584 THE MOUNTAIN. 



longest reign of any of their kings being 50 years." The 

 Chinese are said to exist forever, (probably fabulous !) tea 

 being the saving principle. The Greek, supposed by ethno- 

 logists to be very closely allied to the modern gentleman, 

 was not distinguished for longevity. They say Epimenides 

 of Crete lived to be 15T ; Democritus, "the friend and 

 searcher of nature, a man also of good temper and serene 

 mind," 109 ; Georgias of Leontium, orator, traveler, and 

 teacher of the young, 108 ; Diogenes, the tub man, 90 ; 

 Zeno, the Stoic, 100; Solon, the wise, 80; Protagoras of 

 Abdera, an orator and traveler, 90 ; Isocrates, a man of 

 great temperance and MODESTY, 98 ; Plato, the immortal, 

 81; and Pythagoras, to be "very old." This philosopher, 

 (Pythagoras,) always sound, gives us a fine schedule of hu- 

 man life. He used to divide the life of man into four equal 

 parts. " From the first to the twentieth year he called him 

 a child, a man begun ; from the twentieth to the fortieth, a 

 young man ; from the fortieth to the sixtieth, A MAN ; from 

 the sixtieth to the eightieth, an old, or declining man ; and 

 after this period he reckoned him no more among the liv- 

 ing, let him live to whatever age he might."* 



Among the Romans, fast livers, the instances of longevity 

 are not numerous or extraordinary. M. Valerius Corvinus, 

 " bold and courageous, extremely popular, and always for- 

 tunate," lived over 100 years. Orbilius, the pedagogue and 

 soldier, made his 100. Hermippus, "the instructor of young 

 maids," lived long; while Fabius the slow, and Cato, the 

 " man with iron body and iron mind, fond of country life, and 

 an enemy to physicians, each lived to be 100." Roman ladies, 

 it appears from the record, often lived long. " Terentia, the 

 wife of Cicero, notwithstanding her many misfortunes, cares, 

 and THE GOUT, with which she was tormented, lived to the 

 age of 103 ; and Li via, the wife of Augustus, an imperious 

 and passionate woman, lived 90 years." Roman actresses, 

 it seems, lived long ; one Luceja, who came on the stage 

 very young, performed a whole century, and even made her 

 * "Xenophilus lived 106 years, and Demonax above 100." 



