Chap. 6.] EEMEDIES DEBITED FROM MAIN". 287 



called " Ophiogenes," 66 in the Isle of Cyprus. One Euagon, 

 a member of this family, while attending upon a deputation at 

 Kome, was thrown by way of experiment, by order of the con- 

 suls, into a large vessel 67 filled with serpents ; upon which, 

 to the astonishment of all, they licked his body all over with 

 their tongues. One peculiarity of this family if indeed it is 

 still in existence is the strong offensive smell which proceeds 

 from their body in the spring ; their sweat, too, no less than 

 their spittle, was possessed of remedial virtues. The people 

 who are born at Tentyris, an island in the river Nilus, are 

 so formidable 68 to the crocodiles there, that their voice even is 

 sufficient to put them to flight. The presence even, it is well 

 known, of all these different races, will suffice for the cure of 

 injuries inflicted by the animals to which they respectively 

 have an antipathy ; just in the same way that wounds are- 

 irritated by the approach of persons who have been stung by 

 a serpent at some former time, or bitten by a dog. Such 

 persons, too, by their presence, will cause the eggs upon which 

 a hen is sitting to be addled, and will make pregnant cattle " 

 cast their young and miscarry; for, in fact, so much of 

 the venom remains in their body, that, from being poisoned 

 themselves, they become poisonous to other creatures. The 

 proper remedy in such case is first to make them wash their 

 hands, and then to sprinkle with the water the patient who is 

 under medical treatment. When, again, persons have been 

 once stung by a scorpion they will never afterwards be attacked 

 by hornets, wasps, or bees : a fact at which a person will be 

 the less surprised when he learns that a garment which has 

 been worn at a funeral will never be touched by moths ; 69 that 

 it is hardly possible to draw serpents from their holes except 

 by using the left hand ; and that, of the discoveries made by 

 Pythagoras, one of the most unerring, is the fact, that in the 

 name given to infants, an odd number of vowels is portentous 

 of lameness, loss of eyesight, or similar accidents, on 70 the right 



66 In B. vii. c. 2, he speaks of these people " the serpent-born" as 

 natives of Parium, a town of the Hellespont. Ajasson suggests that they 

 may have been a branch of the Thamirades, a sacerdotal family of Cyprus. 



67 " Dolium." es s ee B. viii. c. 38. 



69 Ajasson has thought it worth while to contradict this assertion. 



70 Meaning, of course, in case such an accident should befall the party. 

 The passage appears, however, to be corrupt. 



