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.