5. In fact, to Xerxes a fox born of a mare was
a portent for the destruction of the empire. A monster
to which a woman gave birth, whose upper body parts
were human, but dead, while its lower body parts came
from diverse animals, yet were alive, signified to Alexander
the sudden murder of the king – for the worse parts
had outlived the better ones. However, those monsters
that are produced as omens do not live long – they die
as soon as they are born.
The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville
Book xi The human being and portents
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