Yeah, the other thing about old age is that for mages, pretty much all stats except Precision are irrelevant. Unless he loses an eye or goes blind, Old Age is almost irrelevant to a battlemage. As Egalitus ably demonstrates.
(ISTR that if you give a mage with disease from old age a ring of regeneration, he won't die as long as you keep sending him into battle.)
-Max
P.S. Aha! I always thought "lost an eye" referred to the eyeball actually falling out, but I bet in the case of old age it actually refers to cataracts.