Thursday, May 04, 2017
Angry Old Men
Scholiast on Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 954 = Suda Θ 574 (tr. David A. Campbell):
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This is also a proverb, 'anger is the last of a man to grow old', applied to older men, since the older they are, the stronger their anger. Alcaeus [fragment 442] mentions it as being of general application.Erasmus (Adagia I vii 13) translates the proverb as "Ira omnium tardissime senescit."
τοῦτο δὲ καὶ παροιμιακῶς λέγεται, ὅτι ὁ θυμὸς ἔσχατον γηράσκει. λέγεται δὲ διὰ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους. ὅσῳ γὰρ γηράσκουσι τὸν θυμὸν ἐρρωμενέστερον ἔχουσι. καὶ Ἀλκαῖος ὡς λεγομένου κατὰ τὸ κοινὸν αὐτοῦ μιμνήσκεται.