BOOK VII. xLix. 160-163 



116 years can be exceeded. Also the theory handed 

 do^NTi by Petosh-is and Necepsos is still extant (it is 

 called the Theory of Quarters, from its dividing iip 

 the Zodiac into groups of three signs) ; this theory 

 shows it possible to attain 121: years of life in the 

 region of Italy. These thinkers declared that 

 nobody exceeds the ascendant measure of 90 degrees 

 (what is called ' risings '), and stated that this period 

 itself may be cut short by the encounter of male- 

 ficent stars, or even by their rays and by those of 

 the sun. Again it is uncertain what is the greatest 

 longevity allowed by the school of Aesculapius, 

 which says that fixed periods of Hfe are received froni 

 the stars ; however, they say that longer periods 

 of hfe are rare, inasmuch as vast crowds of men are 

 born at critical moments in the hours of the hmar 

 days, for example the 7th and the 15th hour counting 

 by night and day. who are liable to die under the law 

 of thc ascending scale of years, called ' gradations,' 

 persons so born rarely exceeding their fifty-fourth 

 year. 



At the outset therefore the variations in the Census-enses 

 science itself show how uncertain the matter is. ' ""■ 



In addition there are the expericnces of the last 

 census, held within the last four years by the 

 Emperors Caesar Vcspasian father and son* as 

 Censors. Nor is it necessary to ransack all the 

 records : we will only produce cases from the middle 

 region between the Apennines and the Po. Three 

 persons declared 120 years at Parma and one at 

 Brescello ; two at Parma 125; one man at Piacenza 

 and one wonian at Faenza 130 ; Lucius Terentius son 

 of Marcus at Bologna 135; Marcus Aponius 140 and 

 Tertulla 1.37 at Rimini. In the hills this side of 



615 



