Serpentum et Draconum Historiae

to. In Italian Serpes & Serpente: although some write that Scorzone is the generic name, and encompasses all Serpents. To the Bolognese, Biscia. But Testu, Tenstu, Agestim, Apartias, [and] Atussi are barbarian names, which Sylvaticus uses to signify Serpents.

DIFFERENCES.

If we are to pursue the distinctions of Serpents, it must be noted that these animals differ among themselves in smallness and magnitude, color, place, odor, harmfulness, and finally in appearance, and other accidents. Setting aside the first reason regarding magnitude and smallness, as it concerns sex (inasmuch as the male Serpent is said to be always smaller than the female, as also happens in other oviparous animals), we declare first that very small serpents are found. For Gaudentius Merula writes that in the northern region, at the beginning of summer, many small Serpents are found alongside the roots of oaks and other trees, which recognize and venerate their king, distinguished by a crest, in the manner of bees: once he is killed, the whole flock of Serpents flees. Vincentius in his Speculum Naturale also notes that a small Serpent dwells around Thessaly, which is said to kill animals by voice alone; indeed, at the very sight of it, vipers and other serpents immediately take to flight: and that a small and hairy Serpent also resides there, which the inhabitants call sacred. Conversely, in warmer regions, snakes of admirable magnitude are seen: the cause of this wondrous growth, if Aristotle has truly committed it to writing, is warm humidity. Therefore, the same philosopher narrates elsewhere that he understood that vast snakes dwell in Africa, which do not shrink from attacking a trireme to devour the men: indeed, the bones of oxen were seen there by mariners, which many opine were consumed by the aforementioned Serpents. Wherefore Suessanus, in his Commentaries on Aristotle, believes that among the aforementioned Serpents, one must count the one that was killed by Attilius Regulus, Consul of the Romans, in the First Punic War, which war was concluded not long after the age of Aristotle. That Serpent was killed near the Bragada river, near the African coast, with a great struggle of the whole army; the skin of which, one hundred and twenty feet long, Gellius recounts was later brought to Rome. Nor should we greatly wonder at this, since Possidonius writes (as Aelian reports) that in a place called Macra, a dead Serpent was seen of the length of a jugerum, and of such thickness that horsemen standing on either side of the animal could not see one another. Indeed, according to the same Aelian, Alexander, during his navigation of the Red Sea, caught sight of a Serpent forty cubits in length. Likewise, Pausanias mentions serpents of thirty cubits. Clusius also asserts that in the forest nearest to Sabo, very large serpents—namely, exceeding sixteen, eighteen, and twenty feet in length—dwell, which the inhabitants do not shrink from subduing. Did not Porus, King of the Indians (by the authority of Strabo), in order to court Augustus with both honors and gifts, cause a serpent of ten cubits, a tortoise of three, and a partridge larger than a Vulture to be brought to him? In Malabar, many historiographers report that there are serpents horrible in appearance, eight feet long, which, having gazed upon children for a long time without malice, are at last captivated by their love; for which reason Scaliger called snakes of this kind paederotas. These, when lying down, are said to have an eel-like appearance, but when rising, they dilate it to such a degree that it seems to approach more closely to the human likeness. Furthermore, Carolus Clusius in his Exotica describes the skin of a foreign Serpent, nine feet long (he delineates Roman feet), and a subsequent Serpent with a head, eight Roman feet long; he considers it difficult to pronounce of what genus they might be; since, according to Aelian, there are many and various kinds of Serpents, the species of which it would be infinite to pursue. Nevertheless, Clusius thinks that this latter one should be placed among those that the same Aelian designated as marked with pigments and multi-colored, though inferior in size to those which in India are said to be sixteen cubits long. We ourselves have seen the skin of an Indian Serpent, at the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, of twelve spans—namely, nine feet—and in breadth, especially in the middle, of one span. Whence we should be seized by no astonishment if Gillius wrote that in Calicut there are serpents that equal a swine in size: although this immoderate growth...

Lib. 20. c. 11.

In lib. de long. & breu. vitæ. Lib. 3. de hist. An. c. 28.

Corium Serpentis longum pedes 120.

Lib. 9. cap. 9.

In Curis post. Lib. 15.

Lib. 5. cap. 18. cap. 19.

Lib. 17. c. 11.