The New York Times, writing a few weeks ago of a new documentary on Leonard Cohen, mentioned a phrase occurring in one of his songs, "the foothills of old age". I did not read the article through, or with full attention. But it appeared that the writer, or somebody the writer interviewed, found the phrase telling.
It occurred to me that there is an expression in Homer relating thresholds to old age, γήραος οὐδός. I found that the version of Liddell and Scott available at the Perseus project regards the phrase as meaning "the threshold that is old age", the threshold, that is, leading out of life. Autenrieth's Homeric lexicon supports this reading, as does Cunliffe's. So do the notes to the Oxford World Classics edition of The Republic. On the other hand, an abridged Liddell and Scott on the shelves says "the threshold or verge of old age". W. B. Stanford leaves the question open in the notes to his edition of The Odyssey.
The majority reading--that of the unabridged Liddell and Scott, Autenrieth, and Cunliffe--is distinctly less comforting. It brings to mind Byron's reply to birthday wishes from Thomas Moore: "D--n your nel mezzo cammin--you should say 'the prime of life,' a much more consoling expression." Certainly Stanford's reading is much more consoling.
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