Chaps. 47-52.

Chap. 47. (46.)—Men Whom the Gods Have Pronounced to Be the Most Happy.

In reference to this point, two oracles of Delphi may come under our consideration, which would appear to have been pronounced as though in order to chastise the vanity of man. These oracles were the following: by the first, Pedius was pronounced to be the most happy of men, who had just before fallen in defence of his country. [We have no mention of Pedius, or Phedius, as he is named in some of the MSS., in any of the ancient authors. A story of the same import is related of Solon and Tellus, by Herodotus, B. i. c. 30, and by Plutarch.—B.] On the second occasion, when it had been consulted by Gyges, at that time the most powerful king in the world, it declared that Aglaüs of Psophis [A town of Arcadia. See B. iv. c. 10.] was a more happy man than himself. [This is also related by Valerius Maximus, B. vii. c. 1.—B.] This Aglaüs was an old man, who lived in a poor petty nook of Arcadia, and cultivated a small farm, though quite sufficient for the supply of his yearly wants; [This is very similar to Virgil’s beautiful description of the old man Corycius, in the Georgics, B. iv. l. 125, et seq.] he had never so much as left it, and, as was quite evident from his mode of living, his desires being of the most limited kind, he had experienced but an extremely small share of the miseries of life.

Chap. 48. (47.)—The Man Whom the Gods Ordered to Be Worshipped During His Life-time; a Remarkable Flash of Lightning.

While still surviving, and in full possession of his senses, by the command of the same oracle, and with the sanction of Jupiter, the supreme Father of the gods, Euthymus, [We have some account of Euthymus in Pausanias, B. vi., and in Ælian, Var. Hist. B. viii. c. 18.—B.] the pugilist, who had always, with one exception, been victorious in the Olympic games, was deified. He was a native of Locri, in Italy. I find that Callimachus, [It has been conjectured by Poinsinet, that the word “Callimachus” does not refer to the well-known poet of that name, nor to any other individual, but that it was the title of the president of the Olympic games. The opinion is not without plausibility, but is scarcely sanctioned by sufficient authority.—B.] considering it a more wonderful circumstance than any he had ever known, that the two statues which had been erected to him, one at Locri, and the other at Olympia, were struck by lightning on the same day, ordered sacrifices to be offered up to him, which was accordingly done, both during his life-time, and after his death. Nothing, indeed, has appeared to me so remarkable, as this mark of approval given by the gods.

Chap. 49. (48.)—The Greatest Length of Life.

