Ne lateat ratio finem quaerentibus aevi ... In Book 3, vv. 581ff. of the Astronomica, Manilius discusses a method of predicting the length of life. Omitting all technicalities I should like to point out two things which ought to be of interest to historians: (1) seventy-eight (the highest age mentioned) was clearly a ripe old age in Manilius' time; (2) the average life expectancy was then just under fifty-five: it is the sum of life spans granted by all the Houses divided by twelve. Perhaps it should be mentioned that, in Cicero's Somn. Scip. 12, Africanus Maior predicts to Africanus Minor a life span of 56 years and gives special significance to this product of 7 and 8, calling them numeri perfecti, ailtOLot rTeLOt. GEORG LUCK THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
American Journal of Philology Vol. 100 Pp. 531 0002-9475/79/1004-0531 $01.00 ? 1979 by The Johns Hopkins University Press