/ 



OFSERPENTS. Si 



Serpent is adorn'd : For the fame reafon, a certain Species of the 

 HerpeSy that is, a cutaneous Diftemper, which is a kind of fpread- 

 ing Inflammation, (and is hke Millet-feed on the Skin) is called 

 Miliary : And by fome, this is called the Miliary Serpent*. 



This Serpent is compared by Nicander to a Lion ; either for 

 Cruelty in thirfling after Blood, or for its Courage, which ap- 

 pears in all its Attacks. How furious in all its Wars, offenfive 

 and defenfive! always fighting. Lion-like, with an ereBed Tail: 

 Which leads me to a Digreffion about the Turkijh Standard^ 

 which is a Horfe-Tail ereSled: The Original of that Cuflom was 

 this, viz. One of the Turkijh Generals having his Standard taken 

 in a Battle with the Chrijiians, and perceiving his Men difcouraged 

 by the lofs of it, he cut off a Horfe-Tail, and faflening it to the 

 top of a Half-pike, advanced it on high, crying our, This is the 

 great Standard^ let thoje that Icve me follow if : Upon which his 

 Men rallied, fought like Lions, and obtained the Vidlory -j-. 



Bu T to return to the Serpent, which moving in a diredl Line, 

 goes faft, but being of great Bulk, can't fuddenly wind about J : 

 Circumvolution is the way to avoid its Menaces. 'Tis commonly 

 found in the Ifland of Lemnos (the old Dipolis^ and now the &ta- 

 litnene of the Turks) and alfo in Samothracia, an Ifland in the 

 Archipelago, a Province antiently famous for the Dii Cabiri, that 

 is, certain Gods worfhipped by the Samothracians and Phenicians^ 

 and had in fuch high Veneration, that it was a Crime to mention 

 Names fo facred among the People j|. Some fay they were God's 

 Miniflers, others think they were Devils. 



XV. The Acontia**, called by the L^^z/n, Serpens J acularis^ 

 and by fome, the Flying Serpent, becaufe of the Celerity of its 

 Motion. In Lemnos 'tis call'd Sagittarius, the Bowman or Archer. 

 By the modern Greeks, Saeta, a Dart ; for it flies like an Arrow 

 at its Prey -j-f-. A certain Perfon in Cato^ Army call'd Paulus, was 



flaiUj 



* Ah aliquibus Miliaris appellatur. Jonftonus, p. 20. t Tavernier, 



% Et femper re^o lapfurus limite cencris. Lucan. Pharfal. p. 26<}. 



11 Uo:hart Geo^r. Sacra, lib. i. cap. 12 



** Ato ra anoPTos. quod jaculi inftar, fe vibret. 



+t Rutnpat & Serpens iter inftitutum 

 Si per obliquum fimilis fagittse 

 Terruit mannos. 



M 



