And yet that same failure of the bodily forces is more often brought about by the vices of youth than of old age; for a dissolute and intemperate youth hands down the body to old age in a worn-out state.
Cicero contends that physical decline in old age is frequently a consequence of a dissolute and intemperate youth, rather than an inherent aspect of aging.
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Again, is there not the fact that the wisest man ever dies with the greatest cheerfulness, the most unwise with the least?
I don't wish to depreciate life, as many men and good philosophers have often done; nor do I regret having lived, for I have done so in a way that lets me think that I was not born in vain.
But had it not been the case that souls were immortal, it would not have been the souls of all the best men that made the greatest efforts after an immortality of fame.
Oh glorious day when I shall set out to join that heavenly conclave and company of souls, and depart from the turmoil and impurities of this world!
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