“We read also that many times in Affrica, the Mules fall downe dead for thirst, or else lye dead on the ground for some other causes, unto whose Carkase innumerable troupes of Serpentes gather themselves to feede there uppon; but when the Bazeliske windeth the sayd dead
body, he giveth forth his voyce: at the first hearing whereof, all the Serpents hide themselves in the neare adjoyning sandes, or else runne into theyr holes, not daring to come forth againe, untill the Cockatrice have well dyned and satisfied himselfe. At which time he giveth another signall by his voyce of his departure: then come they forth, but never dare meddle with the remnants of the dead beast, but go away to seeke some other prey. And if it happen that any other pestiferous beast cometh unto the waters to drinke neare the place wherein the Cockatrice is lodged, so soone as he perceiveth the presence thereof, although it be not heard nor seene, yet it departeth back againe, without drinking, neglecting his owne nutriment, to save itselfe from further danger: whereupon Lucanus saith,
——Late sibi submovet omne
Vulgus, et in vacua regnat Basiliscus arena.
Which may be thus englished;
He makes the vulgar farre from him to stand,
While Cockatrice alone raignes on the sand.
“Now we are to intreate of the poyson of this serpent, for it is a hot and a venemous poyson, infecting the Ayre round about, so as no other Creature can live neare him, for it killeth, not onely by his hissing, and by his sight, (as is sayd of the Gorgons) but also by his touching, both immediately, and mediately; that is to say, not onely when a man toucheth the body it selfe, but also by touching a Weapon wherewith the body was slayne, or any other dead beast slaine by it, and there is a common fame, that a Horseman taking a Speare in his hand, which had beene thrust through a Cockatrice,
did not onely draw the poyson of it unto his owne body, and so dyed, but also killed his horse thereby.”