('Age').
I. General
Censorinus [4] takes up ancient theories on saeculum in ch. 17 of De die natali (AD 238) in the framework of chronographic remarks. His sources include Varro, who, according to Serv. Aen. 8,526, was the author of a text, De saeculis. Censorinus, DN 17,2, defined saeculum as 'the length of the longest possible human lifetime' (spatium vitae humanae longissimum partu et morte definitum).
Censorinus makes a clear distinction between Etruscan (17,5-6) and Roman trad…