'Observations Surrounding Vipers', by Francesco Redi

"Non è veleno, se non tocca il sangue" F. Redi, Opere, Vol IV.

Francesco Redi was born in Arezzo, on the18th of February, 1626, and died at Pisa, on the 1st of March, 1697. He was a doctor, a natural scientist, and an accomplished Italian writer. After he graduated in medicine at Pisa in 1647, he was appointed court physician to the Tuscan Grand Duke, Ferdinand II, (1610-1670), and superintendent of his pharmacy and foundry, duties which he carried out until his death.

'OSSERVAZIONI INTORNO ALLE VIPERE', (1664), fatte da Francesco Redi Gentiluomo aretino, Accademico della Crusca, e da lui scritte in una Lettera all'Illustrissimo Signor Lorenzo Magalotti.'

Translated by M. E. Kudrati. MB BCh (Cantab)

There are many copies of the original text in Italian available online. The Italian site devoted to Francesco Redi has all his major works, but requires an Adobe Acrobat reader for a pdf download. Alternatively, there is an ordinary copy available at Wikisource(Italian).

'Observations Surrounding Vipers', made by the Gentleman from Arezzo, Academician of the Crusca, and written by him in a letter to the most illustrious Signor Lorenzo Magalotti*.

[*Lorenzo Magalotti, (1637 - 1712), born in Rome into an aristocratic Florentine family, was an influential scientific chronicler, diplomat, and man of letters. At the court of the Medici, he was appointed secretary of the recently established 'Accademia del Cimiento' in 1660, and also played a part in the 'Accademia della Crusca', where he knew Redi intimately. Both shared a passion for poetry, language, wine, melons, chocolate, and other odoriferous items at table, and wrote verses naming each other. Magalotti, who was a small, rather rotund man, delighted in calling the lank Redi, always depicted with his long perruque, as 'the picture of hunger' ("il ritratto della fame"). During his time there, he published the "Saggi di naturali esperienze" detailing the activities at the former academy from 1662 to 1667, in which time this letter by Redi was written. He later went on to serve as a distinguished diplomat for Ferdinand II of the Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and when he died in 1670, his son, Cosimo III, a period in which he travelled across most of Europe, and which earned him the epithet, by Redi, of the 'Tuscan Ulysses'("Ulisse della Toscana"). He is of particular interest to the English reader, not only because he wrote an account of his stay in England at the court of Charles II in his 'Relazione d'Inghilterra'(1668), but also for his translation of Milton's 'Paradise Lost' ('Il Paradiso Perduto'), which was published the year before, in 1667. In the latter part of his life, he retired to his country villa at Lonchio, near Florence, until the time of his death.]

Every day I find ever greater confirmation of my proposition in not wishing to give credence, with regard to natural things, to that which I see not with my very own eyes, and which is not a confirmation for me, from renewed and revised experience, because more than ever I realize that it is a most difficult thing to discern fraudulent truth from lies, and that many writers, as much ancient as modern, resemble those lambs, of which our divine poet says:

"Come le pecorelle escon del chiuso
Ad una, a due, a tre; e l'altre stanno
Timidette atterrando l'occhio e '1 muso,
E ciò che la la prima, e l'altre fanno,
Addossandosi a lei, s'ella s'arresta,
Semplici e quete, e lo 'mperché non sanno."⁽¹⁾

In exactly like manner as, had one of the ancient savants recorded as true some account in his books, the greater number of those who come later, from blindness, and without looking for an alternative, remain credulous, and the new writing stays subservient to the good faith in which that first person wrote it; and so it is thus transmitted from hand to mouth, and repeated, parrot-like; so the gullible and unskilled common among the literati in this way write, read, and believe the most solemn falsehoods, and in him, who has the virtue of stomach-churning talent. I shall always praise, and while I breathe, I shall go on to celebrate the glory of Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany⁽²⁾, my unique lord, who, if only for a little while, putting down the graver matters of state, diverts himself amid the pleasures of philosophical speculation. He does this not as a vain and idle amusement, but rather to discover the naked, pure, and clear germ of truth in things. Who also, however, with royal and indefatigable splendour, administers continuously to many worthy men all this convenience which is necessary to attain such a laudable end. If fame from olden times already described Alexander so liberally, in promoting the study of his Aristotle, my Lord who, as in the matter of generosity does not yield to this grand monarch, in the same way, leaves him very far behind in the understanding of things, and in intelligence. If in our day there are no Aristotles alive, there are, nonetheless, always reined back in the Tuscan court, remarkable and distinguished subjects, and today, along with us, divided by such a distant space, from England, and from many other remoter parts of the world, there have come men of high renown who, with astonishment of even the more learned, demonstrate further every day, of possessing:

"Pien di filosofia la lingua e 'l petto."⁽³⁾

Thus, as I can never sufficiently explain to you, Signor Lorenzo, how many experiments have been conducted in this court since your departure, and by means of them, from how many falsehoods have been removed the mask, in order to whet your appetite, and to stimulate your prompt return, I wish here to relate to you briefly, in simple words and without artifice, in keeping with as they might come to my mind, some observations which this week gone by were performed on the subject of vipers. Since the discussion involves vipers, I, by way of excuse because of my ardent fear of the task undertaken, in which so many and such grand men of present and past centuries are deluded, shall avail myself opportunely with the words of the youth, Alcibiades, in the 'Symposium':
"I am (he says) in the same situation as those who have been bitten by the viper. It is said, that people of this kind do not wish to give expression to their passions, unless it is to those who have been similarly bitten by the same creature, being aware that so bitter are the sorrows, and so acute the pangs of the wound made by the impress of its malignant tooth, that anyone other than them to whom an attempt is to impart it, would be incredulous, and the serious disquiet and the wretched moan taken for so much affectation, and believed to be childish. Likewise, I, who have been wounded by a more acute bite, the one of a love for philosophy, which stings no less miserably than that of a viper, particularly when it penetrates the mind of a young person, or of those who are not entirely devoid of judgment or completely devoid of sensitivity, finding myself alone and by myself with you, it will not shame me to reveal to you the great thirst that I have no less than you, and how to restore it to health with the balm of truth; knowing very well how much in life, and no less than myself, all of you also are pierced by it."⁽⁴⁾

From Naples, the vipers arrived at the beginning of June, to make up the theriac⁽⁵⁾ in the workshop of His Sublime Highness, in whose presence, and of all the other Serene Princes, there was talk of these animals, and of the large share that they have in the composition of that marvellous antidote, one almost said, of their poison, and of that which it was, and in what part of their body they had the source.

