History of Monsters. 363

# OMENS

People very often use the art of prophecy to interpret various future events from the birth of monsters. For example, during the reign of Valentinian, two monsters appeared distinguished by their size: one in Syria exceeded any towering human height, while another in Egypt was smaller than the incredible brevity of human nature usually allows. Without a doubt (as Sorbinus attests), these portended future calamities for the world.

Indeed, this contrast foretold that a man born of humble station and lowly condition would conspire against the life and leadership of the great Emperor Valentinian. Though he had been raised to the dignity of the Empire while still a youth and supported by the cunning arts of his mother, Justina, he was eventually led astray in secret and began to favor the Arian heresy. Furthermore, many have believed that the birth of monsters signals an approaching war, as the iambic verse says: *Every kind of monster appears more frequently in times of war.*

Thus, men burdened by grave crimes incur the hatred of God, yet they may obtain pardon if they later hold themselves to account. But when they utterly abhor Christian institutions and never beg for mercy, they provoke God to such a degree that He repeatedly expresses His anger through war—which is usually first predicted by monsters. Certain iambic verses explain it this way: *Any monster portends the wrath of God. Where there are monsters, God’s wrath is never far away.*

In light of this, authors report that such a monster appeared before the wars of Brutus and Cassius.

I. Some claim a winged and horned monster, resembling a demon—an illustration of which we provide here—was born to a certain woman. However, Appian recounts the history differently. He says that as Brutus and Cassius were hurrying with their forces from Abydos into Europe in 41 BC, this monster or omen appeared to Brutus in the silence of the night. It had a body, breasts, and horns like a goat, a dog’s gaping mouth, wings like a bat, a cow’s tail, and the feet of a bird of prey.

Brutus was sitting alone in his tent, deeply anxious about the outcome of the war, when he sensed someone entering. Turning toward the noise, he saw the image of the monster described above standing there. Shaken by its horrific appearance, he asked who it was and what it wanted. The phantom murmured in reply: "I am your evil genius, Brutus; you shall see me at Philippi," and then vanished. When Brutus later asked his servants in the tents if they had seen anyone coming or going, they said they had not; full of wonder, he returned to his rest. The next day at dawn, Brutus described this apparition to Cassius, who dismissed it as a hollow delusion and urged their march into Europe. Subsequently, they conquered everything between Mount Aenus and Mount Senium in a continuous streak of victory. Meanwhile, Norbanus was surrounded by the enemy at Poeni and abandoned his post; a significant disaster might have occurred had Antony not been at hand.

Nevertheless, if we look back through the series of years, many authors—and Sorbinus in particular—affirm it as a certainty that no monster is born without a prophetic meaning.

II. An infant was born with two mouths, four eyes, two teeth, a beard, and two very short ears in the year 308 AD at Daphne, that pleasant and grand suburb of Antioch. According to the opinion of Marcellinus, during the time of the Emperor Constantius, this signaled that the Republic would turn into a deformed state. All histories testify with one voice how the century following this birth was defiled by foul morals. At that time, nearly innumerable evils afflicted the Church of Christ, with the insults of lost men raging everywhere