Life Expectancy

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From: Nick Eden <pheasant_at_cix.compulink.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 94 16:59 GMT

In-Reply-To: <199412020512.AAA25467_at_hops.wharton.upenn.edu> I missed the first part of this but....

I've always thought that the people insisting that in ancient times one couldn't expect to live past 40 must have got it wrong. Why? The roman army.Life the Lunar Army the Romans were in the habit of making land grants to soldiers who had served their 25 years in the ranks (I had a pleasent bunch from the Steel Sword Legion, most of whom could have been YT Rune levels except that they were NCOs and didn't think of themselves as Rune Lords, settle in the middle of the Bearclaw's favourite hunting ground in my PenDragon Pass game).
Now if you have to be quite exceptional to have served 25 years this isn't a reason to join up. If almost no-one survives to the age of 45, then there's very little point of making a big thing about the retirement benefits. And yet they did. Therefore the 40 figure, though widely quoted, isn't up to much.