How to live a long life: learn magic or get some exercise

Pseudo-Lucian talks about the prophecy and piety of the Magi (along with ethnographies of other tribes) as part of a discussion of life-expectancy: why do some groups of people live longer than others? Pseudo-Lucian thinks you could live a long time too if you just exercised and ate properly. Inspired by this article at the BBC: "We learn nothing about nutrition, claim medical students".

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"Stories have been told of whole races who have a long life expectancy because of their way of life.* There are those called the 'Sacred Scribes' in Egypt, the 'Interpreters of Myths' in Assyria and Arabia, those called 'Brahmans' in India, men completely devoted to the study of philosophy, and those called the 'Magi', a prophetic race who dedicate themselves to the gods, found among the Persians, Parthians, Bactrians, Chorasmians, Arians, Sacae, Medes, and many other Barbarians. They are strong and long-lived because they lead their life in strict observance of magic.

"There are also whole nations who have a long life expectancy, like in the stories they tell about the Seres, who live up to three-hundred years, some attributing the cause of their old age to the climate, others to the land, and still others to their way of life: for, they say, this is a whole nation of water-drinkers. Stories are also told of the people of Athos living up to one- hundred and thirty years, and there is a report that the Chaldeans live over one-hundred years, using bread made from barley because it acts as a drug for preserving good eyesight. They also say that on account of this diet, their other senses are better than those of other people.

"But that's enough about the life expectancy of these races and nations, those which they say survive for a long time either because of the land and climate, or way of life, or both. I, however, want to propose to you that your hopes [of a long life] are easy to achieve, by telling you about men in every land and in every climate who have become long-lived by using the right kind of exercises and a healthy diet."

καὶ γένη δὲ ὅλα μακρόβια ἱστορεῖται διὰ τὴν δίαιταν, ὥσπερ Αἰγυπτίων οἱ καλούμενοι ἱερογραμματεῖς, Ἀσσυρίων δὲ καὶ Ἀράβων οἱ ἐξηγηταὶ τῶν μύθων, Ἰνδῶν δὲ οἱ καλούμενοι Βραχμᾶνες, ἄνδρες ἀκριβῶς φιλοσοφίᾳ σχολάζοντες, καὶ οἱ καλούμενοι δὲ μάγοι, γένος τοῦτο μαντικὸν καὶ θεοῖς ἀνακείμενον παρά τε Πέρσαις καὶ Πάρθοις καὶ Βάκτροις καὶ Χωρασμίοις καὶ Ἀρείοις καὶ Σάκαις καὶ Μήδοις καὶ παρὰ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις βαρβάροις, ἐρρωμένοι τέ εἰσι καὶ πολυχρόνιοι διὰ τὸ μαγεύειν διαιτώμενοι καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀκριβέστερον.

ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἔθνη ὅλα μακροβιώτατα, ὥσπερ Σῆρας μὲν ἱστοροῦσι μέχρι τριακοσίων ζῆν ἐτῶν, οἱ μὲν τῷ ἀέρι, οἱ δὲ τῇ γῇ τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ μακροῦ γήρως προστιθέντες, οἱ δὲ καὶ τῇ διαίτῃ· ὑδροποτεῖν γάρ φασι τὸ ἔθνος τοῦτο σύμπαν. καὶ Ἀθῴτας δὲ μέχρι τριάκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐτῶν βιοῦν ἱστορεῖται, καὶ τοὺς Χαλδαίους ὑπὲρ τὰ ἑκατὸν ἔτη βιοῦν λόγος, τούτους μὲν καὶ κριθίνῳ ἄρτῳ χρωμένους, ὡς ὀξυδορκίας τοῦτο φάρμακον· οἷς γέ φασι διὰ τὴν τοιαύτην δίαιταν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας αἰσθήσεις ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους ἐρρωμένας εἶναι.

Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν περί τε τῶν μακροβίων γενῶν καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἅτινά φασιν ὡς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον διαγίγνεσθαι χρόνον, οἱ μὲν διὰ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὸν ἀέρα, οἱ δὲ διὰ τὴν δίαιταν, οἱ δὲ καὶ δι' ἄμφω. ἐγὼ δ' ἄν σοι δικαίως τὴν ἐλπίδα ῥᾳδίαν παράσχοιμι ἱστορήσας ὅτι καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν γῆν καὶ κατὰ πάντα ἀέρα μακρόβιοι γεγόνασιν ἄνδρες οἱ γυμνασίοις τοῖς προσήκουσιν καὶ διαίτῃ τῇ ἐπιτηδειοτάτῃ πρὸς ὑγίειαν χρώμενοι.