Some declared that the viper has no other poison except its own teeth, which, they asserted, was worked in such a way, that by the sharpness of the puncture, or the cut of the invisible angles of their aspects, perhaps sunk, or conducted by some other strange operation, injuring the tender fibres and the subtle nerves, from these, the severest puncture creeping into the major branches, are derived the sharpest pangs and the lethal convulsions. Others fiercely contested this opinion, and affirmed that the tooth is neither venomous by itself per se, nor because of the shape, but that with the wound there was a path opened for the venom, which lay hidden in some membrane covering the viper's teeth, called by the Greeks, τών οδόντων χιτοινας [the dental tunic]; this membrane had gall transferred from the bladder by some extremely subtle canalicules, which ramify from it to the gums, and added that the viper's gall, drunk, is a toxin of the most deadly kind that can be found on earth. Others ascribed the blow to the spittle and the spume which the viper makes when, almost rabid, and all swollen with rage, it happens to bite. Others jokingly suggested that, perhaps, in conformity with the view of many ancients, and in keeping with the trite proverb, the poison was not anywhere other than in the tail, or in the terminal sting of it. Certain other gentlemen laughed, hearing this last opinion, and one of them rejoined, that with all these diverse views, it well seemed that the one ancient philosopher who gave himself to intend to know all things was too bold, and the other, the one who was dubious of everything, modest; and in order to recollect the names of both of them, said with Petrarch:

"Vid'Ippia, il vecchierel, che già fu oso
Dir io so tutto, e poi di nulla certo,
Ma d'ogni cosa Archesilao dubbioso."⁽⁶⁾

It was thus in contention when His Sublime Highness ordered that, to rediscover the truth, every experiment was done as might be wished to be performed to confirm further for each and everyone his opinion. Since the majority seemed stuck to the belief that the lethal poison nested in the bile, it was determined that a start be made on the bile. All the more as a most learned man, well-versed in the literature of the ancient and of modern writers, could have wagered all of his that every tiny drop drunk of viper's bile was enough to kill the most robust man, or howsoever more ferocious a beast; adding that now this matter had gone ever beyond adjudication, that Galen had taught it to the doctors, that Pliny had said it in large letters; that Avicenna was of the opinion that little joy was to be had from medicines for those who had imbibed the bile of a viper; that Rhazes had maintained that no intelligence or medicinal provision was worthwhile, but rather, what was required was divine assistance; that Ali Abbas had affirmed that almost no reparation could be made for this infernal venom; that Albucasis was, again, of this view, and along with Albucasis, and all the above-cited writers, those who have referred to it in more modern times, including Guglielmo da Piacenza, Santi Arduino, il Cardinal di San Pancrazio, Bertruccio Bolognese, il Cesalpino, Baldo Angelo Abati, il Cardano, Giulio Cesare Claudino, Guglielmo Pisone⁽⁷⁾, and many and numerous others, whose honoured fame resounds in the mouths of doctors, and who, removed from the vulgar crowd, were able worthily,

"Seder tra filosofica famiglia".⁽⁸⁾

If Giovan Battista Odierna⁽⁹⁾ wrote rightly in one of his most curious letters to the learned Marc'Aurelio Severino⁽¹⁰⁾, of having given to a cat a small piece to eat of bread dipped in viper's bile, without observing effect of the venom, nevertheless, this single experiment was not able to ground the opinion of so many leading and immoveable doctors; despite seeing it for oneself daily, that cats toy with newts, lizards, and snakes, and since they gulp them down, even though Alberto Magno⁽¹¹⁾ with magisterial teaching denies it, it might at least have persuaded that the cat was not an animal appropriate for performing such an experiment; in the same way also, relatively, as the chicken was not, which the above-mentioned Severino caused to swallow bile, because chickens commonly eat newts, lizards, spiders, and other venomous animals.

During this time there stood, listening in a corner, there, Jacopo Sozzi⁽¹²⁾, hunter of vipers, a man to be equalled with the ancient Marsi and Psilli⁽¹³⁾, hardly able to contain himself from smiling, who scoffingly got hold of viper's bile, and having dispersed it in half a glass of fresh water, swallowed it down the throat with an intrepid face, and gave himself to observing how mistaken the above mentioned authors were, offering, moreover, to drink as much quantity of bile as might be wished for in addition. However, because some believed that the good Jacopo had been previously primed, even though he frankly denied it, either with mithridate or with a theriac, or some other alexin⁽¹⁴⁾, it was deemed opportune to carry out another test. For this, two large pigeons were made to swallow bile, but neither of them came to any harm. What is even greater, and almost unbelievable, a dog, which was given half an ounce of bile to drink forcibly, did not meet with the least accident, and healthy and vigorous, lived until the end of the day, and if no other injury kills him, will survive eternally. To cocks, again, was given a good quantity of bile, and I put the same into two, the crop of a peacock, and an Indian rooster, and I forced a cat to eat four innards, without removing the bile which, there, only to say, greedily licked its lips with it. I have experimented on other animals many times, but always in different species because, as you well know, there are many things which go to serve one kind of animal as food, but produce the effect of a poison in another species, or other untoward and harmful accidents. Not to mention hemlock, eaten by starlings, and hellebore, by quails and by goats, I shall say here that, a few days ago, we observed that half a grain of wafer bread greased with castor oil induced a simple man to eject bodily vomit, accompanied by agonising and terrible superpurgations, whereas even six drops of the same oil, placed in the throat of a cockerel, not only did not kill it, but had also neither induced in it the least loathing, nor led to either nausea, or moved the body.

From these observations made time and again, having guaranteed that a viper's bile taken by mouth does not kill, the way was left open for the consideration of whether, when dropped into wounds, it might lead to poisoning. After many experiments performed on numerous cockerels and pigeons, and by me, privately, in a rabbit, in a lamb, and in a hare, it was established that it did not have the capacity to do them any harm, just as it lacked any power for doing any good, nor did it confer any benefit when placed in bites caused by vipers, which runs contrary to what Baldo Angelo says, in the fifth and in the seventh chapter⁽¹⁵⁾, and Scrodero⁽¹⁶⁾ in his 'Pharmacopoeia'.

At the bottom, then, of these two membranes within which the viper holds fast its teeth, there collects a certain fluid. In colour, and in taste, it resembles the oil obtained from sweet almonds. It is this, as I wrote above, which is believed to be transmitted through some subtle canalicules from the gall bladder. What is certain, and observed by me on many occasions, is that when a viper bares its teeth and happens to bite, it comes to squirt of necessity this yellow fluid into the wound. Now, this is not because the membranes rupture, as has been said by Mercuriale⁽¹⁷⁾, Grevino⁽¹⁸⁾, and others, who invented certain sacs, never visualized, beneath the tongue, but because in them the membranes fold back and crease, as bellows do when emitting air, or like the lips of a dog crease, when it bares its teeth and wants to bite.

It was proposed that this fluid, taken by mouth, could kill, which, by some, was steadfastly affirmed, but with equal steadfastness, denied by others. The above-mentioned Jacopo, of the vipers, offered to drink a whole, large spoonful, and was seen, in fact, to lick it lightly, with relish, more and more times.

"Se tu se' or, lettore, a creder lento
Ciò ch'io dirò, non sarà maraviglia
Che io, che 'l vidi, appena il mi consento."⁽¹⁹⁾

Jacopo took one of the larger, more bizarre, and angry looking vipers, and made it squirt, into a half a glassful of wine, not only all the fluid that it had in its membranes, but also all the foam and all the spittle which this agitated, shaken, pressed, and irritated serpent could emit, and drank that wine as though it were some pearly julep. On the following day, he played afresh the same game, with three vipers rolled into one, without a fear in the world, and he had good reason not to be afraid, since,

"Temer si dee di sole quelle cose,
Ch'hanno potenza di fare altrui male,
Dell'altre no, che non son paurose."
⁽²⁰⁾

This because, I, too, immersed four heads of half-alive vipers into a cup of water, dripping and filthy with blood, and with a lancet cut out all the soft parts of the palate, and of the cheeks, and brought forth all the liquidity that there was present, as an indication of which the water became frothy, turbid, and revolting. Afterwards, I chased, with a funnel, almost all of it down into the stomach of a goat kid, while the residue that remained behind, I turned into a drink for a thirsting duck, and neither one, nor the other, ever gave any distinct sign of poison.

