dere liceat imperatores duos primos, Augustum et Tiberium;1 quorum hic septuagesimum octavum, ille septuagesimum sextum annum implevit ; et ad octogesimum forte pervenire uterque potuisset, si placuisset Liviæ et Caio. Augustus (ut dictum est) annos vixit septuaginta sex; vir moderatus ingenio, idem ad res perficiendas vehemens, cætera placidus et serenus, cibo et potu sobrius, venere intemperantior, per omnia fœlix; quique anno ætatis tricesimo gravem et periculosum passus est morbum, adeo ut salus ejus pro desperata esset: quem Antonius Musa medicus, cum cæteri medeci calida medicamenta tanquam morbo convenientia adhibuissent, contraria ratione frigidis curavit ; 2 quod fortasse ei ad diuturnitatem vitæ profuit. Tiberius duos amplius annos vixit; vir lentis maxillis (ut Augustus aiebat"), sermone scilicet tardus, sed validus; sanguinarius, bibax, quique libidinem etiam in diætam transtulit; attamen valetudinis suæ curator probus, ut qui solitus esset dicere, stultum esse qui post triginta annorum vitam medicum consuleret aut advocaret. Gordianus senior octoginta annos vixit, et tamen violenta morte periit, postquam vix degustasset imperium; vir magnanimus et splendidus, eruditus et poëta, et constanti vitæ tenore (ante ipsum obitum) fœlix. Valerianus imperator septuaginta sex annos vixit, antequam a Sapore rege Persarum captus esset; post captivitatem autem septem annos vixit inter contumelias ; etiam violenta morte præreptus;5 vir mediocris animi,

4

1 Suetonius in August. 100. and in Tiber. 73. 2 Sueton. in August. 81.

8 Id. in Tiber. 21.

4 He was born A. D. 157, and died A. D. 237. 5 It is difficult to fix the chronology of Valerian's life. Tillemont's opinion is that he was seventy when he was taken. I do not know on what authority Bacon speaks of a seven years' captivity. One account appears tc

nec strenuus; existimatione tamen paulo eminentior et evectus, experimento minor. Anastasius cognomine Dicorus octoginta octo annos vixit;1 homo animi sedati, sed humilior, et superstitiosus, et timidus. Anicius Justinianus annos octoginta tres vixit;2 vir gloriæ appetens, persona propria socors, ducum suorum virtute fœlix et celebris; uxorius, neque suus, sed aliorum ductu circumactus. Helena Britanna, Constantini Magni mater, octogenaria fuit; mulier civilibus rebus minus se immiscens, nec mariti nec filii imperio, sed tota religioni dedita; magnanima et semper florens. Theodora imperatrix (quæ Zoes soror erat, Monomachi uxoris, ipsa autem post obitum ejus sola regnavit) annos supra octoginta vixit; mulier negotiosa, et imperio delectata, fœlix admodum et ex fœlicitate credula.

3

4

17. Jam a secularibus ad principes viros in ecclesia narrationem convertemus. S. Johannes, Apostolus Servatoris et discipulus amatus, nonaginta tres annos vixit: 5 vere aquila emblemate notatus, nihil spirans show that he was a prisoner for nine years, but this account makes him only sixty-one at the time of his overthrow. Tillemont admits that the words of Trebellius Pollio seem to indicate that Valerian was seventy when he became emperor. If so, he was about seventy-six when he was taken prisSee Tillemont, Vies des Empereurs, in Valerian.

oner.

1 Born about A. D. 430, died 518.

2 Scarcely so much; he was born A. D. 483, and died in 565.

8 Born A. D. 247, and died A. D. 327.

4 This seems to be incorrect. It is said that Theodora's elder sister Zoe was forty-eight when she married Romanus Argyrus in 1028. Theodora died in 1056, and must therefore have been less than seventy-six at the time of her death. See the Biographie Universelle in Zoe, and Gibbon, ix. p. 48.

5 The age at which St. John died is not well ascertained, but Bacon's statement agrees with Baronius's. See Baron. ii. p. 12. Tholuck, in the introduction to his Commentary on St. John's Gospel, mentions that St. John, according to St. Jerome, died at the age of one hundred, and according tc Suidas of one hundred and twenty years.

nisi divinum, et tanquam Seraph inter Apostolos propter fervorem charitatis. S. Lucas evangelista octoginta quatuor annos complevit ; vir eloquens et peregrinator, S. Pauli comes individuus, et medicus. Symeon Cleophæ, frater Domini dictus, episcopus Hierosolymitanus, annos centum et viginti vixit, licet martyrio præreptus fuerit: vir animosus, et constans, et bonorum operum plenus. Polycarpus Apostolorum discipulus, Smyrnensis episcopus, videtur ad centum annos et amplius ætatem produxisse, licet martyrio interceptus ;3 vir excelsi animi et heroicæ patientiæ, et laboribus indefessus. Dionysius Areopagita, Paulo Apostolo contemporaneus, ad nonaginta annos vixisse videtur; Volucris Coeli appellatus ob theologiam sublimem; neque minus factis quam meditationibus insignis. Aquila et Priscilla, Pauli Apostoli primo hospites, deinde coadjutores, conjugio fœlici et celebri ad centum ad minimum annos vixerunt; cum sub Xisto primo superstites fuerint ; nobile par, et in omnem charitatem effusum; quibus inter maximas consolationes (quales

i.