Pseudo-Lucian, Long Lives (Marcobii), 4-8

* διὰ τὴν δίαιταν I'm translating as "way of life" or "diet" depending on the context. Keep in mind that it includes more that just what one eats, but also hygiene more generally: one's daily routine of sleep, waking, food, drink, work and sex.

Galen on jargon and bad style

 

Galen does not like Archigenes' jargon

"The next thing Archigenes says, i.e., 'when there is a narrowing, the nerves have "full pains",' he said using affectatious language. It explains nothing more than what comes after it, where he says the pains are 'least diffuse'."

Tὸ δ’ ἐφεξῆς εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀρχιγένους, ὅτι καὶ στενοχωρίας πλήρεις ἔχει τὰ νεῦρα τοὺς πόνους, κακοζήλως μὲν εἴρηται τῇ λέξει. δηλοῖ δ’ οὐδὲν πλέον τοῦ μετ’ αὐτό, καθ’ ὅ φησι καὶ ἥκιστα κεχυμένους. 

Galen, De locis affectis II 8,15 (CMG V 6,1,1 340,12-14 Gärtner = VIII 100 K)

'κακοζηλία' - comes from rhetoric. The adjective seems to have been floating around for a while, but at some point it was appropriated (perhaps by pseudo-Demetrius) to describe bad style in speech. It's usually translated, 'affectation', although I find that doesn't really capture it. In a strict sense, kakozêlia means "a zeal for all that is bad": it describes any expression which exceeds the boundaries of eloquence and passes into the absurd. There are a few nice examples in pseudo-Demetrius (below). Lucian seems to have extended it to describe over-acting. Hermogenes gives a summary explanation of what it is about affectation we find so wrong. And there's a discussion of it in Quintillian, Institutio Oratoria 8.3.56, which I'm leaving out. All these writers seem to agree that affectation causes an expression to fail. The tension it causes between the seriousness of the author's intent and the silliness or baseness of their execution ends up making the result seem too implausible to be taken seriously. 

Pseudo-Demetrius

"186. [...] Just as the frigid style is closely connected to the magnificent, so there is a certain defective style closely connected with the refined. Following the colloquial expression, I call it "affectation" (kakozelon). Like all the other styles, it occurs in three aspects of style.

187. In thought, like the guy who talked about "the Centaur riding itself", or, that time Alexander wanted to compete in a race at the Olympics, and someone said, "Alexander, run along the name of your mother!"

188. It occurs in words as, for example, "somewhere, a sweet-faced rose was laughing": the 'laughing' metaphor is out of place and does not fit at all, and the compound 'sweet-faced' – no one of sound judgment would put that in a poem. Another example is someone who once said, "the pine was whistling at the gentle breeze." But enough about diction.

189. The composition, e.g. the anapaestic and especially those resembling lamentable and undignified meters, like the Sotadean one, because of its softness: "after searching in the burning heat, cover up" and "waving the spear of Ash Pelian to the right over his shoulder", instead of "waving  the Pelian spear of Ash over his right shoulder." The line seems transformed somehow, like those who the fables tell us transform from men into women. So much concerning affectation."

186. [...] καθάπερ δὲ τῷ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ παρέκειτο ὁ ψυχρὸς χαρακτήρ, οὕτως τῷ γλαφυρῷ παράκειταί τις διημαρτημένος. ὀνομάζω δὲ αὐτὸν τῷ κοινῷ ὀνόματι κακόζηλον. γίνεται δ' αὖ καὶ οὗτος ἐν τρισίν, ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες.

187. Ἐν διανοίᾳ μέν, ὡς ὁ εἰπὼν «Κένταυρος ἑαυτὸν ἱππεύων», καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ βουλευομένου Ἀλεξάνδρου δρόμον ἀγωνίσασθαι Ὀλυμπίασιν ἔφη τις οὕτως· «Ἀλέξανδρε, δράμε σου τῆς μητρὸς τὸ ὄνομα».

