286 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTORY. [Book VIIL 



against its sting, except the instant excision of the affected 

 part. 84 This reptile, which is thus deadly, is possessed of this 

 one sense, or rather affection ; the male and the female are 

 generally found together, 85 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 know- 

 ledge ; 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 86 to the very death. 



enraged, and its capacity of being tamed, or, as it is styled, enchanted. 

 This last has been taken advantage of by the jugglers of that country from 

 the most remote 1 antiquity, as appears from the writings of Moses, and some- 

 thing of a similar nature is still practised. They remove the poison fangs, 

 so as to render the animal harmless, and by certain sounds render it obe- 

 dient to their call. It appears, also, that by pressing on the upper part 

 of the spine, the animal is rendered paralytic, and may be said to be changed 

 into a rod ; this fact was witnessed by St. Hilaire. The asp is described 

 by Aristotle, and is frequently mentioned by -Mian. Galen speaks of its 

 deadly poison, in his Theriaca, c. 8. See Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 437 9 ; 

 Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 414, 415. B. Pliny mentions, however, in B. xxiii. 

 c. 27, that the bite of the asp may be cured with vinegar. 



84 Both Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 29, and ^Elian, ubi supra, 

 speak of the extreme virulence of the poison of the asp, and Cuvier remarks 

 that the haje, and the haga, which are species of the asp, are among the 

 most formidable of the serpent tribe. B. 



85 The method of attracting this serpent, by imitating the voice of the 

 female, proves that there is some foundation for this statement. B. 



86 The ichneumon of the ancients, the "Viverra ichneumon " of Linnaeus, 

 is still common in Egypt, and renders essential service by destroying the 

 eggs of serpents. With respect to what is here said of its covering its 

 body with mud, to protect itself against the asp, the fact appears to be, 

 that in searching for the eggs, which are deposited in the mud, its body 

 becomes more or less covered with that substance, and may possibly in 

 this way be less exposed to the attacks of the asp. The contest of the 

 asp and the ichneumon is mentioned by JEhan, B. iii. c. 22. B. 



