_Gesner. de Scorp._ King _Prusias_ being overcome by King _Eumenes_, by Land, and intending to try his Fate by Sea, _Hannibal_, by a new Invention, made him victorious. The Stratagem was this: _Hannibal_ having procured a great Number of Serpents, put them into earthen Vessels; and by another Device, and in midst of the Engagement, convey’d them into _Antiochus_’s Fleet, which proved more dreadful than Fire-balls, and feather’d Weapons, that flew amongst them. At first, it seemed ridiculous to the _Romans_, that they should arm themselves, and fight with _earthen Pots_; but when they were broken, an Army of Snakes rush’d out, which so terrified the Marines, that they immediately yielded the Victory to _Prusias_, the _Carthaginian_ Hero’s Friend[92]. Footnote 92: _Justini Hist._ lib. xxxii. ad finem. We read in History, how _Juno_, out of her hatred to _Hercules_, sent two dreadful Serpents to devour him in the Cradle, which he soon crush’d with his Infant-Hands. It was common among the _Antient Swedes_, to send out certain Flies (which they pretended to be their Familiars) to plague their Enemies. They also made _Magical Balls_ for the same purpose, boasting how they thereby conveyed Serpents into their Enemies Bodies. The _Laplanders_ had their _Magical Tyre_, which was a Ball about the Bigness of a small Apple, (made of Moss, or Hair of Beasts) which, they say, is quickned and moved by a particular Art; they persuade themselves, that by this _Tyre_, they can send Serpents, or what they please, into any Man, to torment him. When this _Ball_ is thrown, it goes like a Whirlwind, and as swift as a pointed Arrow[93]. Footnote 93: _Schefferus_’s History of _Lapland_, cap. xi. p. 60. In the Book of _Daniel_, mention is made of several kinds of Magicians in _Chaldea_, under King _Nebuchadnezzar_; one is _Mecasphim_, a word which by St. _Jerome_, and the _Greeks_ is translated _Malefici_, _Inchanters_, such People as make use of noxious Herbs and Drugs, the Blood of Victims, and Bones of the Dead, for their superstitious Operations[94]. Footnote 94: _Calmet_’s Hist. Crit.—Dictionary. “The Tyrants of _Japonia_ invented a strange Punishment for those who confessed Christ.——They hung them with their Heads downwards, half their Bodies into a large Hole digged in the Earth, which they filled with _Snakes_, _Lizards_, and other poisonous Vermin; but even those (says my Right Reverend Author, the learned and pious Bishop _Taylor_) were better Companions than those infernal Dragons in the Pit of Hell[95].” The _Romans_, when they punish’d any for _Parricide_, to express their Abhorrence of so heinous a Murder, they shut him up in a Sack, with a Serpent, an Ape, and a Cock. Footnote 95: _Contemplations_, Book ii. chap. 6. To these Instances, I shall add, that the Attendants of _Pluto_, Prince of the Infernal Regions, are represented in a _Serpentine Habit_, viz. the _Furies_, _Harpies_——