188. Ἐν δὲ ὀνόμασιν γίγνοιτ' ἂν οὕτως, οἷον «ἐγέλα που ῥόδον ἡδύχροον»· ἥ τε γὰρ μεταφορὰ ἡ ἐγέλα πάνυ μετάκειται ἀπρεπῶς, καὶ τὸ σύνθετον τὸ ἡδύχροον οὐδ' ἐν ποιήματι θείη ἄν τις ἀκριβῶς σωφρονῶν. ἢ ὥς τις εἶπεν, ὅτι· «λεπταῖς ὑπεσύριζε πίτυς αὔραις»· περὶ μὲν δὴ τὴν λέξιν οὕτως.

189.  Σύνθεσις δὲ †ἀναπαιστικὴ καὶ μάλιστα ἐοικυῖα τοῖς κεκλασμένοις καὶ ἀσέμνοις μέτροις, οἷα μάλιστα τὰ Σωτάδεια διὰ τὸ μαλακώτερον· «σκήλας καύματι κάλυψον», καὶ «σείων μελίην Πηλιάδα δεξιὸν κατ' ὦμον» ἀντὶ τοῦ «σείων Πηλιάδα μελίην κατὰ δεξιὸν ὦμον»· ὁποῖα γὰρ μεταμεμορφωμένῳ ἔοικεν ὁ στίχος, ὥσπερ οἱ μυθευόμενοι ἐξ ἀρρένων μεταβαλεῖν εἰς θηλείας. τοσάδε μὲν καὶ περὶ κακοζηλίας.

Demetrius [sp.?], De elocutione 3.186-189 (156,5-158,3 Rhys Roberts)
 

Lucian

"Just as in rhetoric, so in pantomime there can be, to use the popular phrase, "affectation", when an actor goes beyond the appropriate measure of the performance and exceeds the limit of what is required. For example, if one needs represent something great, what is performed is something monstrously big; if soft, by exaggeration it becomes effeminate; and manliness is raised up to wildness and beastliness."

Γίνεται δέ, ὥσπερ ἐν λόγοις, οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἐν ὀρχήσει ἡ πρὸς τῶν πολλῶν λεγομένη κακοζηλία ὑπερβαινόντων τὸ μέτρον τῆς μιμήσεως καὶ πέρα τοῦ δέοντος ἐπιτεινόντων, καὶ εἰ μέγα τι δεῖξαι δέοι, ὑπερμέγεθες ἐπιδεικνυμένων, καὶ εἰ ἁπαλόν, καθ' ὑπερβολὴν θηλυνομένων, καὶ τὰ ἀνδρώδη ἄχρι τοῦ ἀγρίου καὶ θηριώδους προαγόντων. 

Lucian, De saltatione, §82 (ed. Harmon, Cambridge, Mass., 1936)

Hermogenes

"An expression becomes 'affected' either by what is impossible, inconsistent (i.e., incompatible), base, sacrilegious, unjust, or contrary to nature – those styles that cause us to dismiss a story and toss it out because it is incredible. In fact, this is why we say a piece is successful as long as it is likely, since when something is found to go beyond what is likely, it always ends up being in bad taste and dismissed. In these cases, we say 'this is not likely to have happened', either because it is impossible, or because it is shameful, etc."

Τὸ δὲ κακόζηλον γίνεται ἢ κατὰ τὸ ἀδύνατον ἢ κατὰ τὸ ἀνακόλουθον, ὃ καὶ ἐναντίωμά ἐστιν, ἢ κατὰ τὸ αἰσχρὸν ἢ κατὰ τὸ ἀσεβὲς ἢ κατὰ τὸ ἄδικον ἢ κατὰ τὸ τῇ φύσει πολέμιον, καθ' οὓς τρόπους καὶ ἀνασκευάζομεν μάλιστα τὰ διηγήματα ἐκβάλλοντες ὡς ἄπιστα. Διά τοι τοῦτό φαμεν καὶ τὰς διασκευὰς μέχρι τοῦ εἰκότος προχωρεῖν, ὡς, εἰ παρὰ τὸ εἰκὸς εὑρεθείη τι, πάντως καὶ κακόζηλον ἐσόμενον καὶ ἐμπεσούμενον τῇ ἀνασκευῇ· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ λέγομεν ‘οὐκ εἰκὸς τόδε πραχθῆναι’, ἢ ὅτι ἀδύνατον ἢ ὅτι αἰσχρὸν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

Hermogenes, Περὶ εὑρέσεως, 4.12