Cicero's letter to my mother

Bust of Cicero. Capitoline Museums.

Last week I sent my mother the joke of the year on WhatsApp, “December 25th.

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom ”but he was not amused:“ At my age every year means one year less.

To yours is still one more ”, he said.

I tried to console her without success, because as Martha Nussbaum explains, to speak convincingly about old age, at least you have to get close to it.

Then it occurred to me to ask Cicero, my old colleague, for help.

I thought that the author of

, the apology for old age written more than 2000 years ago, could comfort her better than I could.

As expected, Cicero has not played ...

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