216 Ulisse Aldrovandi

...because the infant lay near a pool in Syria, on the verge of death from lack of food, had birds not provided nourishment. From there, she was taken up by the King's shepherds and eventually, as an adult, married the King. She not only held the kingdom but expanded it. Pyrrhus, son of Aeacides, lost his royal house and was barely saved from the weapons of enemies pressing from behind; entrusted to Glaucias, he was eventually restored to his kingdom as an adult. Cyrus was exposed to wild beasts immediately upon birth, and was nurtured and saved more by chance than by his mother's design. Finally, Romulus and Remus, endangered in the Tiber, were set on the bank by the river and would surely have perished had their wailing not attracted a wolf—not to prey on them, but to nurse them.

We can add the auspicious and memorable birthdays of certain individuals. Take the example of Charles V, which stands above all: born on the twenty-fourth of February, it was on that same day that he defeated and captured the King of France near Pavia, and finally, on that same day, he received the imperial crown from Pope Clement VII in Bologna. Conversely, Antipater of Sidon always had an unlucky birthday, for he suffered from an annual fever on that day and was eventually consumed by it on his very birthday.

Furthermore, the power of human strength brings us immense wonder. Even as a boy, David far surpassed others in physical vigor and greatness of spirit; according to the sacred scriptures, he outran both lions and bears. In Pliny, one reads of the feats of Milo, who would carry an ox while running and kill it with a single punch. The gladiator Tritanus could overpower an armed man using only a finger, and once defeated, would carry him on his finger to his commanders' camp. There was also a German peasant who lifted any heavy load; he claimed to have gained such strength from eating bread found on the edge of a certain spring. Cleomenes of Astypalaia, a man of enormous size, is said to have performed many feats more through physical force than mental character. He once entered a schoolhouse and, by breaking the column supporting the building, immediately crushed a great number of children. When sought for punishment for this deed, he climbed into a tomb and held down the lid against those trying to pull it off; but eventually, when the lid broke, he had vanished. Maiolus also recounts seeing a man from Asti before the Marquis of Pescara who grabbed a marble ball three feet in circumference, threw it high into the air, and frequently caught it in his arms as it fell. Then, with a very swift toss, he would catch it from the front and back as if it were a common play-ball.

The wonderful strength of Rodamantes of Mantua, from the Gonzaga family, is also celebrated; he could twist iron horse-fetters with his hands and, by twisting and retwisting a rope as thick as an arm, would snap it apart. Finally, Olaus Magnus marvels at the men of Sweden and Gothia, distinguished by their masculine valor, who carry horses or oxen by lifting them, and bear weights of a thousand pounds for many miles. Lastly, the brave deeds of Uberti de Cruce of Milan are celebrated in history: in the year 1290, he could bring a running horse to a standstill and carry a beast of burden laden with wheat on his shoulders. We omit the many tales of Hercules' strength as fables passed down by poets, and we deliberately pass over Samson's strength—which resided in his hair—in silence, as these accounts are well known from the sacred scriptures.

Among men distinguished by both types of strength, we must include those who endured tortures with a calm mind, like the courtesan Leana. Even when tortured, she did not reveal the names of the tyrant-slayers Harmodius and Aristogiton. Anaxarchus also bore his torments with a steady mind; while being tortured, he bit off his own tongue so he would not reveal those who had plotted the assassination of the tyrant.

Now we must hasten to the remarkable similarities of faces, for sometimes human features are found to be so alike that they cannot be distinguished from one another by sight. Solinus tells of a commoner named Artemon who was so similar to King Antiochus of Syria that the King's wife, Laodice, used his appearance to conceal her husband's death until another King could be chosen according to her wishes. Vives, the commentator on Saint Augustine, reports that twin sons were born in Mechelen who were so similar in face and gesture that not only strangers but even their own parents would make mistakes, calling one by the other's name. Perhaps not unlike these were the twins whom Albertus Magnus claims to have seen in Germany, who were of such similar build that