How to Grow Old

Written in 44 BC under the title On Old Age, Cicero's short work takes on the chief fears people have about aging and argues that they are exaggerated or simply mistaken. The Roman orator and statesman describes how the second half of life can be its best part, and suggests that reading and gardening may bring more pleasure than sex ever did. Readers from Saint Augustine to Thomas Jefferson have valued the text; Montaigne said it gives one an appetite for growing old, and John Adams returned to it again and again late in life. This edition offers a new translation and introduction, with the original Latin printed on facing pages.

Ryan Holiday named Princeton University Press's new translations of Cicero, Epictetus and Seneca among the best books he read in 2018.