Solomon asked Onoskelis one final question: "Under what star do you pass?"
"Under the full moon," she answered, "because the moon travels over most things."
"And what angel defeats you?"
She hesitated. Then: "The angel Joel." Solomon commanded her to spin hemp for the ropes of the Temple, and she was bound and brought to nothing — forced to labor night and day.
Then came the most dangerous demon of all.
Asmodeus was brought before the throne in chains. Solomon looked at him and asked: "Who are you?" The demon shot him a glance of pure rage. "Who are you?" he spat back.
"You dare answer me like that, bound as you are?"
Asmodeus sneered. "How should I answer you? You are a son of man. I was born of angel's seed by a human woman — half-celestial, half-mortal. My star burns bright in heaven. Men call it the Great Bear. So do not ask me too many questions, king. Your kingdom will be disrupted soon enough. Your glory is temporary. And when your tyranny over us ends, we demons will roam free again, and mankind will worship us as gods — because they will have forgotten the names of the angels who once kept us in check."
Solomon tightened the demon's bonds and ordered him flogged with ox-hide thongs. "Now tell me your name and your business. Humbly."
Asmodeus yielded. "I am called Asmodeus among mortals. My business is to destroy marriages. I plot against the newly wedded so that they never consummate their union. I ruin the beauty of women and estrange their hearts. I drive men into fits of madness and lust — they abandon their own wives and chase after others, night and day, until they fall into sin and murder."
Solomon adjured him by the name of the Lord of Hosts: "By what angel are you defeated?"
"By Raphael," Asmodeus admitted, "the archangel who stands before the throne of God. And the liver and gall of a fish, when smoked over ashes of tamarisk, put me to flight" (Tobit 3:8).
Solomon smiled. He clapped iron shackles on Asmodeus and sentenced him to tread clay for the entire construction of the Temple — the most grueling labor of all. The demon who destroyed marriages was now a beast of burden, hauling ten water-jars at a time. And Solomon hung the liver and gall of the fish on a reed and burned it near Asmodeus constantly, frustrating his unbearable malice with smoke and flame.
Then Solomon summoned Beelzeboul again and seated him on a raised throne. "Why are you alone, prince of demons?"
"Because I alone remain of the angels who descended from heaven," Beelzeboul said. "I was the first angel in the first heaven. Now I control all the spirits bound in the abyss. I have a child — he haunts the Red Sea. He comes to me when he is ready, and I support him."
"What is your employment?" Solomon asked.
"I destroy kings. I ally myself with foreign tyrants. I set my demons upon men so they worship them and are lost. Even the faithful servants of God — priests and righteous men — I lure into wicked desires and lawless deeds. I inspire envy, murder, war. I will destroy the world."
"Bring me your child from the Red Sea," Solomon commanded.
"I will not. But another demon, Ephippas, an Arabian wind demon, will fetch him from the deep."
"By what angel are you defeated?"
"By the holy and precious name of the Almighty God, blessed be He — the name known to the Hebrews." Solomon was astounded. He ordered Beelzeboul to saw marble for the Temple. And when the prince of demons began to cut stone, all the other demons howled — screaming for their king.
And I said to her: "Under what star dost thou pass?"
And she answered me: "Under the star of the full moon, for
the reason that the moon travels over most things." Then
I said to her: "And
[20]
what angel is it that frustrates thee?"
And she said to me: "He that in thee [or "through thee"]
is reigning." And I thought that she mocked me, and bade
a soldier strike her. But she cried aloud, and said: "I am
[subjected] to thee, O king, by the wisdom of God given to thee,
and by the angel Joel."22
22. [Instead of "and by the angel Joel."
D reads "So I uttered the name of the Holy One of Israel and..."]
So I commanded her to spin the hemp for the ropes used in
the building of the house of God; and accordingly, when I had
sealed and bound her, she was so overcome and brought to naught
as to stand night and day spinning the hemp.
And I at once bade another demon to be led unto me; and instantly
there approached me the demon Asmodeus23, bound, and I asked him:
"Who art thou?" But he shot on me a glance of anger and
rage, and said: "And who art thou?" And I said to him: "Thus
punished as thou art, answerest thou me?" But he, with rage,
said to me: "But how shall I answer thee, for thou art a
son of man; whereas I was born an angel's seed by a daughter of
man, so that no word of our heavenly kind addressed to the earth-born
can be overweening24. Wherefore also my star is bright in heaven,
and men call it, some the Wain25, and some the dragon's child. I
keep near unto this star. So ask me not many things; for thy kingdom
also after a little time is to be disrupted, and thy glory is
but for a season. And short will be thy tyranny over us; and then
we shall again have free range over mankind, so as that they shall
revere us as if we were gods, not knowing, men that they are,
the names of the angels set over us."
23. [Asmodeus also appears in Tobit 3:8, and is ultimately
derived from the Avestan
demon Aeshma-daeva ("demon of wrath"). -JHP]
24. [arrogant.]
25. [D: Great Bear.]