I shall not be ill-advised, then, to say that Alberto Magno was deceived, along with the most erudite Mercuriale, the most subtle Capo di Vacca⁽²¹⁾, and the most celebrated Zacuto⁽²²⁾, in stating that wine in which a viper is drowned is, for all time, the worst poison, and lethal; that before them, Aezio⁽²³⁾ was deceived, and before Aezio, Dioscorides⁽²⁴⁾, in affirming it not only for the wine in which a viper dies, but also of that in which this little beast had dipped its head for a drink⁽²⁵⁾. However, I do not view in the same light the drops of this precious fluid, as do Aristotle⁽²⁶⁾ and Dioscorides; nor do I know that small wine-jars hidden among hedges are most well-fitted to catch them⁽²⁷⁾, although, having kept some small, full bowls inside a box where they were present, I was not alone in being taken aback to see them lick a drop from them, and no less so when I realised that they drank it when I was not there, so that in the process, over a long period of time, I had not seen it diminish, at least not so that the most warm, ambient air could not have absorbed it. This made me encounter many difficulties in believing as true the story recounted by Galen in his eleventh book, 'On the Faculties of Simple Medicaments', that while carrying a pitcher of wine to certain harvesters, and having put it down in a field not too far from them, when they wanted to mix it in cups so as to drink it, they noticed that there was a viper which had entered inside, and drowned there⁽²⁸⁾. For, I say, to have that viper enter into that pitcher, it is necessary for it to have been open, and if open, then with that same ease with which it went in there, it could, equally well, have come out of it. Apposite in this regard is that I have seen vipers escape many times from flasks with the longest of necks, full, and half-full, of wine, in which I had kept them shut. Even allowing the case that the viper had been quite unable to find a way out, it does not by any means follow, that it should so completely drown there, because vipers stay afloat for some time on all liquids, on account of a certain bladder, full of air, which they have in the body, not altogether dissimilar to that of fish. Nor is it of use to reply that the vaporous smell of the wine can instantly render them drunk, and stifle them, because having myself put vipers in glass vases full of the most liberal wine of Chianti, and the most fumy wines of Naples and Sicily, I have always noted that they kept themselves alive, floating, for a period of about six hours, and when by force they have been kept completely covered with wine, with this, again, they survived for an hour and a half without dying. Finally, having died there, and having let them be for many days, with the narrow mouth of the flasks tightly shut, it was clear to me that the story recounted by Paolo Emilio Ferrallo does not ring true, that such flasks break because of the overriding heat of the viperine flesh steeping inside them, and, therefore, the rationale weakens and collapses if this is to decide (as also placed into consideration by Severino), that these little snakes are of a hot temperament. In this respect, I say to you, also, that they can maintain themselves alive for even longer in water than on wine, more staying on the surface above the water on the third day, and when held under water, more remaining alive up to a period of about twelve hours. After that period, having died, and upon opening up their bodies, and examining the heart, I always found both of the auricles had become much more enlarged in the same heart, whereas in the natural state they are very small, and to such an extent that some, not correlating observation well with the truth, have stated that the viperine heart had a single auricle.* (*Redi changed this opinion later, in 'Esperienza intorno all generazione degl'insetti', where he granted the viperine heart only the one auricle).

Leaving aside this digression, however, I return to write about that yellow liquid found within the membranes that cover the teeth which, not being lethal to either man or to beast when taken by mouth, made one reflect whether it, by chance, introduced into a wound, was a cause of death. The truth is that, at the end of three to four hours, all the cockerels and pigeons died, on the wounds of which it was placed. Moreover, the fluid of the live viper is as lethal, as is that extracted from the palate and the membranes of a dead viper, including those dead for two or three days, having conducted, myself, in different animals, more than a hundred experiments. All of which leads me to believe that Cleopatra⁽²⁹⁾, when she wished to die, did not kill herself at all from an asp, as some stories relate, but that, she, in a way rather more rapid, more certain, and more secret, after having herself injured or bitten in an arm by the same, instilled a poison into the wound, as recounted by the author of the book, 'De Theriaca ad Pisonem'⁽³⁰⁾, which, pressed out of the asp, and conserved in a phial, had been prepared for such an end; or, else, as referred to by Dione⁽³¹⁾, she wounded herself in the arm with a needle infected with the venom which she used to carry on her as an ornament for her hair, and that it was a venom of such a kind that it did no harm unless it came into contact with blood. I am confirmed in this opinion because if it is justly asserted that the asp is much more venomous than the viper, something which for now I wish to concede, nonetheless it belongs to that species of snake which, according to Nicandro⁽³²⁾, Eliano⁽³³⁾, and others, have canine teeth covered by membranes inside which they retain the venom. Also, that this venom squeezed out completely, if not at the first then at least at the second bite, is such that, at the third and the fourth (and I have put it to the test many times) it is not poisonous, and for this reason charlatans and mountebanks suffer themselves to be bitten by vipers without danger. Therefore, Cleopatra could not have ensured the death of Naera and Carmione⁽³⁴⁾, her maids, with a single asp, and afterwards killed herself; all the more so as, frequently, this little animal, at the first bite, breaks its teeth. To which must be added that, after the death of Cleopatra, the killer snake was not found in that room, and everyone knows the natural abhorrence which all women possess at the sight of, let alone in having to handle, snakes. It is, also, of no significance that in the triumph of Augustus⁽³⁵⁾, the image of Cleopatra was seen in Rome with an asp in hand, in the act of injuring herself in the arm, because this was a skit by the sculptor or the painter who, in another, more obvious way, could not depict to the people the manner of death that the queen had chosen for herself, in order to escape slavery under the conqueror, Augustus. Not dissimilar licence is taken quite frequently by modern painters, and amongst others, Pier Vettori⁽³⁶⁾ censures them in this regard, for portraying Cleopatra bitten by the asp in the breast, quoting Plutarch⁽³⁷⁾, Propertius⁽³⁸⁾, Paulus Orosius⁽³⁹⁾, and Paulus Diaconus⁽⁴⁰⁾, as relating that it was not in the chest, but in the arm, that she got herself bitten. This pictorial licence does not apply only to those who are modern, but was also employed by the ancients, seeing that it is encountered in a gemstone in the care of Gorleo⁽⁴¹⁾, on which can be seen, engraved, Cleopatra, punctured in the breast by the asp. It is right that Pier Vettori was reprised from his criticism by Baldo Angelo Abbati, who maintained that it is more likely that she stung herself in the chest, as the part nearest to the heart, from all of which was Pier Vettori learnedly defended by Gasparo Ofmanno⁽⁴²⁾, philologist, and learned doctor of our times, in the first book of his sundry lectures.

Returning to our theme, however, it astonished me greatly that the sage, and excellent, old man, Marco Aurelio Severino, extremely well-versed in the knowledge of vipers, and thoroughly experienced, says indubitably that the yellow fluid instilled into the wound does not poison, persuaded by only two experiments, one on the comb of a cock, and the other on the punctured hand of one of his family; because it admits a need that in the testing of experience,

"Veramente più volte appaion cose,
Che danno a dubitar falsa materia,
Per le vere cagion, che son nascose."⁽⁴³⁾

Continued...

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Notes:

¹."As sheep, that step from forth their fold, by one,
Or pairs, or three at once; meanwhile the rest
Stand fearfully, bending the eye and nose
To ground, and what the foremost does, that do
The others, gathering round her if she stops,
Simple and quiet, nor the cause discern;"
Canto III, Purgatory; The Divine Comedy: Dante Alighieri - Trans. Henry F.Cary.

². Ferdinando II de' Medici, ruled as Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1621 to 1670. He was the son of Cosimo II de' Medici.

