ASP, a kind of Serpent, the poison whereof is so dangerous and quick in its operation, that it kills almost in the very instant that it bites, without a possibility of applying any remedy1. It is said to be very small. The Scripture often speaks of it; the most remarkable place wherein it is mentioned, is where it is said to stop its ears that it may not hear the voice of the charmer. It is affirmed with great confidence, that this animal stops its ears to prevent its hearing any one who would charm Psal. lviii. 5.it2; and the Psalmist alludes to this, when he says, that the fury of the wicked is like that of the Serpent and deaf Adder3 (or Asp) which stoppeth its ears that it may not hear the voice of the charmer4.
We have discoursed at large on the charms of Serpents, in a Dissertation written expressly on this subject, and placed at the beginning of the first Volume on the Psalms, where we have set down the several ways of explaining the above-cited passage. Some5 are of opinion that there is a sort of Asp that really is deaf, which of all others is the most dangerous; and that the Psalmist here speaks of this. Others will have it6, that the Asp proving old becomes deaf of one ear, and stops the other with earth, to prevent its hearing the voice of the charmer. Lastly, others again pretend that the Asp, as well as other Serpents, hears exquisitely well; but7 that when any one would charm it, it stops its ears after an artificial manner, by applying one very close to the earth, and stopping the other with the end of its tail. The Reader may consult Bochart, and our Dissertation.
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Footnotes
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Translators’ note. It is a Serpent peculiar to the Countries of Egypt and Libya. Those that are bitten by it die within three hours; and the manner of their dying being by sleep and lethargy, without any pain, Cleopatra chose it, as the easiest way of dispatching her self. ↩
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Translators’ note. Virgil’s Marrubian Priest excelled in this Art, ——Marrubia venit de Gente sacerdos, Vipereo generi & graviter Spirantibus Hydris, Spargere qui somnos Cantuque manuque solebat. Virg. Æneid. VII. 750. ↩
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Translators’ note. Our English Translators render the Original, פתןAdder; which the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate more properly translate Ἀσπίς, and Aspis. ↩
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Translators’ note. The Ancients seem to have some opinion of the power of Spells upon Serpents; and the Poets speak often of these Charms or Incantations. Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis. Virg. Vipereas rumpo verbis & carmine fauces. Ovid. Inque pruinoso coluber distenditur arvo, Viperei coëunt abrupto corpore nodi, Humanoque cadit Serpens afflata veneno. Lucan. Philostratus, in his life of Apollonius, describes particularly how the Indians charm Serpents, l. iii. c. 2. Κόκκῳ βαφεῖ πέπλῳ, &c. They take a scarlet Coat embroidered with golden letters, and spread it before the Serpent’s hole, and these golden let- ters have a fascinating power over him, and therewith his Eyes, though as hard as stones, are yet overcome and laid to sleep. See Hammond on Psal. lviii. 4. ↩
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Vide Bochart. de animal. Sacr. Part II. l. iii. c. 6. Kimchi. ↩
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Rabb. Salomon. & Kabucnachi. ↩
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Aug. Cassiodor. Beda Isidor. alii. ↩