"Auch das friedlichste Würmchen beiszt, wenn man es treten will."
In this proverb there is evidently an allusion to the serpent, as if of the same nature with the worm; which, as we know, neither stings nor bites the foot which treads on it. Shakspeare therefore says "will turn," making a distinction, which Schiller does not make. In the translation Coleridge evidently had Shakspeare in his recollection; but he has not lost Schiller's idea, which gives the worm a serpent's sting. Vermo is applied both by Dante and Ariosto to the Devil, as the "great serpent:"
"... I' mi presi
Al pel del vermo reo, che 'l mondo fora."
Inferno, C. XXXV.
"Che al gran vermo infernal mette la briglia."
Orlando furioso, C. XLV. st. 84.
E. C. H.
With deference to C. B. d'O., I consider that Wurm is used, in poetry at least, to designate any individual of the tribe of reptiles. In the Kampf mit dem Drachen, the rebuke of the "Master" is thus conveyed: