(5) Therefore ye would beguile mankind of happy life (upon earth) and of Immortality (beyond it), since the Evil Spirit (has ruled) you with his evil mind. Yea, he has ruled you, (ye) who are of the Demon-gods, and with an evil word unto action, as his ruler (governs) the wicked !

(195) When thou shalt see a Terrestrial Dæmon approaching, Cry aloud! and sacrifice the stone Mnizourin.

(6) And between these two spirits the Demon-gods (and they who give them worship) can make no righteous choice , since we have beguiled them. As they were questioning and debating in their council the (personified ) Worst Mind approached them that he might be chosen. (They made their fatal decision.) And thereupon they rushed together unto the Demon of Fury, that they might pollute the lives of mortals .

(4) For ye (are) confusing our thoughts , whereby men, giving forth the worst deeds, will speak , as of the Demon-gods beloved, forsaken by the Good Mind , (far) astray from the understanding of the Great Creator, the Living Lord, and (far astray) from His Righteousness!

(3) But you, O ye Daêvas! are all a seed from the Evil Mind . He who offers sacrifice to You the most is of the Lie-demon, and (he is a child) of perversion . In advance (are your) deceits whereby ye are famed in the sevenfold earth!

(63) He [the Devil] supposed, [saying;] The Kingdom of this World is thine, thou shalt sport thyself according to thy Power with the Image of Man, which should have possessed thy Throne, his Spirit is in thy Kingdom; and so [the Devil] mocked God in his Mind, [saying.;] Where is now thy noble Image, which thou didst create to rule over my Throne? Am not I Lord of the great Might of the Fire? I will rule over thy Throne, the Might [or Strength] and Virtue is mine: I fly up above the Thrones of Virtue and Strength, and no Might [or Power] can withstand me.

(96) Then the Devil mocked the Image, and Hell opened its The Soul. Jaws wide, and had the Bridle in their Essences, and continually drew them therewith towards the hellish Fire of the fierce Wrath; and then there was Trembling and Horror in the Mind, and they could not reach the Love of God. Heaven was their Enemy, no Angel came near them, but the horrible Devils, they showed themselves, and hopped, crying, Ho, ho! we have gotten the Game, we are Princes over Men, we will torment them soundly, because they would have possessed our Throne; we should have been their Footstool, and now we are their Judges; what Care we for God, he dwells not in our Kingdom; why has he thrust us out? we will be sure to wreak our Spleen upon his Image. The most pleasant, and most lovely Gate [or Explanation] of the Promise of the Treader upon the Serpent, highly to be considered.

(31) Is not the 'water of life' in the darkness? Are not spirits refreshed in that very darkness? Is not that silence the season of heavenly voices? For from contraries contraries are brought forth, The Prophet's wars brought about the present peace, That conqueror of hearts cut off a thousand heads, That the heads of his people might rest in peace." God's rebuke to Adam for scorning Iblis. To whomsoever God's order comes, Fear then, and revile not the wicked,

(73) Therefore Man carries about with him here upon Earth, in his Body, the Devil's eternal Dwelling-House. O thou fair excellent Goddess! mayest thou not well prance and trick thyself therein, and in the mean while invite the Devil into the new Birth for a Guest, will it not profit thee very much? Take heed, thou doest not generate a new Devil, who will remain in his own House.

(93) And now when the Kingdom of Hell had this mighty Blow, and was thus overcome, then the Devil lost his Right in the Soul; yet he said in himself, Thou hast a Right in the earthly Body, and somewhat was permitted to him; and then he took the Body with the Soul, and set them upon the Pinnacle of the Temple, and said, Cast thyself down (for thou art powerful and canst do all Things) and then the People shall see that thou art God, and hast overcome; this is the right fluttering Spirit, wherewith the Devil would fain always fly above the Thrones over the Deity, and yet goes but in himself into the hellish Fire, and apprehends not the Deity.

(8) And that the devil so spoken of by the Barbarian philosophy, the prince of the demons, is a wicked spirit, Plato asserts in the tenth book of the Laws, in these words: "Must we not say that spirit which pervades the things that are moved on all sides, pervades also heaven? Well, what? One or more? Several, say I, in reply for you. Let us not suppose fewer than two - that which is beneficent, and that which is able to accomplish the opposite." Similarly in the Phoedrus he writes as follows: "Now there are other evils. But some demon has mingled pleasure with the most things at present." Further, in the tenth book of the Laws, he expressly emits that apostolic sentiment, "Our contest is not with flesh and blood, but principalities, with powers, with the spiritual things of those which are in heaven;" writing thus: "For since we are agreed that heaven is full of many good beings; but it is also full of the opposite of these, and more of these; and as we assert such a contest is deathless, and requiring marvellous watchfulness."

(169) Woe, Woe, poor miserable blinded Man, why sufferest thou the Devil to make thy Body and Soul so dark and blind? O temporal Good, and the Pleasure and Voluptuousness of this Life! thou blind Whore, why dost thou go a wooing and whoring to the Devil?

