Author: Cairo, María Emilia
Title: Tempora anni and Stages of human Life: Observations on a Topic in Marcus Tullius Cicero’s Cato Maior De senectute
Review/Collection: Minerva. Revista de Filología Clásica 39
Year edition: 2026
Pages: 1-14
Keywords: Philosophie - Filosofia - Philosophy, Stylistique et genres littéraires - Stilistica e generi letterari - Stylistics and literary genre
Description: The cycle of the seasons, or tempora anni, has been used in classical literature as a metaphor for the progressive stages of human life. Thus, childhood has typically been compared to spring, youth to summer, adulthood to autumn, and old age to winter. The aim of this paper is to show that in Cato Maior De senectute, Cicero introduces a variatio in the use of this trope: rather than emphasizing the parallel between old age and winter – which implies notions of stillness, barrenness, and death at this stage of life – he prefers to speak of old age as the time to reap the fruits of the virtus cultivated throughout one person’s life. [Author]
Works:
Link: https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/art_revistas/pr.20469/pr.20469.pdf
Author initials: Cairo 2026
Title: Tempora anni and Stages of human Life: Observations on a Topic in Marcus Tullius Cicero’s Cato Maior De senectute
Review/Collection: Minerva. Revista de Filología Clásica 39
Year edition: 2026
Pages: 1-14
Keywords: Philosophie - Filosofia - Philosophy, Stylistique et genres littéraires - Stilistica e generi letterari - Stylistics and literary genre
Description: The cycle of the seasons, or tempora anni, has been used in classical literature as a metaphor for the progressive stages of human life. Thus, childhood has typically been compared to spring, youth to summer, adulthood to autumn, and old age to winter. The aim of this paper is to show that in Cato Maior De senectute, Cicero introduces a variatio in the use of this trope: rather than emphasizing the parallel between old age and winter – which implies notions of stillness, barrenness, and death at this stage of life – he prefers to speak of old age as the time to reap the fruits of the virtus cultivated throughout one person’s life. [Author]
Works:
Link: https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/art_revistas/pr.20469/pr.20469.pdf
Author initials: Cairo 2026
