this furpriZing event in terms of confiderable luxuri- 

 ance. Valerius Maximus thus mentions it from Livy, 

 in one of the loft books of whofe hiftory it was related 

 more at large. 



" And lince we are on the fubject of uncommon phe- 

 nomena, we may here mention the ferpent, fo elo- 

 quently and. accurately recorded by Livy ; who fays 

 that near the river Bagrada in Africa a fnake was feen 

 of fo enormous a magnitude as to prevent the army of 

 Attilius Regulus from the ufe of the river; and after 

 matching up feveral ibldiers with its enormous mouth, 

 and devouring them, and killing feveral more by ftriking 

 and fqueezing them with the fpires of its tail, was at 

 length deftroyed by affailing it with all the force of 

 military engines and mowers of ftones ; after it had 

 withftood the attack of their fpears and darts : that 

 it was regarded by the whole army as a more formi- 

 dable enemy than even Carthage itfelf ; and that the 

 whole adjacent region being tainted with the peftilen- 

 tial effluvia proceeding from its remains, and the 

 waters with its blood, the Roman army was obliged to 

 remove its ftation : he alfo adds that the fkin of the 

 monfter, meafuring 120 feet in length, was fent to 

 Rome as a trophy." Val. Max. 



The learned Frienmemius, in his Supplementa Livi- 

 ana, has attempted a more ample and circumftantial 

 narrative of the fame event, and it cannot be unfatis- 

 faclory to the reader to receive a quotation from an 

 author, who has fo happily imitated the manner of the' 

 great hiftorian. 



" In the mean time Regulus, every where victorious, 



Jed 



