XXVIII
[28arg] About the limits of the periods of boyhood, manhood and old age, taken from the History of Tubero.TUBERO, in the first book of his History, 1 has written that King Servius Tullius, when he divided the Roman people into those five classes of older and younger men for the purpose of making the enrolment, regarded as pueri, or “boys,” those who were less than seventeen years old; then, from their seventeenth year, when they were thought to be fit for service, he enrolled them as soldiers, calling them up to the age of forty-six iuniores, or “younger men,” and beyond that age, seniores, or “elders.” I have made a note of this fact, in order that from the rating of Servius Tullius, that most sagacious king, the distinctions between boyhood, manhood, and old age might be known, as they were established by the judgment, and according to the usage, of our forefathers.
