Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.
Prolonged posterity is a blessing, its cutting off a curse (Pro 13:22; Psa 109:13-15), hence children may glory in virtuous ancestry.
Grandchildren crown the old when they walk in virtue and advance their family's name, and children honor their fathers by bearing their legacy well. Those unnatural enough to resent aged parents miss the point entirely: wise children find it their greatest dignity to comfort those who bore them.
AI summary
The grey-haired patriarch wears a crown when children and grandchildren surround him, while children gain honor from bearing a father's respected name. Inherited nobility flows from this natural order, which no man can wholly abnegate, for he remains part of the moral structure of the world.
AI summary