Old Age

Euripides, Suppliant Women 1108-1113 (tr. Edward P. Coleridge): Old age, resistless foe, how do I loathe thy presence! Them too I hate, whoso desire to lengthen out the span of life, seeking to turn the tide of death aside by philtres, drugs, and magic spells,—folk that death should take away to leave the young their place, when they no more can benefit the world. ὦ δυσπάλαιστον γῆρας, ὡς μισῶ σ᾽ ἔχων, μισῶ δ᾽ ὅσοι χρῄζουσιν ἐκτείνειν βίον, βρωτοῖσι καὶ ποτοῖσι καὶ μαγεύμασι 1110 παρεκτρέποντες ὀχετὸν ὥστε μὴ θανεῖν· οὓς χρῆν, ἐπειδὰν μηδὲν ὠφελῶσι γῆν, θανόντας ἔρρειν κἀκποδὼν εἶναι νέοις.