208 OP SERPENTS. 



tity of their prey decreasing, it is possible they might venture 

 boldly from their retreats, into the more cultivated parts of 

 the country, and carry consternation among mankind, as 

 they had before desolation among the lower ranks of nature. 

 We have many histories of antiquity, presenting us such a 

 picture ; and exhibiting a whole nation sinking under the 

 ravages of a single serpent. At that time man had not 

 learned the art of uniting the efforts of many, to effect one 

 great purpose. Opposing multitudes only added new victims 

 to the general calamity, and increased mutual embarrass- 

 ment and terror. The animal was therefore to be singly 

 opposed by him who had the greatest strength, the best 

 armor, and the most undaunted courage. In such an encoun- 

 ter hundreds must have fallen ; till one, more lucky than the 

 rest, by a fortunate blow, or by taking the monster in its 

 torpid interval, and surcharged with spoil, might kill, and 

 thus rid his country of the destroyer. Such was the original 

 occupation of heroes ; and those who first obtained that name 

 from their destroying the ravagers of the earth, gained it 

 much more deservedly than their successors, who acquired 

 their reputation only for their skill in destroying each other. 

 But as we descend into more enlightened antiquity, we find 

 these animals less formidable, as being attacked in a more 

 successful manner. We are told, that while Regulus led his 

 army along the banks of the river Bagrada, in Africa, an 

 enormous serpent disputed his passage over. We are assured 

 by Pliny, who says that he himself saw the skin, that it was 

 a hundred and twenty feet long, and that it had destroyed 

 many of the army. At last, however, the battering engines 

 were brought out against it ; and these assailing it at a dis- 

 tance, it was soon destroyed. Its spoils were/carried to Rome, 

 and the general was decreed an ovation for his success. 

 There are, perhaps, few facts better ascertained in history 

 than this : an ovation was a remarkable honor, and was 

 given only for some signal exploit, that did not deserve a tri- 

 umph : no historian would offer to invent that part of the story 

 at least, without being subject to the most shameful detection. 



