Psalms 58:3

That to lose the hearing is in our power, if we speak of the inner hearing, is asserted also by the prophet, who says: "From their very birth the wicked have gone astray; from the mother's womb they err, speaking lies. Their venom is like the venom of a serpent, like a deaf asp that stops its ears and does not hear the voice of the charmer, of the enchantments of the enchanter most skilled in enchantments." You too, when you are aware of your guilt, but having heard the word and the incantation of the enchanter, the one most skilled in enchantments, and having heard the charming words directed to quell your fury and your malice, and even then stop up your ears and do not listen to what is offered you — then it will be said of you: "Their venom is like the venom of a serpent, like a deaf asp that stops its ears and does not hear the voice of the charmer."

Though it appears that the serpent's nature is being delineated in the foregoing, rather, every vessel of evil is being delineated, and every serpent of depravity who casts himself down on the belly and hides his poison inside himself and ponders it inwardly in his breast. He25 is slippery in his thoughts, he advances in his deceits and wraps himself in his deceptions; he is always moving and stirring his poisons by thought and treading on his belly as well, that is, the seedbed of his heart. For this reason, David fittingly says, "Sinners are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb; they have spoken false things. Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent, like the deaf asp that stops its ears, that will not hear the voice of the charmers or of the wizard that are invoked by the wise person." For this reason, the statement that we read in the prophetic book also seems fitting, "My heart, my heart is in pain!" For wickedness exists there, where there ought to be guiltlessness; what should be more calm in us experiences the greater suffering. It is trodden down by the footsteps of evil, pricked by its claws and agitated by a kind of advance and increase of depravity where there exists the procreative seed of an everlasting posterity.

Therefore, having been taught by these examples, I did not want to bite back at him who bites back at me or to retaliate in kind; and I chose rather to charm out the fury of a madman by incantation and to pour the antidote of a single look into a poisoned heart. But I am afraid that my efforts are in vain and that I shall be forced to sing the well-known song of David and console myself with these words: "The sinners are alienated from the assembly; they have gone astray from the womb; they have spoken false things. Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent, like the deaf asp that stops its ears, which will not hear the voice of the charmers nor of the wizard that charms wisely. God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouths; the Lord shall break the teeth of the lions. They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he has bent his bow until they are weakened. Like wax that melts, they shall be taken away: fire has fallen on them, and they have not seen the sun." And again: "The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge of the wicked; he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner." And people shall say, "If, indeed, there is a reward to the just, there is, indeed, a God who judges them on the earth."