BOOK VII. xLvii. I52-XLVIII. 155 



XLVII. By the comniand of the same oracle and 

 \rith the assent of Jupiter the supreme deity, 

 Euthymus the boxer, who won all his matches at 

 Olympia and was only once beaten, was made a 

 saint in his lifetime and to his own knowledge. His 

 native place was Locri in Italy ; I noticed that 

 CalHmachus records as an unparalleled marvel that 

 a statue of him there and another at Olympia were 

 struck by lightning on the same day, and that the 

 oracle commanded that sacrifice should be offered 

 to him ; this was repeatedly done both during his 

 lifetime and when he was dead, and nothing 

 about it is surprising except that the gods so 

 decreed. 



XLVIII. As to the length and duration of men's iJvmnn 

 Hfe, not only geographical position but also dates and ug'^d%iT 

 the various fortunes allotted at birth to each individual ''«'■'''n'- 

 have made it uncertain. Hesiod, who first put forth 

 some observations " on this matter, placing many 

 creatures above man in respect of longevity, ficti- 

 tiously as I think, assigns nine of our Hfetimcs to the 

 crow, four times a crow's life to stags, three times a 

 stag's to ravens, and for the rest in a more fictitious 

 style in the case of the phoenix and the nymphs. The 

 poet Anacreon attributes 150 years to Arganthonius 

 king of the Tartesii, 10 years more to Cinyras king 

 of Cyprus, and 200 to Aegimius. Theopompus gives 

 157 to Epimenides of Cnossus. Hellanicus says that 

 some members of the clan of the Epii in Aetolia 

 complete 200 years, and he is supported by Damastes 

 who records that one of them, Pictoreus, a man of 

 outstanding stature and strength, even lived 300 

 years ; Ephorus records Arcadian kings of 300 years ; 

 Alexander Comehus says that a certain Dando in 



609 



