perish from hunger unless they did an unjustifiable action for
the sake of justifiable ones, and so now they all eat meat.
Nevertheless, they do not kill willingly useful animals, such as
oxen and horses. They observe the difference between useful
and harmful foods, and for this they employ the science of med-
icine. They always change their food. First they eat flesh,
then fish, then afterward they go back to flesh, and nature is
never incommoded or weakened. The old people use the more
digestible kind of food, and take three meals a day, eating only
a little. But the general community eat twice, and the boys
four times, that they may satisfy nature. The length of their
lives is generally 100 years, but often they reach 200.

As regards drinking, they are extremely moderate. Wine
is never given to young people until they are ten years old, un-
less the state of their health demands it. After their tenth year
they take it diluted with water, and so do the women, but the
old men of fifty and upward use little or no water. They eat
the most healthy things, according to the time of the year.

They think nothing harmful which is brought forth by God,
except when there has been abuse by taking too much. And
therefore in the summer they feed on fruits, because they are
moist and juicy and cool, and counteract the heat and dryness.
In the winter they feed on dry articles, and in the autumn they
eat grapes, since they are given by God to remove melancholy
and sadness; and they also make use of scents to a great degree.
In the morning, when they have all risen they comb their hair
and wash their faces and hands with cold water. Then they
chew thyme or rock-parsley or fennel, or rub their hands with