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[63]
For
those very things, that seem light and trivial, are
marks of honour—the morning visit, being sought
after, being made way for, having people rise at one's
approach, being escorted to and from the forum,
being asked for advice—civilities most scrupulously
observed among us and in every other state in
proportion as its morals are good. Moreover,
Lysander, the Spartan, of whom I just now spoke,
is reported to have said more than once that in
Sparta old age has its most fitting abode; because
nowhere else is so much deference paid to age and
nowhere else is it more honoured. For example,
there is a story that when an old man entered the
theatre at Athens during the dramatic performances,
not one of his countrymen in that vast crowd offered
him a place; but when he came to the special seats
occupied by the Lacedaemonians and assigned to
them because they were ambassadors, all of them
arose, it is said, and invited him to sit down.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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