Not only the differences of climate, but the multitude of instances named, and the peculiar destiny attached to each of us from the moment of his birth, [Pliny here alludes to the doctrine of astrology, which forms the especial subject of the next Chapter.—B.] tend to render one very uncertain in forming any general conclusion respecting the length and duration of human life. Hesiod, who was the first to make mention of this subject, while he states many circumstances about the age of man, which appear to me to be fabulous, gives to the crow nine times the ordinary duration of our life, to the stag four times the length of that of the crow, to the raven three times the length of that of the stag, besides other particulars with reference to the phœnix and the Nymphs of a still more fabulous nature. The poet Anacreon gives [These statements are not found in any of the works of Hesiod now extant; it is scarcely necessary to observe, that they are entirely without foundation, and contrary to all observation and experience.—B.] one hundred and fifty years to Arganthonius, [The great age of Arganthonius is referred to by Lucian, in his treatise “De Macrobiis,” “on Long-lived Men;” by Herodotus, B. i. c. 163; by Cicero, de Senect. sec. 19; and by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 13; the three latter writers agree in making his age 120 years, and hence Pliny assigns to him the same age in the next page.—B. St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, B. xv., quotes this passage of Pliny, and mentions the age of Arganthonius, as stated by him, to have been 152 years. For Tartessus, in Spain, see B. iii. c. 3, and B. iv. c. 36.] the king of the Tartessii; ten more to Cinaras, [His story is told by Ovid, Met. B. x., where he is said to have become unwittingly the father of Adonis, by his own daughter Myrrha (or Smyrna), in consequence of the anger of Venus or Aphrodite. He was said to have founded the city of Cinyra in Cyprus.] the king of Cyprus, and two hundred to Ægimius. [Callimachus mentions a person of this name, who wrote a treatise on the art of making cheesecakes. There was also a physician so called, who flourished in the fifth century B.C., and who is said by Galen to have been the first who wrote a treatise on the probe. Whether either of these individuals is the person here alluded to, is unknown.] Theopompus gives one hundred and fifty-three years to Epimenides of Cnossus; according to Hellenicus, some of the nation of the Epii, in Ætolia, have completed their two hundredth year; and his account is confirmed by Damastes, who relates that Pictoreus, one of this nation, who was remarkable for his size and strength, lived even to his three hundredth year. Ephorus says that some kings of Arcadia have lived three hundred years; Alexander Cornelius, that there was one Dandon, in Illyricum, who lived five hundred years. Xenophon, in his Periplus, gives to a king of the island of the Lutmii six hundred years, and, as though in that instance he had lied too sparingly, to his son eight hundred. [We have the same statement as to the age of Epimenides, in Valerius Maximus, B. viii. s. 13; he also, in the same section, gives an account of the Epii, of Pictoreus, of Dandon, and of the king of the island of the Tyrians, all of which agree with the present statement, except that the person mentioned by Damastes is called Literius, and the last-named individual is styled the king of the island of the Lutmii.—B.] All these statements, however, have originated in a want of acquaintance with the accurate measurement of time. For some nations reckon the summer as one year, and the winter as another; others again, consider each of the four seasons a year; the Arcadians, for instance, whose years were of three months each. Others, such as the Egyptians, calculate by the moon, and hence it is that some individuals among them are said to have lived as many as one thousand years.

Let us proceed, however, to what is admitted to be true. It is pretty nearly certain, that Arganthonius of Gades [The king of the Tartessi, mentioned above.—B.] reigned eighty years, and he is supposed to have commenced his reign when he was forty. Masinissa, beyond a doubt, reigned sixty years, [Pliny has already spoken of the vigorous old age of Masinissa, in the 12th Chapter of the present Book.—B.] and Gorgias, the Sicilian, lived one hundred and eight. [We have an account of Gorgias in Cicero, de Senect. sec. 9; in Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 13, and in Lucian.—B.] Quintus Fabius Maximus was an augur for sixty-three years. [Valerius Maximus, ubi supra, reduces this to sixty-two years.—B.] M. Perperna, and more recently, L. Volusius Saturninus, survived all those whose suffrages each had solicited on the occasion of his consulship; [We have the same statement respecting Perperna in Valerius Maximus, but he does not mention his age.—B.] Perperna lived ninety-eight years, and left after him only seven of those whose names, when censor, he had enrolled. Connected with this fact, it also suggests itself, and deserves to be remarked, that it has happened only once, that five successive years have ever passed without the death of a senator taking place; this was the case from the occasion on which the censors Flaccus and Albinus performed the lustration, in the year of the City 579, until the time of the succeeding censors. [The names of the succeeding censors were C. Claudius Pulcher, and T. Sempronius Gracchus.] M. Valerius Corvinus completed one hundred years, forty-six of which intervened between his first and sixth consulship. [V. Maximus gives the same account of the age of Corvinus, but he states the interval between his consulships to have been forty-seven years. According to the Fasti, in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities, the interval was forty-eight years, from A.U.C. 406 to A.U.C. 455.—B.] He occupied the curule chair twenty-one times, [The honour of the curule-chair—“sella curulis.” It was attached to the offices of consul, prætor, and ædile; Corvinus had, therefore, been elected to one or other of these offices twenty-one times.—B.] a thing that was never the case with any one besides. The pontiff Metellus also attained the same age. [Valerius Maximus gives the same account of Metellus. He also informs us that Metellus, although of an advanced age when created pontiff, held the office for twenty-two years; so also Cicero, de Senect. sec. 9.—B.]

Among women also, Livia, the wife of Rutilius, exceeded her ninety-sixth year; during the reign of Claudius, Statilia, a member of a noble family, died at the age of ninety-nine; Terentia, the wife of Cicero, lived one hundred and three years, and Clodia, the wife of Ofilius, one hundred and fifteen; she had fifteen children. [We have the same account of these females in Valerius Maximus. He adds, that Clodia survived all her children; Seneca, Epist. 77, also refers to the great age of Statilia.—B.]

Lucceia, an actress in the mimes, performed on the stage when one hundred years old, and Galeria Copiola returned to the stage, to perform in the interludes, [“Emboliaria,” an actress in the “embolium,” or interlude of the Roman stage; also called “acroama,” by Cicero. It appears to have been a concert of musical instruments, perhaps accompanied by dancing.] at the votive games which were celebrated for the health of the deified Augustus, in the consulship of C. Poppæus and Q. Sulpicius. [Their consulship was A.U.C. 761.—B.] She had made her first appearance when eight years of age, just ninety-one years before that time, when M. Pomponius was ædile of the people, in the consulship of C. Marius and Cn. Carbo. [Their consulship was A.U.C. 671, which would leave an interval of ninety years between her first appearance and her appearance at the votive games.—B.] When Pompeius Magnus dedicated his great theatre, he brought her upon the stage, as being quite a wonder, considering her old age. Asconius Pedianus informs us, that Sammula also lived one hundred and ten years. I consider it less wonderful that Stephanio, who was the first to dance on the stage in comedy descriptive of Roman manners, should have [“Togatus saltare instituit.” He acted in the “togatæ fabulæ,” comedies representing Roman life, or the life of those who wore the toga, the civic costume of the Romans. The Greek comedies were called “palliatæ.”] danced at the two secular games, those celebrated by the deified Augustus, and by Claudius Cæsar, in his fourth consulship, considering that the interval that elapsed between them was no more than sixty-three years; [The secular games of Augustus are stated by Suetonius, in his Life of Augustus, c. 31, and by Dion Cassius, to have taken place A.U.C. 739.—B.] indeed, he lived a considerable time after the last period. We are informed by Mutianus, that, on the peak of Mount Tmolus, which is called Tempsis, the people live one hundred and fifty years, and that T. Fullonius, of Bononia, was set down as of the same age, in the registration which took place under the censorship of Claudius Cæsar; and this appeared to be confirmed by comparing the present with former registrations, as well as many other proofs that he had been alive at certain periods—for that prince greatly interested himself in ascertaining the exact truth of the matter.

Chap. 50. (49.)—The Variety of Destinies at the Birth of Man.

