Stat. Theb. vii. 349.
Qui spiris tegeret montes, hauriret hiatu
Flumina, &c. Claud. Pref. in Ruf.
Let not then this hyperbole seem too much for an eastern poet, though some commentators of name strain hard in this place for a new construction, through fear of it.
The taking the crocodile is most difficult. Diodorus says, they are not to be taken but by iron nets. When Augustus conquered Egypt, he struck a medal, the impress of which was a crocodile chained to a palm-tree, with this inscription, Nemo antea religavit.
This alludes to a custom of this creature, which is, when sated with fish, to come ashore and sleep among the reeds.
The crocodile's mouth is exceeding wide. When he gapes, says Pliny, sic totum os. Martial says to his old woman,
Cum comparata rictibus tuis ora
Niliacus habet crocodilus angusta.
So that the expression there is barely just.