³."His tongue and heart full of philosophy." Trionfo d'Amore; Triumphus Cupidinis: Francesco Petrarca.

⁴. The text quoted is in the Italian, the Greek original of which, including the references to persons, is reproduced below:
"Besides, I share the plight of the man who was bitten by the snake: you know it is related of one in such a plight that he refused to describe his sensations to any but persons who had been bitten themselves, since they alone would understand him and stand up for him if he should give way to wild words and actions in his agony. Now I have been bitten by a more painful creature, in the most painful way that one can be bitten: in my heart, or my soul, or whatever one is to call it, I am stricken and stung by his philosophic discourses, which adhere more fiercely than any adder when once they lay hold of a young and not ungifted soul, and force it to do or say whatever they will; I have only to look around me, and there is a Phaedrus, an Agathon, an Eryximachus, a Pausanias, an Aristodemus, and an Aristophanes - I need not mention Socrates himself - and all the rest of them; every one of you has had his share of philosophic frenzy and transport, so all of you shall hear." 217e ff; Symposium: Plato in Twelve Volumes, translated by Harold N. Fowler, 1925.
["ὑπὸ του̂ ἔχεως πάθος κἄμ' ἔχει. φασὶ γάρ πού τινα του̂το παθόντα οὐκ ἐθέλειν λέγειν οἱ̂ον ἠ̂ν πλὴν τοι̂ς δεδηγμένοις, ὡς μόνοις γνωσομένοις [218a] τε καὶ συγγνωσομένοις εἰ πα̂ν ἐτόλμα δρα̂ν τε καὶ λέγειν ὑπὸ τη̂ς ὀδύνης. ἐγὼ οὐ̂ν δεδηγμένος τε ὑπὸ ἀλγεινοτέρου καὶ τὸ ἀλγεινότατον ὡ̂ν ἄν τις δηχθείη--τὴν καρδίαν γὰρ ἢ ψυχὴν ἢ ὅτι δει̂ αὐτὸ ὀνομάσαι πληγείς τε καὶ δηχθεὶς ὑπὸ τω̂ν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ λόγων, οἳ ἔχονται ἐχίδνης ἀγριώτερον, νέου ψυχη̂ς* μὴ ἀφυου̂ς ὅταν λάβωνται, καὶ ποιου̂σι δρα̂ν τε καὶ λέγειν ὁτιου̂ν--καὶ ὁρω̂ν αὐ̂ Φαίδρους, ̓Αγάθωνας, [218b] ̓Ερυξιμάχους, Παυσανίας, ̓Αριστοδήμους τε καὶ ̓Αριστοφάνας: Σωκράτη δὲ αὐτὸν τί δει̂ λέγειν, καὶ ὅσοι ἄλλοι; πάντες γὰρ κεκοινωνήκατε τη̂ς φιλοσόφου μανίας τε καὶ βακχείας--διὸ πάντες ἀκούσεσθε." Πλάτων: Συμποσίον.]

⁵. Theriac is derived from the Greek word 'θηρίον', a wild beast. Theriacs were like the 'mithridates' which, according to Galen, were used first by Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, before theriacs came into being, to immunise him against all known poisons. To quote Galen: "φαςὶ γὰρ καὶ τὸν Μιθριδάτην ἐκεῖνον τὸν μέγαν ποεμιςτὴν, τὴν μὴν θηριακὴν μὴ λαμβάνοντα, οὐδέπω γὰρ ἦν, ἄλλην δ' ἀντίδοτον λαμβάνοντα πολυμίγματόν τινα, κὰι αὐτὴν τῷ ἐκεἰνου ὀνόματι οὓτω καλουμένην, Μιθριδάτειος γὰρ ὀνομάζεται, διὰ τὴν ἐξ αὐτῆς κατεσκευσμένην τῷ σώματι δυσπάθειαν μὴ δυνηθῆναι λαβόντα τὸ φάρμακον ἀποθανειν". ΠΡΟΣ ΠΙΣΩΝΑ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΘΗΡΙΑΚΗΣ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ. ["Proditur enim Mithridatem magnum illum bellatorem non theriacam, ut quae necdum esset, set aliud antidotum variis quoque mixtionibus compositum, ipsius que dictum nomine (Mithridatium enim appellatur) praesumentem, ob firmam corporis constitutionem ex illo preparatum, non potuisse veneno poto interire." - Cap XVII; De theriaca ad Pisonem. Kuhn XIV 1821-1833]

Possibly both these preparations derived their appeal from 'alexipharmakons', which were earlier compounds used by the Greeks to ward off illness, and which are first encountered in Alexandrian pharmacological lore. The recipe for the 'mithridate' antidote was said to have been discovered in the King's cabinet after the success of Pompeii in the war against the Romans, and was afterwards used by successive Roman Emperors, including Nero, whose physician, Andromachus, revised the formula, and added viper's flesh. Initially used to counter the effects of venomous bites, they were held to be equally effective, by Galen, and by others, as a universal panacea, and in treatises such as 'On theriac to Piso', 'On theriac to Pamphilianus' and 'On Antidotes', Galen specified the 'theriac' as a sixty-four ingredient compound. The recipe was included in different forms by other notable writers, but later became secreted, to monopolise it into the Venetian production of theriac, until it was once again made public by the French Academician, Charas, in 1668, not long after Redi's letter. Theriacs were remarkably popular, as much in Islamic countries, as in Europe, and even China, from mediaeval times up to the 18th.century.

⁶. "I saw old Hippias, who who had formerly dared
To say: 'I know all'; and next, of nothing sure,
but doubting everything, Archesilaus;"
-my translation from Petrarca,'Triumphus Fama; Trionfo della Fama III' (Triumph of Fame III).

⁷. The list of famous ancient and modern physicians is long, some well-known, others not so famous. Only a few details are listed here, with others added later, as they occur in the text.

