Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) wrote the autobiographical Reveries of a Solitary Walker in that late period of life in which, Solon says,
“A man is still able, but his tongue and his judgment grow soft where things requiring great skill are concerned.”
On one of the walks recounted in the book, Rousseau pondered Solon’s famous remark
“I’m growing old forever learning a great many things.”
After reflecting on the line and its implications, Rousseau concluded that learning–or at least learning certain things–at a late age was in fact a waste of time.
He had this to say:
Solon often repeated this verse in his old age. There’s a sense in which I too can say it in mine. But it is a gloomy science indeed which I’ve acquired in twenty years of experience. Ignorance is preferable to it. Adversity is, without doubt, a great master, but it charges a lot for its lessons, and often the benefit that we derive isn’t worth the cost. What’s more, before we’ve gotten all that’s to be had from the belated lessons, the occasion to use it has passed. Youth is the time to learn wisdom; old age is the time to put it into practice. Experience always teaches, I admit that. But it’s only beneficial in the space ahead of us. Is it really the time, just when we’re about to die, to learn how we ought to live?
Solon 27:
τῇ δ᾽ ἐνάτῃ ἔτι μὲν δύναται, μαλακώτερα δ᾽ αὐτοῦ
πρὸς μεγάλην ἀρετὴν γλῶσσά τε καὶ σοφίη
Solon 18:
γηράσκω δ᾽ αἰεὶ πολλὰ διδασκόμενος
Rousseau, les Reveries du Promeneur Solitaire (Troisieme Promenade)
Solon répétoit souvent ce vers dans sa vieillesse. Il a un sens dans
lequel je pourrois le dire aussi dans la mienne; mais c’est une bien
triste science que celle que depuis vingt ans l’expérience m’a fait
acquérir: l’ignorance est encore préférable. L’adversité sans doute
est un grand maître; mais ce maître fait payer cher ses leçons, et
souvent le profit qu’on en retire ne vaut pas le prix qu’elles ont
coûté. D’ailleurs, avant qu’on ait obtenu tout cet acquis par des
leçons si tardives, l’à-propos d’en user se passe. La jeunesse est le
temps d’étudier la sagesse; la vieillesse est le temps de la pratiquer.
L’expérience instruit toujours, je l’avoue; mais elle ne profite que
pour l’espace qu’on a devant soi. Est-il temps, au moment qu’il faut
mourir, d’apprendre comment on auroit dû vivre?
of 18th century France (Le Devin du Village) and author of
the period’s best selling novel (Julie ou la Nouvelle Heloise).
Larry Benn has a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard College, an M.Phil in English Literature from Oxford University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School. Making amends for a working life misspent in finance, he’s now a hobbyist in ancient languages and blogs at featsofgreek.blogspot.com.
