The Testament of Solomon

F. C. Conybeare (trans.) · 19 pages · Apocrypha · read the volume

6 marked gaps. Both readers refuse on 2, both offer something on 2, and they disagree on 2.

Nothing on this page is the text. These books are served exactly as their editors left them, holes and all. Every restoration below sits beside the passage and never inside it, because an invented line of a lost book, once loose, is quoted forever.

3 readers, asked separately. Each was given the same passages and the same instructions, and none saw another’s answers. All were told that refusing was a complete answer and that a confident wrong restoration was the worst possible outcome.

Reader C came later, and blind. It was put only the 20 gaps on which the first two readers disagreed, mixed with 6 gaps both had refused, and was told nothing of either. On the disputed gaps it sided with the reader who refused 17 times and with the reader who restored 3; of the 6 controls it refused 6. Its willingness to answer is therefore not the explanation of its answers.

Where they disagree, both are shown. There is no ground truth for a line that burned in 612 BC. This library is not in a position to settle these, and pretending otherwise would be the same mistake as filling the hole.

136-001 · page 3

…up from his throne, and went outside into the vestibule of the court of his palace; and there he saw the demon, shuddering and trembling. And he said to him: "Who art thou?" And the demon answered: "I am called Ornias." 10. And Solomon said to him: "Tell me, O demon, to what zodiacal sign thou art subject." And he answered: "To the Water-pourer. And those who are consumed with desire for the noble virgins upon earth[...], these I strangle. But in case there is no disposition to sleep, I am changed into three forms. Whenever men come to be enamoured of women, I metamorphose myself into a comely female; and I take hold of the men in their sleep, and play with them. And after a while I again take to my wings, and hide me to the heavenly regions. I also appear as a lion, and I am commanded by all the demons. I am offspring of the archan…
They disagree

Reader A none, low confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

Conybeare notes (p. 3 n. 7) that the sole Greek witness (MS Paris gr. 500) is grammatically corrupt or defective here; no parallel witness supplies the missing words.

Reader B parallel, high confidence

"I strangle those who reside in Aquarius because of their passion for women whose zodiacal sign is Virgo."

Conybeare noted the lacuna; the published D-text printed in McCown, The Testament of Solomon (1922) and in later synopses supplies the clause that sits between "noble virgins upon earth" and "these I strangle."

Reader C none, n/a confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

Grammar constrains this without determining it. The words after the break, ", these I strangle", resume with a demonstrative that must pick up the accusative group already named before the break ("those who are consumed with desire for the noble virgins upon earth"), so the missing material was a further qualification of that same group and introduced no new subject. That is all the syntax yields. I also record a doubt about the premise: the Testament of Solomon survives in late Greek manuscripts, not in a physically damaged ancient book, and the ellipsis here sits inside a sentence, immediately before its punctuation. It is more likely the translator's mark for a phrase he could not construe or chose not to render than a hole in a leaf. Without the Greek I cannot tell which, and I will not supply a clause to a sentence that may never have lost one.

136-002 · page 7

…s me, Uriel." [1. Cp. Testam. of Symeon, ch. 3. 2. See I Kings ii. 25. 3. A reference to necromancy, of which the object was to oblige the spirit of the dead to enter oneself.] 41. Likewise also the seventh said: "I am the worst, and I make thee worse off than thou wast; because I will impose the bonds of Artemis. But the locust [1] will set me free, for by means thereof is it fated that thou shalt achieve my desire[...]. For if one were wise, he would not turn his steps toward me." [1. This refers to the closing incident narrated in the Testament, the sacrificing by Solomon of five locusts to Moloch. Tatian, Orat. ad Graecos, cap. 12, speaks of Artemis magos. She is the same as Hecate.] 42. So I Solomon, having heard and wondered, sealed them with my ring; and since they were so considerable, I bade them dig the foundations of the…
Every reader refuses

Reader A none, low confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

MS Paris gr. 500 is broken in section 41; neither McCown's critical edition (1922) nor collateral manuscripts supply text.

Reader B none, high confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

The locust/Moloch sentence is complete in Conybeare; the [...] is only his footnote marker for the later Temple incident, not a hole in this sentence. No missing words here.

Reader C none, n/a confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

As with gap 136-001, the mark falls inside a sentence, directly before the full stop that closes "...thou shalt achieve my desire", and the sentence reads as complete without it. The editor's footnote at this point discusses the locust and Artemis, not a lacuna. Nothing in the surrounding demon-speech is formulaic — each of the thirty-six decans in this text says something different — so there is no stock pattern to invoke and no parallel to draw on. The likeliest account is again editorial ellipsis in the translation rather than loss in the manuscript, and I cannot verify that from the quoted text alone.

136-003 · page 7

…en, Solomon, having heard his voice come up to me, asked him how he managed to speak. And he answered me: "I, O King Solomon, am wholly voice, for I have inherited the voices of many men. For in the case of all men who are called dumb, I it is who smashed their heads, when they were children and had reached their eighth day. Then when a child is crying in the night, I become a spirit, and glide by means of his voice[...]. In the crossways [1] also I have many services to render, and my encounter is fraught with harm. For I grasp in all instant a man's head, and with my hands, as with a sword, I cut it off, and put it on to myself. And in this way, by means of the fire which is in me, through my neck it is swallowed up. I it is that sends grave mutilations and incurable on men's feet, and inflict sores." [1. This seems the sense of e…
Every reader refuses

Reader A none, low confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

In section 43 the speech of the headless demon Envy is interrupted in MS Paris gr. 500.

Reader B none, high confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

Conybeare's [...] falls inside a continuous description of the head-cutting demon; neither Fleck nor McCown marks a manuscript gap at this point large enough to restore.

