Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. 



A thmides^ who affirmech moreovcr^that all theirfecding is upon locufts^and that they arc very 

 quicke and fwift of foot. ClitAtchm and LMegaflhenes both nameth them Mandri^ and make ac- 

 count that they have three hundred villages in their countrey.Over and befides^that the womert 

 bring forth children when they are but feven yeeres old^ and waxe aged at fortie . K^rtemidorus 

 affirmcthjThat in the Ifland Taprobana the people live exceeding long without any maladic or 

 infirmitieof thebodie. D//r/nnaketh report, That certaine Indians engender with bcafts, of 

 which generation are bred certaine monilrous mungrels^halfebeafts and halfe men. Alfo, that 

 the Calingian women of India conceive with child at five yeeres of agc^S: live not above eight. 

 In another trad of that couittrey, there be certain^ men with long {Lagged tailes moft fwift and 

 light of foot : & forae again that with ^eir eares cover their whole bodie. The Orites are neigh° 



B bouts to the Indians^ divided from them onely by the river Arbis, who are acquainted with no 

 other meat but fiiTi: which they fplit and flicc into peecss with theit nailes, and roft them againfl 

 thcSunne^and then make bread thereof as C/z/^rc^/^ makes report. Cutesoi Pergamus faith 

 likewilCjThat the Troglodites above i£thyopia be fwifter than horfes: and that fome i£thyopi- 

 ans arc above eight cubitcs high.And thefe are a kind of the i£thyopian NomadcSjCalled Syr- 

 bota3,as he faith^dwelling along the river Aftapus^toward the North pole.As for the nation cal- 

 led Menifminijthey dwell from the Ocean lea twentie daies journey jwho live of the milk of cer- 

 taine beafts that we call Cynocephales, having heads and fnouts like dogs. And whole heards 

 and fiockes of the females they kecpc and feed^killing the male of them all,fave Only to ferve for 

 maintenance of the breed . In the deferts of Mricke yee fliall meet oftentimes with fairieSgSp- 



C pearing in the (hapeofmen and women, but they van illifoone away like fantafticall illufions. 

 See how Nature is dilpofed for the nones to devifc full wittily in this and fuch like pallimes to 

 play with mankindjthereby not onely to make herfelfemerrie_jbut to let us a wondering at fuch 

 ftrangc nuracies. And I allure you^thus daily and hourly in a manner plaieth fhe her part5that to 

 recount every one of her fports by themlelves5no man is able with all his wit and memorie* Let 

 it fuffice thereforcj to teitifie and declare her power, that wee have fctdownethofe prodigious 

 and ftrange workes of hersjfhewcd in wholenations. And then goe forward to dilcourfe of fome 

 particularsjapproved and knowne in man. 



Chap, hi, ' 

 ^ of p'odtgiomandikonfircmkrths, 



T Hat women may bringforth three at one birth^ appcareth evidently by thd example of 

 the three tmns^Horatti and Cunahj.^wi to goe above that niimber,is reputed & common- 

 ly fpoken to bee monftrous, and ro portend fome mifnap : but onely in i4igypt,where wo- 

 nienare more than ordinariefruitfulljby drinking of Nilus water^which isfuppoied to helpe ge- 

 neration. Of late yeeres jand no longer fince than in the latter end of the reigne of AuguUta C^- 

 far^ acOftia there was a woman (a Commoners wife) delivered atone birth of two.boies and 

 as many girles^butthis was a prodigious toksn.and portended no doubt the famine that enfucd 

 foone after. In Peloponnefus there is found one woman that brought forth at foure births twcn- 

 E tie childreujfive at oncCjand the greater part ofthcm all did wellj and lived. Trogm is mine au- 

 thor, that in ^gypt it is an ordinaric thing for a woman to have feven at a burden Jt falleth out 

 nioreover5that there come into the worldchildren of both iexes^whoip wccal Hermophrodites, 

 In old time they were knowne by the name of iVndrogynijand reputed then for prodigious won- 

 ders, hovvfoever now men take delight and plcafure m them. P&mfej the grcatj in his Theatre 

 which he adorned and beautified with fmgular ornaments and rare devifes of antique worke, as 

 well for the admirable fubjedl and argument thereof, as the moft curious and exquifite hand of 

 cunning and skilfull artificcrs,among other images and pourtraitls there let up,reprefented one 

 ^utichcyk woman of Tralleis,who afterilie had in her life time borne thirtiebirthsjher corps was 

 carried forth by twentie of her children to the funerail fire for to bee burnt,according to the ma- 

 F ner of that country .As for Alcifp€fi\z was delivered of an Elephant,maric that was a monftrous 

 and prodigious tokcn,&forc£l)ewed fome hcavic fortune that followed after. As alfo in the be- 

 ginning oi the Marfians warrcjthcre was a bondwoman broughtforth a ferpcnt.In fumme, there 

 be many mifbapen monfters come that way into the world,of divers and fundric formes. 

 ■Jim cJfar writeth^Thatin Tbellalie there was borne a monilcr called an Hippoccntaur^/.balfc 

 ; , P . aman 



