Marcus Tullius Cicero, Cato maior de senectute [Cato the Elder on Old Age]

François Prost (Université de Paris IV Sorbonne)

Ed. by Sophia Papaioannou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool), Jula Wildberger (American University of Paris)

Domains

Philosophy (any)

Dates

First circulation or publication -44

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Dialogue

Resources

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Date and circumstance

Most probably, the treatise was written in the early months of 44, that is to say after the annus horribilis of 45, and before the Ides of March 44 (see Powell 1988, 267-268): at that time Cicero, who had already divorced Terentia (in 47 or 46), needed consolation the most, both personal after the death of his beloved daughter Tullia (February 45), and on political ground after the previous year had confirmed his isolation from public life under Caesar’s dictatorship, a distressing situation to be relieved (temporarily) only by the assassination of the dictator (see Malaspina 2013). In such circumstances Cicero could not feel but lonely, helpless – and old, whereas all around the man in power the gilded youth of Rome kept strutting and, some of them at least,

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2281 words

Citation: Prost, François. "Cato maior de senectute". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 November 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13348, accessed 22 November 2024.]