Galen, [Γαληνός, Claudius Galenus], (129 - ca. 200 or 216 ACE), of Pergamon, in modern Turkey, was a prominent ancient Greek physician who occupied the position of Imperial physician at Rome, and a prolific writer whose ideas and fame secured for him a dominant place in medical science for over a millennium. The forename "Claudius", absent in Greek texts, appears first in texts from the Renaissance.
Pliny the Elder, [Gaius Plinius Secundus], (23 -79 ACE), Roman officer and encyclopaedist, was the author of the vast compendium known as 'Naturalis Historia'.
Avicenna, [Abū 'Alī al-Husayn ibn 'Abd Allāh ibn Sīnā - ابو علی الحسین ابن عبدالله ابن سینا, (c. 980AD/ 370 ﻫ � 1037AD/ 427 ﻫ)], was for long known by his Latinized name, Avicenna. He was a famous Persian physician and philosopher, but excelled in many other branches of learning, and his renowned 'كتاب القانون فى الطب' (The Canon on Medicine) was included in medical curricula throughout the world for centuries after his death.
Rhazes, [Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi - أبو بكر محمد بن زكريا الرازي], (865 AD / 250 ﻫ - 925 AD / 311 ﻫ, 313 ﻫ according to Biruni) was a Persian alchemist, chemist, physician, philosopher and scholar. Amongst his many works is the 'كتاب الحاوى فى الطب' (The Comprehensive Book of Medicine).
Ali Abate, [Ali ibn 'Abbās al-Majusi - علي بن العباس المجوسي], (died 982-994/ ﻢ 400 ﻫ), latinized as Haly Abbas, was a physician and psychologist in Abbasid times, and is most well-known for the 'كتاب كامل الصناعه الطبيه المعروف بالملكى', or the 'Complete Book of the Medical Art', a book often referred to as the 'Liber Regius'. According to Al-Qifti, 'people inclined to his teachings in his time, until Ibn Sina, when they turned towards him'. It was, however, a standard textbook at Salerno in the 11th and 12th centuries AD.
Albucasis, [Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbās Al-Zahrāwi - أبو القاسم بن خلف بن العباس الزهراوي], (936 AD / 324هـ - 1013 AD/ 404ه)], was an Andalusian physician, surgeon, chemist, and scientist. He is often considered to be the father of modern surgery, and the 'التصريف لمن عجز عن التأليف', or 'The book of management for someone who cannot cope with compilations', under its Latin title, 'Concessio ei data qui componere haud valet', is an impressive compendium of surgery. Although undoubtedly owing a great deal to classical writers, it had much in it that was original, and it was used as a basic surgical textbook in European institutions until well after the Renaissance.
Bertruccio Bolognese, sometimes with Niccolò, added for no clear reason, is referred to in name, as 'Magister meus Bertucius', by Guy de Chauliac, and at other times, as 'Magister meus Bonon'. He has been linked in the 'Muratori' Chronicles of Bologna of 1347 with the name of Vertuzzo, the ' Medico soprano', who died in an epidemic there. He is said by Sarton to have written a commentary on Hippocrates, but he is also mentioned as an author of the'Collectorium Artis Medicae', where he is named simply as Bertruccio or Bertuccio.
Guglielmo da Saliceto, [William of Saliceto], (1210-1277 ACE), was born at Piacenza and worked in Verona. He wrote 'Chirurgia', which was largely copied from Albucasis, and also a medical tome, 'Liber in scientiae medicae'. He was 'Magister chirurgiae' at Bologna and advocated the use of the knife over cautery. Lanfranc of Milan was a pupil of his, and Guy de Chauliac eulogized him as "Valens homo".
Giulio Cesare Claudini, [also Chiodini, Julius Caesar Claudinus], died 1618 is mentioned by Robert Burton in 'The Anatomy of Melancholy' as a physician for a nobleman in Poland. He was a famed professor of medicine at Bologna, his place of birth.
Guglielmo Pisone [Gulielmum Pisonem], 17th.century, was a doctor, possibly Dutch, who was personal physician to John Maurice of Nassau, prince of Nassau-Siegen, and whom he accompanied on his voyage to Recife, Brazil, in 1637. He made an important contribution in the later editions of 'Rerum per octennium in Brasilia et alibi Gestarum' (1660), by Caspar Barlaeus, (1584 -1648 ACE), on the climate and the medical plants of Brazil, and also edited the manuscript of the 'Historiae naturalis et medicae Indiae' of Jacobus Bontius (1598?-1631), the famous Dutch doctor who had gone to work in the East Indies, and who had subsequently written 'De medicina Indorum' (1648), during his time back in Batavia. The former was published in Amstersdam in 1658.
Il Cesalpino, Andrea Cesalpino, (1519 � 1603 ACE), Italian natural philosopher, studied medicine, and botany with Luco Ghini, at Pisa and was, after him, professor of medicine and director of the botanical garden at Pisa. Late on in life he became physician to the Pope Clement VIII. Among his published works, his 'De Plantis, Libri XVI'(1583) tackled many botanical problems, including taxonomy, in a modern way, and using morphological and other characteristics, he managed to group plants into families very similar to those used nowadays.
Baldo Angelo Abati, [Baldus Angelus Abbatius], lived in second half of 16th century, and was said to have been a personal physician to the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria II della Rovere, to whom he dedicated his main work called 'De admirabili viperae natura et de mirificis eiusdem facultatibus'. The treatise was the first to deal with the internal anatomy of snakes.
Gerolamo Cardano, [Girolamo Cardano, Jerome Cardan, Hieronymus Cardanus], (1501 -1576 ACE), was an Italian Renaissance mathematician, physician, astrologer and gambler. He was born the illegitimate son of a Pavian lawyer, who trained him in mathematics. In 'Artis magnae, sive de regulis algebraicis', often spoken of as 'Ars magna' (1545), he provided solutions for cubic and quartic equations. He is also famous for the invention of several mechanical devices, and he left behind an autobiography, the 'De vita propria' (1576), written at the end of his life, in which he describes his extraordinary life and career.
I have no information on Santi Arduino, or il Cardinal di San Pancrazio.

⁸. 'To sit among the philosophic family' - my translation of the line from Canto IV; Inferno: The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri.

⁹. Giovanni Battista Hodierna [often Odierna, born Dierna], (1597 - 1660 ACE), was born in Sicily. He was an Italian astronomer, mathematician, and natural scientist at the court of the Duke of Montechiaro. He made many original observations and experiments, especially in astronomy, published in works such as 'De Systemate Orbis cometici; Deque Admirandis Coeli Characteribus', but also wrote about observations he made in other subjects, including insect eyes in 'L'occhio della mosca', (1644) and the nature of the 'retractile' teeth of vipers, in 'Dentis in Vipera Virulenti, Anothomia'(1644). Hodierna also distinguished himself as the architect designer of the ideal orthogonal plan for the foundation of the city of Palma di Montechiaro, in Sicily, which was founded in 1637.

¹⁰. Marco Aurelio Severino, (1580 -1656 ACE), was the author of 'Zootomia Democritæ'(1645), a very early and unique treatise on comparative anatomy, including woodcuts of viscera and their phases of development in birds, fishes and mammals. He was a practising surgeon, who wrote several books in Padua on and around the subject, and he described resection of the wrist, and the use of ice for surgical anaesthesia. He also wrote, amongst other works, 'Vipera Pythia - Della natura e del veleno delle vipera'(1634). He succumbed to the plague in Naples, and was buried at the church of S. Biagio dei Librai.

¹¹. Albertus Magnus, O.P. (1193/1206 - 1280 ACE), was a Dominican friar and priest, who attempted to harmonise Aristotle with the Catholic Church, and has a place among the great medieval scholars. His knowledge of physical science was extensive and influential, and apart from his commentaries on works by Aristotle, he also studied the works of Muslim philosophers, and wrote extensively on a wide range of subjects, with treatises on minerals, alchemy, and natural history in works such as De animalibus XV(1258).

¹². Jacopo Sozzi was a viper hunter. Magalotti, in a letter to Ottavio Falconieri on the subject of these studies conducted on viper's venom notes the presence of 'due celebri Anatomisti Inglesi' (see note 112), recently returned to Florence, who had been in the stipend of the Grand Duke, and wishing to profit from their 'nuove, e curiose dottrine', the discussion turned to vipers. In their belief that the tooth alone was poisonous, "si rise il Viperaio (ch' è uomo famoso in questa professione, detto Jacopo Sozzi da Pistoia)." Magalotti concludes, "Here (after the experiments)...one learnt a lot, by unlearning many of those things which they believed to be true. It happens, thus, many times, when one goes behind the truth, and not prop up given assurances".

