8 so seemed, coming toward the bellies of the two others, a little fiery serpent, 84 livid, and black as a pepper corn. And that part whereat is first taken our nourishment, it transfixed in one of them, 87 then fell down stretched out before him. The transfixed one gazed at it, but said nothing; nay, with feet fixed, he began to yawn, 90 just as if sleep or fever had assailed him. He looked at the serpent, and that at him; one through the wound, the other through its mouth, 93 were smoking fiercely, and the smoke commingled. Let Lucan henceforth be silent, where he tells of the wretched Sabellus and of Nasidius, 96 and let him wait to hear that which now is related. Let Ovid be silent concerning Cadmus and Arethusa, for if, him into a serpent and her into a fountain, 99 he converts poetizing, I grudge it not to him; for never two natures front to front did he transmute, so that both the forms 102 were prompt to exchange their matter. They responded to one another in such wise, that the serpent cleft his tail into a fork, 105 and the wounded one drew his feet together. The legs and the thighs along with them so stuck together, that in short while the juncture 108 made no mark that was apparent.
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