customary hour Ornias, the fierce[1] demon, came like a burning fire to take the pay from the child. But the child, according to the instructions received from the king, threw the ring at the chest of the demon, and said: "King Solomon calls thee hither." And then he went off at a run to the king. But the demon cried out aloud[2], saying: "Child, why hast thou done this to me? Take the ring off me, and I will render to thee the gold of the earth. Only take this off me, and forbear to lead me away to Solomon."
8. But the child said to the demon: "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, I will not brook thee. So come hither." And the child came at a run, rejoicing, to the king, and said: "I have brought the demon, O king, as thou didst command me, O my master. And behold, he stands before the gates of the court of thy palace, crying out, and supplicating with a loud voice; offering me the silver and gold of the earth if I will only not bring him unto thee."
9. And when Solomon heard this, he rose up from his throne, and went outside into the vestibule of the court of his palace; and there he saw the demon, shuddering and trembling. And he said to him: "Who art thou?" And the demon answered: "I am called Ornias."
10. And Solomon said to him: "Tell me, O demon, to what zodiacal sign thou art subject." And he answered: "To the Water-pourer. And those who are consumed[3] with desire for noble virgins upon earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[4], these I strangle. But in case there is no disposition to sleep[5], I am changed into three forms. Whenever men come to be enamoured of women, I metamorphose myself into a comely female; and I take hold of the men in their sleep, and play with them. And after a while I again take to my wings, and hie me to heavenly regions. I also appear as a lion[6], and I am commanded[7] by all the demons. I am offspring of the archangel Uriel, the power of God."
11. I Solomon, having heard the name of the archangel, prayed and glorified God, the Lord of heaven and earth. And I sealed the- ↑ χαλεπόν. Literally, "difficult to deal with." The same epithet is applied in Matt. viii. 28 to the Gadarene demoniacs.
- ↑ ἐκραύγασε λέγων, a phrase Common in the N. T.
- ↑ Reading καιομένους for κειμένους.
- ↑ Here the text inserts the words εῷ ζῳδίῳ κέκληται, which perhaps crept in from the margin, κέκληται being a corruption of ὑπόκειται. There appears to be a lacuna here.
- ↑ Or "no hypnotic."
- ↑ Mithras was represented as a lion.
- ↑ The sense rather requires a meaning equivalent to: "I have under my command all . . . ."
