Pliny (PLIN-ee) the Younger lived from 61/62 to 113 C.E. He wrote this letter after visiting a wealthy friend. I do not think I have ever spent a more delightful time than during my recent visit to Spurinna's house; indeed I enjoyed myself so much that if it is my fortune to grow old, there is no one whom I should prefer to take as my model in old age . . . For while one is young a little disorder and rush- so to speak- is not unbecoming; but for old folks . . . a [peaceful] and well-ordered life is highly suitable. That is the principle upon which Spurinna acts . . . In the morning . . . at the second hour [after sunrise] he calls for his shoes and walks three miles, exercising mind as well as body. If he has friends with him, the time passed in conversation on the noblest of themes, otherwise a book is read aloud . . . Then he sits down, and there is more talk . . .; afterward he enters his carriage, taking with him either his wife . . . or one of his friends . . . After riding seven miles he walks another mile, then resume his seat, or betakes himself to his room and his pen; for he composes, both in Latin and Greek, the most scholarly [poems] . . . Then he plays at ball for a long spell, throwing himself heartily into the game, for it is by means of this kind of active exercise that he battles with old age . . . After his bath he lies and waits a little while before taking food . . . Then dinner is often relieved by actors of comedy, . . . Even in the summer the meal lasts well into the night, but no one finds it long, for it has kept up with such good humor and charm.