستی ما دوستی عادی نیست و دوستی خردمندان دوستی برتر نه. چه بسا دوستی انسان های پر از ضعف و کاستی دوستی حقیقی باشد.
  ( البته این را باید گفت که سیسرو مدام متذکر می شود که این تقوا آن تقوای آسمانی دست یافتنی نیست، بلکه آن امری است که در این و آن می توان سراغ گرفت. از همین رو آن فضیلت مندی تند تعدیل می شود، اما به هر حال اصل سخن همچنان باقی است. )
  
  ( به دلایل نامشخصی به شخصیه ترجیح می دهم کلمات قصار یا رساله های حکمی فلاسفه و حکما رو در مورد جوانب حیات بخونم، تا نوشته های روانشناسانه ی جدید رو. )
  
  نکته ی آخر اینکه با خواندن این رسائل ندای مسیحیت را می توان شنید. کاملا طبیعی است که رومیان آسان مسیحیت را در خود پذیرا شدند. برای مثال روحیه ی عملی و انسانی رومی - در مقابل کنکاش های نظری یونانی - را می توان جای جای در آن دید. مثلا می گوید:
  « زنهار از فیلسوفی که عقل را همچون آهن و فولاد، سخت و خشک کند، پیروی نکنیم و بگذاریم دل از ذوق شادکامی دوست بتپد و بر سیه روزی یار، اشک حسرت بریزد! »
• 
  Illiterate

  Read "Old Age" for its polished excellence. Read "Friendship" as superior marriage counseling.
• 
  Sotiris Makrygiannis

  Cicero the Great Roman Orator "wrote" this book to define Friendship and old age. He added "old age" to the book becouse of the previous chapters; he almost tells us that friendship cannot last. Hence added what old age looks like for a (hu)man with no real friends. He uses reduction by describing all possible reasons why a friendship could collapse. According to Cicero, from envy to growing older and changing opinions to the miserable position of being a politician and therefore cannot have any friends (according to Cicero).
  
  He finds true friendship to derive from loyalty; only then a friendship can last despite the hardships of everyday life. Compared to Platonic Love and the metaphor of the Ladder of Love, Socrates had a different opinion. Socrates thinks searching for the truth is the virtue that keeps two friends together. In my opinion, Socrates wins becouse he gives friendship a good goal as loyalty can be achieved by other means.
  
  To be frank, 48 laws of Power, chapter 2, has an excellent description of the opposing sides of friendship. That Machiavellian type of book is a perfect addition to Socrates and Cicero, but nothing beats the symbolic value of the Ladder of Love by Socrates. Of the seven types of Greek love, the highest form is Philia (friendship), which is hard to obtain but a good goal for life. Keep searching, my friends!
  
  Love all, hate none
• 
  Michael Huang

  Cicero value highly of friendship: “With the exception of wisdom, I’m inclined to believe that the immortal gods have given nothing better to humanity than friendship.” His notion of friendship is not the type of convenience: Friends should remonstrate, but w/o bitterness; reprove w/o words of insult. “Though there should be every curtesy, yet that base kind which assist man in vice should be far from us.” “If a man’s ear is so close to plain speaking that he cannot hear the truth from a friend, we may give him up in despair.”
  
  
• 
  Italo Perazzoli

  It was now lunch time and they were all sitting under the double green fly of the dining tent pretending that nothing had happened"
  
  This is the key reading of this short story, it is a continuous question on why this happens and by its reasons..
  
  The first question is to understand why Francis Macomber is a coward and why, being afraid by the lions, he is in Africa for a safari.
  
  Margot Macomber is an handsome woman, Francis "loves" her because she is a "trophy wife" and she "loves" him because he is very rich.
  
  Margot feels attracted by Francis because he is a coward and she can have a control over him.
  
  Francis Macomber is a young of 35 years old, he is tall rich and does not accept of being considered a coward, for this reason he decided to hunt a lion in Africa.
  
  Robert Wilson is the safari's guide, he is a womanizer, and allergic to any kind of rules and laws of the society, he is a free spirit, he is not an anarchist because he has a proper code of conduct, to which he rigidly conforms.
  
