You shall tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the serpent shall you trample under feet.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
17. "Thou shall go upon the asp and the basilisk; the lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet" (ver. 13). Ye know who the serpent is, and how the Church treadeth upon him, as she is not conquered, because she is on her guard against his cunning. And after what manner he is a lion and a dragon, I believe you know also, beloved. The lion openly rages, the dragon lies secretly in covert: the devil hath each of these forces and powers. When the Martyrs were being slain, it was the raging lion: when heretics are plotting, it is the dragon creeping beneath us. Thou hast conquered the lion; conquer also the dragon: the lion hath not crushed thee, let not the dragon deceive thee. ...A few women in the Church have bodily virginity: but the virginity of the heart all the faithful have. In the very matter of faith he feared that the heart's virginity would be corrupted by the devil: and those who have lost it, are uselessly virgins in their bodies. What does a woman who is corrupt in ...
Asp. Which kills in eight hours time at farthest, making the blood congeal.
Basilisk. "The little king "of serpents. What is related of it seems fabulous. (Pliny, viii. 21.; Solin xxx.) (Calmet)
Yet there might be some species known by this name, possessing fascinating qualities like the rattle-snake. (Berthier)
The sight of it alone could not destroy a man; otherwise how could any account of it have been given? Hebrew ssel means a lion in Job, (Berthier) and phethen, "an asp "(Calmet) or basilisk. (Bo chart)
Dragon. Crocodile. (Calmet)
The most noxious animals, both of sea and land, shall prove quite harmless to the true servants of God, when he intends to prove the truth of his religion, as he did in the cases of Daniel, and of the disciples of Christ, Mark xvi. If they be suffered to kill the saints here, it is in order that they may be glorified in heaven, ver. 15. (Haydock)
The devil is styled an asp (Berthier)
He sometimes attacks the Church, by craft, and at other times by...
