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Essay XLII: Of Youth And Age
Essay XLII: Of Youth And Age
A man that is young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no
time. But that happeneth rarely. Generally, youth is like the first
cogitations, not so wise as the second. For there is a youth in thoughts, as
well as in ages. And yet the invention of young men is more lively than that
of old; and imaginations stream into their minds better, and as it were more
divinely. Natures that have much heat and great and violent desires and
perturbations are not ripe for action till they have passed the meridian of
their years; as it was with Julius Caesar and Septimius Severus. Of the latter
of whom it is said, Juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus, plenam [He
passed a youth full of errors, yea of madnesses]. And yet he was the ablest
emperor, almost, of all the list. But reposed natures may do well in youth.
As it is seen in Augustus Caesar, Cosmus Duke of Florence, Gaston de Foix,
and others. On the other side, heat and vivacity in age is an excellent
composition for business. Young men are fitter to invent than to judge;
fitter for execution than for counsel; and fitter for new projects than for
settled business. For the experience of age, in things that fall within the
compass of it, directeth them; but in new things, abuseth ^1 them. The errors
of young men are the ruin of business; but the errors of aged men amount but
to this, that more might have been done, or sooner. Young men, in the conduct
and manage of actions, embrace more than they can hold; stir more than they
can quiet; fly to the end, without consideration of the means and degrees;
pursue some few principles which they have chanced upon absurdly; care not
to ^2 innovate, which draws unknown inconveniences; use extreme remedies at
first; and that which doubleth all errors will not acknowledge or retract
them; like an unready ^3 horse, that will neither stop nor turn. Men of age
object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and
seldom drive business home to the full period, ^4 but content themselves with
a mediocrity of success. Certainly it is good to compound employments of
both; for that will be good for the present, because the virtues of either
age may correct the defects of both; and good for succession, that young men
may be learners, while men in age are actors; and, lastly, good for extern
accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favor and popularity
youth. But for the moral part, perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence, as
age hath for the politic. A certain rabbin, upon the text, Your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, inferreth that young
men are admitted nearer to God than old, because vision is a clearer
revelation than a dream. And certainly, the more a man drinketh of the world,
the more it intoxicateth; and age doth profit rather in the powers of
understanding, than in the virtues of the will and affections. There be some
have an over-early ripeness in their years, which fadeth betimes. These are,
first, such as have brittle wits, the edge whereof is soon turned; such as
was Hermogenes the rhetorician, whose books are exceeding subtle; who
afterwards waxed stupid. A second sort is of those that have some natural
dispositions which have better grace in youth than in age; such as is a
fluent and luxuriant speech; which becomes youth well, but not age: so Tully
saith of Hortensius, Idem manebat, neque idem decebat [He continued the same,
when the same was not becoming]. The third is of such as take too high a
strain at the first, and are magnanimous more than tract of years can uphold.
As was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith in effect, Ultima primis cedebant
[His last actions were not equal to his first].
[Footnote 1: Deceiveth.]
[Footnote 2: Are reckless in innovating,]
[Footnote 3: Badly trained.]
[Footnote 4: Completion.]
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