The present conjuncture would appear to demand from me some opinion upon the science of the stars. Epigenes [“We have an account of Epigenes, by Hardouin, Lemaire, vol. i. pp. 86, 87, where he is designated Rhodius. He is referred to by Varro, Columella, and Seneca; Pliny mentions him in other parts of his work.—B.] used to maintain that human life could not be possibly prolonged to one hundred and twelve years, and Berosus [Berosus has been referred to in the 37th Chapter of the present Book.—B.] that it could exceed one hundred and seventeen. The system is still in existence which Petosiris and Necepsos [For some account of Petosiris and Necepsos, see end of B. ii.] transmitted to us, and called by them “tartemorion,” [Literally, the fourth part; according to Hardouin’s explanation, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 186.—B.] from the division of the signs into four portions; from which it would appear, that life, in the region of Italy, may possibly be extended to one hundred and twenty-four years. They maintain that, reckoning from the commencement of an ascending sign, no life can possibly exceed a period of ninety degrees from that point; which periods they call by the name of “anaphoræ;” [Literally... “repetitions.” Dalechamps explains it as indicating, “that part of the heavens which is distant thirty parts; that is to say, two signs from the horoscope;” Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 187.—B.] they say also, that these anaphoræ may be intercepted by meeting with malign stars or their rays even, or those of the sun. [Ajasson refers us to Jul. Firmicus for an explanation of the difference which may exist in the length of the lives of individuals as depending on their natal day; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 186. It appears to have been one of the leading tenets of the astrologers, that the favourable influence of the ascending sign is diminished or counteracted by the rays of other planets, or of the sun, falling upon the sign in certain directions or at certain angles, and that the length of the life of the individual is shortened in proportion to this injurious effect.—B.] To theirs the school of Æsculapius succeeded, which admits that the allotted duration of life is regulated by the stars, but that it is quite uncertain what is the greatest extent of the period. These say that long life is uncommon, because a very great number of persons are born at critical moments in the hours of the lunar days; for example, in the seventh and the fifteenth hours, both by day and night; these individuals are subject to the malign influence of that ascending scale of the years which is termed the “climacteric,” [This term means, literally, “increasing by a regular scale,” or, “according 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.] and never hardly, when born under these circumstances, exceed the fifty-fourth year. 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 Vespasian, father and son. [This census appears to have taken place A.D. 74, under the fifth consulship of Vespasian, and the third of Titus; according to Censorinus, it was the last of which we have any distinct account.—B.] I shall not search through the registers; [“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 applied to a totally different object.—B.] I shall only cite some instances in the middle district that lies between the Apennines and the river Padus. At Parma, three persons declared themselves to be one hundred and twenty years of age; at Brixellum, [Now Brigella or Brescella. Parma still retains its ancient name, Placentia is now Piacenza, and Faventia the modern Faenza.] one was one hundred and twenty-five; at Parma, two were one hundred and thirty; at Placentia, one was one hundred and thirty; at Faventia, one woman was one hundred and thirty-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 Veleiacium, [Probably the same as the Velia, mentioned by Phlegon Trallianus as famous for the longevity of its inhabitants.] in which six persons gave in their ages as one hundred and ten years, and four one hundred and twenty, while one person, M. Mucius, the son of Marcus, surnamed Felix, and of the Galerian tribe, [“Marcus Mucius, M. Filius, Galeria, Felix.” It has been doubted by the commentators, whether the word Galeria refers to the name of the mother of Mucius, 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. We meet with a precisely similar construction of words in Cicero, 9th Philip. sec. 7; “Ser. Sulpicius, Q. Filius, Lemonia Rufus.”—B.] was aged one hundred and forty. Not, 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 one hundred years of age, fourteen of one hundred and ten, two of one hundred and twenty-five, four of one hundred and thirty, the same number of one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and thirty-seven, and three of one hundred and forty.

Again, we have another illustration of the uncertain tenure of human life. Homer informs us that Hector and Polydamas [The son of Panthöus, and friend of Hector. He was famous for his wisdom and prudence in giving counsel. See Iliad, B. xviii. l. 249-52.] were born on the same night, [The passage referred to is in the Iliad, B. xviii. l. 249-51.—B.] and yet how different was their fate! M. Cælius Rufus [Respecting Cælius [formerly called Cæcilius in most editions] Hardouin informs us that he was the accuser of Calpurnius, that he was prætor during the consulship of P. Lentulus Spinther and L. Metellus Nepos, and was oppressed by Clodius. Pliny refers to Cælius, and his accusation of Calpurnius, in a subsequent passage, B. xxvii. c. 2.—B. Licinius Calvus Macer was by some considered, as an orator, to rival even Cicero himself; and as a poet, is generally mentioned by the side of Catullus. He exhausted his constitution by his severe application, and died in his thirty-fifth or thirty-sixth year. He was remarkable for the extreme shortness of his stature. Cælius was a partisan of Pompey, and was eventually put to death at Thurii.] and C. Licinius Calvus were born on the same day, the fifth before the calends of June, in the consulship of C. Marius and Cn. Carbo; they both of them lived to be orators, it is true, but how different their destiny! The same thing, too, happens every day, and in every part of the world, with respect to men that are born in the self-same hour; masters and slaves, kings and beggars, come into the world at the same moment.

