But the ministers of Zeus—the God of Council, of Assembly, of the State—are not asked for deeds of hand and foot, but for counsel and foresight. We ask them for advice, not such as to evoke roars of mere noise in the Assembly, but full of sense and shrewdness, and safe to follow. In their case the despised white hair and wrinkles become the visible tokens of experience. They suggest moral force, and are therefore a help to persuasion. [Sidenote: E] It is the part of youth to obey; of old age to guide; and that state is safest where _Best are the old men’s counsels, And best the young man’s spear._ Homer’s _And first he summon’d to council the old men mighty-hearted By the side of the ship of Nestor_, is a touch greatly admired. For the same reason the Select Board associated with the kings at Sparta was called by the Pythian oracle ‘elder-born’, but by Lycurgus ‘old men’ _sans phrase_, while the Roman Council is called _Senatus_ down to the present time. The law crowns a man with the circlet and the wreath, Nature crowns him with grey hair, and both are the venerable emblems of sovereign rank. Moreover, the words [Sidenote: F] _geras_, ‘prerogative,’ and _gerairein_, ‘honour with prerogative’—derived from _geron_, ‘old man’—retain a dignified sense, not because the old man’s bath is warmed and his bed a softer one, but because he amounts to a king in the state by virtue of his wisdom; and wisdom is like a late-fruiting plant, it is only in old age that nature brings out its special excellence and perfect quality. When the king of kings prayed to the gods _Would that among the Achaeans were ten such as he to advise me!_ [Sidenote: 790] —meaning Nestor—not one of the ‘_valorous_’ and ‘_prowess-breathing_’ Achaeans complained. They all admitted that not only in statesmanship, but in war also, age was of great moment, since _More worth is one sage thought than many a hand_, and one rational and cogent judgement achieves the finest and most important results in public affairs. Now kingship, the most complete and comprehensive form of public activity, is full of cares, labours, and preoccupations. Seleucus, it was said, used to declare that if ordinary people knew what a business it was merely to write and read so many letters, they would not pick up the crown if they found it [Sidenote: B] lying in the street. And the story goes that, when Philip was proposing to encamp in an excellent position, but was told that there was no fodder for the pack-animals, he exclaimed: ‘Good Heavens! what is our life worth, when we are obliged to suit it to the convenience of our asses?’ Ought we then to give the same advice to a king when he has grown old? Bid him lay aside the crown and the purple, take to a cloak and a crutched stick, and live in the country, for fear people should think it officious and unseasonable of him to be reigning when he is grey?