Francis Bacon – On Youth and Age
A person who is young in years can be old in hours if they have not wasted time, but this rarely happens. Generally, youth is like the first thoughts that are not as wise as those that come after. Because there is youth of thought just like there is youth of age. Yet, the wit of young people is livelier than that of the old; and ideas swarm in their minds better, so to speak, more divinely.
Natures with a lot of fervor and strong desires and restlessness are not ready for action until they pass the zenith of their years, as was the case with Julius Caesar and Septimius Severus. The latter was said: Juventutem egit erroribus, imo furoribus plenam, that is, his youth was full of wanderings, moreover, madness. Yet, he was almost the most capable emperor of all. But calm natures can be virtuous in youth as seen from the examples of Augustus Caesar, Duke Cosimo of Florence, Gaston de Foix, and others. On the other hand, the ardor and vivacity of nature in the elderly are excellent in leading affairs. Young people are more capable of achieving than judging, more capable of executing than advising, and more capable of pursuing new ventures than performing established tasks. Because the experience of old age, in matters that fall within its bounds, guides but deceives in new things. The mistakes of young people ruin a job, but the mistakes of old people only amount to having done more or faster. In leading and managing business, young people accept more than they can handle, stir up more than they can calm, rush towards the end without considering the means or measure, hold on to a few principles they happened to come across, rashly rush into implementing changes, resulting in unexpected difficulties, immediately resort to extreme solutions, and refuse to acknowledge or let go of what doubles mistakes, like an untrained horse that won’t stop or go. Old people complain too much, think for too long, take too few risks, repent too quickly, and rarely see things through to the end. They settle for mediocre success. Of course, it is good to involve both; it is good for the present because the virtues of some can improve the shortcomings of others; it is good for the future because young people can be learners, and the old can be executors; and finally, it is good for external events because the elderly enjoy authority, while the young enjoy favor and popularity. But when it comes to the moral aspect, perhaps youth will have an advantage just as old age enjoys in politics. A certain rabbi said: “Young people will have visions, and the old will dream dreams,” concluding that young people are closer to God than the old because vision is a clearer revelation than a dream. And indeed, the more a person drinks from the world, the more it intoxicates them: old age gains more in the strength of understanding than in the virtues of will and feelings. There are those who acquire maturity too early, which quickly fades away. These are primarily those of fragile spirit, whose edge dulls quickly: such was the case with the rhetorician Hermogenes, whose books are exceptionally sharp-witted, but who later dulled. The second type consists of those who There is a certain innate inclination that is more suitable for youth than for old age, such as fluent and rich speech that goes well with youth but not with old age. As Tully says about Hortensius: “Idem manebat, neque idem decebat,” meaning “He remained the same, even though the same was no longer appropriate.” The third type are those who initially exert themselves too much and are more passionate than their years can handle.
This was the case with Scipio Africanus, about whom Livy truly says: “Ultima primis cedebant,” meaning “The end was not equal to the beginning.”