ring on this side and that, and said: "Watch." And the spirits have remained upholding it until this day, for proof of the wisdom vouchsafed to me. And there the pillar was hanging, of enormous size, in mid air, supported by the winds. And thus the spirits appeared underneath, like air, supporting it. And if one looks fixedly, the pillar is a little oblique, being supported by the spirits; and it is so to this day.
125. And I Solomon questioned the other spirit, which came up with the pillar from the depth of the Red Sea. And I said to him: "Who art thou, and what calls thee? And what is thy business? For I hear many things about thee." And the demon answered: "I, O King Solomon, am called Abezithibod. I am a descendant of the archangel. Once as I sat in the first heaven, of which the name is Ameleouth—I then am a fierce spirit and winged, and with a single wing[1], plotting against every spirit under heaven. I was present when Moses went in before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and I hardened his heart. I am he whom Iannes and Iambres invoked homing[2] with Moses in Egypt. I am he who fought against Moses[3] with wonders[4] with signs."
126. I said therefore to him: "How wast thou found in the Red Sea?" And he answered: "In the exodus of the sons of Israel I hardened the heart of Pharaoh. And I excited his heart and that of his ministers. And I caused them to pursue after the children of Israel. And Pharaoh followed with (me) and all the Egyptians. Then I was present there, and we followed together. And we all came up upon the Red Sea. And it came to pass when the children of Israel had crossed over, the water returned and hid all the host of the Egyptians and all their might. And I remained in the sea, being kept under this pillar. But when Ephippas came, being sent by thee, shut up in the vessel of a flask, he fetched me up to thee."
127. I, therefore, Solomon, having heard this, glorified God and adjured the demons not to disobey me, but to remain supporting the pillar. And they both sware, saying: "The Lord thy God liveth, we will not let go this pillar until the world's end. But on whatever day this stone fall, then shall be the end of the world[5]."
- ↑ μονόπτερον
- ↑ οἰκουχώμενοι in the MS., a vox nihili. If we had the apocryph of Iannes and Iambres we might understand the reference.
- ↑ 2 Tim. iii. 8.
- ↑ Reading τέρασι for πέρασι.
- ↑ This legend of the heavy comer-stone and of the spirits supporting a column in the Temple reappears in the Georgian Acts of Nouna in the fourth century. There it is a huge wooden column that is lifted by spirit-agency, when the king and workmen had failed to move it into
