Fovvre seuerall treatises of M. Tullius Cicero conteyninge his most learned and eloquente discourses of frendshippe: oldage: paradoxes: and Scipio his dreame. All turned out of Latine into English, by Thomas Newton.

The Preface.

O Titus, if I ease thee of that payne, And heauy care, which doth thee nòw annoye, And makes thine heart, ful pensiue to remain, Shal I herein my labour wel employe?

FOR in speaking vnto thee (Freende Atticus) I dare bee bolde to vse the same verses, which that worthye* Poet, * 1.1 (not greatly wallowing in wealth, but fullye fraught with faithfulnesse) vseth in spea∣king to Flaminius: albeit I am well assured (frend Attic{us}) that thou art not so disqui∣eted night and daye, as Flaminius was: for I doe knowe the moderation, and quiet stay of thy mynde. And that thou hast brought home with thee from Athens, not onelye thy* Syrname, but curtesie also, and Pru∣dence. * 1.2 And yet I suspecte, that nowe and

then, thou art sore troubled in mynde, for the same* matters that I my selfe am.

The Cōsolatiō whereof is great & ther∣fore * 1.3 to bee differred till another time. At this presēt, I thought it best to wryte some little Treatise vnto thee, cōcerning Olde∣age: because I would haue, both thee & my selfe eased of this heauye burden of Olde∣age, which is commune and indifferent to mee, aswell as to thee, and hath nowe ey∣ther catched holde of vs alreadye, or else ere it bee longe, wyll come vppon vs.

Notwithstandinge, I well knowe that thou doest and wilt take the same modestly, and wiselye as thou doest all other thin∣ges.

But when as I purposed with my selfe to wryte somewhat of Oldeage, thou camest into my remembrance, as a man worthy of such a gyft, which both of vs, might ioynt∣lye and commonlye enioye.

As for my part I promise thee, the pen∣ninge of this Booke, was such a delectati∣on vnto mee, that it did not onelye cleane wype away all the encombraunces and dis∣commodities of myne Oldeage from mee:

but rather made myne Oldeage vnto me, pleasaunte, and delectable. Therefore Philosophy can neuer be suffyciently pray∣sed: whose Preceptes and Rules, who so e∣uer obayeth, may passe the whole time of his Age, without anye griefe or trouble. But of those other poyntes, we haue heretofore, and shall hereafter speake.

And wee doe attribute the whole dys∣course, not to Tithonus, as Aristo Chi∣us did, least as in a fayned Fable the whole Discourse shoulde carye the lesse credite: but vnto Olde Marcus Cato: to the ende the Treatise might carye the greater Au∣thoritie. With whom wee doe introduce Laelius and Scipio, meruaylinge to see him so patientlye to tolerate his Oldeage, and his aunswere to them agayne. Whom if thou thincke more learnedlye heere to dispute, then in his owne woorkes hee was accustomed, impute the cause to his skil∣fulnesse in the Greeke Tongue, whereof it is well knowen that in his Oldeage he was verye studious,

But to what purpose, shoulde wee make anye moe woordes? For all that wee haue

to saye concerning Oldeage, the Discourse of Cato himselfe shall manifestly declare.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Ennius.
• * 1.2

  Because he vvas called At¦ticus.
• * 1.3

  For the Ciuile dis¦cension.