OF SERPENTS. 229 



T^uhaUcaln of Mofes, {Gen. iv. 22.) the firft Artificer in Brafs and 

 Iron : Platos Atlanticus is a Fable founded upon the Hiftory of 

 Noalfs Flood : The Fable of the Giants ftorming Heaven, is ta- 

 ken from the Builders of the Tower of Babel^ as before : Yea, 

 fays a Learned Father (after Numenius, the celebrated Pythagorean 

 and Piatomji) what is Plato but Mofes in an Athenian Drejs * ? 

 But to be more particular, 



I. SATAN, who conduced the War in Eden, dilplay'd his Art 

 under the Form of a Serpent, which Mofes reprefents as a Creature 

 of fuperior Wifdom, and Illuminator of Mankind. Now the 

 Tradition, that iht firji Serpent had not only the Gift of fpeaking, 

 but of communicating Science, and had held a Conference with 

 the firft Woman, to the vaft Increafe of her Knowledge, might 

 at lad fwell to fuch a degree, that ignorant People might attri- 

 bute to that Serpent, and her Race, a kind of Divinity -y and for 

 this Reafon alfo, becaufe in the Perfed:ions of the Mind /he ex- 

 ceeded our firft Parents, who being conftituted Governors of the 

 Earth, muft be fuppofed to be furnifh'd with extraordinary Ac- 

 complifliments : But, fays Tradition, here is one who infufed 

 greater Knowledge into them, and made them more wifej and 

 they, for contefting with the Wifdom of the Serpent , were turned 

 out of Paradife, and ordain'd their Dwelling to be among the 

 Beafts of the Field. 



Surely, might the People fay, fo great a Being as this Ser- 

 pent merits our awful Regards. Now, how far fuch Thoughts 

 might operate in thofe early days of Ignorance and Superftition, 

 I determine not : The Serpent indeed, is faid to be more fubtle 

 than the Beafts of the Field, but not more wife than Adam and 

 Eve. 



It is more ftrange, to think that in the primitive Church there 

 were certain Hereticks cali'd Ophites^ took their Name from 

 Ophts^, who worfhipped the Serpent that betray'd Eve, and af- 

 cribed all forts of Knowledge to that Animal, maintain'd 'twas a 

 good Creature, and that our firft Parents were inftrudted by it to 

 know Good and Evil. Yea, they believed, *' the Serpent that 



" tempted 



* T( ycif iqi nAarwv vj Mk^v;; arr/K-swy. j^''?V enim ejt PlatO, wfi Mofes qui loquiiur 

 Justice i Ur, ^iiU eiiwi alhsd cjt Pii.:o, quam '^J\'JoJes Atnciffaus'i Clcaientis 

 Alcxandrini Opera, Strom, lib i. Cchiiia^ •g.i^^i. 



t A Greek wuid thac Ut^riifie^i «' oV'-pe-.v;. 



