Indeed, there are even whole nations that are very long-lived, like the Seres, who are said to live three hundred years: some attribute their old age to the climate, others to the soil and still others to their diet, for they say that this entire nation drinks nothing but water. The people of Athos are also said to live a hundred and thirty years, and it is reported that the Chaldeans live more than a hundred, using barley bread to preserve the sharpness of their eyesight. They say, too, that on account of this diet their other faculties are more vigorous than those of the rest of mankind.