Codnach cách co sendata.

(sensible * everyone * until * old age)

Everyone is compos mentis until old age.

This maxim from the law tract “Bretha Nemed Toísech”(CIH 2225.25) seems to imply that senility or “leanbaíocht na haoise” (the childishness of age) was the normally expected outcome of any long life. The Laws (e.g. CIH 2106.36) actually presume legal incompetence beginning at the age of 88.

A modern quatrain (“Dánfhocail”, p. 23) expresses this expectation in these words:

Óg gach neach san aois óige,
óg arís gach seanóire;
óg deireadh aoise gach duine,
deireadh gach seanaoise óige.

Topics: Maxims & Wise Counsel