CHAP. 12. (14.)—AT WHAT AGE GENERATION CEASES.
Women cease to bear children at their fiftieth year, and,
with the greater part of them, the monthly discharge ceases at
the age of forty. But with respect to the male sex, it is a
well-known fact, that King Masinissa, when he was past his
eighty-sixth year, had a son born to him, whom he named
Metimanus, [Note] and that Cato the Censor, after he had completed
his eightieth year, had a son by the daughter of his client,
Salonius: a circumstance from which, while the descendants
of his other sons were surnamed Liciniani, those of this son
were called Saloniani, of whom Cato of Utica was one. [Note] It is
equally well known, too, that L. Volusius Saturninus, [Note] who
lately died while prefect of the city, had a son when he was
past his seventy-second year, [Note] by Cornelia, a member of the
family of the Scipios, Volusius Saturninus, who was afterwards
consul. Among the lower classes of the people, we not uncommonly meet with men who become the fathers of children
after the age of seventy-five.