5

1 According to Nicephorus, St. Luke was eighty when he died. Baron. p. 586.

2 Euseb. Hist. iii. 29.

8 Polycarp at his martyrdom said that he had been a servant of Christ for eighty-six years. This is probably the ground upon which Bacon's estimate of his age is founded. Euseb. Hist. iv. 15.

4 He was twenty-five at the time of the Crucifixion, was converted nineteen years afterwards, and ordained three years after his conversion. See Baronius, anno LII. Now Syncellus, in his Life of Dionysius, says that he preached for seventy years; so that if these statements be correct, he must have been a hundred and seventeen when he died.

5 Nothing certain is known of the deaths of Priscilla and Aquila. In the Menologium Græcorum, Feb. 13., it is said that after the death of Paul they were persecuted and ultimately beheaded; which seems to imply that they did not very long survive him. It is possible that Aquila, the husband of Priscilla, has been confounded with the person of the same name who lived in the time of Hadrian, and who was therefore contemporary with Sistus I.

proculdubio primos illos ecclesiæ fundatores sequebantur), etiam illud conjugalis consortii tanquam magnus cumulus accesserat. S. Paulus Eremita annos centum et tredecim vixit; vixit autem in spelunca, victu tam simplici et duro, ut eo vitam tolerare supra humanas vires videri possit; in meditationibus et soliloquiis tantummodo ævum transigens: qui tamen non illiteratus, aut idiota, sed eruditus fuit. S. Antonius, Coenobitarum primus institutor, aut (ut alii volunt) restitutor, ad centesimum quintum annum pervenit:2 vir devotus et contemplativus, et tamen civilibus rebus utilis; vitæ genere austero et aspero; attamen in gloriosa quadam solitudine degens, nec sine imperio; cum et monachos suos sub se habuisset, atque insuper a compluribus et Christianis et philosophis, veluti vivum aliquod simulacrum, non sine adoratione quadam visitatus esset. S. Athanasius mortuus est octogenario major; vir invincibilis constantiæ, famæ semper imperans, nec fortunæ succumbens; idem erga potentiores liber, erga populum gratiosus et acceptus; exercitatus contentionibus, in iisque et animosus et solers. S. Hieronymus plurimorum consensu annum nonagesimum superavit; vir calamo potens, et virilis eloquentiæ; vario eruditus, et linguis et scientiis; peregrinator item, atque vitæ versus senium austerioris; sed in vita privata spiritus gerens altos, et late fulgens ex obscuro.

3

18. At Papæ Romani numerantur ducenti quadra

1 See his life by St. Jerome.

2 S. Athanas. Vita S. Anton. c. 89.

8 Born A. D. 206; died 372.

4 According to some authorities he was born in 340. He died in 420, so that he was about 80 at the time of his death, if this statement as to that of his birth is correct. Bacon has adopted the statement that St. Jerome was born in 331, which rests, I believe, on the authority of Prosper Aquitanicus.

ginta unus; ex tanto numero quinque solummodo octogenarii aut supra reperiuntur; 1 primitivis autem. compluribus justa ætas martyrii prærogativa anticipata est. Joannes vicesimus tertius, Papa Romanus, nonagesimum ætatis annum complevit ; 2 vir ingenii inquieti, et novis rebus studens, et multa transferens, nonnulla in melius, haud pauca in aliud; magnus autem opum et thesauri accumulator. Gregorius dictus duodecimus, creatus Papa in schismate, et quasi interrex, nonagenarius obiit; 3 de eo propter brevitatem papatus

1 The twenty-third of the opuscula of Peter Damiani is entitled "De brevitate vitæ pontificum Romanorum et providentiâ Divinâ." It was written in reply to a question put to him by Alexander II. - why popes live so short a time after their elevation. Damiani's solution is that Providence designs to show the transitoriness of all human greatness. It was a common notion that no successor of St. Peter could occupy the pontifical chair as long as he did, namely for 25 years. "Non videbis annos Petri" was a sort of popular prophecy. However, of those who lived before the time of Bacon at least four popes beside those mentioned in the text attained the age of eighty, viz. Celestin III., Gregory IX., Benedict XIII. (Pedro de Luna), and Calistus III. Of these the second is said to have been nearly a hundred. Benedict XIII., if he is to be accounted a true pope, is especially remarkable for having been pope thirty years. See L'Art de verifier les Dates. Haller's remarks on the length of life of the popes deserve notice. His principal authority appears to be Lancesius; from whom he has also quoted the statement that a third part of the sacred college are- I presume he means ordinarily eighty years of age or upwards. "Sobrii Itali; accurati potissimum in vitæ ratione et Pontifices; iidem longævi; et ut fortius sit argumentum, Itali medio ævo parum legibus sobrietatis tenebantur, et eo tempore et Cardinales et ipsi Pontifices ante diem extinguebantur, ut cum plurimi trigesimo vitæ anno, et etiam juniores ad thiaram pervenirent, nullus eorum 24 annis eo decore gavisus sit, quos bis nunc superarent si ea ætate thronum considere daretur.". Vita humana et Mors, sec. ii. § 18.; Physiol. t. viii. pars 2. p. 113.

2 Bacon evidently intends to speak of John XXII., who died in 1334, in the ninetieth year of his age. The age at which John XXIII. died is not mentioned, so far as I know, by any one. It was by John XXII. that the first fruits of all benefices were made payable into the papal chancery. To this and similar enactments Bacon alludes in saying that he was 66 magnus opum et thesauri accumulator." See Platina, Vite dei Pont. iii. 208. 3 He died, according to the Biographie Universelle, aged 92.