(b). Old men, especially those of learning and culture, ought not to fear death 70-76 Because, that which is according to nature is good, and it is natural for old men to die (70-73); the process of dying is brief and almost painless (74); even young men and those without learning often set the example of despising death (75); and old age, just as the other periods of life, has finally its season of ripeness and satiety (76). (c). Death is probably the gateway to a happy immortality 77-85 Tending towards proof of this are the arguments stated in Plato; viz. the rapidity of the mind's action, its powers of memory and invention, its self-activity, indivisible nature and pre-existence (78); also the arguments, attributed to Cyrus, based upon the soul's immateriality, the posthumous fame of great men and the likeness of death to sleep (79-81); the instinctive belief in immortality, so strong as even to form an incentive for action (82); and, finally, the speaker's own longing after immortality and hope of union with those whom he once knew and loved (83-85). * * * * * CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE * * * * * M. TULLI CICERONIS CATO MAIOR DE SENECTUTE. * * * * * 1 _O Tite, si quid ego adiuero curamve levasso_ _quae nunc te coquit et versat in pectore fixa,_ _ecquid erit praemi?_ Licet enim mihi versibus isdem affari te, Attice, quibus affatur Flamininum _ille vir haud magna cum re, sed plenus fidei,_ quamquam certo scio non, ut Flamininum, _sollicitari te, Tite, sic noctesque diesque,_