It is credibly and most like to be true, that the Serpent had not that shape of body which he hath now, for that he goeth vpō his brest, & cre∣peth on the ground, drawing his body after him, it came not that he was so made at the beginning, but by the curse and vengeaunce of God inflic∣ted vpon him, for the tempting of Eue. For God sayd quia fecesti hoc, ma∣ledictus es inter omnia animantia terrae, &c. Bicause thou hast done this, cursed art thou amonges all the beastes of the earth. Thou shalt go vpon thy brest, and thou shalt eate earth al the daies of thy life. VVherfore it is to be gathered, yt the Serpent at the beginning had an vpright body, a faire countenance, and pleasant to behold. Beda writeth, that the Ser∣pent had, before God cursed him, the face of a virgin. Luther sayth, that he went vpright as a Cocke, but to dispute aboute this, maketh not so greatly to edifye.
Furthermore, it is most certaine, that ther was not at the beginning such enmity betwene the woman and the Serpent as is now, for that en∣mity was inflicted after the fall, when God sayd: Inimicitias ponā inter te & mulierem, I wyl put enmities betwene thee and the woman. Ther∣fore there is no apparent reason, why the womā should abhorre or feare the talke of the Serpent: yea, it may be gessed, that the Serpent before this temptation, did insinuate himselfe vnto the woman, by a singular familiarity, whether this were done by a natural fauour and study, and so by that occasiō offred vnto Satā, or whether Satan by his instinct did moue the Serpent before, to enter such familiarity with the woman, that he might be afterward the sooner admitted to seduce and deceaue the woman by his temptation.
Cirillus doth suppose, that the woman did not feare the communica∣tion of the Serpent, bicause through her simplicity she thought it to be geuen to all beastes to speake with mans voyce.