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. 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 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
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 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, 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. 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.