History of Monsters. 739

of the world 3759, two suns were sighted at Alba. Indeed, according to Pliny, in the year 3847 of the world, three suns were seen. Likewise, in the year 42 BC, three suns rose at Rome and gradually merged into the same orb; this phenomenon undoubtedly portended the worship of the one and triune God. In the same way, in the year 51 AD, three suns seen at once immediately converged into the same disc.

Furthermore, in the year 1469, a triple sun seen at Rome troubled the minds of many. Likewise, the inhabitants of the Duchy of Württemberg beheld three suns around the third hour of the day. And in the year 1514, on the day before the Ides of January, three suns appeared, the middle of which exceeded the others in size, and bloody swords stood out in all of them. Moreover, in the year 1556, according to Lycosthenes, many people in St. Goar saw three suns in a clear sky during the month of July. Finally, in the year 1629, we have learned from a reliable report that three suns appeared near Naples.

But it is even more marvelous that the Sun, accompanied by other solar likenesses, has been seen traveling through the heavens crowned with various circles and rainbows. First, in the year 1528, toward the end of May, many suns encircled by various rings were seen in Zurich, the capital of the Swiss; in the following year, the people of Zurich, along with their confederated nations, attacked five Swiss cantons. Similarly, in the year 1551, around the end of March, suns appeared with various circles, which the Greeks call *parhelia*.

For Theon, in his commentary on Aratus, relates from Posidonius that *parhelia* are round clouds irradiated around the Sun; they do not use their own light but the Sun's, just as the Moon illuminates similar clouds. Later, however, in Aristotle, *parelios* is explained as a doubled sun, and in Suidas, *parelios* is used as an adjective for a very condensed cloud illuminated by the Sun. Indeed, according to the philosophers, it always inclines toward the sides of the Sun, as is also observed in "rods" or light pillars. Cornelius Gemma asserts that this monstrous impression occurred at Magdeburg, and not long after, by the order of Emperor Charles, and under the leadership of Dukes Maurice and Albert, the city was besieged for fifteen months, finally obtaining peace under unfavorable conditions.

Something similar appeared as a monster in the celestial region at Rome in the year 1629, on the twentieth of March, from the nineteenth until the twenty-first hour. Its diagram is shown in Image I, where five suns are seen with a triple circle, along with various letters that are explained there. Tan-