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Audiobook edition · 3 h 21 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if growing old need not mean becoming useless—and friendship asks more of us than affection?
In Treatises on Friendship and Old Age, Marcus Tullius Cicero brings two lasting questions into conversation. On Old Age introduces Cato, an eighty-four-year-old farmer, soldier and senator, answering two younger men. He challenges the complaints that age ends useful work, weakens the body, takes away pleasure and brings death too close.
On Friendship turns to Gaius Laelius as he grieves his closest friend, Scipio. Asked how he bears the loss, Laelius explores what friendship is, why goodness matters and how trust should grow. Both dialogues are set in the Roman past and dedicated to Cicero’s friend Atticus. Their plain arguments and concrete examples invite you to examine your own life.
What you’ll discover
- A different view of age Hear Cato challenge the belief that later years must bring only misery.
- Useful work still matters Consider Roman examples of achievement that depends on more than youthful strength.
- Room to face death Follow Cato’s argument that death belongs to every age, not only old age.
- Friendship rooted in goodness Join Laelius in asking what makes a bond worthy of lasting trust.
- Care before trust Explore practical counsel on choosing friends carefully and keeping those friendships honest.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy Roman history, thoughtful conversation and reflections on loyalty, aging and courage will love these dialogues, especially those mourning friends or approaching later life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Grief can live beside gratitude
- Friendship begins with admiration rather than need
- Loyalty must never excuse wrongdoing
- Choose carefully and speak with kindness
- Character shapes the experience of age
- Judgment remains active as strength changes
- Changing desires make room for enjoyment
- Death belongs within the natural course
- A good life rests on habits
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Treatises on Friendship and Old Age
Laelius mourns Scipio and Cato defends his eighty-four years, two Roman voices on love and time.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What does it feel like to lose the one person who understood you completely? A few days after Scipio Africanus dies, his closest friend Gaius Laelius sits with his two sons-in-law.
Treatises on Friendship and Old Age at a glance
- Reading time
- About 1 h 45 min1 h 25 min fast, 2 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 25,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Laelius mourns Scipio without despair or pretense
Cicero opens On Friendship by saying how he came to know the talk. As a young man he sat beside the augur Quintus Mucius Scaevola, who had heard Laelius speak a few days after Scipio died. Cicero writes it as a live conversation.
The scene begins with a puzzle. People call Laelius the wise, and they wonder how a wise man bears such a loss. Laelius waves the title aside and admits plainly that he feels grief. Pretending otherwise would be a lie.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
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- Reading time
- 2 h 10 min
- Level
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Cite this edition
Marcus Tullius Cicero. Treatises on Friendship and Old Age. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/treatises-on-friendship-and-old-age.
Marcus Tullius Cicero. (2026). Treatises on friendship and old age. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/treatises-on-friendship-and-old-age
Marcus Tullius Cicero. Treatises on Friendship and Old Age. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/treatises-on-friendship-and-old-age.
@book{cicero2026treatises,
author = {Marcus Tullius Cicero},
title = {Treatises on Friendship and Old Age},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/treatises-on-friendship-and-old-age}
}
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What is Cicero's On Friendship about?
It is a conversation in which Gaius Laelius, grieving his friend Scipio, explains what friendship is, where it comes from, how to choose friends, what to ask of them, and why truth and virtue must stand at its center.
Who is Cato in On Old Age?
Cato is Marcus Cato the Elder, a Roman statesman and farmer. Cicero makes him the speaker, an old man in his eighty-fourth year who explains to young Scipio and Laelius why old age does not trouble him.
What are the four reasons Cato gives for why people fear old age?
Cato says people think old age keeps us from active work, weakens the body, takes away physical pleasures, and brings us close to death. He answers each charge in turn, using examples from Roman and Greek life.
The author
Marcus Tullius Cicero
106 BC–42 BC · Roman statesman, orator and philosopher
Roman statesman, lawyer, orator, and philosopher.
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