92 History of Monsters

while fleshy ones are soft and delicate. Likewise, sharp and bony buttocks indicate strength, whereas fleshy and fat ones suggest effeminacy. Indeed, shriveled buttocks, like those of monkeys, are characteristic of the ill-mannered. Slender knees indicate timidity; those curved toward the front, which women mostly possess, suggest effeminacy; fat knees signify the timid and generous, while lean ones denote the robust and daring.

Next come the legs; when covered with thick hair, they are seen in men lost to luxury. Thick and muscular legs accompany a man’s strength, but sinewy and slender ones, like those of birds, suggest lust.

At the calves, thick ones belong to the intemperate, while soft ones belong to the effeminate. When calves are moderate and well-formed, they indicate talented men. At the end of the leg is the ankle, which is sinewy and wide in the robust, but fleshy in women and delicate men. If these parts are long and fleshy, they indicate madness, just as slender heels demonstrate timidity.

Finally, we must say something about the feet, as it would seem somewhat absurd to pass over the physiognomy of the foot "with dry feet," as the saying goes. Large and well-jointed feet belong to the robust; narrow and small ones, like a woman's, belong to the soft and delicate.

A sole that is not at all concave, but so flat that it touches the ground with its entire print, denotes crafty men, according to the teaching of Aristotle. Thick and fleshy feet are seen in the foolish; thick and short feet in the weak; slender and short in the malicious; very long feet in the deceitful; fleshy and hard in the dull-witted; and small, beautiful feet in fornicators. Finally, curved toes and nails, as seen in birds, belong to the shameless; thin, well-colored nails belong to those of noble birth; and toes joined together, as in quails, refer to the fearful.

Furthermore, we can deduce character traits relating to physiognomy from the color, motion, and various actions of the entire body.

A very black complexion, like that of an Ethiopian, or a pale one, belongs to the fearful; a very white one, like a woman's, to the faint-hearted; dark or tan to the robust; and tawny, like a lion’s, to the noble. Reddish hair or skin, like a fox’s, suggests the shifty and clever; honey-colored belongs to the lazy, and a flaming hue to the manic.

Moreover, a man with a stiff neck, an unsteady gait, a nose that breathes insolence, and a petulant laugh—one who darts his eyes here and there, offering agreement and denial at the same time, possessing a reason that stands on no logic, with disorganized questioning and mismatched answers—is a man, I say, into whose soul all vices flow as if into a filthy latrine. This is how Gregory Nazianzen described Julian the Apostate.

Furthermore, men who walk with hunched shoulders like lions are of a proud spirit; those who walk with their legs and feet turned inward are soft, like women; those who twist their bodies while walking are flatterers; and those who lean to the right while moving forward lead a life lost to luxury.

Finally, there are some who claim to recognize the planetary ruler of one's birth from the physiognomy of the head, eyes, stature, and the like.

For instance, Giorgio Veneto observes a man of handsome and medium stature, with darkish eyes tending toward largeness, blond hair with some baldness, and incisor teeth that are longer than usual; he thus attests that Jupiter was the disposer of this birth. He then considers such a man to be faithful, just, imbued with honest character, and obedient to his parents, arguing from this that Jupiter was well-disposed in the nativity. Next, he considers a ruddy complexion, with eyes of varying colors tending toward lemon-yellow, as well as a beard, head hair, and other body hair that is dark, dense, and thick, a medium stature, a round face sprinkled with certain spots, wide nostrils, a rough appearance, and teeth longer than normal; in this case, he establishes Mars as the ruler in the nativity. The same Giorgio Veneto, weighing a man with a long face, unequal eyes, joined eyebrows, marked with various spots, ugly teeth, and black, sparse hair, considers Saturn to have been the disposer of the birth. Many other things of this kind can be read in the aforementioned author.

Two other matters worthy of observation should be referred back to Physiognomy. The first is Metoposcopy, which makes conjectures for divination by examining the lines of the forehead.

For the forehead has been called by some the mirror of the whole life, since in anger and other disturbances of the mind, various movements appear on the brow. For this reason