(1) "He continued in the discourse and said: "The second order is called Ariouth the Æthiopian, a female ruler, who is entirely black, under whom stand fourteen other [arch]demons which rule over a multitude of other demons. And it is those demons which stand under Ariouth the Æthiopian, that enter into strife-seekers until they stir up wars and murders arise, and they harden their heart and seduce it to wrath in order that murders may arise. "And the souls which this authority will carry off in ravishment, pass one-hundred-and-thirteen years in her regions, while she tormenteth them through her dark smoke and her wicked fire, so that they come nigh unto destruction. "And thereafter, when the sphere turneth itself, and the little Sabaōth, the Good, who is called in the world Zeus, cometh, and he cometh to the fourth æon of the sphere, that is the Crab, and Boubastis, who is called in the world Aphroditē, cometh into the tenth æon of the sphere which is called the Goat, at that time the veils which are between those of the Left and those of the Right, draw themselves aside, and Yew looketh forth to the right; the whole world becometh alarmed and is agitated together with all the æons of the sphere. And he looketh on the dwellings of Ariouth the Ethiopian, so that her regions are dissolved and ruined, and all the souls which are in her chastisements are carried off and cast back into the sphere anew, because they are ruined through her dark smoke and her wicked fire."

(63) Therefore, O Child of Man, consider what thou art in this Time; esteem not so slightly or poorly of thyself, but consider that you remain in Paradise, and put not out the divine Light in you; or else you must hereafter remain in the Original of the Source of Anger or Wrath in the Valley of Darkness; and your noble Image out of God will be turned into a Serpent and Dragon.

(41) The cherubim address the seeker thus: "Man, thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return. Thou wert fashioned by the Builder of Forms; thou belongest to the sphere of form, and the breath that was breathed into thy soul was the breath of form and like a flame it shall flicker out. More than thou art thou canst not be. Thou art a denizen of the outer world and it is forbidden thee to enter this inner place."

(12) (But Ahura will speak His rebuke, for) as to those doctrines which (such) men may be (basely) delivering (repelled) by the holiest action, (and galled by its sacred truth) God hath said: Evil (are they! Yea, unto these He hath said it) who have slain the Kine's life by a blessing (and have cursed her while they offered to help her ), men by whom Grehmas are loved above Righteousness, and the Karpans, and the Throne of those who have wished for the Demon of lies (as their deity and friend ).

(21) When mind becomes a daimon, the law requires that it should take a fiery body to execute the services of God; and entering in the soul most impious it scourgeth it with whips made of its sins. And then the impious soul, scourged with its sins, is plunged in murders, outrage, blasphemy, in violence of all kinds, and all the other things whereby mankind is wronged. But on the pious soul the mind doth mount and guide it to the Gnosis' Light. And such a soul doth never tire in songs of praise [to God] and pouring blessing on all men, and doing good in word and deed to all, in imitation of its Sire.

(27) This when He'd said, Man-Shepherd mingled with the Powers. But I, with thanks and belssings unto the Father of the universal [Powers], was freed, full of the power he had poured into me, and full of what He'd taught me of the nature of the All and of the loftiest Vision. And I began to preach unto men the Beauty of Devotion and of Gnosis: O ye people, earth-born folk, ye who have given yourselves to drunkenness and sleep and ignorance of God, be sober now, cease from your surfeit, cease to be glamoured by irrational sleep!

(47) The Adam replies: "For uncounted ages have I been thy servant. In my ignorance I listened to thy words and they led me into paths of sorrow. Thou hast placed in my mind dreams of power, and when I struggled to realize those dreams they brought me naught but pain. Thou hast sowed in me the seeds of desire, and when I lusted after the things of the flesh agony was my only recompense. Thou hast sent me false prophets and false reasoning, and when I strove to grasp the magnitude of Truth I found thy laws were false and only dismay rewarded my strivings. I am done with thee forever, O artful Spirit! I have tired of thy world of illusions. No longer will I labor in thy vineyards of iniquity. Get thee behind me, rempter, and the host of thy temptations. There is no happiness, no peace, no good, no future in the doctrines of selfishness, hate, and passion preached by thee. All these things do I cast aside. Renounced is thy rule forever!"

(4) Again he continued in the discourse and said unto this disciples: "The fifth order, whose ruler is called Yachthanabas, is a mighty ruler under whom standeth a multitude of other demons. It is they which enter into men and bring it about that they have respect of persons,--treating the just with injustice, and favour the cause of sinners, taking gifts for a just judgment and perverting it, forgetting the poor and needy,--they [the demons] increasing the forgetfulness in their souls and the care for that which bringeth no benefit, in order that they may not think of their life, so that when they come out of the body, they are carried in ravishment. "The souls then which this ruler will carry off in ravishment, are in his chastisements one-hundred-and-fifty years and eight months; and he destroyeth them through his dark smoke and his wicked fire, while they are exceedingly afflicted through the flames of his fire. "And when the sphere turneth itself and the little Sabaōth, the Good, who is called in the world Zeus, cometh, and he cometh to the eleventh æon of the sphere which is called the Water-man, and when Boubastis cometh to the fifth æon of the sphere which is called the Lion, then the veils which are between those of the Left and those of the Right, draw themselves aside, and there looketh out of the height the great Iaō, the Good, he of the Midst, on the regions of Yachthanabas, so that his regions are dissolved and destroyed. And all the souls which are in his chastisements are carried off and cast back anew into the sphere, because they are ruined in his chastisements. "These then are the doings of the ways of the midst concerning which ye have questioned me."