144 
PLINY'S NATTJEAL HISTOET. 
[Book VII. 
CHAP. 8. (10.) — WHO WEEE CALLED VOPISCI. 
A child used to be called Yopiscus/*' who, when twins had 
been conceived, had been retained in the womb and born alive, 
the other having perished by abortion. There are, too, some 
very remarkable instances of this kind, although they are sin- 
gularly rare and uncommon. 
CHAP. 9. (11.) — THE COI^CEPTION Al^D GENEEATIOlf OF MAIT. 
Yew animals, except the female of the human species, re- 
ceive the male when pregnant. In only one or two species, and 
no more, does superfoetation ever take place.^^ Cases are to 
be found stated in the journals of physicians, and of others who 
have paid particular attention to the subject, in which twelve 
embryos have been removed at a single abortion. When, 
however, but a very short time has intervened between two 
conceptions, the embryos both of them proceed to maturity ; 
as was seen to be the case with Hercules and his brother 
Iphicles.^^ This was the case also with the woman who brought 
forth two children at a birth, one of whom bore a resemblance 
to her husband, and the other to her paramour. So too, with 
a female slave in Proconnesus,^^ who was delivered of two 
children at one birth, one of whom bore a strong resemblance 
to her master, and the other to her master's steward, with 
both of whom she had had connection on the same day ; with 
another woman who was delivered of two children at a birth, 
the one after the usual period of gestation, the other an em- 
And let the angel whom thou still hast serv'd, 
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb 
Untimely ripp'd." 
^ The commentators are not agreed respecting the origin of this name ; 
Dalechamps suggests, that it was originally Opiscus, from oniaQiov, be- 
cause one follows close upon another." — B. 
^1 Hardouin says, that this is the case with the hare and the dasjrpus, 
which is a species of hare ; but there is probably no foundation for the 
statement. Pliny repeats it in a subsequent passage, B. viii. c. 81.— B. 
Pliny evidently considers this a case of superfoetation, and looks upon 
it as not uncommon in the human species : whereas it is now considered 
impossible. 
^3 This refers to the mythological tale of Jupiter and Amphitryon. — B. 
»i See B. V. c. 44. 
