Note 221 — Chapter XVI
L. Dora Schmitz translation
The serpents’ heads, found so frequently among the ruins of Troy, cannot but recal to mind the superstitious regard of Homer’s Trojans for the reptile as a symbol, and their terror when a half-killed serpent was dropped by the bird of Jove amidst their ranks (Iliad, XII. 208, 209):—
Τρῶες δ’ ἐρρίγησαν, ὅπως ἴδον αἰόλον ὄφιν Κείμενον ἐν μέσσοισι, Διὸς τέρας αἰγιόχοιο. “The Trojans, shuddering, in their midst beheld The spotted serpent, dire portent of Jove.”