DE SENEOTUTE." 



" Grow old along with me ! 

 The best is yet to be ; 

 The last of life, for \vhich the first was made." 



Robert Browning, in Rabbi Ben Ezra, begins a 

 philosophic poem as above. But the young will say 

 that the writer is making virtue of necessity. The 

 man at sixty, looking backward, sees what has gone, 

 and never to be regained ; and therefore tries to make 

 the best of the situation, praising the remnant of ex- 

 istence, calling it the best. But, is not there a verity in 

 the assertion that the first of life is necessary for the 

 attainment of the last ? If it were not for the fitful 

 blaze of youthful corruscations, the embers of age 

 would be the less enjoyable. While youth, in the acme 

 of its ambition, is struggling to reach the zenith of 

 blissful existence, age serenely views the contest, be- 

 lieving the attainment not worth the effort were it not 

 for that which is to come ! 



Cicero's essay on "Old age" de senectnte is the 

 most philosophic and satisfactory of any of the great 

 orator's productions. In an address to a friend lie 

 says: "this work is so delightful that it has not only 

 obliterated the annoyance of age, but has rendered 

 existence more charming than it is possible for life to 

 be in youth." Further along he says: u to those who 

 have no resources within themselves for living hap- 

 pily, every age is burdensome." 



Johnson, in Rambler, writes: "lie that would 

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