Note 273 — PART THE SECOND. (continued 2)
Reading edition
They provided themselves with a great number of thick ropes and long pieces of wood, which they contrived by some means to move and make them twist themselves one over the other; and so imposed on the beholders, who at a distance took them to be true serpents. It is also said that they rubbed them over with quicksilver, which being wrought upon by the heat of the sun caused them to move.—S. (B.)