> Eheu, Hughes: non sequitur est. Unless Roman soldiers were enlisted at
> the moment of birth and painstakingly nursed through the first year of
> life, this figure is hardly going to be relevant.
Vir prudens non contra ventum mingit. Hardly irrelevant - life expectancy *at birth* is strongly linked to general life expectancy. Although its theoretically possible, I don't know of any historical societies where everyone who survives infancy goes on live to be a hundred. Infant mortality shares a lot with general mortality - bad water, malnutrition and bugs. I quoted the former because it was the only figure I had to hand, and to be fair I highlighted what it was. The latter was still pretty abysmal - Roman life expectancy at age 20 was only 34 according to
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/Life.html
(a link originally supplied by Nick).
> And, of course, to a reliable supply of barbarians whacking them with
> sharp, pointy and/or blunt objects. Not to mention their fellow Roman
> soldiers doing the same, during not infrequent civil strife.
Oh, them. Sorry, that wasn't mentioned in the recruiting tablets. See the world, mysterious religions, good food, willing maidens, exotic wines, local populations grateful for Pax and Prax Romana, long walks in the countryside and a centurian to tuck me into bed every night. It's right here in wax.
> If none of them died and they enlisted for 20+ years, they probably
> *weren't* "for the most part" young. (Think about it).
A penny drops. Or is that a quadrans? :) I should have been a plumber...
John
nysalor_at_... John HughesQuestlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/
Glorantha is based on a slew of old myths, which reach their most 'refined' form in Hindu and Norse mythology, which in turn of course derived from the original Star Trek episode 'Planet of Wobbly Rocks where the Security Guard Got Shot'.
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