Instances of acuteness of sight are to be found stated, which, indeed, exceed all belief. Cicero informs us,[1072] that the Iliad of Homer was written on a piece of parchment so small as to be enclosed in a nut-shell. He makes mention also of a man who could distinguish objects at a distance of one hundred and thirty-five miles.[1073] M. Varro says, that the name of this man was Strabo; and that, during the Punic war, from Lilybæum, the promontory of Sicily, he was in the habit of seeing the fleet come out of the harbour of Carthage, and could even count the number of the vessels.[1074] Callicrates[1075] used to carve ants and other small animals in ivory, so minute in size, that other persons were unable to distinguish their individual parts. Myrmecides[1076] also was famous in the same line;[1077] this man made, of similar material, a chariot drawn by four horses, which a fly could cover with its wings; as well as a ship which might be covered by the wings of a tiny bee.[1078] CHAP. 22. (22.)—INSTANCES OF REMARKABLE ACUTENESS OF HEARING. We have one instance on record of remarkable acuteness of hearing; the noise of the battle, on the occasion when Sybaris[1079] was destroyed, was heard, the day on which it took place, at Olympia.[1080] But, as to the victory over the Cimbri,[1081] and that over Perseus, the news of which was conveyed to Rome by the Castors,[1082] they are to be looked upon in the light of visions and presages proceeding immediately from the gods. CHAP. 23. (23.)—INSTANCES OF ENDURANCE OF PAIN. Of patience in enduring pain, that being too frequently the lot of our calamitous fate, we have innumerable instances related. One of the most remarkable instances among the female sex is that of the courtesan Leæna, who, although put to the torture, refused to betray the tyrant-slayers, Harmodius and Aristogiton.[1083] Among those of men, we have that of Anaxarchus, who, when put to the torture for a similar reason, bit off his tongue and spit it into the face of the tyrant, thus destroying the only hope[1084] of his making any betrayal. CHAP. 24. (24.)—MEMORY.