The history of four-footed beasts and serpents describing at large their true and lively figure, their several names, conditions, kinds, virtues ... countries of their breed, their love and hatred to mankind, and the wonderful work by Edward Topsell ; whereunto is now added, The theater of insects, or, Lesser living creatures ... by T. Muffet ...

Of the SNAKE.

THere is no reasonable learned man that maketh question, that Anguis in Latine is a general word for all kinde of Snakes and Serpents, and therefore when Virgil writeth of the fury Alecto, how she cast a Snake into the bosome of Amata, he first of all calleth it Anguis, a Snake, and presently after Coluber & Vipera, a Serpent, as appeareth by these verses following. Aeneid. 7.

Huic dea coeruleis unum de crinibus anguem Conjicit, in{que} sinum praecordia adintima subdit: Vipeream inspirans animam, fit tortile collo Aurum ingens Coluber.—

Which may be Englished thus;

To her the Goddesse a Snake made of the Gorgons hair, Which to the bottom of her breast and entrails made to slide, Inspiring to her a Vipers soul though she were fair, For chain of gold an Adder bout her neck did glide.

And this is the lesse to be admired or doubted, ••eeing the very word Anguis seemeth to be derived of Angulosus, winding or turning, for every kinde of Serpent may be folded or winded up together almost in every fashion. Yet sometimes, as the Graecians use Ophis for one kinde, as Haemorrbe or Hor for Asp, so also is the word Anguis used for one kinde, which we call a Snake, that is, a little Serpent li∣ving both in the water and on the earth. Howbeit, as we shall shew afterward, when it is in the wa∣ter it is cailed Hydrus and Na: rix, and when it is on the land, it is called Chersydrus.

Among the ancient Pagans, Snakes were accounted the gods of the Woods, and this caused Per∣sius to write this verse following;

Pingite duos angues, pueri, sacer est locus.

That is, Oye children, draw the figure of two Snakes, for this place, (meaning the grove of Wood) is a holy place, and sacred to the Gods. And in like sort, the Snake in ancient time was sa∣cred to Aesculapius, because it was thought to be without venom, and to contain in it many excellent medicines or remedies against other evills, and also a kinde of divine power or help to drive away ca∣lamities, whereof I remember that I have read this story in Valerius Maximus.

Rome (saith he) our City was for three years together continually vexed with Pestilence, so as neither the mercy of God could be obtained for the release of this evil, nor all wit, power, or in∣dustry of man put an end unto it. At last by the care and travail of the Priests, it was found in the writing and Books of Sibyll, that unlesse they could obtain of the Epidaurians the holy Snake of Aescu∣lapius, there should be no end of that pestilence.

For which cause there were Ambassadours sent to the City of Epidaurus, to entreat at the hands of the Citizens and Priests, that holy Beast or Snake (as was prophanely supposed) and they attained the end of their journey, for the Epidaurians did kindely entreat them, and sent the Snake of Aesculapius, and then (saith he) Tam promptam Epidauriorum indulgentiam numen ipsius Dei subsecutum, verba mortalium coelesti absequi•• comprobavit: That is, The very grace and power of God seconded that favourable indulgence of the Epidaurians, and with an heavenly obsequiousnesse allowed and per∣formed the words and writings of mortal creatures, (meaning the Sibyls writings aforesaid) For that Snake (which the Epidaurians never see but they worship, with as great reverence as they would Aesculapius himself; for it never appeareth but for their exceeding great good and commodity) be∣gan to slide about the broadest streets and noblest part of the City, gently looking upon every body, and licking the earth, and so continued three days, to the religious admiration of all the beholders, bearing an undoubted aspect and alacrity, for the obtaining and aspiring a more beautiful habitati∣on: so at last it came to the Isle neer Rome, called Triremis, whereinto in the sight of all the Mari∣ners it did ascend and enter, and lodged it self round in that place, where standeth the house of Quin∣tus Ogulimus: which story is thus most excellently followed by Ovid in his Metamorphos.

