diabolicam repperit, eo transgresso descendens, draconem scidit, misitque in partes: ostendens et hie deos non esse qui manu fiunt."[1]
The hero battling with the dragon has much in common
with the dragon, and also he takes over his qualities; for
example, invulnerability. As the footnotes show, the similarity
is carried still further (sparkling eyes, sword in his
mouth). Translated psychologically, the dragon is
merely the son's repressed longing, striving towards the
mother; therefore, the son is the dragon, as even
Christ is identified with the serpent, which, once upon a
time, similia similibus, had controlled the snake plague
in the Wilderness. John iii: 14. As a serpent he is
to be crucified; that is to say, as one striving backwards
towards the mother, he must die hanging or suspended
on the mother tree. Christ and the dragon of the Antichrist
are in the closest contact in the history of their
appearance and their cosmic meaning. (Compare Bousset,
the Antichrist.) The legend of the dragon concealed
- ↑ Near the city of Rome there was a certain cavern in which appeared a dragon of remarkable size, mechanically produced, brandishing a sword in his mouth, his eyes glittering like gems, fearful and terrible. Hither came virgins every year, devoted to this service, adorned with flowers, who were given to him in sacrifice. Bringing these gifts, they unknowingly descended the steps to a point where, with diabolical cunning, the dragon was suspended, striking those who came a blow with the sword, so that the innocent blood was shed. Now, there was a certain monk who, on account of his good deeds, was well known to Stilico, the patrician; he killed this dragon as follows: He examined each separate step carefully, both with a rod and his own hand, until, discovering the false step, he exposed the diabolical fraud. Then, jumping over this step, he went down and killed the dragon, cutting him to pieces, demonstrating that one who could be destroyed by human hand could not be a divinity.
