Aspis, aspidis, pen. cor. f. g. Plin. A little serpent in Afrike, whose sting is not curable, but onely with the water that a stone is wathed with, which they take out of the sepulchre of an auncient hiug. If the male or female be killed, the other followeth the slayer continually vntill he haue stong the partie, and reuenged his fellowes death.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
aspis, ĭdis, f. (acc. Gr. aspida, Luc. 9, 701; plur. aspidas, Cic. N. D. 3, 19, 47) [a)spi/s, com. shield, rarely an asp; this order of frequency is reversed in Lat.]. I.The asp, viper: Coluber, Linn.; Plin. 29, 4, 18, 65: aspide ad corpus admoto, Cic. Rab. Post. 9: si scieris aspidem occulte latere uspiam, id. Fin. 2, 18, 59; Isid. Orig. 12, 4, 12.—II.A shield, = a)spi/s, Just. Nov. 85 fin.