¹³. One account of the Marsi and the Psilli is given by Pliny:
"..similis et in Africa Psyllorum gens fuit, ut Agatharchides scribit, a Psyllo rege dicta, cuius sepulcrum in parte Syrtium Maiorum est. horum corpori ingenitum fuit virus exitiale serpentibus et cuius odore sopirent eas; .. haec gens ipsa quidem prope internicione sublata est a Nasamonibus, qui nunc eas tenent sedes. genus tamen hominum ex iis, qui profugerant aut cum pugnatum est afuerant, hodieque remanet in paucis. simile et in Italia Marsorum genus durat, quos a Circae filio ortos ferunt et ideo inesse iis vim naturalem eam."- Book VII; 'Naturalis Historia': ed. by Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff.
["The same, too, was the case with the tribe of the Psylli, in Africa, according to the account of Agatharchides; these people received their name from Psyllus, one of their kings, whose tomb is in existence, in the district of the Greater Syrtes. In the bodies of these people there was by nature a certain kind of poison, which was fatal to serpents, and the odour of which overpowered them with torpor: � This nation, however, was almost entirely extirpated by the slaughter made of them by the Nasamones, who now occupy their territory. This race, however, still survives in a few persons who are descendants of those who either took to flight or else were absent on the occasion of the battle. The Marsi, in Italy, are still in possession of the same power, for which, it is said, they are indebted to their origin from the son of Circe, from whom they acquired it as a natural quality." - Bk 7; 'The Natural History': ed. by John Bostock, and H.T.Riley.]

¹⁴. For 'mithridate' and 'alexin', see note 5 on theriac above.

¹⁵. "Fel viperæ ictui serpentum omnium impositum, aut illitum, ut omnes medici, et attestantur, et jubent, venenum antea per corpus vagans, ad se retrahit, et vi rapit, ac extra educit..." Cap. VII. 'De Admirabili Viperae natura', 1603.

¹⁶. Johann Schröder (1600-1664 ACE), a German doctor and pharmacologist, wrote the 'Pharmacopoeia Medico-Chymica' which, under its German abbreviation of 'Artzney-Schatz', was highly influential in its time. He was the first respectable authority to divulge many formulae, including that of 'orvietano', a popular Italian panacaea, along the lines of the theriac and the mithridate.

¹⁷. Geronimo Mercuriali, [Hieronymus Mercurialis], (1530-1606 ACE), was a famous Italian philologist and physician, Although highly acclaimed for his work, 'De Arte Gymnastica', he was also well-known for his treatises on diseases of women, and of childhood. Born in Forli, he resided at Rome, and studied the ancient medical works, in particular Hippocrates. Later, he occupied chairs in medicine at Padua, Bologna, and finally Pisa.

¹⁸. Grevino, refers to Grevino Aldro, whose illustrations, especially of winged snakes, were used by many writers, as can be seen in the figures of 'Draco alatus Apes', and others attributed to him in the 'Historiae Naturalis: De Serpentibus et Draconibus Libri II' by Jan Jonston, published a few years before, at Frankfurt, in 1653. The book mentions these 'imagined' vesicles: "Sub lingua in quibusdam cuticula invenitur, quae tanquam 'vesicula' dentes operit, in qua venenum occultatur, quod post modem mordendo per cavitatem dentis communicant."

¹⁹. "If, O reader! now
Thou be not apt to credit what I tell,
No marvel; for myself do scarce allow
The witness of mine eyes."
Canto XXV, Inferno; The Divine Comedy: Dante Alighieri - Trans. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

²⁰. " ..Those things alone
Are to be fear'd whence evil may proceed;
None else, for none are terrible beside."
Canto II, Inferno; The Divine Comedy: Dante Alighieri - Trans. by Henry F.Cary.

²¹. Capo di Vacca, [ Il Capivaccio, Gerome], (1529-1589 ACE), was an independent, learned Italian physician whose reputation, like that of Mercuriale, remained untarnished, despite his unavailing counsel for the citizens of Venice in the plague affecting the city in 1576. He made a large fortune from curing lues, and valued himself at 18,000 ducats. When one of his pupils demanded to know the nature of his treatment, his reply was, "lege methodum meam et habebis secreta mea"

²².Zacuto, [Zacutus Lusitanus], (1575-1642 ACE), was born in a noble family of Jews at Lisbon. After his studies at Salamanca and Coimbra, he practised there, but left the city, eventually, for Holland, having become uneasy with the prevailing mix of politics and religion. He became equally well-known there, wrote several works which were collected in two volumes, at Lyon, and died in Amsterdam. His father, Abraham Zacuto, was Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal.

²³. Aezio, [Aetius Amidenus - Αέτιος Αμιδηνός, 5th or 6th century AD], so named after his birthplace, Amida, in Mesopotamia, was a physician, and an author distinguished by the breadth of his knowledge, and his extensive compilation of largely lost Byzantine and other ancient works. He served as an Imperial physician, most probably of Justinian, in Constantinople. The full translation in Latin of his 'Sixteen Books on Medicine'('Βιβλία Ιατρικά Εκκαίδεκα'), was published in Venice in 1543. In the Latin translation of Aetius by Janum Cornarium, in the chapter dealing with contamination of food and drink, the following statements occur:
"Non pauci enim perierunt ex quibusdam bestiis in edulia et aquas dum coquuntur collapsis...In obsonia quidem igitur dum coquuntur, illabi consueverunt serpens et salamandra, et erucae, in vinum vero viperae." - Aetii medici graeci contractae ex veteribus medicinae tetrabiblios ... per Janum Cornarium...Latine conscripti.

²⁴. Dioscoride, [Pedanius Dioscorides - Πεδάνιος Διοσκορίδης -], (ca. 40-ca. 90 ACE), was a Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist from Asia Minor, who practised in ancient Rome during the time of Nero. He is most famous for his five volume compendium, 'De Materia Medica', that served as a model for all later herbals and pharmacopeias.

²⁵. "Καὶ ... τὸν "οἶνον... ἕλκεται γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς ὀσμῆς τοῦ οἴνου τὰ ἑρπετα, ἅτινα πολλάκις πιόντα μὲν τὸν ἰον ἀπήμεσαν, ἐμπεσόντα δὲ ἀπέθανον, καὶ ἀπωλείας ἐγένοντο αἴτια τοῖς προςενεγκαμένοις." 'ΠΕΡΙ ΔΗΛΗΤΗΡΙΩΝ'.
["..attrahuntur enim reptilia vini odore, quae nonnunquam sorbendo virus eructarunt, interdum illapsa perierunt, iisque, quibus (id vinum) offerebatur, exitii causam attulere." Liber de venenis eorumque praecautione et medicatione." - Dioscoride, Pedanius. - Medicorum graecorum opera quae exstant, Volumen XXVI: edited by Curtius Sprengel, 1830.]

²⁶. Aristotle [Ἀριστοτέλης], (384-322 BC), the renowned Greek philosopher, was a student of Plato, and tutor to Alexander the Great. His works are as diverse as they are famous, but apart from his books on philosophy, ethics, and related subjects, he also wrote on natural history.

²⁷. In the 'Historia Animalium' ('Περὶ τα ζωα ιστοριαι'), a zoological text by Aristotle, he writes:
"Οἱ δ' ὄφεις καὶ πρὸς τὸν οἶνόν εἰσιν ἀκρατεῖς, διὸ θηρεύουσί τινες καὶ τοὺς ἔχεις εἰς ὀστράκια διατιθέντες οἶνον εἰς τὰς αἱμασιάς· λαμβάνονται γὰρ μεθύοντες". H'; 'Περὶ τα ζωια ιστοριων'. - Ἀριστοτέλης
["Serpents, by the by, have an insatiate appetite for wine; consequently, at times men hunt for snakes by pouring wine into saucers and putting them into the interstices of walls, and the creatures are caught when inebriated." - Translated by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, 1910.]

