Dixerat hæc adytis cum lubricus anguis ab imis.
When Æneas sacrificed to the Manes, (the departed Soul) of his Father Anchises, he saw a Serpent come out of his Grave, which he concluded to be either the Tutelar God of his Father, or of that Place, which was counted a good Omen. We have an Account of some Priests in Asia that expose to publick View a Serpent in a brazen Vessel, attended with a great Variety of Musick. The Serpent appears in an erect Posture, opens its Mouth, and instead of a forked Tongue, appears the Head of a beautiful Virgin[[416]].
[416]. Phil. Melanchton.
NICHOLAS de Lyra makes mention of such another idle Conceit, viz. That the Serpent assumed the Face of a beautiful Maid, when it tempted Eve. N. B. In the German Bibles printed before Luther, among other Figures may be seen that of a Serpent with the Face of a very handsome Maid.
In short, so great was the Devotion paid to Serpents, that Persons and Things were denominated from them: Yea, some would be thought to proceed from Serpents, as the highest Degree of Honour. Cadmus’s Companion was called a Serpent, so the Giant in Homer, and a certain Prophet in Pausanias.
In the Primitive Church were an heretical Sect, called Ophites, that is Serpents. In Cyprus, and about the Hellespont, were a certain People that went by the Name Serpent. So a Soothsayer in Messenia, &c. But these came short of Alexander the Great, and Scipio Africanus, who were said to be born of Serpents, which they look’d upon to be the brightest Insignia in their Escutcheon; but more of this Serpentine Pride in the next Chapter.
In such wonderful Esteem were Serpents among them, that all manner of Creatures were called by their Name, as Stars, Animals, Plants, Trees, Herbs, Rivers, Stones, Islands, Proverbs.... Nothing was accounted Divine and Grand, unless graced by a Serpent[[417]]. From this Divinity ascrib’d to Serpents, Pherecides took occasion to make a Dissertation concerning the Deity called Ophion, from Οφις, a Serpent[[418]].
[417]. Conradus Gesner.
[418]. Euseb. Præparat. Evang.