The folk of Rome came hither all by heaps, both men and wives, And eke the Nuns that keep the fire of V esta as their lives To meet the God, and welcome him with joyful noise: and as The galley rowed up the stream, great store of incense was On altars burnt on both the banks, so that on either side, The fuming of the Frankincense, the very air did hide, And also slain in Sacrifice full many catteldyed. Anon ••e came to Ro••ie, the head of all the world: and there The Serpent lifting up himself began his head to bear Right up along the mast, upon the top whereof on hie, He looked round a••out a meet abiding place to spie: The Tyber doth divide it self in twain, and doth embrace A little Isle Triremis, for so the people tearm the place, From either side whereof, the banks are distant equal space: Apollo's Snake descending from the mast, conveyed him thither, And taking off his heavenly shape, as one repairing hither, To bring our City healthfulnesse, did end our sorrows quite.

Thus saith Ovid: But the truth is, that the Poet did but faign this thing for the excitation and stir∣ring up of the mindes of men to Religion and religious worship of the Heathen Gods; and there∣fore this Snake of Epidaurus was but a fiction, and therefore in the beginning of the History he maketh it to be Aesculapius in the likenesse of a Snake, for in a vision he sheweth how that Aesculapius appeared to the Roman Ambassador, and told him that he would appear in that form, saying;

Pone metus, veniam, simulachra{que} nostra relinquam, Hunc modo Serpentem, baculum{que} neribus ambit, Perspice & us{que} nota, visum ut cognoscere possis; Vertar in hunc, sed major ero, tantus{que} videbor, In quantum verti coelestid corpora possunt.

Which may be Englished thus;

Fear not, for I will come and leave my shrine. This Serpent which doth wreath with knots about this staffe of mine, Mark well and take good heed thereof, for into it tranformed will I be, But big too I will be, for I will seem of such a size, As wherein may celestial bodies turn suffice.

But all Poets are so addicted to faigning, that I my self may also seem while I imitate them, to set down fables for truth: and if ever there were such a Snake as this, it was Diabolical, and therefore in nature nothing to be concluded from it, and in that place of Rome called Biremis and Triremis, was Aesculapius worshipped. And at this day in the Gardens called S. Bartholomews-Gardens, there is a Mar∣bleship, on the side whereof is the figure of a creeping Snake, for the memory of this fact, as writeth Gyraldus.

But in the Emblems and documents of the ancient heathen, it is certain that Aesculapius, and the Snake and the Dragon, did signifie health, and from hence it came to have the name of the Holy∣snake, and also to be accounted full of medicine. The true occasion in nature, was for that about * 1.1 the Countries of Bortonia and Padua, they have a Snake which they call Bisse, and Bisse-angua sanca, and about Padua, Autza, which they say is harmlesse. And as well children as men, do often take up the same into their hands, with no more fear and dread then they would do a Coney, or any other tame and meek creature.

By the relation of Pellinus, it is in length five spans and five fingers, the head also compared with the body, is long, and in the neck thereof are two blanches, and betwixt them a hollow place, the back part whereof is attenuated into a thin and sharp tail, and upon either chap they have many teeth, which are sharp, and without poyson; for when they bite, they do no more harm then fetch bloud only, and these men for oftentation fake wear about their necks; and women are much terri∣fied by them in the hands of wanton young boys. The back of this Snake, (as writeth Erastus) is blackish, and the other parts green, like unto Leeks, yet mixed with some whitenesse, for by reason it seedeth upon herb, it beareth that colour. They are also carryed in mens bosoms, and with them they will make knots. For the same Erastus affirmeth, that he saw a Fryer knit one of them up toge∣ther like a garter, but when he pulled it harder then the Snake could bear, it turned the head about and bit him by the hand, so as the bloud followed, yet there came no more harm, for it was cured without any medicine, and therefore is not venomous.

In the Mountain of Maur〈…〉〈…〉ia called Ziz, the Snakes are so familiar with men, that they wait up∣on * 1.2 them at dinner time like Cats and little Dogs, and they never offer any harm to any living thing, except they be first of all provoked. Among the Bygerons inhabiting the Pyrenes, there be Snakes four foot long, and as thick as a mans arm, whith likewise live continually in the houses, and not only come peaceably to their table, but also sleep in their beds without any harm, in the night-time

they hisse, but seldom in the day time, and pick up the crums which fall from their tables.

