"Forsan et hæc olim meminisse Juvabit." was the consolation which Æneas addressed to his companions, when they were sinking into despondency under a series of misfortunes; nor indeed, can there be conveyed to the human mind, when bending under hardships, and combating affliction, a more enlivening dawn of hope, than the glimpse of a brighter sky, dispersing the gloom of adversity, and animating his resolution with the prospect of future joy. The soul cannot receive a more sovereign balm than what expectation administers of days yet to come smiling with consolation and repose. And what a soothing pleasure is it to reflect, that misfortune cannot always urge the chase, but must retire at last, after the heat of the day, and leave her quarry in unmolested safety. The good old man is then sensible to pleasures that are peculiar to that period of his life. Secure in the harbour of tranquillity, he revolves in his mind, with unspeakable satisfaction, the adventures of his laborious life; and the calamities that are now no more, he reviews with the glow of ecstacy and joy; for so powerful indeed is the influence of contrast, that it may not improperly be termed the nurse of happiness: it teaches us to know the value of our present enjoyments, by comparing them to the sufferings we once endured, and the misery from which we have happily escaped. Cincinnatus, when he had retired from the helm of imperial Rome to his little Sabine farm, enjoyed more real satisfaction in reflecting on the dangers which attended the aspirings of ambition, than when he was decked with the gaudiest plumes of authority and power. Happy in the limits of his retirement, and content with the plainest fare in his homely cot, he experienced more real enjoyment, while eating his favourite turnips, and drinking from the limpid stream, than from the most luxurious dishes and the most exquisite wines, when engaged in the tumultuous affairs of the republic. It is true, nevertheless, as Tully has justly observed, that all men are not like the Scipios and Fabii, who could recount cities captured, victories won, and triumphs obtained. But to days passed in virtue, decency, and tranquillity, it is yet in their power to add the pleasures of a serene and peaceful old age. With respect to all the rational and worthy pleasures of existence, the conscience of a good fame, the respect and commerce of virtuous men, and the contemplation of a happy immortality, these are enjoyments for which our capacities are enlarged by increase of years. While we are indulged by the divine permission with the blessing of health, a wise man will consider the latter part of life as certainly the most eligible. The recollection of a well spent youth fills the mind with a pleasure, not only the most elegant in itself, but pure and tranquil, and unalloyed. Even those who are so unhappy, that they cannot advert to their earlier years with satisfaction, have at least the consolation left, that they are under no temptation to repeat their follies, and that now they despise them Nor must we forget to instruct the youthful votaries of pleasure, that vicious indulgences, not restrained in time, will grow into habits that cannot be eradicated, and will render the aged man an object of pity and contempt. In one of the Spectators this consideration is forcibly exemplified in the supposed letter of an old debauchee: "How is it, Sir, that my appetites are increased upon me with the loss of power to gratify them? I write this, like a criminal, to warn people to enter upon what reformation they please to make of themselves in their youth, and not expect that they shall be incapable of it from a fond opinion some have often in their mouths, that if we do not leave our desires, they will leave us. It is far otherwise. I am now as vain in my dress, and as flippant when I see a pretty woman, as when in my youth I stood upon a bench to survey the whole circle of beauties. The folly is so extravagant with me, and I went on with so little check of my desires, or resignation of them, that I can assure you I very often, merely to entertain my own thoughts, sit with my spectacles on, writing love-letters to the beauties that have long since been in their graves. This is to warm my heart with the faint memory of delights which were once agreeable to me; but how much happier would my life have been now, if I could have looked back on any worthy actions done for my country! If I had laid out that which I profused in luxury and wantonness in acts of generosity and charity! I have lived a bachelor to this day; and, instead of a numerous offspring, with which, in the regular way of life, I might have possibly delighted myself, I have only to amuse myself with the repetition of old stories and intrigues, which no one will believe I was ever concerned in.”. (No. 260.) But age, on the contrary, in every virtuous person, obtains a degree of respect and authority, which renders it far more eligible than all the pleasures of youth. If to be regarded, attended, and consulted with deference, are circumstances of pleasure, they are such as are the constant concomitants of a virtuous old age. With respect to the approach of death, which Tully has enumerated in his account of the four objections to old age, it may be observed with that admirable philosopher, that youth has greater probabilities of being near death than age*. What youth can say more than an old man, that he shall live to-night? Youth are not only more liable to disorders, but those disorders are more violent, and their recovery from them, in consequence, more doubtful. The youth, indeed, expects many more days, which the old man has no reason to do. The expectations of the youth are not well founded; for what can be more unwise than to put confidence in an uncertainty? But if the aged man has not room even for hope, he is still happier than the youth; for he has already enjoyed that of which the other is in expectation. The one wishes to * De Senect. 19. live long; but the other has already obtained that wish; and Tully, in expatiating on this subject, exclaims, “O miserum senem, qui mortem contemnandem esse in tam longa ætate non viderit!"—" What an object of pity is an aged man to have lived so long without having learned to subdue the fear of death!" But after all, is there any thing in human life, the duration of which can be called long? If hours, days, months, and years, pass away in quick succession, it is of little moment what hour, what day, what month, or what year we may retire from such a transient scene. Applause is due to the good actor, in whatever part of the play he makes his exit. Thus it is in the estimation of a wise man: a short life will be sufficient to evince him a man of honour and virtue: when he ceases to be such, he has lived too long; and while he is such, it is of little importance to him how long he shall be so, if he is to continue so to the end of his life : "For,” as it has been admirably observed, “honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by length of years; but wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age" Præteritos dies et tutos respicit annos; Nec metuit Lethes jam propriores aquas : Ampliat ætatis spatium sibi vir bonus; hoc est MARTIAL. |