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Article OPHIOLOGY AND SERPENT SYMBOLISM. ← Page 3 of 9 →
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Ophiology And Serpent Symbolism.
The brilliant eye of the serpent , Parkhurst tells , s . v . 0 ne , passed into a Greek proverb , and the Romans gave it as" ardentis ab ore Scintilla ! absistunt , oculis micat acribus ignis . " And" Igno micant oculi . "
Its spots , its hues , its crest , were also objects of admiration . It was , maculis crestisque decorus ; or , maculis insignis et auro ; or , in the fuller description , and a beautiful comparison Avith the rainboAv , —
" Cerulea ) cui terga nota ) niaculosus et auro Squammam incendehat , fulgor cui nubibus arcus Mille trahit varies adverse sole colores . " We need not , therefore , wonder that these varied and opposing properties should leaA'e room for equally antagonistic personifications ; that an Agathademon could with propriety be
conceived equally with a Kakodemon ; that the Thermutes , the deadly asp , could be Avreathed round the temples and the forehead of Isis ( Ovid , Eleg . lib . ii . elig . 13 ) , or that Serapis should have it attendant on him as a good genius . Lucan ( Phars . lib . ix . 727 ) praises the serpent for its harmlessness : —
" Yos quoque , qui cunctis innoxia numina terris Serpitis , aurato nitidi fulgore Dracones !" And , in proof thereof , we knoAv that certain species Avere kept as pets in the houses of the Romans , that they crept out of their holes regularly at meal-times , and in A ery hot Aveather Avere tied by the Roman matrons around their throats to assuage the
blood boiling in the veins of the noble dames by their cooler temperature ; and , whether from the opposite motives of love or fear , the idea and representation of the serpent became universal throughout the empire , so that Servius , in his notes on Virgil ( 2 En . V . 85 ) , on a passage of which Ave haA'e already given a portion , could Avith propriety observe : "Nullus locus sine genio
qui per anguem plerumque ostenditur" ( No place is Avithout its guardian deity , which is generally shown by a snake ) . This will fully justify the decorator of the Pompeian Court of the Crystal Palace in painting tAvo snakes about to lick the altar placed , like the Lares , Avhich ought not to have been absent , over the domestic hearththere have been another less
digni-; may fied , nay a very puerile reason for their position . The Romans delighted in a pun . Cicero , in a forensic speech against an unfortunate opponent who had happened in early life to have been a cook , used emphatically anel often the double entendre in addressing him as " Tu quoque ; " and the prajtor and the court
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ophiology And Serpent Symbolism.
The brilliant eye of the serpent , Parkhurst tells , s . v . 0 ne , passed into a Greek proverb , and the Romans gave it as" ardentis ab ore Scintilla ! absistunt , oculis micat acribus ignis . " And" Igno micant oculi . "
Its spots , its hues , its crest , were also objects of admiration . It was , maculis crestisque decorus ; or , maculis insignis et auro ; or , in the fuller description , and a beautiful comparison Avith the rainboAv , —
" Cerulea ) cui terga nota ) niaculosus et auro Squammam incendehat , fulgor cui nubibus arcus Mille trahit varies adverse sole colores . " We need not , therefore , wonder that these varied and opposing properties should leaA'e room for equally antagonistic personifications ; that an Agathademon could with propriety be
conceived equally with a Kakodemon ; that the Thermutes , the deadly asp , could be Avreathed round the temples and the forehead of Isis ( Ovid , Eleg . lib . ii . elig . 13 ) , or that Serapis should have it attendant on him as a good genius . Lucan ( Phars . lib . ix . 727 ) praises the serpent for its harmlessness : —
" Yos quoque , qui cunctis innoxia numina terris Serpitis , aurato nitidi fulgore Dracones !" And , in proof thereof , we knoAv that certain species Avere kept as pets in the houses of the Romans , that they crept out of their holes regularly at meal-times , and in A ery hot Aveather Avere tied by the Roman matrons around their throats to assuage the
blood boiling in the veins of the noble dames by their cooler temperature ; and , whether from the opposite motives of love or fear , the idea and representation of the serpent became universal throughout the empire , so that Servius , in his notes on Virgil ( 2 En . V . 85 ) , on a passage of which Ave haA'e already given a portion , could Avith propriety observe : "Nullus locus sine genio
qui per anguem plerumque ostenditur" ( No place is Avithout its guardian deity , which is generally shown by a snake ) . This will fully justify the decorator of the Pompeian Court of the Crystal Palace in painting tAvo snakes about to lick the altar placed , like the Lares , Avhich ought not to have been absent , over the domestic hearththere have been another less
digni-; may fied , nay a very puerile reason for their position . The Romans delighted in a pun . Cicero , in a forensic speech against an unfortunate opponent who had happened in early life to have been a cook , used emphatically anel often the double entendre in addressing him as " Tu quoque ; " and the prajtor and the court