²⁸. "περὶ δὲ κυνὸς ἐπιτολὴν θερισταῖς πλησίον αὐτοῦ θερίζουσιν ἐκομίσθη τις οἶνος ἐν κεραμίῳ μάλ'εὐώδης. ὁ μὲν κομίσας ἐγγὺς τῶν θεριζόντων καταθεὶς ἐχωρίσθη· τοῖς δ' ὡς ἡκεν ὁ καιρὸς τοῦ πίνειν, ἔθος μὲν ἦν αὐτοῖς ἐγχέουσι κρατῆρα μεθ'ὓδατος συμμέτρου κεραννύμαι τὸν οἶνον, ὡς δὲ ἀνελομένου νεανίσκου τὸ κεράμιον, ἐξαιροῦντά τε τὸν οἶνον εἰς τὸν κρατῆρα, συνεξέπεσεν ἔχιδνα νεκρά." - 'περὶ κραρεῶσ καὶ δυνάμεῶς τἠς τῶν ἁπλῶν φάρμακῶν'; Γαληνός.
["Caeterum ad canis exortum quum forte messoribus haud procul inde metentibus vinum esset allatum in fictili sane quam fragrans, is quidem qui attulerat deposito illo prope messores abiit. Verum ubi eius bibendi advenisset tempus, sublato fictili adolescens, ut pro more impleto cratere competente aqua vinum temperaret, in cratera vinum effundit et una excidit vipera mortua." - 'De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus liber XI', vol. 12; Galeni opera omnia, edited by C. G. Kühn, 1821 - 1833.]
Aetius recounts a very similar episode, see Cap. CLXX in Aetii medici graeci...per Janum Cornarium, Lyon, 1549.

²⁹. Cleopatra VII, Thea Philopator, [Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ], (69 BC � 30 BC), was the daughter of Ptolemy XII, who, after shared power, subsequently became sole ruler of Egypt. As Pharaoh, she had intimate relations with Julius Caesar, and after his assassination, with Mark Anthony, by whom she had twins. By all accounts she ended her life by poisoning herself, after Mark Anthony was defeated by Octavian in battle.

³⁰. Redi appeared to have doubts about Galen as the author of 'De Theriaca ad Pisonem'. The relevant passsage is reproduced below:
"λέγουσιν αὐτην μὲν ἐνδακεῖν τὸν ἑαυτῆς βραχίονα μεγάλῳ πάνυ καὶ βαθεῖ τῷ δήγματι. ἐργαςαμένην δὲ εἴς τι σκεῦος εἰσκομισθῆναι αὑτῇ τὸν ἰὸν τοῦ θηρίου ἐγχέαι τῷ τραύματι, καὶ οὓτω διαδοθέντος αὑτοῦ μετ' οὐ πολὺ λαθοῦσαν τοὺς φυλάσσοντας εὐκόλως ἀποθανεῖν." - 'πρὸς Πίσωνα περὶ τῆς Θηριακῆς βιβλιον'; Γαληνός.
["referunt ipsam suummet brachium magno morsu eoque alto vulnerisse et belluae virus in vase quodam ipsi allatum vulneru insudisse, quo sic transmisso, haud multo post nesciis custodibus prompte interisse." - vol. 14; Galeni opera omnia, edited by C. G. Kühn, 1821 - 1833.]

³¹. Lucius Claudius Cassius Dio, [Δίων ὁ Κάσσιος], (ca.155 to 163/164 � after 229 ACE), a noted Roman historian, wrote some 80 volumes covering Roman history, from the arrival of Aeneas in Italy, to the founding of Rome, and beyond, a period stretching over 900 years.
"καὶ τὸ μὲν σαφὲς οὐδεὶς οἶδεν ᾧ τρόπῳ διεφθάρη· κεντήματα γὰρ λεπτὰ περὶ τὸν βραχίονα αὐτῆς μόνα εὑρέθη· λέγουσι δὲ οἱ μὲν ὅτι ἀσπίδα ἐν ὑδρίᾳ ἢ καὶ ἐν ἄνθεσί τισιν ἐσκομισθεῖσάν οἱ προσέθετο, οἱ δὲ ὅτι βελόνην, ᾗ τὰς τρίχας ἀνεῖρεν, ἰῷ τινι, δύναμιν τοιαύτην ἔχοντι ὥστε ἄλλως μὲν μηδὲν τὸ σῶμα βλάπτειν, ἂν δ� αἵματος καὶ βραχυτάτου ἅψηται, καὶ τάχιστα καὶ ἀλυπότατα αὐτὸ φθείρειν, χρίσασα τέως μὲν αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ ἐφόρει ὥσπερ εἰώθει, τότε δὲ προκατανύξασά τι τὸν βραχίονα ἐς τὸ αἷμα ἐνέβαλεν." - ἐν τῷ πεντηκοστῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Δίωνος Ῥωμαϊκῶν.
["No one knows clearly in what way she perished, for the only marks on her body were slight pricks on the arm. Some say she applied to herself an asp which had been brought in to her in a water-jar, or perhaps hidden in some flowers. Others declare that she had smeared a pin, with which she was wont to fasten her hair, with some poison possessed of such a property that in ordinary circumstances it would not injure the body at all, but if it came into contact with even a drop of blood would destroy the body very quietly and painlessly; and that previous to this time she had worn it in her hair as usual, but now had made a slight scratch on her arm and had dipped the pin in the blood." - Book LI; Roman History, by Cassius Dio, Loeb edition, translated by Earnest Cary.1914-27.]

³². Nicander, [Νίκανδρος ὁ Κολοφώνιος], (2nd century BCE), a Greek poet, physician, and grammarian, was born near Colophon, where his families were priests of Apollo. In two hexameter poems, the 'Theriaca', and 'Alexipharmaca', he is one of two principal sources, the other being Apollodorus of Alexandria, on ancient empirical poison-lore.
"τοῦ μὲν ὑπὲρ κυνόδοντε δύο χροΐ τεκμαίρονται,
ιὸν ἐρευγόμενοι, πλέονες δέ τοι αἰὲν ἐχίδνης." - Θηριακα; Νίκανδρος.
["Huic gemini apparent dentes in carne venenum
Fundentes, verubus sub foemina pluribus atrox." - Nicandri Theriaca, interpreted by Ioannis Gorraeo (Jean de Gorris), 1622.
The couplet is also quoted by Galen in 'De Theriaca ad Pisonem', with the following translation made by Kühn:
'Sunt gemini dentes maribus, sua signa, canini
Virus fundentes : habet hos sed foemina plures'.]

³³. Claudius Aelianus (c. 175 - c. 235 ACE), often just Aelian, was a Roman author and teacher. He wrote on natural history, in 'On the Nature of Animals', or 'De Natura Animalium (Περί Ζώων Ιδιότητος)', using a style which has been described as honey-tongued.
"Ἀκόυω δὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας τῆς ἀσπίδος οὒς ἂν ἰοφόρους τις εἴποι καλῶν ὀρθῶς, ἔχειν οἲονεὶ χιτῶνας περικειμένους ἄγαν λεπτοὺς καὶ ὑμέσι παραπλησίους, ὑΦ' ὧν περιαμπέονται. ὄταν οὖν ἐμφύσῃ τινὶ τὸ στόμα ἡ ἀσπις, διαστέλλεσθαι μὲν φασι τὰ ὑμένια, ἐκχεῖσθαι δὲ τὸν ἰόν, καὶ πάλιν συντρέχειν ἐκεῖνα καὶ ἐνοῦσθαι." - 'Περί Ζώων Ιδιότητος'.
["Aspidis dentes, quos merito letiferos dixeris, tenuissimis quibusdam veluti tunicis aut membranis indui et vestiri audio; et cum aspis aliquem mordicus invadit, membranulis humorem venenosum effundi, tum illas rursus ad pristinum locum redire et uniri." Liber IX, 'De Natura Animalium', Claudii Aeliani]