Among the Northern people they have household Snakes, as it were houshold Gods, and they suffer them both to eat and to play with their Infants, lodging them in the Cradles with them, as * 1.3 if they were faithful Keepers about them, and if they harm any body at any time, they account it Pium piaculum, a very divine and happy mischance. But after they had received the Christian faith, they put away all these superstitions, and did no more foster the Serpents brood, in detestation of the Devil, who beguiled our first Parents in the similitude of a Serpent. Yet if it happen at any time that a house be burned, all the Snakes hide themselves in their holes in the earth, and there in short space they so encrease, that when the people come to re-edifie, they can very hardly displant their number. Plautus in his Amphitryo, maketh mention of two named Snakes, which descended from the clowds in a shower; but this opinion grew from the fiction of the Epidaurian Snake, which only by the Poets is described with a mane and a combe, and therefore I will not expresse the Snakes to have a mane.

There is no cause why we should think all Snakes to be without poyson, for the Poet hath not warned us in vain, where he saith;

Frigidus, ô pueri fugite hinc, latet Anguis sub herba:

Which may be Englished thus;

Fly hence you boys as far as feet can bear, Ʋnder this herb a Snake full cold doth lear.

For this cause we will leave the discourse of the harmlesse Snake, and come to those which are no way inferior to any other Serpent, their quantity and spirit being considered, wherefore we are to consider, that of Snakes which are venomous and hurtful, there are two kindes, one called the Water-snake, the other the Land-snake. The Water-snake is called in Greek, Hydra, Hydros, Hy∣drales, Karouros, and Enhydris, in Latine, Natrix, and Lutrix. Munster calleth it in Hebrew, Zepha, and Avicen relateth certain barbarous names of it, as Handrius, Andrius, and Abides, and Kedasuderus, Echydrus, and Aspistichon. The Germans call it Nater, Wasser-nater, and Wasser-schlange: and they de∣scribe it in the manner as it is found in their Countrey, which doth not very far differ from them of our Countrey here in England. It is (as they say) in thicknesse like the arm of a man or childe, the belly thereof yellow, and of a golden colour, and the back blackish-green, and the very breath of it is so venomous, that if a man hold to it a rod newly cut off from the tree, it will so in∣fect it, that upon it shall appear certain little bags of gall or poyson. And the like effect it work∣eth upon a bright naked sword, if it do but touch it with the tongue; for the poyson runneth from one end to the other, as if it were quick, and leaveth behinde a line or scorched path, as if it had been burned in the fire.

And if this Serpent fortune to bite a man in the foot, then is the poyson presently dispersed all over the body, for it hath a fiery quality, and therefore it continually ascendeth, but when once it com∣eth to the heart, the man falleth down & dyeth. And therefore the meetest cure is to hang the party so wounded up by the heels, or else speedily to cut off the member that is bitten. And that which is here said of the Water-snake, doth also as properly belong the Land-snake, seeing there is no dif∣ference betwixt these, but that at certain times of the year they forsake the water when it draweth or falleth low, and so betake themselves to the land.

They live in the water and in the earth, (but they lay their egges on the land in hedges or in dung-hils) and especially in those waters which are most corrupt, as in pools where there is store of Frogs, Leaches, and Newts, and but few fishes, as in the Lakes about Puteoli, and Naples, and in England all over the Fens, as Ramsey, Holland, Ely, and other such like places, and when they swim they bear their breast above the water. They abound also in Corcyra, and about Taracina in Italy, and in the Lake Ny∣clea, and especially in Galabria, as the Poet writeth:

Est etiam ille malus Calabris in saltibus Anguis, Squanimea convolvens sublato pectore terga, Atque notis longam maculosus grandibus alvum, Qui dum amnes ulli rumpuntur fontibus, & dum Vere madent udo terrae ac pluvialibus austris, Stagna colit, ripisque habitans hicpiscibus atram Improbus ingluviem, ranisque loquacibus explet. Postquam exhausta palus terraeque ardore debiscu••, Exilit in siccum & flammantia lumina torquens Saevit agris, asperque siti, atque exterritus 〈◊〉〈◊〉

Which may be thus Englished;

That evil Snake in the Calabrian coasts abides, Rowling his scaly back by holding up the breast, And with great spots upon large belly glides, When as the Rivers streams in Fountains all are ceast. For whiles the moistened Spring with rain from South wind falls, It haunts the Pools, and in the water all black it feeds, In ravening wise both Fish and Frogs do fill his gall, For why, when Summers drought enforce, then must it needs Fly to dry land, rowling his flaming eye; Rage in the fields to quench his thirst full dry.

