234 History of Nature. [BooK VII. 







CHAPTER XLVIII. 

 Of the longest Extent of Life. 



THE extent and duration of Man's Life are rendered 

 uncertain, not only by the Situation of Places, but also from 

 Examples, and the peculiar lot of his Nativity. Hesiod, 

 the first Writer who has treated on this Subject, in his Fabu- 

 lous Discourse (as I regard it), embracing many things about 

 the Age of Man, saith that a Crow lives nine times as long 

 as we ; the Stags four times as long as the Crow ; and the 

 Ravens thrice as long as they. And his other remarks about 

 the Nymphs and the Phoenix are still more Fabulous. Ana- 

 creon the Poet, assigneth to Arganthonius, King of the 

 Tartessi, 150 Years : and to Cyniras, King of the Cypri, ten 

 Years longer : to JEgimius, 200. Theopompus affirmeth, that 

 Epimenides, the Gnossian, died when he was 157 Years old. 

 Hellanicus hath Written, that among the Epii, in ^Etolia, 

 there are some who continue full 200 Years : and with him 

 agreeth Damastes ; adding also, that there was one Pic- 

 tor eus among them, a Man of exceeding Stature, and very 

 Strong, who lived even to 300 Years. Ephorus saith, that 

 the Kings of Arcadia usually lived to 300 Years. Alexander 

 Cornelius writeth of one Dando in Illyrica, who lived 500 

 Years. Xenophon in his " Periplus," maketh mention of a 

 King of a People upon the Sea-coasts, who lived 600 Years : 

 and as if he had not lied enough already, he saith, that his 

 Son came to 800. All these strange reports proceed from 

 ignorance of the times past, for some reckoned the Summer 

 for one Year, and the Winter for another. Others reckoned 

 every Quarter for a Year, as the Arcadians, whose Year was 

 but three Months. Some, as the Egyptians, count every 

 change of the Moon for a Year ; and therefore some of them 

 are reported to have lived 1000 Years. But to pass to 

 things acknowledged as true, it is almost certain, that Argan- 

 thonius, King of Calais, reigned 80 Years ; and it is supposed 

 that he was 40 Years old when he began to Reign. It is 

 undoubted, that Masanissa reigned 60 Years ; and also that 



