A certain Emperor being asked, what he had done to merit an _Apotheosis_? He answered, _He had always studied to resemble the Gods_. And being asked again, In what did he endeavour to be like them? He answered, _In having as few Wants as possible of my own, and doing good in the most extensive Way to others_. There is no Place so remote in the World, but has been polluted with this monstrous Idolatry, _of worshipping Serpents_. The northern Historians tell us, the People of _Lithuania_ in _Poland_ worship’d Serpents; and ’tis not long ago, since that gross Idolatry was abolish’d, of which _Sigismund_ Baron of _Herberstein_, gives us this memorable Story, _viz._ ——Returning, says he, from _Massovia_ near _Wilna_, my Host acquainted me, he had bought a Hive of Bees, from one of these _Serpent-Worshippers_, whom with much ado he had persuaded to kill the Serpent, and worship the true God: Within a while after coming that Way, he found the poor Fellow miserably tortured and deformed, his Face wrinkl’d and turn’d awry; and demanding the Cause of it, he answer’d, _viz._ _THAT this Judgment was inflicted upon him for killing his God_, and that he was like to endure heavier Torments if he did not return to his former Worship. Which brings to my Mind a Passage in one of the Fathers, relating to the _Carthaginians_, who having been compelled by _Agathocles_ King of _Sicily_ to leave off those horrid Sacrifices of human Victims to _Saturn_, forbore them a long time: But a great Calamity being brought upon them for disusing those human Sacrifices; and to atone for their Neglect, _they sacrificed at once two hundred Children of the noblest Families in_ Carthage[410]. Footnote 410: Cum victi essent ab Agathocle rege Siculorum, iratum sibi Deum putavisse, itaque ut diligentius piaculum solverent ducentos nobilium filios immolasse. Lactantius. Lib. 1. Sect. 21. p. 67. _Lugd. Batav._ But to return to the _Baron_ of the North, who adds, That in his Time, the People in _Samogitia_, East of the _Baltick_ Sea, did still pay _divine Honours to a Serpent as a Deity_.... Some of those that inhabit the Deserts, adore a _four-footed Serpent_, under the Name of _Givosit_. Few Families there, are without _Serpents_, for their _Domestick Gods_, to whom they give more than ordinary Veneration, tho’ at the same time they profess the Christian Faith[411], which _Jagello_ their Prince received _Anno Domini_ 1386. _ibid._ Footnote 411: Atlas _Europe_, p. 261.