Message #190764

[Corissa]

and terrestrial seraphim with wings: and hence the notion that the Paradisiacal serpent was a "winged" creature. Hence, also, the poetical fiction of winged dragons, as guardians of treasure and protectors of female innocence. For, singularly enough, the malevolent actions of the Paradisiacal serpent had a colouring given by heathen mythologists diametrically opposite to the reality. The seducer of Eve is thus perversely termed the protector of maiden virtue; and the tempter, who induced her to pluck the forbidden fruit, is the guardian of the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides. So powerful is "the Prince of this World" to delude his victims!