  The story is set in Africa during a safari, where comes out that Francis is a coward, his wife with a maternal sense, try to protect him with dedicated words, but her final goal is to control him, in order to protect her wellness.
  
  Margot decide to defy the cowardly of Francis, kissing and then sex with Robert Wilson, Francis accepts this injustice.
  
  At the end of the story Margot realizes that Macomber is gaining courage and a strong sense of his own manhood, after having killed a buffalo.
  
  At one point of this story, Wilson congratulates with him for his fine shooting: "You shot damn well." he said with pride.
  
  This scene is fundamental for the character of Francis, because it marks the beginning of his tremendous change, he feels that in all of his life, he has never felt so good.
  
  In contrast, Margot recognizes that Macomber is changing, and she is not happy for this change.
  
  Margot is terrified by Francis because he is not more a coward and now she hates him because she realizes that she is losing her psychological control over him, she fears for their own welfare.
  
  By now, Wilson fully sympathizes with Macomber, especially when he says that he will never be afraid of anything again, because he has lost his determination to show to others his manhood.
• 
  Galicius

  Cicero lists four reasons why old age is considered an unhappy phase:
  “The fact is that when I come to think it over, I find that there are
  four reasons for old age being thought unhappy: First, that it withdraws
  us from active employments; second, that it enfeebles the body; third,
  that it deprives us of nearly all physical pleasures; fourth, that it is
  the next step to death. Of each of these reasons, if you will allow me,
  let us examine the force and justice separately.”
  
  He goes and examines these and refutes them one by one.
• 
  Berat Sadıç

  Cicero'nun, Sokrates usülü, yaşlı Cato'yu, gençlere yaşlılık üzerine tavsiyeler vermek üzere konuşturduğu bu kısa ama etkili eser, bir oturuşta okunabilecek klasiklerden. Yaşlılık, kaçınamayacağımız ölüm yolundaki o son düzlük, gerçekten bu kadar kötü ve korkulacak bir çağ mı?
  Diyor ki Cicero, "Yaşlılık değil kötü olan, karakter." Bugün mızmızlanan, şikayet eden, huzursuzluk veren, bunu yaşlılıkta da yapacak, hem de birçok sebebe sığınma şansıyla birlikte.
  
  Onurlu ve erdemli bir hayat sürmüş olmanın yaşlılıkta vereceği tat ile ilgili kısımlar beni etkiledi açıkçası. "Haz, kötülüğün yemidir." diyen Sokrates'e de atıfla, hazdan arınmış biraz da öğrenme meraklısı bir bünye için en güzel çağ tanımlaması yapılıyor yaşlılık için. Belki göreceğiz yaşlılığı belki görmeyeceğiz, ancak yine de, hayatın bu çağına ilişkin kaygıların 2000 yıl boyunca pek de değişmemesi, insana enteresan geliyor. Kaçınılmaz ve doğal olana karşı, uysalca bir kabulleniş şart...
• 
  Tyler

  Full disclosure, I only read the friendship half of this, maybe I'll come back to the old age half when I'm 80.
  
  Who knew the exact book I was looking for when flipping through a self-help book on friendship last week was written in 45 BC? This is a brief pamphlet on friendship, in the style of a conversation from a man Laelius after the death of his good friend Scipio. Hidden in this wordy Treatise are some really good gems about the meaning of friendship, what it means to be a good friend, what makes friendships survive, and near the end a really beautiful passage about how it feels to lose a true friend. Wordy, but not as inaccessible as I thought it would be, I really liked it.
  
  "But in view of the instability and perishableness of mortal things, we should be continually on the look-out for some to love and by whom to be loved; for if we lose affection and kindliness from our life, we lose all that gives it charm."
  
