To him they attributed the blessing of having their country freed from this evil. [511]Απις γαρ ελθων εκ περας Ναυπακτιας, Ιατρομαντις, παις Απολλωνος, χθονα Την δ' εκκαθαιρει κνωδαλον βροτοφθορων. Thus the Argives gave the credit to this imaginary personage of clearing their land of this grievance: but the brood came from the very quarter from whence Apis was supposed to have arrived. They were certainly Hivites from Egypt: and the same story is told of that country. It is represented as having been of old over-run with serpents; and almost depopulated through their numbers. Diodorus Siculus seems to understand this [512]literally: but a region, which was annually overflowed, and that too for so long a season, could not well be liable to such a calamity. They were serpents of another nature, with which it was thus infested: and the history relates to the Cuthites, the original Ophitæ, who for a long time possessed that country. They passed from Egypt to Syria, and to the Euphrates: and mention is made of a particular breed of serpents upon that river, which were harmless to the natives, but fatal to every body else. [513]This, I think, cannot be understood literally. The wisdom of the serpent may be great; but not sufficient to make these distinctions. These serpents were of the same nature as the [514]birds of Diomedes, and the dogs in the temple of Vulcan: and these histories relate to Ophite priests, who used to spare their own people, and sacrifice strangers, a custom which prevailed at one time in most parts of the world. I have mentioned that the Cuthite priests were very learned: and as they were Ophites, whoever had the advantage of their information, was said to have been instructed by serpents. Hence there was a tradition, that Melampus was rendered prophetic from a communication with these [515]animals. Something similar is said of Tiresias.