Chap. 51. (50.)—Various Instances of Diseases.

P. Cornelius Rufus, [Consul A.U.C. 463; he is generally called Rufinus.—B.] who was consul with M. Curio, lost his sight while he was asleep and dreaming that that accident had befallen him. On the other hand, Jason, of Pheræ, when he was labouring under an abscess and had been given up by the physicians, determined to end his life in battle, where he received a wound in the chest, and found, at the hands of the enemy, a remedy for his disease. [This anecdote is mentioned by Cicero, De Nat. Deor. B. iii. c. 28, and by Valerius Maximus, B. i. c. 8.—B. He was tyrant of Pheræ and Tagus in Thessaly, and was finally assassinated.] Q. Fabius Maximus, [He was consul A.U.C. 633; in consequence of the victories which he obtained over the Allobroges, he obtained the agnomen of “Allobrogicus.”—B.] the consul, having engaged in battle with the Allobroges and the Arverni, at the river Isara, on the sixth day before the ides of August, and having slain there one hundred and thirty thousand of the enemy, found himself cured, during the engagement, of a quartan fever.

This gift of life, which is bestowed upon us by nature, is extremely uncertain and frail, whatever portion of it may be allotted to us. The measure is, indeed, but scanty and brief, even when it is the largest, if we only reflect upon the extent of eternity. And then, besides, if we take into account our sleep during the night, we can only be properly said to live half the period of our life; seeing that just one half of it is passed, either in a state resembling death, or else of bodily suffering, if we are unable to sleep. Added to this, we ought not to reckon the years of infancy, during which we are not sensible of our existence, nor yet the years of old age, which is prolonged only for the punishment of those who arrive at it. There are so many kinds of dangers, so many diseases, so many apprehensions, so many cares, we so often invoke death, that really there is nothing that is so often the object of our wishes. Nature has, in reality, bestowed no greater blessing on man than the shortness of life. The senses become dull, the limbs torpid, the sight, the hearing, the legs, the teeth, and the organs of digestion, all of them die before us, and yet we reckon this state as a part of our life. The solitary instance of Xenophilus, the musician, [Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 13, refers to the great age of Xenophilus, but designates him “Pythagoræus;” he says that he obtained his information respecting him from Aristoxenus, the musician, which may have led to an inaccuracy on the part of Pliny. Poinsinet endeavours to reconcile the discrepancy, by the circumstance, that music formed a prominent part of the Pythagorean discipline.—B.] who lived one hundred and five years without any infirmity of body, must be regarded then as a kind of miracle; for, by Hercules! all other men are subject, at certain fixed periods, to recurring and deadly attacks by heat or cold, in every part of the body, a thing that is not the case with other animals; and these attacks, too, return not only at regular hours, but on certain days and certain nights—sometimes the third day, sometimes the fourth, sometimes every day throughout the year.