There be some Writers that affirm, that there is a certain stone in a Water-Snakes head, which it easteth or vomiteth up when the skin thereof is fleyed from the body, and after it is so cast up, it must be received into a piece of silk, the vertue whereof is to be proved after this manner; Fill a brasse Caldron or Kettle full of water, and about the same vessel so filled, binde this stone fast, as it were to the handle or bayl thereof, and you shall finde that every day this stone so remaineth bound to the Kettle, that the water will decrease eighteen ounces. And this Kiranides affirmeth that he bound to a woman that had the Dropsie, and she was thereby delivered from her disease; for every day he found that her belly did fall the quantity of four fingers, until it came to the natural bignesse, and then he took it off, for he saith, that if he had not then taken it off, it would also have dryed up the native humidity.

In like sort, the vertue of this stone is applyed against the rheume in the legs, or any flux of the eyes, ears or head, but the use of it must not exceed the quantity of three hours at a time. It also driveth out of the body all venomous Worms, and is a special remedy against their biting and sting∣ing. This stone is also called Serpentinus and Draconites, but it is questionable whether it be generated in the head of the Snake, or by their vaporous breath, concurring together in the Spring or Winter season. Some of these stones are said to be of a blewish green colour, and the form thereof pyrami∣dal: Albertus saith, he hath seen one of them that was black, and not lightsome, only about the edges of it there was some palenesse apparent, and in the superficies or upper part thereof, there was (as he writeth) a beautiful picture of a Snakes proportion, and the vertue thereof did put to flight venom∣ous Beasts, and also cure their harmful poysons.

Such like things we have already shewed to be in the stone which the Toad is said to have, but this stone is more likely to be the Ophites, for in the Castle of Tangra, once the seat or habitation of Charles the fourth, there is a Chappel wherein are many precious stones, wrought in the walls and doors, and among divers other these Ophites. But whereas there is a pyramidal form attributed to these stones, I take it therefore that it is the same which Pliny calleth Glossapetra, for in shew it resem∣bleth the tongue of a Snake, and the tongue of a Snake being great or broad at the root, and smaller toward the end or tip thereof, is rightly said to be of a pyramidal form: and among the Germans it is called by a peculiar word, Naterzungeu, that is, Snakes-tongue.

And such a kinde of stone as this Snakes-tongue, (as Agricola and some other Authors write) is found in a certain earth neer Linuburgh in Saxony. And Conradus Gesner affirmeth, that there is a cer∣tain Town in Germany called Aenipo••, where there is one of these stones half a cubit long, and there∣fore it seemeth that they are not all generated in Serpents or Snakes heads. Among the French-men this stone is called Sugne, because there be Serpents seen in it twyning their tails together, or folding them one within another.

There was wont to be a superstitious way to extract or expresse this stone from out of the Snake, which was done in this manner; First, when they had taken the Snake alive, they did presently hang her up by the tail, then just underneath her they did make a suffumigation of Laurel, and so did conjure the Snake, saying; Per Dominum qui te creavit, lapidem tuum quem in capite tenes te instanter ejicere jubeo: This kinde of enchanting charm, I hold not worthy to be translated, and yet let me not be blamed for the relation of it, seeing it is pertinent to this story to know all the good and evill about these Serpents. And therefore, not to expresse the same at all, might argue in me, either ig∣norance, or silly precisenesse: and again on the other side, to make it vulgar, might bring me into suspicion of some approbation: therefore let the Reader know it from me, but understand it from some other.

And for mine own opinion, I account no better of these Snake-stones then I do of the Toad-stones, concerning which I have already given my opinion in another place. And therefore what here is related of this stone, let it be examined, and then be either received or refused.

