Words and the Serpent's Wisdom

Serpens autem erat ibi prudentissimus quidem, sed omnium bestiarum quae erant super terram, quas fecerat Dominus Deus.   Translato enim verbo dictum est, prudentissimus, vel sicut plures latini codices habent, sapientissimus, non proprio quo in bonum accipi solet sapientia vel Dei, vel Angelorum, vel animae rationalis; tamquam si sapientes apes etiam formicasque dicamus, propter opera velut imitantia sapientiam. Quamquam iste serpens non irrationali anima sua, sed alieno iam spiritu, id est diabolico, possit sapientissimus dici omnium bestiarum. Quantumlibet enim praevaricatores angeli de supernis sedibus suae perversitatis et superbiae merito deiecti sint, natura tamen excellentiores sunt omnibus bestiis propter rationis eminentiam. Quid ergo mirum si suo instinctu diabolus iam implens serpentem, eique spiritum suum miscens, eo more quo vates daemoniorum impleri solent, sapientissimum eum reddiderat omnium bestiarum secundum animam vivam irrationalemque viventium? Abusione quippe nominis ita sapientia dicitur in malo, quemadmodum in bono astutia; cum proprie magisque usitate in latina duntaxat lingua sapientes laudabiliter appellentur, astuti autem male cordati intellegantur. Unde nonnulli, sicut in plerisque codicibus invenimus, ad usum latinae locutionis, non verbum, sed potius sententiam transferentes, astutiorem omnibus bestiis istum serpentem, quam sapientiorem dicere maluerunt Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, The Literal Interpretation of Genesis

'The serpent was the most wise of all the creatures that were upon the earth which God had made.'1 The word translated wise, or as many Latin books have it, most wise, should not be understood in the good sense of the wisdom of God or angels or rational animals, but as when we say bees and ants are wise, that is, on account of their works which are like an imitation of wisdom. Yet this serpent was not able to called the most wise of all the beasts by its own irrational animal nature, but by a foreign spirit, that is, of the devil. Irrespective of their greatness, despite how more excellent their natures were to beasts according to the eminence of reason, the unfaithful angels for their perversity and pride were thrown from their high seats. Why then be amazed if by his own instinct the devil entered the serpent, mixing in it his own spirit, as demons are accustomed to possess seers, making it the most wise of all the beasts by  living and irrational soul? Certainly it is by an abuse that wisdom is used in association with evil which the good would describe as cunning, for it is more familiar in the Latin tongue to employ 'wise' as a laudable title and that cunning should be understood as the product of a bad heart. So it is that in a few books we find that, for the Latin way of speaking, not a word, but rather the meaning is translated, and thus it is they have preferred to say that this serpent was 'more astute' than every beast than 'more wise'.  Saint Augustine of Hippo, De Genesi Ad Litteram 1 Gen 3.1