April 9, 2009
Living
The spirit is still willing
By Gary Hayden
'It is enough if we exert with spirit, on every proper occasion, the degree of strength which still remains to us."
- Cicero
In Part One of this series on old age, I noted that Roman philosopher Cicero (106BC - 43BC) identified four reasons why people dread growing old: It withdraws us from active employment; it enfeebles the body; it deprives us of physical pleasures; and it is the next step to death.
In Part Two, I presented Cicero's vigorous rebuttal of the charge that old age withdraws us from active employment. This week, continuing in the same vein, I will examine his response to the charge that old age enfeebles the body.
Using what strength we have
I have already said that one of the things I admire about Cicero is his honesty. He never glosses over the problems associated with advancing age but tackles each worry head-on. With characteristic candour, he wrote: 'The second complaint is that old age impairs our strength and this, it must be acknowledged, is true enough.'
He added that he no more regrets the loss of his youthful vigour, now he is old, than he regretted not having the strength of a bull or an elephant, when he was young. It is enough, he said, at each stage of life to use whatever degree of strength we possess.
Here, we find Cicero returning to a theme that runs throughout his treatise On Old Age: that nature has her seasons to which the wise man will accommodate himself.
'The course of life is fixed, and nature admits of its being run but in one way, and only once; and to each part of our life there is something specially seasonable; so that the feebleness of children, as well as the high spirit of youth, the soberness of maturer years, and the ripe wisdom of old age - all have a certain natural advantage which should be secured in its proper season.'
We ought to enjoy the blessing of strength and vigour while we have it, but when it begins inevitably to fade, there is no point wishing it back. In the last season of life, physical strength may be lacking, but neither is it required.
Anti-ageing advice
It is important not to misunderstand Cicero here. He is not suggesting that we give in meekly to bodily weakness and infirmity. On the contrary, he urges us to stay healthy and strong as long as we possibly can.
'We must stand up against old age and make up for its drawbacks by taking pains,' he wrote. 'We must fight it as we should an illness.'
To illustrate his point, he cited the example of a 90-year-old man who, whenever he began a journey on foot, steadfastly refused to mount his horse thereafter.
Acting on the same principle, I decided, some time ago, never to use an escalator or elevator when there are stairs, and never to take a bus or taxi when I can conveniently walk. This is part of a long-term strategy designed to help me stay strong and active as I grow older.
Cicero's prescription for resisting the ravages of time is to exercise moderately and to follow a healthy diet. This fits in very well with modern thinking. There is now plenty of evidence to suggest that conditions like coronary heart disease and stroke, which so often cause elderly people to lose their mobility and independence, are often preventable. The best means of prevention are, of course, what Cicero recommended: diet and exercise.
'Nor is it the body alone that must be supported, but the intellect and soul much more,' added Cicero. 'For they are like lamps: unless you feed them with oil, they too go out from old age.' He then wrote approvingly of playwright Sophocles who composed tragedies in extreme old age; and of philosopher Socrates who took up the lyre in his twilight years.
Once again, although Cicero's advice is more than 2,000 years old, it is bang up-to-date.
Researchers now believe that many supposedly age-related changes that affect the mind, such as memory loss, are often more to do with lifestyle than with ageing. There are plenty of things, such as learning a language, playing thinking games or taking a college course, that older people can do to help keep their minds limber and alert.
Cicero urges us not to fall physically or mentally into what he describes as a 'sluggish, spiritless and sleepy old age', but to approach the last season of life with undiminished optimism and zest. Good advice.
Gary Hayden is a freelance writer who specialises in education, science, philosophy, health, well-being, travel and short fiction.
This is the third in a series of four articles on old age.
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