536 Ulysses Aldrovandi

Additionally, in the year 1413, in Northern Bavaria between two rivers—namely the Danube and the Altmühl—a girl was born with four feet and as many arms. Furthermore, in the year 1529 in Germany, Giovanni Pontano records (as reported by Ambroise Paré) that on the ninth of January, an infant was observed with four feet and four arms.

In the year 1536, in the district of Zurich, Lycosthenes records the birth of a two-headed infant with four feet. According to the same author, another two-headed child was born to a blacksmith’s wife on the twenty-seventh of December, 1555, in a village not far from the town of Adorf in Vogtland; it had four feet and four hands, and instead of any visible genitalia, a second navel had formed in that place. Finally, there are reports of four-footed children being born in Terracina. We ourselves present here an illustration of a four-footed fetus born in Rome, as reported by Jakob Rueff, with the other parts of the body correctly formed, as shown in Figure II.

However, that four-footed boy born in the time of Mauritius, whom Lycosthenes mentions in his history, did not actually have four feet; rather, he was called "quadruped" because he moved on all fours like a beast due to a malignant deformity of his lower parts. Anyone wishing to see more examples of this kind should consult the fourth chapter of this history, which discusses the multiplication of arms in fetuses.

THE MULTIPLICATION OF FEET in Quadruped Beasts.

Turning now to the monstrous or doubled feet of beasts, we shall first discuss the horse, as it is the noblest of animals. These creatures ought to have four feet, since they are classified among the "quadrupeds" by the Latins and the *tetrapoda* by the Greeks. Consequently, if these animals happen to be born with fewer or more feet, it must be categorized as a monster and called an error of Nature. And although two types of horses—domestic and wild—are found in the works of both ancient and recent authors, we read nowhere that the wild ones differ from the domestic in the number of feet, despite what some have mistakenly claimed.

Following the teachings of Pliny, Erasmus Stella has reported that wild horses live today in Prussia; though not described by the Greeks or Latins, they are entirely similar to domestic horses, differing not in the number of feet but only in their backs. These wild horses have backs unsuitable for riding and can never be tamed.

Thus, if the feet of horses were to be multiplied, we could undoubtedly call such animals the swiftest in the race. By its very nature, the horse is so fast in running that in an epigram by Archias, the swiftest of all horses is called the "eagle of horses," just as the eagle is the swiftest of all birds. Indeed, when writing of Iberian horses, Oppian declared them to be of such speed that they could only be said to compete with eagles or hawks. Furthermore, to express the extreme speed of the horses of Erichthonius, son of Dardanus, Homer feigned that they were conceived from the North Wind, Aquilo—a wind that took its name from the vehement flight of the eagle (*aquila*). He also imagined that from Podarge, the swiftest of mares, were born Balius and Xanthus, the most excellent horses of Achilles; they were said to have been conceived from the West Wind, Zephyrus, while she grazed in flowery meadows. This is not to mention that Podarge herself was named for the swiftness of her feet. Indeed, Varinus reported that Podarge was a Harpy, from whom those horses were said to have been sired—those who flew with a speed equal to the winds. Similarly, we read in Silius Italicus that the horse Pelorus was conceived from Zephyrus in the same manner.