Etruscan male head from Latium, 3rd C. BCE

"According to Varro, the Etruscans, in their books called Fatalibus, (Books of Fate,) also divided human life into twelve hebdomades. They thought that by prayers, there could be obtained from the Gods postponement of the fatal moment by adding two other hebdomades to the first ten; but that having passed eighty years this favour should neither be solicited nor received from the Gods; that man, after eighty-four years, insensibly loses the use of his faculties and is not worth such efforts. Of all the writes on this subject, those who divide human life into hebdomades of seven years, appear to me to approach nearest the truth. In effect, it is by intervals of seven years that nature changes us and affects a series of revolutions. So we learn from the Elegy of Solon. He says that in the first hebdomade man loses his first teeth; in the second, appears the down; the beard appears in the third; in the fourth, he acquires all his strength; in the fifth, comes the maturity that is necessary for procreation; the sixth moderates his passions; the seventh achieves the perfection of his reason and language; this perfection is maintained in the eighth and according to some authors his eyes lose their force; in the ninth, all his faculties commence to become enfeebled; and the tenth precipitates him towards death. In the second hebdomade or the commencement of the third, the voice becomes strong but unequal. Aristotle calls this “change of voice” and our fathers called it hirquitallire; they also call the young man of this age hirquitallos, from the word hircus."

-Censorinus, The Natal Day: Part 1, Chapter 3

 

Etruscan male head from Latium, 3rd C. BCE. Current location: Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany.

Source:

https://www.ancient.eu/image/7152/etruscan-male-head/

 

Quote:

http://elfinspell.com/ClassicalTexts/Maude/Censorinus/DeDieNatale-Part1.html#chap1