In addition to learning that Alma's sons begin to preach to the people, we find that "Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth" (Alma 43:1). According to Brant Gardner, we do not learn the reason that Mormon specifically says that Alma "could not rest." However, the fact that he had recently concluded his blessing and admonitions to his sons suggests that he had some cognizance that the end of his time was approaching. There is nothing in the character of Alma as we know him that suggests he would have retired to a life of luxury, yet he still would have felt the effects of his age. Although we can only approximate Alma's age, we know that his father would have been approximately 83 when he died. We might expect that Alma the Younger had been his first born son, with a logical birth date in his father's early twenties if not late teens. If we use twenty years as a plausible age for Alma the Elder when Alma the Younger was born, we have Alma the Younger being 77 years old at this point in time. [Brant Gardner, "Book of Mormon Commentary," at [http://www.frontpage2k.nmia.com/~nahualli/LDStopics/Alma/Alma43.htm], p. 1]