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What then? someone may say; do we not hear a soldier say in a comedy My white hair grants me henceforth full discharge?Kock, Com. Att. Frag. iii. p. 451, no. 226. Poet and play are unknown. Certainly, my friend, for the servants of Ares should properly be young and in their prime, as practising war and war’s practices baneful,Homer, Il. viii. 453. in which even if an old mans hoary hair is covered by a helmet, Yet are his limbs by unseen weight oppressed,Homer, Il. xix. 165. and though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak; but from the servants of Zeus, god of the Council, the Market-place, and the State, we do not demand deeds of hands and feet, but of counsel, foresight, and speech - not such speech as makes a roar and a clamour among the people, but that which contains good sense, prudent thought, and conservatism; and in these the hoary hair and the wrinkles that people make fun of appear as witnesses to a man’s experience and strengthen him by the aid of persuasiveness and the reputation for character. For youth is meant to obey and old age to rule, and that State is most secure Where old men’s counsels and the young men’s spears Hold highest rankPindar, Bergk-Schroeder, p. 467, no. 199 (213).; and the lines First he established a council of old men lofty in spirit Hard by the vessel of NestorHomer, Il. ii. 53. meet with wonderful approval. And therefore the Pythian Apollo named the aristocracy which was coupled with the kingship at Lacedaemon Ancients (Presbygeneas), and Lycurgus named it Elders (Gerontes), and the council at Rome is still called the Senate (body of elders). And just as the law places diadem and crown upon the head, so nature puts grey hair upon it as an honourable symbol of the high dignity of leadership. And the words geras (honour, also reward) and gerairein (venerate) retain, I believe, a meaning of veneration derived from old men (gerontes), not because they bathe in warm water or sleep in softer beds than other men, but because they hold royal rank in the States in accordance with their wisdom, the proper and perfect fruit of which, as of a late-bearing plant, nature produces after long effort in old age. At any rate when the king of kings prayed to the gods: Would that I had ten such advisers among the AchaeansHomer, Il. ii. 372. Agamemnon is the speaker. as Nestor was, not one of the martial and might-breathing Achaeans found fault with him, but all conceded that, not in civil affairs alone, but in war as well, old age has great weight; For one wise counsel over many hands Is victor,Euripides, Antiopê, Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 419, no. 200. and one sensible and persuasive expression of opinion accomplishes the greatest and most excellent public measures.
