HKB
Ti. Not very well.
Eu. That's no Wonder, for it does not grow in these Parts: It is Wolf's-bane, so deadly a Poison, that upon the very touch of it, a Scorpion is stupified, grows pale, and yields himself overcome; but when he is hurt with one Poison, he seeks his Remedy with another. Do you see the two Sorts of Hellebore hard by; if the Scorpion can but get himself clear of the Wolf's-bane, and get to the white Hellebore, he recovers his former Vigour, by the very Touch of a different Poison.
Ti. Then the Scorpion is undone, for he is never like to get off from the Wolfs'-bane. But do Scorpions speak here?
Eu. Yes, they do, and speak Greek too.
Ti. What does he say?
Eu. [Greek: Eure theos ton alitron], God hath found out the Guilty. Here besides the Grass, you see all Sorts of Serpents. Here is the Basilisk, that is not only formidable for his Poison; but the very Flash of his Eyes is also mortal.
Ti. And he says something too.
Eu. Yes, he says, Oderint, dum metuant; Let them hate me, so they fear me.
Ti. Spoken like a King entirely.
Eu. Like a Tyrant rather, not at all like a King. Here a Lizard fights with a Viper, and here lies the Dipsas Serpent upon the Catch, hid under the Shell of an Estridge Egg. Here you see the whole Policy of the Ant, which we are call'd upon to imitate by Solomon and Horace. Here are Indian Ants that carry Gold, and hoard it up.
Ti. O good God! how is it possible for a Man to be weary of this Entertainment.
Eu. And yet at some other Time you shall see I'll give you your Belly full of it. Now look before you at a Distance, there is a third Wall, where you have Lakes, Rivers, and Seas, and all Sorts of rare Fishes. This is the River Nile, in which you see the Dolphin, that natural Friend to Mankind, fighting with a Crocodile, Man's deadly Enemy. Upon the Banks and Shores you see several amphibious Creatures, as Crabs, Seals, Beavers. Here is a Polypus, a Catcher catch'd by an Oyster.
Ti. What does he say? [Greek: airôn airoumai]; The Taker taken. The Painter has made the Water wonderfully transparent.
Eu. If he had not done so, we should have wanted other Eyes. Just by there's another Polypus playing upon the Face of the Sea like a little Cock-Boat; and there you see a Torpedo lying along upon the Sands, both of a Colour, you may touch them here with your Hand without any Danger. But we must go to something else, for these Things feed the Eye, but not the Belly.
Ti. Have you any more to be seen then?
Eu. You shall see what the Back-side affords us by and by. Here's an indifferent large Garden parted: The one a Kitchen Garden, that is my Wife's and the Family's; the other is a Physick Garden, containing the choicest physical Herbs. At the left Hand there is an open Meadow, that is only a green Plot enclos'd with a quick-set Hedge. There sometimes I take the Air, and divert myself with good Company. Upon the right Hand there's an Orchard, where, when you have Leisure, you shall see a great Variety of foreign Trees, that I have brought by Degrees to endure this Climate.
Ti. O wonderful! the King himself has not such a Seat.