Varro, speaking of persons remarkable¹ for their strength, gives us an account of Tributanus, a celebrated² gladiator, and skilled in the use of the Samnite arms;[69] he was a man of meagre person, but possessed³ of extraordinary strength. Varro makes mention of his son also, who served in the army of Pompey. He says, that in all parts of his body, even in the arms and hands, there was a network of sinews, extending across and across. The latter of these men, having been challenged by an enemy, vanquished⁴ him with a single finger of the right hand, and that unarmed, and then seized and dragged him to the camp. Vinnius Valens, who served as a centurion⁵ in the pr?torian guard of Augustus, was in the habit of holding up wagons⁶ laden⁷ with casks, until they were emptied; and of stopping a carriage with one hand, and holding it back, against all the efforts of the horses to drag it 50 forward. He performed other wonderful feats⁸ also, an account of which may still be seen inscribed⁹ on his monument. Varro, also, gives the following statement: “Fusius, who used to be called the ‘bumpkin Hercules,’ was in the habit of carrying his own mule¹⁰; while Salvius was able to mount a ladder, with a weight of two hundred pounds attached to his feet, the same to his hands, and two hundred pounds on each shoulder.” I myself once saw,—a most marvellous display of strength,—a man of the name of Athanatus walk across the stage, wearing a leaden breast-plate of five hundred pounds weight, while shod with buskins of the same weight. When Milo, the

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