I don't want to contend with historians (nor with anthropologists, mind you). I humbly and religiously (according to my miserable and obscunrantist education) cite the psalm: "our years are seventy, eighty for the strongest". Maybe middle-eastern biblists were bad informed about life expectancy (they even stated that Noah lived for about a millennium) but when I think about mortality rates in the ancient ages, this verse appears in my (faltering) mind.
> > 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.
:)
Ciao,
Gian
P.S. a fine thread, even if not strictly on-topic, out of a mistakensly sent mail. Don't regret too much on your error, Mikko.
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