The Story of the Man and the Snake

My astonishment at people of intellect has grown severe—what is it that prevents them from safeguarding their own bodies? It is as though they are intent on destroying themselves, just as the man with the snake brought ruin upon himself.

They said, “Tell us, what is the parable of the man with the snake?”

He replied, “They relate that in the house of a certain man there lived a snake, settled quietly in its hole…"