HISTORICAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON

ROMAN ATTITUDES TOWARD OLD AGE

The Romans had a different view of old age and retirement compared to today. It is
hard to say when old age began in Roman society; only the army distinguished between
younger and older for active military service. Seniores, men over the age of forty-six,
were only called up to active duty in extreme cases. Except for this situation, reaching a
certain age did not require a person to step down from a job.
Fifty percent of Roman children didn't live past their third year. Many adults did not
live to fifty. But those of the upper class who did live past fifty had some good things to
look forward to. That was not the case for the lower-class people. Most of them died
young or, by the time they reached old age, were worn out and crippled from years of
hard work. The upper classes - the senatorial and equestrian classes- had the money and
privilege that allowed them an easier lifestyle. If they reached fifty, they enjoyed a life
of leisure.
There were no maximum age limits for magistrates. They had to be forty or over to hold
positions of authority. Senators (in earlier times), had to be forty as well, although in the
last century of the republic they could have been as young as thirty. Maturity was a
necessary requirement for appointment to high government offices. The Romans did not
view old age as a handicap, and older people had a vital role to play in society. They
were viewed as citizens who had gained wisdom through experience.
Roman society treated elders with respect. People would make way for them in public,
stand up when they entered a room, provide escorts for them on trips, and accompany
them when they went to their homes. They would always turn to them for advice.
Women often commanded respect. The Vestal Virgins were vitally important in Roman
religion, and the independent wealth of Roman matrons figured importantly in the
finances of the early Christian church.
The Romans also held admiration for the men who were healthy and strong and who
showed self-control and practiced a physical exercise regimen. Romans who lived to
old age tended to be lean and in good physical shape. Romans who became fat and
flabby were considered to be in ill health that resulted from a soft and lazy life. As one
historian puts it, "The obese died young and discredited."
The view of retirement in ancient Rome, at least for the upper class, was in some ways
similar to that of senior citizens today. Elderly citizens of Rome generally preferred the
private life to the public one, with all of its stresses and hard work. They wanted to take
it easy and relax. They would leave their sons to continue on in the Senate or in private
business. Most would move to one of their country villas and enjoy watching the
animals. "He put away his toga and donned broad tunics, comfortable cloaks and hats to
ward off sun and rain," says one historian.
1

EXCERPTS FROM CICERO, ON OLD AGE

I can point out to you Roman farmers in the Sabine country, friends and neighbors of
mine, who are scarcely ever absent from the field while the more important operations
of husbandry, as sowing, reaping, and storing the crops, are going on. Although this
interest of theirs is less remarkable in the case of annual crops, for no one is so old as to
think that he cannot live one more year, yet these same men labor at things which they
know will not profit them in the least. "He plants the trees to serve another age," as [the
poet] Caecilius says.
What you say is true, Cato; but perhaps someone may reply that old age seems more
tolerable to you because of your resources, means, and social positions, and that these
are advantages which cannot fall to the lot of many.
A pleasure, rather than a bore, say I. For just as wise men, when they are old, take
delight in the society of youths endowed with sprightly wit, and the burdens of age are
rendered lighter to those who are courted and highly esteemed by the young, so young
men find pleasure in their elders, by whose precepts they are led into virtue's paths; nor
indeed do I feel that I am any less of a pleasure to you than you are to me. But you see
how old age, so far from being feeble and inactive, is even busy and is always doing
and effecting something-that is to say, something of the same nature in each case as
were the pursuits of earlier years. And what of those who even go on adding to their
store of knowledge? Such was the case with Solon, whom we see boasting in his verses
that he grows old learning something every day. And I have done the same, for in my
old age I have learned Greek, which I seized upon as eagerly as if I had been desirous
of satisfying a long-continued thirst, with the result that I have acquired firsthand the
information which you see me using in this discussion by way of illustration. And when
I read what Socrates had done in the case of the lyre, an instrument much cultivated by
the ancients, I should have liked to do that too, if I could; but in literature I have
certainly labored hard.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius. De Senectute, De Amicitus, De Divinatione. Translated by William Armistead Falconer. London:
W. Heinemann, 1923. Print. 17, 33,35.

Table Talk: Based upon specific examples found in the lectures, Cornell Notes and PSDs (Primary
Source Documents) of Rome, and based upon specific examples found in the play Julius Caesar,
develop an assertion (thesis) of Roman societys view of the elderly. Further, bullet point at least four
(4) pieces of evidence that you would use to defend your assertion, should you be asked to write a
paragraph concerning this topic: