_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.