Many, and almost infinite are the Epithets which are given to Snakes, whereby their nature is expressed, as Aliger anguis, the winged Snake, black, fierce, blew, greedy, wilde, cold, Gorgonean, wreathen, sliding, deadly, lightsome, spotted, martial, threatning, purple, wholesome, scaly, terrible, winding, grim, swelling, fearful, venomous, green, infolded or implicit, horrible, hissing, Marsian, Maurian, pestilent, retorted, and such other like, as it hath pleased the several Authors writing here∣of to ascribe and attribute unto it. Which we will not prosecute with any explication, but only leave them to the Readers pleasure, being only content to nominate them.

There is great account or reckoning made of their egges, which they lay in the Summer time, for first of all they are so glewed and conjoyned together, partly with the speetle and moistnesse which proceedeth from their mouths, and partly with the spume and froath of their own body, that a man seeing their beaps, would judge them to be coupled together by some artificial devise. These egges thus knotted together in bunches, the Latinos call 〈◊〉〈◊〉. The Dr••ides or ancient Wisards of England and Scotland, have delivered, that if the Snake hisse, these will of their own accord fly up into the air, and then if some wise man take them by prevention, before they touch the ground again, the Snakes will follow him as fast as any Horse, until he come to some River, into the which they dare not enter.

And the folly of these also proceeded so far, that they were not ashamed to report, that if one of these Anguines or bunches of egges, were tyed to a piece of gold, it would swim in a River against the stream. These they commended unto Princes and Great m••n to carry about with them in the time of wars and other contentions, and that therefore when a Roman Knight of Volentii,

was found by Claudius to carry one of these about him, he was by the Emperors commandment put to death.

But to leave vanities, we will prosecute the true and natural description of their egges in this manner; They are round and soft, in colour white, cleaving (as we have already said) together in great bunches forty, or fifty, or a hundred in a cluster, without, they are covered with a skin or crust, much harder and whiter then the substance contained within it, which is like matter, or the rotten Egges of a Hen or Duck, in quantity as big as Bullies, Plums, and seldom bigger, being most com∣monly very round and orbicular. Yet Gesner reporteth, that he had one sent him of the proportion of Lentil, and as great as the fist of a Man, and within every egge appear certain small things, like the tails of Serpents, or Leaches, being in number ten, five greater and five smaller, one folded or lapped within another. And these have also little pustules upon the skin or crusts, whereof one doth not touch the other.

Out of these Egges come the young ones, but I cannot affirm what great affection the old ones bear unto them, or that when many Snakes lay their egges together every one in that multitude hath skill to discern her own Egges from the other. For I have been with other my Colleagues or School-fellows when I was young, at the destruction of many thousands of them, and never per∣ceived that the old Snake did with any extraordinary affection fight for their egges, but rather for∣sook them, and suffered us to do with them what we pleased: which sometimes we brake, sometimes scattered abroad upon the dunghill out of which we digged them, and sometimes we cast them into the next River we came at, but never saw any of them recollected again to their former place by the Snakes, although the place were very full of them, and therefore I conclude for mine own experience, that Snakes cannot be perceived to bear any exceeding love in nature to their egges or young ones.

Their ordinary food for the most part, is earth, Frogs, Worms, Toads, and especially Paddocks, or crook-backed Frogs, Newts, and small fishes. The Foxes and Snakes which are about the Ri∣ver Nilus are at continual variance, and besides, the Harts are by nature common enemies to all Serpents.

They are not in venom inferiour to other Serpents, for they infect the waters neer to houses, and are many times the causes of diseases and death, whereof the Physitians cannot discern. When they bite or sting, there followeth extream pain, inflamation, greennesse or blacknesse of the wound, diz∣zinesse in the head, and death within three days. Whereof dyed Phyloctetes, General of the Fleet of Greece, in Lemnos, Daedalus and Menalippus.

The cure of this evil must be by Origan stamped and laid to the sore with Lie and Oyl, or ashes of the root of an Oak with Pitch, or Barley-meal mixed with Honey and Water, and sod at the fire. And in drink take wilde Nosewort, Daffadil flowers, and Fennel-seed in Wine. And it is also said, that a man carrying about him the Liver of a Snake, shall never be bitten by any of that kinde. And this Liver is also prescribed against the Stone in the Bladder, being drunk in strong drink. And thus much for this Serpent.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Phurnut.
• * 1.2

  Lea Afric.
• * 1.3

  Olaus.