And then, too, there is another kind of fatal disease, that which is produced by over-exertion of the mental faculties. [“Per sapientiam mori.” Many conjectures have been formed respecting the meaning of this passage, which is obscure. Attempts have been made to amend the reading of the text, but, as it appears, without success; see the notes of Hardouin, Ajasson, and others, Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 197, 8.—B. It is pretty clear, however, that Pliny here refers to what, in the next Chapter, he calls “sapientiæ ægritudo,” the malady by the Greeks called “phrenesis,” and by us “frenzy,” which attacks the seat of wisdom, the understanding. Many pages have been written upon the meaning of this passage, obvious as it seems to be.] Nature has appointed certain laws as well for our maladies; quartan fevers never commence at the winter solstice, nor yet during the winter months; some diseases never attack us after the sixtieth year; some again disappear at the age of puberty, especially in females; [The same doctrine is advanced in B. xxviii., which treats of medicine, see c. 10.—B.] while aged persons are but seldom affected by the plague. There are some diseases which attack whole nations; others prevail among classes; some among slaves, [Among the ancients, all the manufactures and mechanical arts were carried on by slaves; they were, consequently, subjected to the same kinds of morbid causes which are found, in modern times, to be so detrimental to certain descriptions of workmen.—B.] others among the higher ranks, and others among other classes of society. It has been remarked, in reference to this subject, that the plague always takes a course from the south towards the west, [Our own experience has taught us the truth of this observation in the case of the cholera; and the great plague of 1348, which is thought to have swept off one-third of mankind, is supposed to have travelled to Europe from the vicinity of the Ganges.] and scarcely ever in an opposite direction; it never appears in the winter, or lasts longer than three months.

Chap. 52. (51.)—Death.

And now to speak of the premonitory signs of death. Among these are laughter, in madness; [Dalechamps correctly remarks, that the laughter here referred to, is not the indication of mirth, but what has been termed the “risus Sardonicus,” the “Sardonic laugh,” produced by a convulsive action of the muscles of the face; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 201.—B.] in cases of delirium, [“Sapientiæ ægritudine.” See Note above.] the patient carefully folding the fringe or the plaits of the bedclothes; [Pliny probably took this notion from Celsus, who speaks of this as being a fatal symptom, B. ii. c. 6; “si manibus qui in febre, &c., in veste floccos legit, fimbriasque diducit....”—B.] insensibility to the attempts of those who would rouse them from sleep; and involuntary discharges from the body, which it is not necessary here to particularize; but the most unequivocal signs of all, are certain appearances of the eyes and the nose, a lying posture with the face continually upwards, an irregular and feeble motion of the pulse, [“Venarum percussa;” the ancients were not acquainted with the relation which exists between the arteries and the veins, or the appropriate functions of these parts.—B.] and the other symptoms, which have been observed by that prince of physicians, Hippocrates. At the same time that there are innumerable signs of death, there are none of health and safety; so much so, that Cato the Censor, when speaking to his son in relation to those who appear to be in good health, declared, as though it had been the enunciation of some oracle, [In Seneca, Contr. B. ii., we find the remark, “Such genius, at so early an age, bodes no long life.” Apuleius, quoting from some Greek writer, says, “Odi puerulos præcoci sapientiâ.” “I hate your bits of boys, with their precocious wisdom.” We have a somewhat similar saying to the above passage from Seneca, “He is too wise,” or “too clever to live long.”] that precocity in youth is a sign of an early death. [This remark has been confirmed by various writers, ancient and modern; it appears to depend upon an unnatural development of the cerebral and nervous system, which renders it more liable to disease, and less able to bear the impressions to which it is ordinarily exposed.—B.]

The number of diseases is infinite. Pherecydes of Scyros died from vast numbers of worms issuing from his body. [This was probably Phthiriasis, or the “morbus pediculosus,” which has been previously mentioned in this book with reference to Sulla, and of which, probably, Herod Agrippa died. Some authors state that Pherecydes put an end to his life by throwing himself from a rock at Delphi; others give other accounts of his death.] Some persons are distressed by a perpetual fever; such was the case with C. Mæcenas; during the last three years of his life, he could never get a single moment’s sleep. [This circumstance is mentioned by Seneca, De Provid. c. 3.—B.] Antipater of Sidon, the poet, was attacked with fever every year, and that only on his birthday; he died of it at an advanced age. [We have the same account of Antipater in Valerius Maximus, B. i. c. 8. He was the preceptor of Cato of Utica; Cicero makes honourable mention of him, De Oratore, B. iii. c. 50.—B.]