History of Serpents and Dragons, Book I.

Book 10, Epigram 94.

No Massylian original: "Massylus"; referring to a North African tribe near the Atlas Mountains, often associated with the dragon guarding the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. serpent guards my orchards, nor does the royal field of Alcinous In Homer's Odyssey, Alcinous was the king of the Phaeacians, famous for his magical, ever-fruiting gardens. serve me.

Others report that serpents join night to day in a sleepless state, for they take their sleep with their eyes open. Philes Manuel Philes (c. 1275–1345), a Byzantine poet who wrote a famous work on the properties of animals. expressed this elegantly in iambic verses:

Just as everyone sleeps, yet seems to see again: the serpent, the hare, and the lion full of spirit.
original Greek: "Ὡς πᾶς καθεύδει, καὶ δοκεῖ πάλιν βλέπων, Ὄφις τε καὶ πτώξ, καὶ θυμῶ πλῆρης λέων."

That is:

Just as it sleeps, it seems simultaneously to see:
the Serpent, the Hare, and the spirited Lion.

Or perhaps because, as Aristotle noted, according to the opinion of some, the same thing happens to both serpents and the chicks of swallows: namely, that the eyes of these animals, if injured, regain their original power of sight a short time later; just as the severed tails of lizards and serpents grow back. However, Isidore Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636), an influential encyclopedist of the Middle Ages. wrote that the eyes of snakes are small and dim, and they rarely look straight ahead, since the eyes occupy the temples rather than the forehead; so much so that they are believed to hear more quickly than they see.

There remains their prudence, which many report shines brightly in serpents: since the Sacred Scriptures, and especially Genesis, make mention of serpentine prudence. Many authors proclaim this animal to be most excellent on account of its prudence; because it is accustomed to expose its whole body to danger, provided that it keeps its head unharmed: since other wounded parts easily attain their former health. Wherefore some of the Hebrews asserted, for just reasons, that the serpent surpassed all other living creatures in craftiness. Agostino Steuco Augustinus Steuchus (1497–1548), an Italian humanist and Old Testament scholar. wished for serpents to be called prudent in the Holy Bible because they see from a great distance. Steuco's opinion regarding the prudence of snakes. But Clement of Alexandria assigns another reason: namely, because in the evil deeds of which the serpent is the architect, some discernment and conjecture of the future can be found. Unless we wish to call them prudent, following Aelian Claudius Aelianus (c. 175–235 AD), a Roman teacher and rhetorician who wrote "On the Nature of Animals.", because they presage impending plague, earthquake, the healthfulness of the sky, and the fertility of crops: for five days before the city of Helice An ancient Greek city destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 373 BC. was utterly destroyed, all the serpents and other beasts of this kind fled from that place.

Homily 12.

Twofold prudence.

Basil Saint Basil the Great (330–379), one of the Cappadocian Fathers., however, established a twofold prudence: one which is the guardian of one's own advantage and an observer of another's trickery—which the serpent seems to have claimed for itself—and he established the other to be the virtue defining what should and should not be done. Therefore, we might call the first type not "prudence" in the proper sense, but rather "shrewdness" and "astuteness." For this reason, some depict the serpent as a symbol of craftiness, and they believe that for this cause it is entwined in the caduceusThe staff carried by Mercury (Hermes), featuring two snakes winding around a winged rod. of Mercury; because Antiquity strove to show that shrewdness and prudence were necessary for eloquence, which is designated by the rod. Others finally have named serpents "prudent" because, without the aid of feet, hands, or any other external organ, they are swift and achieve various shapes, and they move in any direction with a winding and recoiling motion.

It remains for us to bring forward something regarding the injuries of serpents. For this animal, by natural instinct, if it is struck only once with a reed, is accustomed to lie as if sluggish and dead; but if it is sought with frequent blows, then gathering great rage, it tries to bite the striker with all its might. Philes sang of this property thus:

Struck once by a reed, the serpent-snake
Lies as if dying; but if you strike it often,
It rages against you and thrusts forward its mouth.
original Greek: "Τῶ δόνακι τυφθεὶς ὁ δράκων ἄπαξ ὄφις, Κεῖθ’ οἷα θανατῶν αὐ δὲ τύψης πολλάκις, Ὀργᾷ τε κατὰ σοῦ, καὶ προβάλλει τὸ στόμα."

That is:

The serpent lies sluggish when struck by a reed,
As if dead; but if you deliver frequent blows,
It rouses its anger, flashing with a dark-blue mouth.

Book 4, chapter 10.

Finally, there is a property which Aristotle recounted in his history On the Parts of Animals. Namely, that the head is turned by serpents in the opposite direction while the rest of the body remains still. We assigned the cause of this in the anatomical sections, when we declared that the serpent consists of a versatile structure, and that their spine is integrated with cartilaginous and flexible vertebrae. Nature necessarily bestowed all of this upon them so that they might avoid things harming them from the opposite side. Otherwise, lacking feet, they would be unable to preserve and protect themselves. To conclude, some say that the excrement of the serpent actually smells good, and they assert more strongly that this is due to the dryness inherent in them. We read indeed in Cardano Girolamo Cardano (1501–1576), a celebrated Italian polymath. that in the Indian region situated between Calicut and Cannanore, many serpents wander about In his book On Subtlety. which breathe out from their mouths a most sweet scent, pleasant like musk.