Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Unawares
[Plato], Axiochus 367 b (tr. Jackson P. Hershbell):
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Then old age creeps upon you unawares, into which flows everything in nature that is mortal and life-threatening. And unless you repay your life quickly, like a debt, nature stands by like a money-lender, taking security, sight from one man, hearing from another, and often both. And if you survive that, you'll be paralyzed, mutilated, and crippled. Some people are physically in their prime in great old age—and their old minds enter a second childhood.
εἶτα λαθὸν ὑπῆλθεν τὸ γῆρας, εἰς ὃ πᾶν συρρεῖ τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἐπίκηρον καὶ δυσαλθές. κἂν μή τις θᾶττον ὡς χρέος ἀποδιδῷ τὸ ζῆν, ὡς ὀβολοστάτις ἡ φύσις ἐπιστᾶσα ἐνεχυράζει τοῦ μὲν ὄψιν, τοῦ δὲ ἀκοήν, πολλάκις δὲ ἄμφω. κἂν ἐπιμείνῃ τις, παρέλυσεν, ἐλωβήσατο, παρήρθρωσεν. ἄλλοι πολυγήρως ἀκμάζουσιν, καὶ τῷ νῷ δὶς παῖδες οἱ γέροντες γίγνονται.
