That Death stands by, deceiv’d by its own Image,
And thinks himself asleep[[123]].——
[123]. Dryden, All for Love.
Some are of Opinion, that the Asp is David’s deaf Adder, Psal. lviii. 45. They are like the deaf Adder that stops her Ear, which will not hearken to the Voice of Charmers, charming never so wisely. They are like the deaf Asp, says the Hebrew and the Septuagint. The word in the Original is [[124]] Pethen, q. d. Unpersuadedness; hence, wicked Men are called Απειθεις in the New Test. unpersuadable, which the English Translation renders Disobedient, Tit. i. 16.
[124]. פתן . ωσουι ασπιδος κωφης.
The common Tradition is, that when Men by Inchantments and Charms have attempted to take these Serpents, they stopt one Ear with the Tail, and the other was either deaf, or made so by laying it close to the Ground. Some are of Opinion, that there is a sort of Asp that really is deaf, which of all others is the most dangerous, and is meant by the Royal Prophet here.
That there was a Practice of charming Serpents by some Art or other, so that they could neither bite nor sting, seems evident from the sacred Writings, e. g. Eccl. x. 11. Surely the Serpent will bite without Inchantment. Jer. viii. 17. I’ll send Serpents, Cockatrices, among you, that will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the Lord.
Among other Things the word Charmer, some say, signifies one that conjoins and consociates; that is, that by Sorcery gather’d Serpents together, and made them tame and familiar; or the Person may be so call’d, because by Magick Art, he associated with Demons, the Lords of Serpents.
We are inform’d by History, of some, who have summoned together a hundred Serpents at once; but by what method, I leave the Reader to judge. Montanus, a famous Physician, and Professor at Padua in Italy, says he saw this Coadunation of Serpents.
The learned Doctor Casaubon tells us, he had seen a Man, who from the Country around him, wou’d draw Serpents into the Fire, which was inclos’d in a magical Circle: When one of them, bigger than the rest, would not be brought in, upon repeating the aforesaid Charms, it submitted to the Flames.