thou light them at dawn in the sun alight, then wilt thou see the heavenly dragons, how they wind themselves along and drag the chariot of the sun."
32. And I Solomon, having heard this, rebuked him, and said: "Silence for this present[1], and continue to saw the marbles as I commanded thee." And I Solomon praised God, and commanded another demon to present himself to me. And one came before me who carried his face high up in the air, but the rest of the spirit curled away like a snail. And it broke through the few soldiers, and raised also a terrible dust on the ground, and carried it upwards; and then again hurled it back to frighten us, and asked what questions I could ask as a rule[2]. And I stood up, and spat[3] on the ground in that spot, and sealed with the ring of God. And forthwith the dust-wind stopped. Then I asked him, saying: "Who art thou, wind?" Then he once more shook up a dust, and answered me: "What wouldst thou have, King Solomon?" I answered him: "Tell me what thou art called, and I would fain ask thee a question. But so far I give thanks to God who has made me wise to answer their evil plots."
33. But [the demon] answered me: "I am the spirit of the ashes[4] (Tephras)." And I said to him: "What is thy pursuit?" And he said: "I bring darkness on men, and set fire to fields; and I bring homesteads to naught. But most busy am I in summer. However, when I get an opportunity, I creep into corners of the wall, by night and day. For I am offspring of the great one, and nothing less." Accordingly I said to him: "Under what star dost thou lie?" And he answered: "In the very tip of the moon's horn, when it is found in the south. There is my star. For I have been bidden to restrain the convulsions[5] of the hemitertian fever; and this is why many men pray to the hemitertian fever, using these three names: Bultala, Thallal,- ↑ σιώμα μοι ἕως τούτου. So Luke xxii. 51 ἐᾶτε ἕως τούτου.
- ↑ ὡς ἐπὶ πολύ stands in the text, but the phrase seems to be meaningless in the context.
- ↑ For the use of spittle to produce a cure or other effect in a magical way, cp. Mark vii. 33 and viii. 23. In John ix. 6 Jesus, we read, "spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes with the clay." Of this magic use of spittle Pliny, in his Natural History, gives numerous examples. It was common in antiquity.
- ↑ τέφρας.
- ↑ Reading σπάσματα for σφάλματα.
p. 141, where in an incantation ceremonial purity is similarly insisted on. The ritual of a magic papyrus given by Dieterich, p. 169, is very similar to that here prescribed in the Testament.
