He whom the gods love dies young, while he is in health, has his senses and his judgments sound.

The line expresses an ancient Mediterranean commonplace: an early death can be construed as a kind of divine favor, sparing a person the degradations of prolonged illness, mental decline, or moral compromise. The added clauses (“in health…senses and judgments sound”) sharpen the idea into a consolation: dying young is not tragic if it occurs before the body and mind deteriorate. In Plautine terms, the sentiment can function as a pointed, even ironic, observation about fortune and human vulnerability—suggesting that what people call “blessed” may be indistinguishable from what they fear, depending on how one frames the end of life.