We are all born with the same mark below,
And the bigger it is, the more we know:
If you could see it, soon would nature show
All the great wonders she can do for us.
Therefore, be willing, ladies, all of you,
To learn the harm that these our snakes can do,
And all the remedies that you should know
In order to escape some bad distress
-- Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), "Snake Charmers"
Related:
So Richard and I decided to try to catch [the small shark]. With
a great deal of strategy and effort and shouting, we managed to maneuver
the shark, over the course of about a half-hour, to a sort of corner of the
lagoon, so that it had no way to escape other than to flop up onto the land
and evolve....