sank ships, and drowned many men, and I have come that I may inform thee of these things.” Then Satan answered and said unto him, “In how much time hast thou done this?” and the devil answered and said unto him, “In twenty days,” and Satan commanded that he also should be beaten, saying unto him, “Why is it that in all these days thou hast only done [what thou sayest]?” And when he had said this, behold, a third devil came and worshipped Satan, who answered and said unto him also, “And where dost thou come from?” and the devil answered and said unto him, “I have been in such and such a city wherein there was a marriage feast, and I stirred up a war there, and caused the shedding of much blood, and the death of the bridegroom and the bride; and as soon as I had done this I came to inform thee.” And Satan said unto him, “In how many days hast thou done this?” and the devil said, “In ten days”; and Satan commanded that he should be beaten, saying, “In all these days thou hast only done this.” Then afterwards, behold, a fourth devil came and worshipped him, and Satan answered and said unto him, “And whence comest thou also?” And he who was asked answered and said unto him, “I have been in the desert for forty years striving with a monk, and to-night I have hurled him into fornication”; and when Satan heard this, he rose up straightway and embraced and kissed that devil, and he took the crown off his head, and placed it upon him, and he made him to sit by his side upon his throne, saying, “And so thou hast been able to do so great a work as this in so short a time! For there is nothing which I prize so highly as the fall of a monk.” And the old man went on to say:—When I saw these things I said within myself, “Yea, so great then is the army of the monks! And by the operation of God, Who desired my redemption, I came forth, and became a monk.”
633. In the time when Julian, the rebellious Emperor, was going down to the territory of the Persians, he sent a certain devil to go speedily to the country of the West, and to bring him from thence an account of what he had sent him [to do]. Now when that devil arrived at a certain place wherein dwelt a monk, he stopped and tarried there for a period of fifteen days without being able to move anywhere, and he was unable to travel onwards, because the monk did not cease from praying, either by night or by day; so he returned to the heathen who had sent him without having done anything. Then the wicked Julian said unto him, “Why hast thou tarried so long?” And the devil answered and said unto him, “I delayed in coming, and I have done nothing; for a monk, who continued in prayer, came in my way and I tarried with him
