It is a saying of the Ancients, that a Serpent, which hathhas devourddevoured a Serpent, be=
comes a Dragon: for it is cruellcruel to its kind, as a theifethief and Murderer to his: It is -
evident that such are in Africa, of soeso great bignessebigness and plenty, that they -
destroyed a great part of AlexandersAlexander's army: Amongst the AsachæiAsachaei a people -
of ÆthiopiaEthiopia are very great produced, which being wrapdwrapped together after -
the manner of hurdles doedo with their heads lifted up make way to better -
pasture. They report that the Kings of India maintaindmaintained two Dragons, one
of eighty, and the other of ninety cubits in bignessebigness: by the observation of
later writers and now adayesnowadays it is knowneknown, that near Angola are found such
as are æquallequal to the great masts of ships: SoeSo they report that in some cer=
tainecertain mountains of India and Africa there is great store of gold, but kept by
dragons, lest any one come thither and take it away: For dragons doedo resort -
to fountains or rivers, which fall from the mountains, and soeso are saydsaid to watch
the gold by accident: for this reason doedo the Philosophers ascribe soeso many -
dragons or serpents to their treasures, as to the golden Fleece, the garden of the -
Hesperides, and to other persons or ChymicallChymical subjects, to Cadmus, Saturne, Æscu=
lapiusAesculapius, Mercury, whose wand is begirt with two Serpents, male and female: but
doedo they meanemean nothing elselse by Dragons, but ChymicallChymical subjects? Hereupon -
say they, the Dragons yeildyield mountains, and the earth fountains to Rebis, -
and denoting the extreme hunger of the dragon in devouring his tayletail: which
though others may interpret of the year returning into itselfeitself, and resembling
a circle, yet it was accomodatedaccommodated by the Philosophers to their things, who -
by this dragon would have a Serpent understood, which devouresdevours another of
its owneown kind, and this is properly called Sulphur, as they all attest in innume=
rable places: Lully in his little bookebook chapt. 31. This is, saythsays heehe, Sulphur,
my SonneSon! and this the Serpent and dragon devouring his tayletail, the roar=
ing lyonlion, and sharp sword, cutting, mortifying, and tearing all things. And
the Rosary: The Dragon dyesdies not, unlesseunless heehe be killdkilled with his brother -
and Sister. And a little after: The Dragon is Argent vive extracted from
bodyesbodies, having in it a body, SouleSoul, and spirit: This is in the same place
called by another name FœtidFetid water, which is produced after the separation
of the Elements: Now the Dragon is saydsaid to devour his tayletail, in consuming
the voluble, venomous, and moist part,

that after without a tayletail heehe -
may seem more corpulent and of lesseless Speed, for the motion and volu=
bility of him consisted cheifelychiefly in his tayletail: Other animallsanimals depend upon
feet, but dragons, Serpents, and wormesworms of that kind doedo use constriction and
explication of body instead of feet, and as it were water poured out doedo di=
vide into certainecertain courses, inclining themselves sometimes this way some=
times that, as you may see in allmostalmost all rivers, how they turneturn their -
courses like Serpents, and runnerun obliquely in circuits: they did not there=
fore without reason call Argent vive a Serpent, and and add serpents to Mer=
cury, it allsoalso drawing as it were a tayletail, and running sometimes this -
sometimes that way with a voluble poizepoise: For as a Serpent creeps soeso
allsoalso Mercury, who hathhas therefore wings upon his feet and head. -
In AffricaAfrica they say are flying Serpents, which would waste and depopu=
late all things, if they were not destroyddestroyed by the bird calld Ibis: For which
cause Ibis is erected amongst the sacred ÆgyptianEgyptian images, both for the mani=
fest utility, which it performesperforms to the whole country, and for an occult -
reason, which very few men have understood. This dragon biting of his -
tayletail, and casting his old skinneskin is saydsaid to acquire a new one together with
youth, as nature hathhas granted longer life not onelyonly to Crows, Ravens, Eagles,
and Harts, but allsoalso to the Serpentine kind: The Ant growing old acquirethacquires -
wings, soeso allsoalso many wormesworms: Man growing old is put into the earth, but
being revived from the earth will be consecrated to æternalleternal life. Of every -
Serpent burned is made a powder, which is taken safely against all poy=
sonspoisons with great effect: Such an Alexipharmacum ought allsoalso to be made -
of this dragon (who hathhas allreadyalready devoured his tayletail, which is usually cuttcut
ofoff in Vipers) a most effectualleffectual remedy against the adversityesadversities of for=
tune and body . . . . . . . . . . . .