Chap. 50.] 
THE YAEIETT OE DESTINIES. 
205 
First of all, however, it must strike us that the variations 
which have taken place in this science prove its uncertainty ; 
and to this consideration may be added the experience of the 
very last census, which was made four years ago, under the 
direction of the Emperors Yespasian, father and son.^^ I shall 
not search through the registers I shall only cite some in- 
stances in the middle district that lies betvv^een the Apennines 
and the river Padus. At Parma, three persons declared them- 
selves to be one hundred and twenty years of age ; at Brixel- 
lum,'^ one was one hundred and twenty-five ; at Parma, two 
were one hundred and thirty ; at Placentia, one was one hun- 
dred and thirty ; at Eaventia, one woman was one hundred and 
thirt^^-two ; at Bononia, L. Terentius, the son of Marcus, 
and at Ariminum, M. Aponius, were one hundred and forty, 
and Tertulla, one hundred and thirty-seven. In the hills 
which lie around Placentia is the town of Yeleiacium,^^ in 
which six persons gave in their ages as one hundred and ten 
years, and four one hundred and twenty, while one person, M. 
Mucins, the son of Marcus, surnamed Eelix, and of the Galerian 
tribe, was aged one hundred and forty. I^ot, however, to 
dwell upon what is generally admitted, in the eighth region of 
Italy, there appeared by the register, to be fifty-four persons of 
cording to a proportional series of numbers;" the multiples of 7 have 
been generally supposed to be the critical periods of human life, and, more 
especially, 63, or 9 times 7, which was accordingly termed " the grand 
climacteric." — B. 
68 This census appears to have taken place a.d. 74, under the fifth con- 
sulship of Vespasian, and the third of Titus ; according to Censorinus, it 
was the last of which we have any distinct account. — B. 
69 Vasaria it is said, by the commentators, to be a term of German 
origin, derived from a word which signified the bark of a tree. It does not 
appear, however, from what cause it was appropriated to the sense in which 
it is used by Pliny. The word is found in Cicero's oration against Piso, 
sec. 35 ; but is there appUed to a totally different object. — B. 
■'^^ Now Brigella or BresccUa. Parma still retains its ancient name, 
Placentia is now Piacenza, and Faventia the modern Faenza. 
71 Probably the same as the Yelia, mentioned by Phlegon Trallianus as 
famous for the longevity of its inhabitants. 
"^'^ " Marcus Mucins, M. Filius, Galeria, Felix." It has been doubted by 
the commentators, whether the word Galeria refers to the name of the mo- 
ther of Mucins, or to the tribe to which he belonged. The latter is, perhaps, 
the more natural interpretation. Hardouin and Ajasson, however, adopt 
the opinion, that Galeria was the mother of Marcus; Lemaire, vol. iii. 
pp. 191, 192. ^Ve meet with a precisely similar construction of words in 
Cicero, 9th Philip, sec. 7 ; " Ser. Sulpicius, Q. Filius, Lemonia Rufus.*' — B. 
