Note 254 — Chapter IX · ÆSCULAPIUS AND THE SERPENT.

In an extant fragment from Sanchoniathon, after the statement that “Taautus first consecrated the basilisk and introduced the worship of the serpent tribe, in which he was followed by the Phœnicians and Egyptians,” it is said of the animal that it is “the most inspired of all the reptiles and of a fiery nature, inasmuch as it exhibits an incredible celerity, moving by its spirit without either hands or feet or any of those external organs by which other animals effect their motion.” See Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 22. Edition by Hodges.