Chap. 16.] EXAMPLES OF UNUSUAL SIZE. 157 



do not inform us what was the height of ^sevius Pollio ; 17 but 

 we learn from them that he nearly lost his life from the rush 

 of the people to see him, and that he was looked upon as a 

 prodigy. The tallest man that has been seen in our times, was 

 one Gabbaras 18 by name, who was brought from Arabia by 

 the Emperor Claudius ; his height was nine feet and as many 

 inches. 19 In the reign of Augustus, there were two persons, 

 Posio and Secundilla by name, who were half a foot taller 

 than him ; their bodies have been preserved as objects of curi- 

 osity in the museum of the Sallustian family. 20 



In the reign of the same emperor, there was a man also, 

 remarkable for his extremely diminutive stature, being only 

 two feet and a palm in height ; his name was Conopas, and he 

 was a great pet with Julia, the grand-daughter of Augustus. 

 There was a female also, of the same size, Andromeda by name, 

 a freed- woman of Julia Augusta. AVe learn from Varro, that 

 Manius Maximus and M. Tullius, members of our equestrian 

 order, were only two cubits in height ; and I have myself 

 seen them, preserved in their coffins.' 21 It is far from an un- 

 known fact, that children are occasionally born a foot and a 

 half in height, and sometimes a little more ; such children, 

 however, have finished their span of existence by the time they 

 are three years old. 22 



17 Columella speaks of Cicero as mentioning this Pollio, and stating that 

 he was a foot taller than any one else. It is most probably in Cicero's lost 

 book, " De Admirandis," that this mention was made of him. 



18 Hardouin supposes that this was not an individual name, but a term 

 derived from the Hebrew, descriptive of his remarkable size. B. He 

 supposes also that not improbably this was the same individual that is men- 

 tioned by Tacitus, Annals, B. xii. c. 12, as Acharus, a king of the Arabians. 



19 According to our estimate of the Roman measures, this would corre- 

 spond to about nine feet four and a half inches of our standard. B. 



20 "Conditorio Sallustianorum." The more general meaning attributed 

 to the word " conditorium," is " tomb" or burial-place. We learn from 

 other sources that the famous " gardens of Sallust" belonged to the em- 

 peror Augustus, and it is not improbable that there was a museum there of 

 curiosities, in which these remarkable skeletons were kept. 



21 " Loculis." It is not quite clear whether this word has the meaning 

 here of chest or coffin, or of a niche or cavity made in the wall of the 

 tomb. 



23 Among the objects of curiosity which were exhibited by Augustus to 

 the Roman people, as related by' Suetonius, c. 43, was a dwarf named 

 Lucius, who is there described ; but he would appear to be a ditferent per- 

 son from any of those here mentioned. B. 



