CHAP. 33.—THE SERPENTS CALLED BASILISKS.
There is the same power also in the serpent called the basilisk. [Note] It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not
more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the
head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. [Note] When it
hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but
moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys
all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has
breathed upon; it burns up all the grass too, and breaks the
stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly
a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these
animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and
kill, not only the rider, but the horse as well. To this dreadful monster the effluvium of the weasel is fatal, a thing that
has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see
its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature
that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal
is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known
from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys
the basilisk by its odour, but dies itself in this struggle of nature
against its own self. [Note]