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gins, from whose groins or armpits fleshy tumors—resembling scrofula and weighing up to twenty pounds—hung down as far as their knees. The substance of these tumors was said to look much like the udders of cows. In the same passage, Schenck describes a woman from whose genitalia hung a vein the length and thickness of a thumb, although the renowned Mercuriale interpreted this story as referring to a female member. Schenck also mentions a certain matron whose clitoris grew to the length and thickness of a goose's neck.

A similar case recently occurred here in Bologna. A certain man was attempting to divorce the wife he had been married to for ten years, claiming she was no longer fit for intercourse. To resolve this marital dispute, two physicians were called upon to examine the woman's private parts. They testified that not even the point of a needle could penetrate the genital slit. However, the most excellent Giovanni Agostino Cucchi—a man second to none in the medical faculty—was chosen to visit the woman alongside an investigator from the Archbishop’s court. At first glance, he observed the vaginal opening to be severely obstructed because the clitoris had grown so large that it blocked the entire cleft. Nonetheless, once the clitoris was lifted, he found the opening so wide that it could have admitted something as thick as an arm.

# The Variety of Androgynes

Since it was observed in the preceding section that Nature sometimes doubles the penis in males and the vulva in females, we must now consider those offspring who participate in the genitalia of both sexes. According to Pollux, these are called *Concubini*, while others call them Androgynes or Hermaphrodites, as in this couplet:

Furthermore, these infants are called not only Androgynes and Hermaphrodites, but also *diphuéis* (double-natured), *androthélukas* (man-womanish), and *arrenothélukas* (male-female). Aristotle seems to acknowledge them in his *History of Animals* when he writes that those who happen to have twin genitalia—one of a male and the other of a female—always have one that is functional and another that is useless. Similarly, Pliny recorded that offspring are sometimes born whom they call Hermaphrodites; in former times these were considered portents, but now they are held as curiosities.

Subsequently, some writers have established various categories of androgynes according to the diverse whims of Nature. In males, they have sometimes observed a small female vulva in the perineum or even in the scrotum, through which no waste flows. Likewise, they have noticed a vulva-like shape above the base of the penis. In females, variation has been observed when a penis-like growth protrudes from the top of the genitalia at the clitoris, or when a penis is produced near the groin or in the perineum. To tell the truth, however, this variety is so complex that nothing can be determined with certainty, both because of the vast number of androgynes who have been born and because authors, in cataloging androgynes of various ages, do not always explain the true placement of the genital parts of either sex.

From Julius Obsequens we learn that during the consulship of Marcus Messalla and Gaius Livius, an androgyne nearly twelve years old was put to death by order of the soothsayers. According to the same author, during the consulship of Lucius Metellus and Quintus Maximus, an androgyne was born at Luna and, by mandate of the soothsayers, was carried out to sea. Likewise, according to Lycosthenes, in the one hundred and thirty-second year before the birth of the Virgin, an androgyne born in the Ferentine territory was cast into a river. Similarly, in the Roman territory, an eight-year-old androgyne was discovered and carried to the sea during the consulship of Lucius Caecilius and Lucius Aurelius, if Julius Obsequens’ account is true. Indeed, from time to time, androgynes born in Rome were carried out to sea. Again, in the one hundred and fourteenth year before the birth of the Virgin, according to Lycosthenes, a ten-year-old androgyne at Saturnia was found