204 History of Nature. [BooK VII. 



Cuirass of Lead weighing five hundred Pounds, and wearing 

 high Shoes of the same Weight. When Milo, the great 

 Wrestler of Croton, stood firm upon his Feet, no Man was 

 able to make him stir in the least Degree : if he held an 

 Apple, no Man was able to stretch out his Finger. 1 It was a 

 great matter, that Philippides ran 1140 Stadia, from Athens 

 to Lacedsemon, in two Days ; until Anistis, a Runner of 

 Lacedsemon, and Philonides, belonging to Alexander the 

 Great, ran from Sicyone to Elis in one Day, 1200 Stadia. 

 But now, indeed, we know some in the Circus able to endure 

 the running of 160 Miles. And lately when Fonteius and 

 Vipsanus were Consuls, a young Boy, only nine Years old, 

 between Noon and Evening ran 75 Miles. And a Man may 

 wonder the more at this Matter, if he consider, that it was 

 counted an exceeding great Journey that Tiberius Nero made 

 in three Chariots in a Day and a Night, when he hasted to 

 his Brother Drusus, then lying sick in Germany, which was 

 but 200 Miles. 2 



1 Two persons, successively porters to Kings James I. and Charles, 

 his son, were of great size and strength. The first, particularly, was able 

 to take two of the tallest yeomen of the guard, one under each arm, and 

 he ordered them as he pleased. The Emperor Maximinus, who was eight 

 feet and a half in height, was of enormous strength, even in proportion to 

 his magnitude. Wern. Club, 



2 We have less examples of swiftness of foot, since more rapid convey- 

 ance is common. Pliny's instances are the more surprising, as they imply 

 continuance ; but the English King Henry V. was so swift of foot, that 

 with two of his lords, without any weapons, he would catch a wild buck 

 in a large park. In Baker's " Chronicle " we are informed, that John 

 Lepton, of Kepwick, in the county of York, one of the grooms of the 

 Privy Chamber to James I., for a wager rode for six days successively 

 between York and London : which is 150 miles. He accomplished the 

 work of each day, beginning May 20, 1606, before it was dark ; and hav- 

 ing finished his wager at York on Saturday, on the following Monday he 

 rode back to London, and on Tuesday to the court at Greenwich : being 

 as fresh and well as when he began. In the year 1619, July 17, Bernard 

 Calvert rode from St. George's church, in Southwark, to Dover : thence 

 by barge to Calais, and from thence back to St. George's church, on the 

 same day; beginning at three o'clock in the morning, and ending at eight 

 in the evening, fresh and lusty, although roads were then less perfect 

 than now. Wern. Club. 



