In that matter, dear Celsus, to tell the truth, we
must excuse those men of Paphlagonia and Pontus,
thick-witted, uneducated fellows that they were, for
being deluded when they touched the serpent—
Alexander let anyone do so who wished—and besides saw in a dim light what purported to be its
head opening and shutting its mouth. Really the
trick stood in need of a Democritus, or even
Epicurus himself or Metrodorus, or someone else
with a mind as firm as adamant toward such
matters, so as to disbelieve and guess the truth-—
one who, if he could not discover how it went,
would at all events be convinced beforehand that
though the method of the fraud escaped him, it
was nevertheless all sham and could not possibly
happen.