Page images
PDF
EPUB

massacres. This monster was, in self-defence, murdered by his own officers, in 1747. 435 The realm of Aladule in his retreat To Tauris or Cashbeen:

418

Aladule, a province of Asiatic Turkey, being the most easterly division of the lesser Asia, comprehending the ancient Cappadocia and Armenia Minor, so called by the Turks from Aladule the last king, slain by Solymus I. A. D. 1516. Tauris, a city of Persia, in Asia, the ancient Ecbatana, capital of Media. Casbin, a beautiful city of Persia, the inhabitants are Mahometans, a few Christians, and some Jews, who are considerable merchants.

his fulgent head

And shape star bright appear'd or brighter clad How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to the sides of the pit. Ps. xiv. 12, 13, 14.

524 Scorpion and Asp

Among the noxious animals which infest the continent of Africa, besides those of the serpent kind, is a hideous insect, which is called a scor pion, whose sting is incurable, and, in many parts, causes immediate death. In order, how

[blocks in formation]

ever, to counteract the effects of the sting, they anoint the place with oil, in which a bruised scorpion has been steeped. Asp, a little serpent, whose bite is deadly.

and Amphisbona dire

A serpent which seems to have two heads, and goes both ways.

525 Cerastes horn'd,

525

A reptile of Africa, which naturalists have mentioned in all ages, not only on account of the malignancy of its poison, but also of its medicinal virtues, claims our particular attention. It is from thirteen to fourteen inches in length; its head is triangular and flat, and in the upper jaw has two canine teeth, hollow and crooked inward, and of a remarkable fine polish. Under these teeth is contained the bag or reservoir of poison, which, considering the size of the reptile, is very copious, and appears like a drop of laudanum. Immediately after the cerastes has bitten any creature, the power of doing farther injury is not destroyed, but lessened.

Hydrus and Elops drear

Hydrus, a water serpent. The bite of the water or sea snake has been considered harmless. 526 And Dipsas not so thick swarm'd once the soil Bedropt with blood of Gorgon

The Dipsas, or thirst serpent, which is to be found in many parts of Africa, is three quarters of a yard in length, and has a broad neck and sable back. The bite of this reptile causes an immediate inflammation, which is speedily followed by an unextinguishable thirst, unless some anti

527

dote be applied.

It is said by Mythologists, that when Perseus had conquered the Gorgons, and cut off Medusa's head, he took his flight towards Ethiopia, and that the drops of blood which fell from the head of Medusa were changed into serpents which have ever since infested the sandy desarts of Lybia: Gorgo, the name of the ship which carried Perseus after his conquest, and Dipsas the river of Cilicia, flowing from Mount Taurus. Diodorus and others explain the fable of the Gorgons, by supposing them to be a warlike race of women near the Amazons, whom Perseus with the help of a large army destroyed. or the isle

Ophiusa

The serpent island, because it is much infested with serpents, of which there are three, two in the Mediterranean, and one in the Propontis near Constantinople.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

529

but still greatest he the midst,

Now Dragon grown,

[ocr errors]

Satan transformed to that shape.
Thus riding on his curls, he seem'd to pass
A rolling fire along, and singe the grass.
More various colours through his body run,
Than Iris, when her bow imbibes the sun.
VIRGIL.

larger than whom the sun
Engender'd in the Pythian vale on slime,

Python, a serpent sprung from the mud and stagnated waters which abounded on the surface of the earth after the deluge of Deucalion, so much celebrated in ancient history, is supposed to

559

have happened 1503 years B. C. Apollo attacked
the monster and killed him; in commemoration
of which was instituted the Pythian Games.
sat thicker than the snaky locks

That curl'd Megaera ;

One of the three furies. They were ropresented with a grim and frightful aspect, with a black and stained garment, and serpents wreathing round their heads instead of hair. They held a burning torch in one hand, and a whip of scorpions in the other, and were always attended by terror, rage, paleness and death. In the infernal regions they were seated around Pluto's throne, as the ministers of his vengeance. 562 Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flam'd

Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Deut. xxxii. 32. 580 And fabled how the serpent, whom they call'd Ophion with Eurynome.

A serpent said to have sprung out of the teeth of the serpent which was slain by Cadmus, and therefore became one of his companions; others say he was one of the Titans, the husband of Eurynome.

582 Of high Olympus

Mount Olympus was the spot where Jupiter has always been supposed by the poets to have held his court. The true description of Olympus is, that it is a mountain of Macedonia, covered with grottos and woods, with an elevation of a mile or a mile and a half, which is considerably less than that of Mount Etna, or the Alps.

583

588

thence by Saturn driven

And Ops, ere yet Dictœan Jove was born.

Saturn, the emblem of Time, who is said to have been king of Italy. Some writers suppose Saturn to have been the same as Noah; Ops, a daughter of Cœlus and Terra, the same as the Rhea of the Greeks, who married Saturn, and became the mother of Jupiter. Tatius built her a temple at Rome. She is generally represented as a matron, with her right hand opened, as if offering assistance to the helpless, and holding a loaf in her hand. Her festivals were n Opalia.

behind her Death

called

Close following pall for pall, not mounted yet
On his pale horse:

And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed him; and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. Rev. vi. 8. (See West's beautiful picture of Death on the Pale Horse).

616 See with what heat these dogs ›

For without are dogs. Rev. xxii. 15. But without are the unclean, who merit no better a name than that of dogs, as they debase their rational faculties to the service of vicious actions, and with them must be ranked too, every one who loveth and maketh a lie, who forges falsehood, and practises it, or acts in any allowed contradiction to the great eternal rule of truth and rectitude.

« PreviousContinue »