And I Solomon, on hearing this, bound him more carefully,
and ordered him to be flogged with thongs of ox-hide26, and to tell
me humbly what was his name and what his business. And he answered
me thus: "I am called Asmodeus among mortals, and my business
is to plot against the newly wedded, so that they may not know
one another. And I sever them utterly by many calamities, and
I waste away the beauty of virgin women, and estrange their hearts."
26. [D: flogged with a rod]
And I said to him: "Is this thy only business?"
And he answered me: "I transport men into fits of madness
and desire, when they have wives of their own, so that they leave
them, and go off by
[21]
night and day to others that belong to other
men; with the result that they commit sin, and fall into murderous
deeds.27"
27. [D: I spread (or, I *sting to ?) madness about women through the stars,
and I have often committed a rash of murders.]
And I adjured him by the name of the Lord Sabaôth, saying:
"Fear God, Asmodeus, and tell me by what angel thou art frustrated."
But he said: "By Raphael, the archangel that stands before
the throne of God. But the liver and gall of a fish put me to
flight, when smoked over ashes of the tamarisk28." I again
asked him, and said: "Hide not aught from me. For I am Solomon,
son of David, King of Israel. Tell me the name of the fish which
thou reverest." And he answered: "It is the Glanos29 by
name, and is found in the rivers of Assyria; wherefore it is that
I roam about in those parts."
28. [D: smoking on coals of charcoal. Compare Tobit, where
Raphael instructs him in the use of the gall, heart, and liver for various
cures.]
29. [D: "sheatfish", a large catfish. Gk. ho, hê glanis.]
And I said to him: "Hast thou nothing else about thee,
Asmodeus?" And he answered: "The power of God knoweth,
which hath bound me with the indissoluble bonds of yonder one's
seal, that whatever I have told thee is true. I pray thee, King
Solomon, condemn me not to [go into] water." But I smiled,
and said to him: "As the Lord God of my fathers liveth, I
will lay iron on thee to wear. But thou shalt also make the clay
for the entire construction of the Temple, treading it down with
thy feet." And I ordered them to give him ten water-jars
to carry water in. And the demon groaned terribly, and did the
work I ordered him to do. And this I did, because that fierce
demon Asmodeus knew even the future. And I Solomon glorified God,
who gave wisdom to me Solomon his servant. And the liver of the
fish and its gall I hung on the spike of a reed30, and burned it
over Asmodeus because of his being so strong, and his unbearable
malice was thus frustrated.
30. [D: liver and gall of the fish, along with a branch of storax.]
And I summoned again to stand before me Beelzeboul, the prince
of demons, and I sat him down on a raised seat of honour, and
said to him: "Why art thou alone, prince of the demons?"
And he said to me: "Because I alone am left of the angels
of heaven that came down32. For I was first angel in the first heaven
being entitled Beelzeboul. And now I control all those who are
bound in Tartarus. But I too have a child33, and he haunts the Red
Sea. And on any suitable occasion he comes up to me again, being
subject to me; and reveals to me what he has done, and I support
him.34
[22]
31. [D omits "on a raised seat of honour"]
32. [i.e. fell]
33. [D: There also accompanied me another ungodly (angel)]
34. [D: when he is ready, he will come in triumph.]
I Solomon said unto him: "Beelzeboul, what is thy employment?"
And he answered me: "I destroy kings.35 I ally myself with
foreign tyrants. And my own demons I set on36 to men, in order that
the latter may believe in them and be lost. And the chosen servants
of God, priests and faithful men, I excite unto desires for wicked
sins, and evil heresies, and lawless deeds; and they obey me,
and I bear them on to destruction. And I inspire men with envy,
and [desire for] murder, and for wars and sodomy, and other evil
things. And I will destroy the world."37
35. [D: I bring destruction by means of tyrants]
36. [D: to be worshipped]
37. [So MS P. D reads simply "I bring about jealousies
and murders in a country, and I instigate wars."]
So I said to him: "Bring to me thy child, who is, as
thou sayest, in the Red Sea." But he said to me: "I
will not bring him to thee. But there shall come to me another
demon called Ephippas38. Him will I bind, and he will bring him
up from the deep unto me." And I said to him: "How comes
thy son to be in the depth of the sea, and what is his name? "And
he answered me: "Ask me not, for thou canst not learn from
me. However, he will come to thee by any command, and will tell
thee openly."39
38. [According to D, Ephippas is an Arabian wind demon.]
39. [D adds: So I said to him, "Tell me in which star you
reside." "The one called by men the Evening Star."]
I said to him: "Tell me by what angel thou art frustrated."
And he answered: "By the holy and precious name of the Almighty
God, called by the Hebrews by a row of numbers, of which the sum
is 644, and among the Greeks it is Emmanuel1. And if one of
the Romans adjure me by the great name of the power Eleéth,
I disappear at once."
1. The text must be faulty, for the word Emmanuel
is the Hebrew. The sum 644 is got by adding together the Greek
numbers.
I Solomon was astounded when I heard this; and I ordered him
to saw up Theban1 marbles. And when he began to saw the marbles,
the other demons cried out with a loud voice, howling because
of their king Beelzeboul.
1. We hear of Pentelic marble in Strabo, but the
reference in the text may be to Thebes in Egypt.
