Tag: Old Age

Democritus, fr. 296

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“Old age is the perfect handicap: it has everything and lacks everything.”

 

γῆρας ὁλόκληρός ἐστι πήρωσις·

πάντ’ ἔχει καὶ πᾶσιν ἐνδεῖ.

Euripides Suppliant Women 1080-1

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“Why isn’t it mortals’ fate to be young twice and then old again?”

 

 

τί δὴ βροτοῖσιν οὐκ ἔστιν τόδε,

νέους δὶς εἶναι καὶ γέροντας αὖ πάλιν;

 

 

Herakles got to defeat old age….

Doesn’t look like much of a fight

Pindar, Olympian 4.25-27

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“Sometimes even young men grow grey hair before the right time of life”

 

 

φύονται δὲ καὶ νέοις

ἐν ἀνδράσιν πολιαί

θαμάκι παρὰ τὸν ἁλικίας ἐοικότα χρόνον

 

 

Herakles married Hebe to defeat the grey–but he also beat up on Old Age

Thucydides 2. 44. 3-5

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Only the love of honor is ageless; being honored, not making a profit, brings joy to the uselessness of old age

 

τὸ γὰρ φιλότιμον ἀγήρων μόνον, καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῷ ἀχρείῳ τῆς ἡλικίας τὸ κερδαίνειν, ὥσπερ τινές φασι, μᾶλλον τέρπει, ἀλλὰ τὸ τιμᾶσθαι.

 

The full text.

 

Thucydides 2. 44. 3-5

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τὸ γὰρ φιλότιμον ἀγήρων μόνον, καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῷ ἀχρείῳ τῆς ἡλικίας τὸ κερδαίνειν, ὥσπερ τινές φασι, μᾶλλον τέρπει, ἀλλὰ τὸ τιμᾶσθαι.

 

 

Only the love of honor is ageless; being honored, not making a profit, brings joy to the uselessness of old age