  5/5 stars
• 
  Калоян Захариев

  Книгата съдържа два интересни трактата - "За старостта" и "За приятелството".Цицерон не е бил философ и не е имал претенции да бъде такъв (пренебрежението му към някои философски школи личи), но творбите му заслужават внимание. От една страна са дело на наистина забележителен човек, а от друга - носят определен философски заряди дават храна за размисъл. При всички случаи, всеки читател ще се почувства обогатен от прочетеното.
• 
  dani

  no dudo de que sea una obra con reflexiones muy interesantes, pero tambien es MUY dormible - por experiencia
• 
  Maan Kawas

  Such a great read!
• 
  Efe Karabulat

  Yaşlı Cato, Cicero'nun yaşlılığa övgü niteliğindeki bir çalışması. Daha önce okuduğum eserlerinin aksine çok büyük ölçüde monolog şeklinde yazılmış. Yaşlılığın neden korkulacak bir şey olmadığı, yaşlılığın da hayattan farklı zevkler alınabilecek ve dünyaya katkı sağlamaktan geri durulmasına neden olmayacak bir dönem olduğunu veciz bir biçimde anlatıyor. Bahsettiği konular sıklıkla bilinen, insanı şaşırtmayan türden. Yine de Cicero'nun tatlı dili ve yüksek ikna kabiliyetiyle konuyu ele alışını müşahede etmek için okumak isteyebilirsiniz.
• 
  Ayse Turan

  ...
  Yaslilarin eli sikiligina gelince;buna aklim ermiyor. Oyle ya, yol kisaldikca yollugu arttirmaktan daha sacma birsey olabilir mi ?
  ....
• 
  Holy Naiguatá

  ¡Una maravilla milenaria! Cicerón reúne en sus diálogos (o más bien, monólogos) la esencia de una sabrosa y provechosa vejez, amistad. Reflexiones que perduran eternamente por ser temas que nos conciernen a todos en la vida. No es sino necesario, leer y recomendar este placentero libro a nuestros compañeros y familiares íntimos. Muchos son los que ostentan sentir que Cicerón les roba las palabras al leer sus postulados (sobretodo, en la amistad), pero pocos quienes humildemente logran comprobar en su entorno un completo desastre de amistades asimétricas. Llenas de rencores, dependencias, deshonra, deshonestidad y envidias contraria a los colegas. No seré yo como aquéllos, que con oídos sordos, diga que no hay nada transcendental en este librillo.
• 
  Dolmar

  Libro entretenido, claro y con una prosa, por momentos poética; recomiendo -sobre todo a los jóvenes- el "Tratado sobre la Vejez". Ellos pueden preprarse para esa vejez que todos quisiéramos y que, como dice Cicerón:
  
  "Pero tened presente que en todo este discurso mío, yo elogio aquella vejez que descansa sobre los fundamentos de la juventud. De lo que resulta aquello que dije una vez con gran aplauso de todos: que es mísera la vejez que se defiende con palabras. Ni canas ni arrugas pueden repentinamente conferir autoridad: antes bien, la vida anterior pasada honorablemente recoge la autoridad como un último fruto."
  
  
  En cuanto a su "Tratado sobre la Amistad", aunque sea un tema más trillado es importante aclarar o afianzarse en una serie de conceptos tales como el no esperar un fin utilitario. Uno se siente como si le robaran las palabras, los conceptos... Es todo un clásico digno de ser leído.
• 
  ReneeS

  Když si člověk uvědomí, že texty byly napsány před více než 2000 lety mísí se v něm obdiv a pocit nicotnosti (jak málo se toho změnilo). Hrozně ráda bych si s Cicerem sedla v jedné místnosti a probrala spoustu jeho tvrzení. S jeho textem o stáří mám trochu problémy. Vadí mi jeho zjednodušování, vybere pár příkladů, řekne - podívejte, stáří není špatné, protože ten a ten se ve stáří měl dobře, neměl problémy, zůstala mu bystrá hlavička a rozkoše mládí mu vlastně vůbec nechyběly - a pak to zobecní na celou starší populaci. Naopak jeho text o přátelství mě donutil zamyslet se nad něčím, co jsem brala jako samozřejmost. Nakopnul mě k tomu, abych se pokusila pár věcí změnit. Je zajímavé co tak útla stará knížečka dokáže.