³⁴. Charmian and Iras(Naera) were the two maids who died with Cleopatra, their queen. The main source for this story is Plutarch writing 130 years or so afterwards:
"εὗρον αὐτὴν τεθνηκυῖαν ἐν χρυσῇ κατακειμένην κλίνῃ [7] κεκοσμημένην βασιλικῶς. τῶν δὲ γυναικῶν ἡ μὲν Εἰρὰς λεγομένη πρὸς τοῖς ποσὶν ἀπέθνῃσκεν, ἡ δὲ Χάρμιον ἤδη σφαλλομένη καὶ καρηβαροῦσα κατεκόσμει τὸ διάδημα τὸ περὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς." - "..when they opened the doors they found Cleopatra lying dead upon a golden couch, arrayed in royal state. And of her two women, the one called Iras was dying at her feet, while Charmion, already tottering and heavy-handed, was trying to arrange the diadem which encircled the queen's brow." Vol. IX; 'Life of Antony', Parallel Lives: Plutarch. Loeb Classical Library edition..

³⁵. Augustus (63 BC-AD14), also referred to as Octavius, or Octavian, was adopted by Julius Caesar, and became the first emperor of the Roman Empire in 27 BC, after the collapse of the triumvirate, and the defeat of Anthony at the battle of Actium. His rule lasted until his death in 14 AD.

³⁶. Piero Vettori, (1499-1585 ACE), was a philologist, and an important member of the Florentine literary world. He edited several classical writers, including the agronomists, Cato and Varro, and in 1553, published his 25 volume 'Variarum lectionum', to which he added thirteen more in 1569, to be released as a single work in 1582.

³⁷. Plutarch, [Mestrius Plutarchus - Πλούταρχος], (c.46-120 ACE), was a Greek historian and writer, who is renowned for his biographies, published as 'Parallel Lives', and the collection entitled Moralia.
"Λέγεται δὲ τὴν ἀσπίδα κομισθῆναι σὺν τοῖς σύκοις ἐκείνοις καὶ τοῖς θρίοις ἄνωθεν ἐπικαλυφθεῖσαν� οὕτω γὰρ τὴν Κλεοπάτραν κελεῦσαι, μηδ' αὐτῆς ἐπισταμένης τῷ σώματι προσπεσεῖν τὸ θηρίον� ὡς δ' ἀφαιροῦσα τῶν σύκων εἶδεν, εἰπεῖν� "ἐνταῦθ' ἦν ἄρα τοῦτο". καὶ τὸν βραχίονα παρασχεῖν τῷ δήγματι γυμνώσασαν. οἱ δὲ τηρεῖσθαι μὲν ἐν ὑδρίᾳ τὴν ἀσπίδα καθειργμένην φάσκουσιν, ἠλακάτῃ δέ τινι χρυσῇ τῆς Κλεοπάτρας ἐκκαλουμένης αὐτὴν καὶ διαγριαινούσης, ὁρμήσασαν ἐμφῦναι τῷ βραχίονι. τὸ δ' ἀληθὲς οὐδεὶς οἶδεν� ἐπεὶ καὶ φάρμακον αὐτὴν ἐλέχθη φορεῖν ἐν κνηστίδι κοίλῃ, τὴν δὲ κνηστίδα κρύπτειν τῇ κόμῃ� πλὴν οὔτε κηλὶς ἐξήνθησε τοῦ σώματος οὔτ' ἄλλο φαρμάκου σημεῖον. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὸ θηρίον ἐντὸς ὤφθη, συρμοὺς δέ τινας αὐτοῦ παρὰ θάλασσαν, ᾗ τὸ δωμάτιον ἀφεώρα καὶ θυρίδες ἦσαν, ἰδεῖν ἔφασκον� ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τὸν βραχίονα τῆς Κλεοπάτρας ὀφθῆναι δύο νυγμὰς ἔχοντα λεπτὰς καὶ ἀμυδράς. οἷς ἔοικε πιστεῦσαι καὶ ὁ Καῖσαρ. ἐν γὰρ τῷ θριάμβῳ τῆς Κλεοπάτρας αὐτῆς εἴδωλον ἐκομίζετο καὶ τῆς ἀσπίδος ἐμπεφυκυίας." Αντώνιος; Πλούταρχος.
"Some relate that an asp was brought in amongst those figs and covered with the leaves, and that Cleopatra had arranged that it might settle on her before she knew, but, when she took away some of the figs and saw it, she said, "So here it is," and held out her bare arm to be bitten. Others say that it was kept in a vase, and that she vexed and pricked it with a golden spindle till it seized her arm. But what really took place is known to no one. Since it was also said that she carried poison in a hollow bodkin, about which she wound her hair; yet there was not so much as a spot found, or any symptom of poison upon her body, nor was the asp seen within the monument; only something like the trail of it was said to have been noticed on the sand by the sea, on the part towards which the building faced and where the windows were. Some relate that two faint puncture-marks were found on Cleopatra's arm, and to this account Caesar seems to have given credit; for in his triumph there was carried a figure of Cleopatra, with an asp clinging to her." - Antony; Lives by Plutarch, translated by John Dryden.

³⁸. Propertius (50-45 BCE-ca 15 BCE) wrote four books of fine Latin poetry.
"bracchia spectasti sacris admorsa colubris,
et trahere occultum membra soporis iter." Sexti Properti: 'Elegiarum III'.

³⁹. Paulus Orosius, (c.385-420 ACE), a Christian historian, theologian, was originally from Gallaecia, in modern Spain and Portugal. His works include the universal 'Historiae adversum paganos', a work suggested by Augustine, and also translated into Arabic under Al Hakam II, in which the following reference can be found:
"Cleopatra postquam se ad triumphum seruari intellexit, voluntariam mortem petens, serpentis, ut putatur, morsu in sinistro tacta bracchio exanimis inventa est." Lib. VI: 'Historiae adversum paganos'.

⁴⁰. Paulus Diaconus, [Paul the Deacon], (c.720-c.799 ACE), of Monte Cassino, in Italy, was a Benedictine monk, and a historian of the Lombards ('Historia Langobardorum'). In his 'Historia Romana', I could not find the reference to the bared arm: " ...quae custodia elapsa in pretioso sepulchro iuxta Antonium suum se conlocans, sibi aspidem admisit et veneno eius extincta est." Lib. VII; 'Historia Romana.'

⁴¹. Abraham van Goorle, [Abraham Gorlaeus], (1549-1609 ACE), was a Belgian antiquarian, famous for his historical collection of ancient rings, seals, stones and coins. "Dactyliotheca", which illustrated his collection, included many Egyptian pieces, and was first published in 1601. After Gorlaeus died, his heirs sold the collection to Henry, the Prince of Wales, and son of King James of England.

⁴². Gaspar Hoffmann, (1572-1648 ACE), a German born in Gotha of poor background, managed to study at Strasbourg only with the help of funds from a Mathias Schiller, notary at Nuremberg. In Padua, he studied under Fabricius d'Aquapendente. Having conducted himself well in the plague at Nuremberg in 1606, he was appointed professor of theoretical medicine at Altorf in 1607, where he wrote several works, based on his command of Greek, on Galen and others, and dedicated all his time there, until he died.

⁴³. "Verily oftentimes do things appear
Which give fallacious matter to our doubts,
Instead of the true causes which are hidden!"
Canto XXII, Inferno; The Divine Comedy: Dante Alighieri - Trans. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

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