In Times of War, Serpents have been prest into the Service. Thus Heliogabalus (Emperor of Rome, so called because he was Priest of the Sun before his Election) having, by his Sacerdotal Incantators, or sacred Conjurers, gathered together several Serpents, contrived a Method to turn them loose, before day, among his Enemies, which soon put them into a terrible Hurry, and a Motion, that was a Trial for their Lives; the Sight of the crooked Serpent being far more dreadful, than the Whizzing of a straight Arrow^[91]. The same Author informs us of Snakes thrown by a Sling-Staff into the Camp of the Barbarians, which did great Execution.

King Prusias being overcome by King Eumenes, by Land, and intending to try his Fate by Sea, Hannibal, by a new Invention, made him victorious. The Stratagem was this: Hannibal having procured a great Number of Serpents, put them into earthen Vessels; and by another Device, and in midst of the Engagement, convey’d them into Antiochus’s Fleet, which proved more dreadful than Fire-balls, and feather’d Weapons, that flew amongst them. At first, it seemed ridiculous to the Romans, that they should arm themselves, and fight with earthen Pots; but when they were broken, an Army of Snakes rush’d out, which so terrified the Marines, that they immediately yielded the Victory to Prusias, the Carthaginian Hero’s Friend^[92].

We read in History, how Juno, out of her hatred to Hercules, sent two dreadful Serpents to devour him in the Cradle, which he soon crush’d with his Infant-Hands.

It was common among the Antient Swedes, to send out certain Flies (which they pretended to be their Familiars) to plague their Enemies. They also made Magical Balls for the same purpose, boasting how they thereby conveyed Serpents into their Enemies Bodies.

The Laplanders had their Magical Tyre, which was a Ball about the Bigness of a small Apple, (made of Moss, or Hair of Beasts) which, they say, is quickned and moved by a particular Art; they persuade themselves, that by this Tyre, they can send Serpents, or what they please, into any Man, to torment him. When this Ball is thrown, it goes like a Whirlwind, and as swift as a pointed Arrow^[93].

In the Book of Daniel, mention is made of several kinds of Magicians in Chaldea, under King Nebuchadnezzar; one is Mecasphim, a word which by St. Jerome, and the Greeks is translated Malefici, Inchanters, such People as make use of noxious Herbs and Drugs, the Blood of Victims, and Bones of the Dead, for their superstitious Operations^[94].

“The Tyrants of Japonia invented a strange Punishment for those who confessed Christ.——They hung them with their Heads downwards, half their Bodies into a large Hole digged in the Earth, which they filled with Snakes, Lizards, and other poisonous Vermin; but even those (says my Right Reverend Author, the learned and pious Bishop Taylor) were better Companions than those infernal Dragons in the Pit of Hell^[95].”

The Romans, when they punish’d any for Parricide, to express their Abhorrence of so heinous a Murder, they shut him up in a Sack, with a Serpent, an Ape, and a Cock.

To these Instances, I shall add, that the Attendants of Pluto, Prince of the Infernal Regions, are represented in a Serpentine Habit, viz. the Furies, Harpies——

In his Train, are three Diræ, Eumenides, or Furies, viz. Alecto, Megæra, and Tysiphone, whose Heads are covered with long and dreadful Snakes, instead of Hair, with Whips, Chains, and flaming Torches, in their Hands, to punish the Guilty. These also attended the Throne of Jove, and were accounted to be Messengers of the Gods, whose Office it was to execute their Decrees in the Infliction of Calamities upon Mortals.

These Furies had their Temples and Worshippers, and were described in Figures of so frightful a Form, that they durst scarce mention their Names without Horror.

TYSIPHONE, one of them, enraged at an innocent Youth, pluck’d off one of her Snakes, and threw it at him, which wound about his Body, and immediately strangled him. Some say, that we see these three Furies on a Medal of the Emperor Philip, struck at Antioch, on whose Reverse are represented three Women, arm’d with a Key, burning Torches, Poniards, and Serpents.

The Daffodil was sacred to the Furies, and such as offered Sacrifice to them were crowned with it^[96].

As soon as departed Souls had been examined by Minos, Radamanthus, and Æacus, and found guilty, and Sentence past, they were delivered to the Furies, who cast them down headlong into Tartarus, the Place of Torment,—and all those who had lived well, were conducted to the Elysian Fields.

HOMER speaks of them as the Executioners of Justice upon false Swearers, among other Instances:

The Harpies^[97] were monstrous and cruel Birds describ’d with Women’s Faces, and Dragons Tails, to render them more formidable to Mankind: The Ancients looked upon them as Dæmons or Genii, which last Homer calls Podarge. About Kaskan in Persia, is a fine and fertile Country, but plagued with Multitudes of Scorpions, which haunt the Inhabitants, especially in that Town (one of the most populous and eminent Marts in that Empire) where the Inhabitants, for fear of that venemous Animal, dare not sleep upon the Floor (as in other Places, where they only throw a Quilt upon the Tapestry) but have light Couches, hanging down from the Roof, like Seamens Hammocks, or hanging Beds on ship-board.

They have indeed a ready Help against its venemous Wounds, which is made of the Filings of Copper, tempered with Vinegar and Honey, which proves a speedy Cure; but if neglected, the Patient is in danger of his Life. This, says the Historian, I presume, has been first found out by the antipathetick Quality, which seems to be between Scorpions and Copper; for not far from the City is the Copper-Mine, where, as before, if one of these Animals be brought, it dies immediately. Q. Whether this be not Herbert’s Parthian?

Yea, to render a future State terrible to Mortals, the Heathens, speaking of departed Souls, feigned, that at their Descent from Charon’s Boat (who was the Ferryman of Hell) they met Cerberus, a monstrous Dog, with three Heads, who was covered all over with Serpents, instead of Hair. There was the Monster Chimæra that vomited Fire, her Head like a Lion, Middle like a Goat, and her Tail like a furious Dragon; so sings the Poet:

So another:

But further, we may observe, that besides this frightful Appearance of Serpents to salute their Entrance into Hell, there was Variety of Punishments for them when there. Thus the Danaides were condemned to Tartarus by the Poets, to be continually employed in filling a Cask perforated at the bottom; Phlegas, condemned by Apollo to Hell, where he sat upon a rolling Stone, in constant danger of falling into a Pit of greater Misery; Tityus, adjudged to Hell, where a Vultur feeds on his Liver, and the Liver always grows with the Moon: Nay, such were the horrible Preparations in Hell, that Virgil^[98], after a Survey of it, declares, that had he a hundred Mouths and Tongues, they would not suffice to recount all the Plagues of the Tortured: so that it is no wonder to see them represent the infernal Prison in Figures the most frightful.

And as the Heathen had their terrible Place for bad Men, so, to prompt them to Virtue, they had their Elysium, i. e. a Place of Pleasure in Hades, furnished with most pleasant Fields, agreeable Woods, Groves, Shades, Rivers; whither the Souls of good People were supposed to go after this Life. These are finely described by the Poet: