All 18 Uses
serpent
in
The Divine Comedy -- translated by Cary
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- Superintendence of a guiding hand
And general minister, which at due time
May change the empty vantages of life
From race to race, from one to other's blood,
Beyond prevention of man's wisest care:
Wherefore one nation rises into sway,
Another languishes, e'en as her will
Decrees, from us conceal'd, as in the grass
The serpent train.†Canto 1.1-11serpent = snake - As frogs
Before their foe the serpent, through the wave
Ply swiftly all, till at the ground each one
Lies on a heap; more than a thousand spirits
Destroy'd, so saw I fleeing before one
Who pass'd with unwet feet the Stygian sound.†Canto 1.1-11 - Thy hand might well have spar'd us, had we been
The souls of serpents.†Canto 1.12-22serpents = snakes - His face the semblance of a just man's wore,
So kind and gracious was its outward cheer;
The rest was serpent all: two shaggy claws
Reach'd to the armpits, and the back and breast,
And either side, were painted o'er with nodes
And orbits.†Canto 1.12-22serpent = snake - Tiresias note,
Who semblance chang'd, when woman he became
Of male, through every limb transform'd, and then
Once more behov'd him with his rod to strike
The two entwining serpents, ere the plumes,
That mark'd the better sex, might shoot again.†Canto 1.12-22serpents = snakes - We from the bridge's head descended, where
To the eighth mound it joins, and then the chasm
Opening to view, I saw a crowd within
Of serpents terrible, so strange of shape
And hideous, that remembrance in my veins
Yet shrinks the vital current.†Canto 1.23 - With serpents were their hands behind them bound,
Which through their reins infix'd the tail and head
Twisted in folds before.†Canto 1.23 * - From that day forth
The serpents were my friends; for round his neck
One of then rolling twisted, as it said,
"Be silent, tongue!"†Canto 1.23 - On Maremma's marsh
Swarm not the serpent tribe, as on his haunch
They swarm'd, to where the human face begins.†Canto 1.23serpent = snake - a serpent with six feet
Springs forth on one, and fastens full upon him:
His midmost grasp'd the belly, a forefoot
Seiz'd on each arm (while deep in either cheek
He flesh'd his fangs); the hinder on the thighs
Were spread, 'twixt which the tail inserted curl'd
Upon the reins behind.†Canto 1.23 - He ey'd the serpent, and the serpent him.†
Canto 1.23
- He ey'd the serpent, and the serpent him.†
Canto 1.23
- They in mutual guise
So answer'd, that the serpent split his train
Divided to a fork, and the pierc'd spirit
Drew close his steps together, legs and thighs
Compacted, that no sign of juncture soon
Was visible: the tail disparted took
The figure which the spirit lost, its skin
Soft'ning, his indurated to a rind.†Canto 1.23 - "From Mary's bosom both
Are come," exclaim'd Sordello, "as a guard
Over the vale, ganst him, who hither tends,
The serpent."†Canto 2.1-11 - Along the side, where barrier none arose
Around the little vale, a serpent lay,
Such haply as gave Eve the bitter food.†Canto 2.1-11 - The serpent fled; and to their stations back
The angels up return'd with equal flight.†Canto 2.1-11 - Through the high wood, now void (the more her blame,
Who by the serpent was beguil'd) I past
With step in cadence to the harmony
Angelic.†Canto 2.23-33 - Thus far be taught of me:
The vessel, which thou saw'st the serpent break,
Was and is not: let him, who hath the blame,
Hope not to scare God's vengeance with a sop.†Canto 2.23-33
Definitions:
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(1)
(serpent) a snake
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(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) For less common senses of "serpent", see a comprehensive dictionary.