Serpentum et Draconum Historiae

The Massylian Serpent does not guard my orchards,
Nor does the royal field of Alcinous serve me.

Book 20. Epigr. 94.

Others relate that Serpents join a watchful night and day, while they take sleep with their eyes open. Phyles expressed this elegantly in iambic verses as follows:

The hare sleeps, and yet seems to see again,
And the serpent, and the hare, and the lion full of wrath.

That is:

In what way the serpent, the hare, and the spirited lion
Sleep, and yet at the same time seem to see.

Or, as Aristotle noted, according to the opinion of some, the same thing happens to both Serpents and the chicks of swallows: because the eyes of these animals, when injured, acquire their former faculty of seeing shortly thereafter, just as the tails of both lizards and Serpents grow back when amputated. Although Isidore wrote that the eyes of snakes are small and dull, and rarely look straight ahead, since their eyes occupy not the forehead but the temples; so that they are believed to hear more quickly than they see.

There remains prudence, which many report to shine forth in Serpents: since the sacred scriptures, and especially in 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 exposing its whole body to dangers, provided that it keeps its head unharmed: since other parts, when wounded, easily attain their former health. For which reason, certain of the Hebrews asserted for just causes that the Serpent had surpassed all other living creatures in cunning. Augustinus Stheucus wished for Serpents to be called prudent in the holy Bibles, because they see very far. But Clement of Alexandria assigns a reason, namely, that in evil deeds, of which the Serpent is an artificer, some discretion and conjecture of future things may be found. Unless we wish to call them prudent, following Aelian, because they presage impending plague, earthquake, the healthiness of the sky, and the fertility of crops: for five days before Helice was razed to the ground, all the Serpents and other beasts of this kind left that place. Basil, however, establishes a twofold prudence: one, the guardian of one's own advantage and the observer of another's guile, which the Serpent seems to have claimed for itself; the other he establishes as a virtue defining what is to be done and what is not to be done. We shall, therefore, be able to call the first not properly prudence, but rather craftiness and astuteness. Therefore, some depict the Serpent as a symbol of cunning, and for this reason also, they think it is intertwined on the caduceus of Mercury; because Antiquity strove to show that craftiness and prudence are necessary for the eloquence designated by the rod. Finally, others called 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 rolling and unrolling motion.

Opinion of Stheucus concerning the prudence of snakes.

Homil. 12.

Twofold prudence.

It remains that we bring forward something concerning the injury of Serpents. For this animal, by natural instinct, if it is struck even once with a reed, is accustomed to lie as if inert and dead; but if it is attacked with frequent blows, then, gathering immense anger, it attempts with all its strength to bite the one striking it. Concerning this property, Phyles sang as follows:

Struck once by the reed, the bold serpent
Lies as if dying; but if you strike many times,
It rages against you, and thrusts forth its mouth.

That is:

The serpent lies inert from the blow of a reed,
As if dead, but if you inflict a frequent blow,
It raises its anger, flashing with a blue-tinged mouth.

Book 4. Chap. 10.

Finally, there is added the property which Aristotle recounted in his history concerning the parts of Animals. Namely, that the head of Serpents is turned to the opposite side while the rest of the body remains at rest. We have assigned the cause of this thing in our Anatomical studies, when we pronounced that the Serpent consists of a supple structure and that their spine is integrated with cartilaginous and flexible vertebrae. Nature necessarily bestowed all this upon them so that they might be able to avoid things injuring the opposite part. Otherwise, lacking feet, they would be unable to preserve and defend themselves. Towards the end, some say more assertively that it is a property of serpent dung to smell good, and that this befits them on account of their dryness. Indeed, we read in Cardanus that in the East Indian region situated between Calicut and Cannanore, many Serpents wander about which breathe a most sweet, and musk-like, most pleasant odor from their mouth.

In the book concerning subtlety.