History of Monsters. 367

allurements and most empty fables, deceiving human minds, began to dominate land and sea. For this reason, they report that those monsters were partly terrestrial and partly aquatic. Moreover, the birth of a human fetus with a dog’s head cast a shadow of profound sorrow over the year 914. According to Sorbinus, it predicted the conduct of the Christians of that age, who were constantly quarreling and tearing at one another with mutual bites; this occurred as the remnants of the impious Anthropomorphite and Manichaean heresies persisted into that era.

III. A two-bodied monster sharing a canine nature—being composed of both man and dog—appeared in Epirus (specifically Albania) in the year 1233. As seen in the illustration, at that time the wretched city of Mount Albanus was plagued by "dog-like" diseases and secret betrayals. According to Sorbinus, those people displayed perfection and piety in many outward matters, yet behind their backs they were sacrilegious, prone to blasphemy, and eventually emulated the habits of biting dogs. Similarly, toward the end of Lothair's reign, a fetus that was both human and canine was born to a certain woman; their bodies were fused at the back, just as the figure shows, and the Emperor’s death followed soon after.

A three-headed monster was also born among the Samnites, in Abruzzo, in the year 1255, though it died shortly thereafter. Many saw this as a prophecy of the three rival claimants to the Roman Empire. Later, in 1293, during the reign of the last Andronicus, a boy with two heads and four hands was born in Byzantium. As Sorbinus notes, this portended nothing other than the sudden ruin and destruction of the Byzantine Empire. For the people, who had once rested upon the true foundation of faith, began to wander through various deceptive opinions to the great detriment of Christian piety, as Greek histories testify in many places.

Likewise, a boy with four hands and four feet, born around 1389, demonstrated the wicked and tainted morals of many Christians of that age. A most obvious testament to this was provided by the schism of Benedict XIII (previously known as Peter of Luna); indeed, this shameful example defiled Christian customs and caused great harm to the Church. Additionally, a boy with the ears of a hare was born in 1495, the year Emperor Frederick died during the war with the Turks and Krakow was leveled by a raging fire. Regarding this, Sorbinus recorded that the Supreme God was attempting to lead men away from impending evils through these monsters as warnings, sensing that within a few days they would degenerate into so many hares.

IIII. Furthermore, in the year 1496, a monster was discovered in the Tiber River. It had a scaly human body and the head of a donkey; its right hand was human, while the left resembled an elephant’s foot. Its right foot ended in eagle’s claws, and the left was like that of an ox. The belly was female, adorned with breasts. On its hindquarters, it had a similar bearded head, and another besides in the likeness of a dragon. Sorbinus seized this as an opportunity for prophecy, recording that the various limbs making up this monster denounced the various heresies that constituted the calamity of that time. The head of this monster was that of a donkey, which signified the coldness and sluggishness that abounded in Luther and his followers; for once all charity had grown cold, the various seeds of war breaking out among his disciples brought destruction to Germany and many other kingdoms.

V. Moreover, if we wander through the wide field of the past, we shall observe even more horrific monsters. In the year 1512, a monster was born in Ravenna with a horn on its head, the foot of a bird of prey, and an eye on its knee. In place of arms, it had wings, and it possessed the characteristics of both sexes, though the rest was human, as can be seen in the figure below. This monster came to light at the time when Pope Julius II stirred up all of Italy and a great part of the Christian world against Louis XII, King of the French