Math problem help PLs!?

Question

here lies diophatus... Throughhis tombstone tells how old: god gave him his boyhood one sixth of his life,.. One twelth more as a young Man while whiskers grew rife; and one seventh before marriage begun ; five years later there came a bouncing new son. Alas that dear child master and sage, after turning half the measure of his fathers last age tragically died. After 4 years of mourning he now lies beside his sons side

Answer 1

This question is hard to understand. What means "god gave him his boyhood one sixth of his life"? and "One twelth more as a young Man while whiskers grew rife; and one seventh before marriage begun"? Could you please edit?

Answer 2

Its from a poem/classical puzzle, please don't edit it, it's fine the way it is. You just need to read it carefully.

The problem says that the son lived to half his father's life. From the other half, if you take away 1/6th + 1/12th + 1/7th then you are left with with 5+4 = nine years. So 3/28th of his age was 9, so Diophantus turns out to have lived till 84, and his son till 42.