254 ROMAN PAVEMENTS. 



(October zist) freed the Dalmatian district of Epidaurus from a 

 serpent which was devouring men and cattle. A snake is an 

 attribute of Thecla (September 23rd), virgin and martyr, who 

 escaped unharmed from a worm-pit ; of St. Cecilia (November 

 22nd, 280); of St. Patrick (March iyth), whose antipathy to 

 snakes is well known; of Poternus (April i6th), or Padarn, or 

 Madron, saint and bishop, whose monastery was at Vannes in 

 the VI. century ; and of the Gaulish Pirminius (November 3rd), 

 saint and bishop, who died in the VIII. century. 



Didymus (April 28th), a blind saint, treads upon a serpent, 

 while St. Margaret (July zoth. 275) treads upon a dragon, and 

 St. Martha (July zgth) at Tarascon, no less than St. George 

 (April 23rd) at Selene, destroys one. In the fifth century 

 Cairnech (May i6th), or Karentocus, a Cornish saint, tamed a 

 serpent on the banks of the Severn. But all these devout persons 

 have only one snake a-piece, whereas St. Euphemia (September 

 1 6th, 307) stands between two serpents, as does also, at Florence, 

 St. Verdiana (February ist). Here, then, is the opportunity for 

 anyone so disposed one of these virgins for each vase. 



Pagan Serpents. Although in Christian art and legend this 

 reptile serves as a symbol, if not indeed as an incarnation, of 

 evil, the serpent was looked upon by Pagans as a protector of 

 the person, as a guardian of curative waters, as " umbrarum 

 famulus," a servant of the dead, and as a " genius loci." 



Whilst visiting the island of Chryse, on his way to join the 

 Trojan army, of which he was the most celebrated archer, 

 Philoctetes took the Greeks to see the altar of Athena Chryse, 

 and having approached too near, was bitten by the serpent 

 which guarded the temple of the goddess. 



The serpent that JEneas saw, as he poured out a libation and 

 scattered flowers at his father's tomb, had blue dorsal bands, 

 "coeruleae cui terga notas," and scales of burnished gold, 

 " Maculosus et auro squamam incendebat fulgor ; " and he was 

 in doubt whether it was the genius of the place, or in truth his 

 father's attendant. (Incertus geniumne loci, famulumne parentis 

 Esseputtt. ;En. V., 76-95.) 



