The Polyhistor

and he, being solid, ate it alone on the day he had slaughtered it, without A

feeling burdened. There is no doubt about this. For a testimonial of the deed exists. That victor of all contests died. Indeed, an ALECTORIUS a stone found in the gizzard of a rooster stone is handed down, which is found in the ventricles of roosters, having a crystalline appearance, in the manner of a bean, and is said to be useful for combatants. Furthermore, Milo flourished during the times of Tarquin the Proud and Priscus.

Now, if anyone should turn his mind to the causes of similarities, how much of the nature of the craftsman will he discover? For sometimes they look toward the lineage and make transitions into families through offspring: just as little ones often bear moles, scars, or whatever marks of their origin there may be: as in the Lepidi, three of whom, though separated by a series of generations, were found to have been born from the same house with the eyes covered by a similar membrane: as in the noble boxer of Byzantium, who, because he had a mother conceived in adultery by an Ethiopian, which had yielded nothing comparable to the father, he himself reverted to his Ethiopian grandfather. But this is less wonderful if we look at those things which have been observed among strangers. A certain Artemon from the Syrian populace so imitated the face of King Antiochus that later, Laodice, the royal wife, deceived the public about her deceased husband for so long as it took for the successor to the kingdom to be arranged by her discretion. Between Cn. Pompey and Vibius, who was born of low status, there existed such a great error regarding their similar features that the Romans called Vibius by the name of Pompey, and Pompey by the name of Vibius. The actor Rubrius so embodied the orator L. Plancus that he himself was called Plancus by the people. The cowherd Mirmillo and the orator Cassius Severus so resembled each other that if they were ever seen together, they could not be distinguished unless the discrepancy in their dress indicated it. M. Messala Censorius and Menogenes from B

the common dregs of society were both such that they were like the other, and no one thought Messala was anyone other than Menogenes, nor Menogenes other than Messala. A fisherman from Sicily was compared to the proconsul Sura, besides other things, by the shape of his mouth. Thus, they agreed in the same impediment of voice and in the natural obstacles of a sluggish tone of tongue. Sometimes, however, they were indistinguishable in facial appearance not only among strangers but even among those brought from the most diverse parts of the world. Finally, when a certain Toranius had sold to Antony, already a triumvir, two boys of excellent form as if they were twins for three hundred sesterces, one of whom he had obtained from transalpine GAUL original: "Gallia" and the other from ASIA original: "Asia", and they seemed so much as one thing—unless the speech alone revealed the truth—that Antony complained he had been deceived, Toranius, not without wit, proved that what the buyer complained about was precisely the most precious part. For it is no wonder if twins were equal. It is that which can be estimated by no taxation: that a diversity separated by such great distances had brought together more than twins. By this reply, Antony was so mitigated that thereafter he boasted he had nothing dearer in his possession.