Chap. 22.] IXSTA>'CES or ACUTE>'ESS OT HEARING. 163 



other small animals in ivon', so minute in size, that other 

 persons were unable to distinguish their individual parts. 

 Myrmecides"^ also was famous in the same line ;*^ this man 

 made, of similar material, a chariot drawn by four horses, 

 which a fly could cover with its wings ; as well as a ship which 

 might be covered by the wings of a tiny bee.°^ 



CHAP. 22. (22.) — ixsTAycES of kemaekable acuteitess of 



HEARING. 



We have one instance on record of remarkable acuteness oi 

 hearing ; the noise of the battle, on the occasion when Sybaris^ 

 was destroyed, was heard, the day on which it took place, at 

 Olympia.^ But, as to the victory over the Cimbri,^ and that 

 over Perseus, the news of which was conveyed to Eome by the 

 Castors,^ they are to be looked upon in the light of visions and 

 presages proceeding immediately from the gods. 



*^ His works in ivory "were said to bare been so small, that they could 

 scarcely be seen vrithout placing them on black hair. 



*-' Cicero, Acad. Qusst. B. iv. c. 120, speaks of " one Myrmecides. a 

 maker of minute objects of art ;" JElian, Tac. Hist. B. i. c. 17, also speaks 

 of these minute performances of Myrmecides, and styles them '• a waste 

 of time." PHnv, in a subsequent part of his work, B. xixi. c. 4, speak; 

 of similar minute works, executed by these artists in marble ; but the ac- 

 count which he srives is scarcely credible. — B. 



61 See B. xxxVi. c. 5. 



" It would appear that there is a httle confusion here of events. Sy- 

 baris, so noted for its luxury and effeminacy, was destroyed by the people oi 

 Crotona, imder the command of the athlete Milo. b.c. 510. In B.C. 360. 

 the Crotoniats were defeated at the river Sagras, by the Locrians and Ehe- 

 gians, 10,000 in number, although they are said to have amounted Xc 

 130,000. Now it was on the occasion of this latier batik, that, accordini: 

 to Cicero, De Xat. Deor. B. ii., the noise was heard at Olympia, where th( 

 games were being celebrated. Be it as it may, the story is clearly fabulous 

 Evelyn is much more deserving of credit, where we find him stating in hi- 

 Diary, that in his garden, at Say's Court, at Deptford, he heard the gum 

 fired in one of our engagements with the Dutch fleet, at a distance thenc< 

 of nearly 200 miles. 



" Ajasson discusses at some length, the possibihty of the fact here men 

 tioned, and concludes, that it is not to be credited' : he estimates the dis 

 tance between these two places at 120 miles. — B. 



" As to the miraculous annunciation of the victory of Marius an( 

 Catulus over the Cimbri. see B. ii. c. 58. 



55 Meanin?, thereby, the twin brothers. Castor and Pollux; who wer. 

 said to have announced at Rome the victory gained the day before b; 

 Paulus ..Emilius over Kin? Perseus. 



