these terms:

"I have studied at length the history and habits of dragons, not to
satisfy a vain curiosity, but to discover examples to follow in the
present circumstances. For such, Samuel, my son, is the use of history.

"It is an invariable fact that dragons are extremely vigilant. They
never sleep, and for this reason we often find them employed in guarding
treasures. A dragon guarded at Colchis the golden fleece that Jason
conquered from him. A dragon watched over the golden apples in the
garden of the Hesperides. He was killed by Hercules and transformed into
a star by Juno. This fact is related in some books, and if it be true,
it was done by magic, for the gods of the pagans are in reality demons.
A dragon prevented barbarous and ignorant men from drinking at the
fountain of Castalia. We must also remember the dragon of Andromeda,
which was slain by Perseus. But let us turn from these pagan fables, in
which error is always mixed with truth. We meet dragons in the histories
of the glorious archangel Michael, of St. George, St. Philip, St. James
the Great, St. Patrick, St. Martha, and St. Margaret. And it is in such
writings, since they are worthy of full credence, that we ought to look
for comfort and counsel.

"The story of the dragon of Silena affords us particularly precious
examples. You must know, my son, that on the banks of a vast pool close
to that town there dwelt a dragon who sometimes approached the walls
and poisoned with his breath all who dwelt in the suburbs. And that
they might not be devoured by the monster, the inhabitants of Silena
delivered up to him one of their number expressed his thought every
morning. The victim was chosen by lot, and after a hundred others, the
lot fell upon the king's daughter.