De Incredibilibus

They say that Niobe was a living woman who turned into stone on the grave of her children. Whoever believes that a human can turn into a stone or a stone turn into a human is naive.

The truth is as follows. After her children died, someone made a stone statue of Niobe and stood it on the grave. And so passers-by would say, A stone Niobe stands on the grave. We saw her ourselves! It’s just like how some say nowadays, I was sitting beside the bronze Heracles or I was beside the marble Hermes. This was like that too, but Niobe herself was definitely not turned into stone!

It’s said that Lynceus could even see things underground. This is false.

The truth is as follows. Lynceus was the first to mine copper and silver etc. He took lamps down into the mine. He left them down there and brought up sacks of bronze and iron. And so people would say, Lynceus even sees things underground - he goes down there and brings up silver.

They say that Caineus was invulnerable. Whoever imagines that a person cannot be wounded by iron is foolish.

The truth is as follows. Caineus was a Thessalian by birth, skilled in military affairs and experienced in fighting. And yet, despite being in many battles, he was never wounded, not even when he died fighting with the Lapiths against the Centaurs. When the Centaurs captured him they merely buried him, and in this way he met his end. The Lapiths dug up his corpse and found no wounds on his body. And so they would say, Caineus was invulnerable his whole life - he even died without a wound.

The same story is also told about Cycnos of Colonai: that he too was invulnerable. He was also a warrior and experienced in battle. He died at Troy after being hit by a stone thrown by Achilles, and yet even then there were no wounds on his body. When they saw his corpse, people would say that he was invulnerable just as now they describe unbeaten athletes combatants as invulnerable. As evidence against these stories and in support of my case, consider Telemonian Aias, for he, too, was said to be invulnerable, and yet he died of a self-inflicted sword wound.