lion-shaped one himself to saw up the wood small with his teeth, for burning in the unquenchable furnace for the Temple of God.
54. And I worshipped the Lord God of Israel, and bade another demon come forward. And there came before me a dragon, threeheaded, of fearful hue. And I questioned him: "Who art thou?" And he answered me: " I am a caltrop-like spirit ^, whose activity is in three lines. But I blind children in women's wombs, and twirl their ears round. And I make them deaf ^ and mute. And I have again in my third head means of slipping in'. And I smite men in the limbless * part of the body, and cause them to fall down, and foam, and grind their teeth. But I have my own way of being frustrated, Jerusalem being signified in writing, unto the place called ' of the head ' For there is fore-appointed the angel of the great counsel, and now he will openly dwell on the cross. He doth frastrate me, and to him am I subject."
55. " But in the place where thou sittest, King Solomon, standeth a column in the air, of purple. . . . ° The demon called EpMppas hath brought [it] up from the Red Sea, from inner Arabia. He it is that shall be shut up in a skin-bottle and brought before thee. But at the entrance of the Temple, which thou hast begun to build, King Solomon, lies stored much gold, which dig thou up and carry off." And I Solomon sent my servant, and found it to be as the demon told me. And I sealed him with my ring, and praised the Lord God.
56. So I said to him: " What art thou called? " And the demon said: " I am the crest ' of dragons." And I bade him make bricks in the Temple. He had human hands.
57. And I adored the Lord God of Israel, and bade another demon present himself. And there came before me a spirit in woman's form, that had a head without any limbs ', and her hair was dishevelled. And I said to her: "Who art thou?" But she answered: "Nay, who art thou? And why dost thou want to hear concerning me? But, as thou wouldst learn, here I stand bound before thj' face. Go' rptpokaios. The rpiPoXos was a three-spiked instrument, thrown on the ground to wound horses' feet.
- Pa>0a, an unknown word.
' viroSwa is a word of doubtful sense.
- aKaKos may bear this sense.
' i. e. Golgotha. The old legend was that Adam's skull reposed in this spot, and that the cross was planted upon it.
' ■nop<pvpoSav6iiivos. The meaning of the last part of this compound is unknown.
' Kopvifrfj.
- Here we seem to have the Greek head of Medusa transformed into a demon.
