192 NATURAL HISTORY OF SHAKESPEARE. 
Cleopatra. ... if knife, drugs, serpents, have 
edge, sting, or operation, I am safe : 
Antony and Cleopatra, Act i. Scene 5 ; 
Act iv. Scene 13. 
Thersites. I will no more trust him 
when he leers, than I will a serpent when he hisses : 
Troilus and Cressida, Act v. Scene 1. 
Emilia. If any wretch have put this in your head, 
Let heaven requite it with the serpent’s curse ! 
Othello, Act iv. Scene 2. 
Aujidius . Not Afric owns a serpent I abhor 
More than thy fame, and envy: 
- Coriolanus, Act i. Scene 8. 
Ghost . ’Tis given out, that, sleeping in mine 
orchard, 
A serpent stung me ; 
. . . but know, thou noble youth, 
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life, 
Now wears his crown. 
Hamlet, Act i. Scene 5. 
Lear. . . . sharper than a serpent’s tooth 
it is 
To have a thankless child. 
King Lear, Act i. Scene 4. 
Lady Macbeth. . . . bear welcome in your eye, 
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent 
flower, 
But be the serpent under it. 
Macbeth, Act i. Scene 5. 
