The pleasure of

growing old:
Applying discourse analysis to
Ciceros de Senectute

Not so much.

MAN IS A BEAST
Metaphor in Ciceros de Senectute

Peter Sipes
NEIU Student Research Symposium
17 April 2015

Cicero

commoner
consul
pro-Republic
prodigious writer
lasting influence

Image source http://www.foreignaffairs.

com/articles/137527/quintus-tullius-cicero-and-jamescarville/campaign-tips-from-cicero

de Senectute

Cato Maior de Senectute

dialog
44 BC
Ben Franklin printed first
American- printed
translation of de Senectute

Image source http://employees.oneonta.

edu/farberas/arth/marginal_matters/walters_265_decorator.html

Metaphor
Method of
comparison in
language

Image source: https://www.haikudeck.

com/shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summers-daysonnet18-education-presentation-ADXJJbccch

Metaphor in ordinary language

It is everywhere
It is basic to language
ahead
behind
handle
hamstring

Lakoff and Johnson

Things are looking up.
Profits are up.
On the up and up.
On the down low.
Down in the dumps.
Broken down.

Lakoff and Johnson

Things are looking up.
Profits are up.
On the up and up.

GOOD IS UP

On the down low.

Down in the dumps.
Broken down.

BAD IS DOWN

Sjblads analysis
Ciceros language in de Senectute is largely metaphorically consistent
with the rest of Latin and, interestingly, that of English.
THE MIND IS A BODY

SIGNIFICANT IS BIG

LIFE IS A JOURNEY

TALENT IS LIGHT

STATES ARE LOCATIONS

FAME IS LIGHT

PURPOSES ARE DESTINATIONS

LIFE IS HEAT

ABSTRACT ENTITIES ARE

PHYSICAL OBJECTS

UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING

DIFFICULTIES ARE BURDENS

UNDERSTANDING IS GRASPING

One is missing
59. ..quoniam virtuti tuae
fortuna coniuncta est
59. ...since fortune is joined
to your (manly) virtue

27. Ne nunc quidem vires

desidero adulescentis... non
plus quam adulescens tauri
aut elephanti desiderabam.
27. Nor do I now desire the
strength of youth any
more than as a youth I
desired that of a bull or
elephant.

MAN IS A BEAST
14. Sicut fortis equus,
spatio qui saepe supremo
Vicit Olympia, nunc senio
confectus quiescit.
14. Just like a strong horse
winning the Olympics in the
last lap, he rests all wasted
by old age.

39. ...cuius voluptatis

avidae libidines temere et
ecfrenate ad potiendum
incitarentur.
39. ...whose greedy
pleasure drives the
passions to enslavement in
a reckless and unbridled
way.

Final thought
nemo enim est tam senex qui se annum non
putet posse vivere. (24)
No one is so old they dont think they can live
another year.