Page:Testament of Solomon.djvu/3

Rh Rabdos, or Staff, follows, who reveals to Solomon the place of a green stone, useful for the adornment of the Temple. Next a lion-shaped demon appears, called Leôphoros, who inflicts sickness on men, and has also legions of spirits subject to himself. He is to be overcome by Emmanuel, the great among men, who is to suffer much at the hands of men, but will precipitate this particular evil spirit into the water along with his legions.

A three-headed dragon, Koruphê, next appears, who is undone by the angel of great counsel that shall dwell on the cross. A female spirit, Obizuth, all head and no limbs, follows, in whom we recognize the Medusa of Greek legend. She is followed by a spirit with the head of a man and the body of a dragon with wings.

Enêpsigos, a two-headed female demon, follows, whom the wise invoke as Kronos, who prophesies to Solomon the destruction of his kingdom and Temple by the Persians, Medes, and Chaldaeans. In this cataclysm the vessels in which Solomon confines the evil spirits will be broken, and they will roam over the world "until the Son of God is stretched upon the cross, a King dominating all spirits, and conceived by his mother without contact with man. Him the first devil will tempt, but not prevail over, and the number of his name is 644, which is Emmanuel."

A demon, half horse, half fish, in whom we may recognize Poseidon, next appears, to be followed by one of human shape, the offspring of one of the giants of old. He will be destroyed, he says, by the Saviour, a man whose name, if written on our foreheads, terrifies and routs him.

Now at length appear the thirty-six stoicheia or elements, the world-rulers or kosmokratores of this darkness. They are the decani of the twelve zodiacal signs, and, though human in form, have the heads and faces of dogs, asses, oxen, and birds. Each of them presides over some tract of the human body, and inflicts disease within that tract; each has an angel who can defeat its malign influence. Some of them require the names of several angels to be written on