Cicero’s treatise On Old Age offers an optimistic account of aging and responds to
the prejudiced arguments of those who might otherwise ridicule older members of Roman
society. While Cicero’s rhetoric is, at times, scientifically naive and moralistic, this essay argues
that there are important insights that can be gained from carefully theorizing later life as a
distinct and valuable stage of human existence – a stage of life that ought not be reduced to a
mere proxy for health risk. A careful analysis provides insight into the conditions for flourishing
in later life notwithstanding a more pronounced expression of the aging process. Some scholars
downplay possibilities for agency and meaning in later life and foreground dignity as an
overarching value for old age. We argue, however, that agency and meaning are not only
possible but central in later life but must be scaffolded by social relationships that enhance
wellbeing and the pursuit and realization of life goals.