His love of conversation, his affection, his indifference to riches, even his garrulity, are interesting traits of character.

He is not one of those who have nothing to say, because their whole mind has been absorbed in making money.

Yet he acknowledges that riches have the advantage of placing men above the temptation to dishonesty or falsehood.

The respectful attention shown to him by Socrates, whose love of conversation, no less than the mission imposed upon him by the Oracle, leads him to ask questions of all men, young and old alike, should also be noted.

Who better suited to raise the question of justice than Cephalus, whose life might seem to be the expression of it?
The moderation with which old age is pictured by Cephalus as a very tolerable portion of existence is characteristic, not only of him, but of Greek feeling generally, and contrasts with the exaggeration of Cicero in the De Senectute.