Laudator Temporis Acti

Plutarch, Should Old Men Take Part in Affairs of State? 18 (Moralia 793d; tr. Harold North Fowler):

But for a very aged man that love of office which invariably offers itself as a candidate at every election, that busy restlessness which lies in wait for every opportunity offered by court of justice or council of State, and that ambition which snatches at every ambassadorship and at every precedence in legal matters, are, even if you eliminate the discredit attached to them, toilsome and miserable.

πρεσβύτῃ δὲ κομιδῇ, κἂν τὸ ἄδοξον ἀφέλῃς, ἐπίπονος καὶ ταλαίπωρος ἡ πρὸς πᾶν μὲν ἀεὶ κληρωτήριον ἀπαντῶσα φιλαρχία, παντὶ δ᾽ ἐφεδρεύουσα δικαστηρίου καιρῷ καὶ συνεδρίου πολυπραγμοσύνη, πᾶσαν δὲ πρεσβείαν καὶ προδικίαν ὑφαρπάζουσα φιλοτιμία.

The same, tr. Jeffrey Beneker:

But for the older person—even if you disregard the bad reputation earned by such an attitude—the love of holding office that asserts itself at every election, the meddlesomeness that watches for every opportunity to appear in court or at a council meeting, and the love of honor that grasps at every embassy and guardianship, all of this is wearying and miserable.