History of Serpents and Dragons

History of Serpents and Dragons, Book I.

A The serpent is reborn once new skins are gained,
And refreshes its limbs from heavy old age and decay.

Indeed, Tibullus Albius Tibullus (c. 55–19 BC) was a Latin poet known for his elegies., contemplating this property of serpents, deplores the human condition in this manner:

Cruel gods! The serpent sheds his years and becomes new,
But the fates allow no delay for beauty to stay.
When snakes have their old skins with a thin peel,
Why are we confined by such a narrow condition?

Book 16.

Using the argument of this property of serpents, Joannes Spondanus, in his commentaries on Homer's Odyssey, attempts to confirm the Paracelsian doctrine of the Philosopher’s StoneThe legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals into gold and granting eternal life; Spondanus links the snake’s rejuvenation to alchemical rebirth..
Book 2 on time, ch. 5.

However, this reasoning could never satisfy us. Galen A prominent Greek physician and philosopher in the Roman Empire (129–c. 216 AD) whose views dominated European medicine for centuries. was also led by this serpentine property to demonstrate why serpents cannot be covered in hair: because these animals, hiding in subterranean caves during the winter, acquire a dry skin after the fashion of shelled animals; therefore, hair cannot emerge from it, and for that reason, they shed it in the springtime.
B Although many have been of the opinion that snakes shed their old age at the rising of the Dog Star The "Dog Days" of summer, associated with the star Sirius., we consider this to be far from the truth: for this is not observed in Italy, nor can we be led to believe that in even warmer regions of the world, the "spoils" original: "spolium," referring to the cast-off skin are left behind so late. Regarding the cause, however, of why serpents lose their old skins every year, authors vary in their opinions.
Why Serpents shed their skins.

The Poets, who stir up endless fables, assign the cause of this matter to the highest Jupiter. They say that once, for humans who had deserved well of him through sacrifices, he sent the gift of perpetual youth upon the back of a little donkey; but the beast, for the sake of a simple drink of water, sold that great treasure to the snakes. Georgius Sabinus A 16th-century German poet and scholar. explains this fable in very elegant verses in this manner:
Book 4, Elegy 3.

C

At the time when Jupiter took the rule of Olympus,
And gave laws to the gods after his father was driven out,
The common people made sacrifices to the Thunderer with the blood of bulls,
And a festival day was celebrated throughout the world.
Jupiter, moved by these rites, swore by his scepters
That whatever they asked for would be granted.
The gatherings of men met, and they all asked for youth
Which no old age could ever harm.
The Almighty nodded, and called a slow little donkey,
Upon which the elderly foster-son of Bacchus [Silenus] used to be carried.
“Come,” he said, “carry these gifts to the pious mortals.”
The donkey set out on the task mandated by Jove.
“What have you to do with such a gift, most shameful of beasts?
A heavy burden of wood would be more worthy of you.”
Behold, while the weary beast gathered thirst during the journey,
He turned his path toward the rivers of a watering spring.
A water-snake, the guardian of the liquid abyss, saw the four-legged creature
Carrying such gifts, and said:
“You shall have no plenty of this river for drinking,
Unless you give me the gifts that you carry on your back.”
D

Alas, lazy beast! The donkey sells a gift more noble
Than celestial nectar for a bit of vile water.
The snakes are stripped of old age with a changed skin;
While sad fates await us as old age presses down.
But let the one who wishes his affairs to be well-cared for
Beware of entrusting anything to ignorant donkeys.

Book 1, Phar. ch. 23.

But setting aside the trifles of the Poets and coming to serious matters, we have asserted that on this subject one should read the most learned Quercetanus Joseph Duchesne (c. 1544–1609), a French physician and chemist who used the Latin name Quercetanus; he was a pioneer of Paracelsian medicine.. He attributes it to a certain "balsam" which is contained in the bosom of the earth as if in its own proper place, womb, and nursery. Therefore, so that they may shed the old skin and put on a new one, the serpents suck out this balsam from the bowels of the earth, and especially while they hide away without food during the coldest months. For necessarily
The Opinion of Quercetanus.

at that time they are nourished by this precious balsam of nature, by which all things are animated and grow; by whose help afterward, in the springtime, all things rest and come forth in bloom. And alternately. original: "Et vicissim," the catchword for the following page.