There is the same power also in the serpent called the basilisk.[1730] It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem.[1731] When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon; it burns up all the grass too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill, not only the rider, but the horse as well. To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.[1732]
CHAP. 34. (22.)—WOLVES; THE ORIGIN OF THE STORY OF VERSIPELLIS.
In Italy also it is believed that there is a noxious influence in the eye of a wolf; it is supposed that it will instantly take away the voice of a man,[1733] if it is the first to see him. Africa and Egypt produce wolves of a sluggish and stunted nature;[1734] those of the colder climates are fierce and savage. That men have been turned into wolves, and again restored to their original form,[1735] we must confidently look upon as untrue, unless, indeed, we are ready to believe all the tales, which, for so many ages, have been found to be fabulous. But, as the belief of it has become so firmly fixed in the minds of the common people, as to have caused the term “Versipellis”[1736] to be used as a common form of imprecation, I will here point out its origin. Euanthes, a Grecian author of no mean reputation, informs us that the Arcadians assert that a member of the family of one Anthus is chosen by lot, and then taken to a certain lake in that district, where, after suspending his clothes on an oak, he swims across the water and goes away into the desert, where he is changed into a wolf and associates with other animals of the same species for a space of nine years. If he has kept himself from beholding a man during the whole of that time, he returns to the same lake, and, after swimming across it, resumes his original form, only with the addition of nine years in age to his former appearance. To this Fabius[1737] adds, that he takes his former clothes as well. It is really wonderful to what a length the credulity[1738] of the Greeks will go! There is no falsehood, if ever so barefaced, to which some of them cannot be found to bear testimony.
So too, Agriopas, who wrote the Olympionics,[1739] informs us that Demænetus, the Parrhasian, during a sacrifice of human victims, which the Arcadians were offering up to the Lycæan[1740] Jupiter, tasted the entrails of a boy who had been slaughtered; upon which he was turned into a wolf, but, ten years afterwards, was restored to his original shape and his calling of an athlete, and returned victorious in the pugilistic contests at the Olympic games.
It is also commonly supposed, that the tail of this animal contains a small lock of hair, which possesses an amatory power; and that when the creature is caught, this hair is shed by it, but has no virtue whatever, unless it is procured from the animal while alive.[1741] It is said that these animals couple for no more than twelve days in the year;[1742] and that when pressed by hunger they will eat earth. Among the points of augury, to have our progress cut short to the right by a wolf, if at the time its mouth is full, is the best of omens. There is a species, which is known as the stag-wolf, such as we have already said[1743] were brought from Gaul and exhibited in the Circus by Pompeius Magnus. It is said, that however hungry this animal may chance to be, if it only turns its head while eating, it immediately becomes oblivious of the food that is before it, and takes its departure to seek it elsewhere.[1744]
CHAP. 35. (23.)—DIFFERENT KINDS OF SERPENTS.
With reference to serpents, it is generally known, that they assume the colour of the soil in which they conceal themselves. The different species of them are innumerable. The cerastes[1745] has little horns, often four in number, projecting from the body, by the movement of which it attracts birds, while the rest of its body lies concealed.[1746] The amphisbæna[1747] has two heads,[1748] that is to say, it has a second one at the tail, as though one mouth were too little for the discharge of all its venom. Some serpents have scales, some a mottled skin, and they are all possessed of a deadly poison. The jaculus[1749] darts from the branches of trees; and it is not only to our feet that the serpent is formidable, for these fly through the air even, just as though they were hurled from an engine.[1750] The neck of the asp[1751] puffs out,[1752] and there is no remedy whatever against its sting, except the instant excision of the affected part.[1753] This reptile, which is thus deadly, is possessed of this one sense, or rather affection; the male and the female are generally found together,[1754] and the one cannot live without the other; hence it is that, if one of them happens to be killed, the other takes incredible pains to avenge its death. It follows the slayer of its mate, and will single him out among ever such a large number of people, by a sort of instinctive knowledge; with this object it overcomes all difficulties, travels any distance, and is only to be avoided by the intervention of rivers or an accelerated flight. It is really difficult to decide, whether Nature has altogether been more liberal of good or of evil. First of all, however, she has given to this pest but weak powers of sight, and has placed the eyes, not in the front of the head, so that it may see straight before it, but in the temples, so that it is more frequently put in motion by the approach of the footstep than through the sight. (24.) The ichneumon, too, is its enemy[1755] to the very death.
CHAP. 36.—THE ICHNEUMON.
This hostility is the especial glory of this animal, which is also produced in Egypt. It plunges itself repeatedly into the mud, and then dries itself in the sun: as soon as, by these means, it has armed itself with a sufficient number of coatings, it proceeds to the combat. Raising its tail, and turning its back to the serpent, it receives its stings, which are inflicted to no purpose, until at last, turning its head sideways, and viewing its enemy, it seizes it by the throat. Not content, however, with this victory, it conquers another creature also, which is no less dangerous.