Macrobii

Nestor, you know, the wisest of the Achaeans, outlasted three genera- tions, Homer says: [*](Il, 1, 250; Odyss. 3, 245.) and he tells us that he was splendidly trained. in mind and in body. ‘Likewise Teiresias the seer outlasted six generations, tragedy says:[*](The source is unknown.) and one may well believe that a man consecrated to the gods, following a simpler diet, lives very long.

Moreover, it is related that, owing to their diet, whole castes of men live long like the so-called scribes in Egypt, the story-tellers in Syria and Arabia, and the so-called Brahmins in India, men scrupulously attentive to philosophy. Also the so-called Magi, a prophetic caste consecrated to the gods, dwelling among the Persians, the Parthians, the Bactrians, the Chorasmians, the Arians, the Sacae, the Medes and many other barbarian peoples, are strong and long-lived, on account of practising magic, for they diet very scrupulously.

Indeed, there are even whole nations that are very long-lived, like the Seres, who are said to live three hundred years: some attribute their old age to the climate, others to the soil and still others to their diet, for they say that this entire nation drinks nothing but water. The people of Athos are also said to live a hundred and thirty years, and it is reported that the Chaldeans live more than a hundred, using barley bread to preserve the sharpness of their eyesight. They say, too, that on account of this diet their other faculties are more vigorous than those of the rest of mankind.

But this must suffice in regard to the long-lived castes and nations who are said to exist for a very long period either on account of their soil and climate, or of their diet, or of both. I can fittingly show you that your good hopes are of easy attainment by recounting that on every soil and in every clime men who observe the proper exercise and the diet most suitable for health have been long-lived.

I shall base the principal division of my treatise on their pursuits, and shall first tell you of the kings and the generals, one of whom the gracious dispensation of a great and godlike emperor has brought to the highest rank, thereby conferring a mighty boon upon the emperor’s world. [*](The man is unknown: the emperor has been thought to be Antoninus Pius, Caracalla, and many another. The language, which suggests a period much later than Lucian, is so obscure that the meaning is doubtful.) In this way it will be possible for you, observing your similarity to these octogenarians in condition and fortune, to have better expectations of a healthy and protracted old age, and by imitating them in your way of living to make your life at once long and healthy in a high degree.

Numa Pompilius, most fortunate of the kings of Rome and most devoted to the worship of the gods, is said to have lived more than eighty years. Servius Tullius, also a king of Rome, is likewise related to have lived more than eighty years. Tarquinius, the last king of Rome, who was driven into exile

These are the kings of Rome, to whom I shall join such other kings as have attained great age, and after them others arranged according to their various walks of life. In conclusion I shall record for you the other Romans . who have attained the greatest age, adding also those who have lived longest in the rest of Italy. The list will be a competent refutation of those who attempt to malign our climate here; and so we may have better hopes for the fulfilment of our prayers that the lord of every land and sea may reach a great and peaceful age, sufficing unto the demands of his world even in advanced years.

Arganthonius, king of the Tartessians, lived a hundred and fifty years according to Herodotus the historian and Anacreon the song-writer, [*](Our author did not verify his references. Herodotus (1, 163) says one hundred and twenty, Anacreon (frg. 8) one hundred and fifty.) but some consider this a fable. Agathocles, tyrant of Sicily, died at ninety, as Demochares and Timaeus [*](Timaeus, as quoted in Diodorus (21, 16, 5) said seventy-two.) tell us. Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, died of an illness at the age of ninety-two, after having been ruler for seventy years, as Demetrius of Callatia and others say. Ateas, king of the Scythians, fell in battle against Philip near the river Danube at an age of more than ninety years. Bardylis, king of the

Antigonus One-eye, son of Philip, and king of Macedonia, died in Phrygia in battle against Seleucus and Lysimachus, with many wounds, at eighty-one: so we are told by Hieronymus, who made the campaign with him. Lysimachus, king of Macedonia, also lost his life in the battle with Seleucus in his eightieth year, as the same Hieronymus says. There was also an Antigonus who was son of Demetrius and grandson of Antigonus One-eye: he was king of Macedonia for forty-four years and lived eighty, as Medeius and other writers say. So too Antipater, son of Iolaus, who had great power and was regent for many kings of Macedonia, was over eighty when he died.