History of Monsters. 349

cated, they displayed a ridiculous and monstrous image of a flute-player, but when unfolded, they revealed a certain venerable deity. Again, Pierius attempts to explain the depiction of a man ending in the form of a horse as a hieroglyph for the fleeting and headlong nature of human life, since the boundary of life is reached in a swift race.

Setting aside the goat-footed monster, which has elsewhere been represented as a hieroglyph for the entire mechanism of the world, let us turn to those hieroglyphs represented by monstrous beasts. Pierius sometimes painted a two-headed crane as a hieroglyph for fertility, because when such a bird once appeared, Egypt enjoyed a most abundant harvest that year. Although some might see spring and winter in this two-headed monster, as the arrival of the crane gladdens men with the spring, and its departure signals the onset of winter.

In the same work, Pierius depicts a winged horse more to indicate fame than speed; for since such a monster is said to have been born from the slaughter of Medusa, it signifies that virtue, once terror is vanquished, generates fame. Medusa’s head was the hieroglyph for terror, and as soon as fame is born, it immediately flies through the mouths of men.

As a final flourish, let us add a wondrous monster depicted by Valeriano: a winged serpent with the head of a hawk, a hieroglyph by which the Egyptians attempted to represent Divinity.

# MIRACLES

It is beyond doubt that those monsters which have come into the world to portend something must be considered the work of miracles. Nonetheless, I have decided to recount the more obvious miracles of monsters here, while leaving the less clear ones for the section on Omens.

First, we read in the history of Portuguese India that in the region of Japan, many pagans had already received the Christian sacraments when it happened that all the children of a certain neophyte died. Consequently, as his wife's labor approached, a pagan relative of this woman—swayed by persuasive words supplied by a demon—convinced the husband to separate himself from the Christian community, using the death of his children as a reason. Moved by his kinsman's words, the man immediately drew his dagger and pierced a cross to demonstrate to everyone that he was abandoning Christian rites. But shortly thereafter, his wife, racked by the pains of labor, gave birth to an infant without a chin and with a chest so open that all the boy's internal organs could be seen. Struck by the terror of this monstrous birth, all the relatives, along with the husband, returned to the worship of the Christian faith.

A similar miracle occurred in the region of Friuli in the year 1625. A certain noblewoman, eager for offspring, mocked a beggar woman who was carrying two boys and seeking food from door to door. When questioned about her children, the beggar affirmed she had borne them in a legitimate marriage, though her husband was then ill in the hospital. Deeply offended, the beggar prayed to Almighty God that such a mark be impressed upon the noblewoman's fetus that her own violated reputation would be recognized by all. It happened that the noblewoman gave birth to a seven-headed infant; the middle head, among the others, was equipped with only one eye and goat-like ears.

It also happened at Epidaurus in the year 1620 that a pregnant woman stole two hens from a neighbor who was away. When the neighbor returned and suspected the theft, she went to the pregnant woman and asked in gentle words for her missing hens. But the pregnant woman swore an oath that she was innocent of such a crime; indeed, she prayed to the Great God that she might give birth to two demons if she were guilty of the theft. It happened exactly as she said, for at the time of delivery, monstrous demons emerged, tearing apart their mother’s vitals, and perished along with her.

Furthermore, according to Polydore Vergil in his *History of England*, during the reign of Henry II, while Thomas of Canterbury—the Legate of the Roman Pontiff—was traveling through those regions