Reader C none, n/a confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

The same situation once more: the mark stands between "...glide by means of his voice" and the full stop, and the clause is grammatically complete on either side of it. The speech is the self-description of a voice-demon and, like the other decan speeches in this text, is unparalleled elsewhere, so neither a formula nor a witness constrains what if anything is missing. Supplying a clause here would be invention.

136-004 · page 8

…And I Solomon was astounded. I said to it: Who art thou, O hound?" And it answered: "I do indeed seem to thee to be a hound, but before thou wast, O King Solomon, I was a man that wrought many unholy deeds on earth. I was surpassingly learned in letters, and was so mighty that I could hold the stars of heaven back. And many divine works did I prepare. For I do harm to men who follow after our star, and turn them to[...]. [1] And I seize the frenzied men by the larynx, and so destroy them." [1. The MS. has a vox nihili. Can it mean "her that is born of echo" (see above, p. 19, n. 8).?] 48. And I Solomon said to him: "What is thy name?" And he answered: ''Staff" (Rabdos). And I said to him: "What is thine employment? And what results canst thou achieve?" And he replied: ''Give me thy man, and I will lead him away into a mountainous s…
They disagree

Reader A published, low confidence

[madness]

Conybeare notes (p. 8 n. 1) that the manuscript has a vox nihili; McCown (1922, p. 38) treats the word as an uncorrectable scribal corruption, conjecturing a word for "frenzy" or "madness".

Reader B none, high confidence

Nothing can honestly be restored here.

Conybeare's own note: "The MS. has a vox nihili." A nonsense word is not a measurable lacuna with a parallel elsewhere.

Reader C published, low confidence

The gap is not a hole in the manuscript. The manuscript carries a word at this point which the translator could not render — his footnote to this passage calls it "a vox nihili" — and for which he himself proposes, as a question, the sense "her that is born of echo". That conjecture, and no other, is what can honestly be reported for this gap.

The evidence is printed in the excerpt itself. The translation runs "...and turn them to [1] And I seize the frenzied men by the larynx", and footnote 1, attached at exactly that point, reads: "The MS. has a vox nihili. Can it mean 'her that is born of echo' (see above, p. 19, n. 8)?" So this is a published conjecture by the edition's own translator, standing in the edition at the passage in question — Conybeare's translation of the Testament of Solomon, at the section quoted on p.8 of this digital text, footnote 1. I grade the evidence "published" for that reason and the confidence "low" for two: the translator posed it as a question rather than an assertion, and a vox nihili by definition resists solution. I have not consulted the later critical edition of this text and do not know whether it reads the word differently; I make no claim about it.

136-005 · page 13

…n Ruax,' and at once I retreat." 74. And the second said: "I am called Barsafael, and I cause those who are subject to my hour to feel the pain of migraine. If only I hear the words, 'Gabriel, imprison Barsafael,' at once I retreat." 75. The third said: "I am called Arôtosael. I do harm to eyes, and grievously injure them. Only let me hear the words, 'Uriel, imprison Aratosael' (sic), at once I retreat . . . . .[1]"[1. There seems to be a lacuna here.]76. The fifth said: "I am called Iudal, and I bring about a block in the ears and deafness of hearing. If I hear, 'Uruel Iudal,' I at once retreat." 77. The sixth said: "I am called Sphendonaêl. I cause tumours of the parotid gland, and inflammations of the tonsils, and tetanic recurvation [1]. If I hear, 'Sabrael, imprison Sphendonaêl,' at once I retreat.'' [1. The Greek medical terms which stand in the Greek text…
Every reader offers something

Reader A parallel, high confidence

"The fourth said: 'I am called Oropel. I attack throats, causing tonsillitis and mucus. If I hear, Raphael, imprison Oropel, at once I retreat.'"

Omitted by homoioteleuton in MS Paris gr. 500, the fourth decan is preserved in manuscript P (fol. 51v) and edited by McCown (1922, 18:8).

Reader B parallel, high confidence

The fourth decan is missing in Conybeare's copy; later recensions name him but no single name is agreed by all MSS. Print the slot, not a guessed name.

The list is numbered 1, 2, 3, -, 5. McCown's MSS and modern synopses state that one spirit's testimony is missing between Arotosael and Iudal.

Reader C

Not put to this reader.

136-006 · page 14

…h said: "I am called Marderô. I send on men incurable fever. If any one write on the leaf of a book: 'Sphênêr, Rafael, retire, drag me not about, flay me not,' and tie it round his neck, I at once retreat." 92. The twenty-first said: "I am called Alath, and I cause coughing and hard-breathing in children. If any one write on paper: 'Rorêx, do thou pursue Alath,' and fasten it round his neck, I at once retire... [1]"[1. There must here be a lacuna in the text.]93. The twenty-third said: "I am called Nefthada. I cause the reins to ache, and I bring about dysury. If any one write on a plate of tin the words: 'Iathôth, Uruêl, Nephthada,' and fasten it round the loins, I at once retreat." 94. The twenty-fourth said: "I am called Akton. I cause ribs and lumbic muscles to ache. If one engrave on copper material, taken from a ship which has missed its anchorage, this: 'Marmaraôt…
Every reader offers something

Reader A parallel, high confidence

"The twenty-second said: 'I am called Rhyx Audameoth. I inflict heart pain. If anyone write Raiouoth, at once I retreat.'"

Dropped by haplography between decans 21 and 23 in MS Paris gr. 500; preserved in McCown's edition (1922, 18:26 from MS P and MS H).

Reader B parallel, high confidence

The twenty-second decan's testimony is the missing item. Name not identical across MSS - leave as the missing 22nd entry.

Numbering jumps 21 Alath to 23 Nefthada. Conybeare: "There must here be a lacuna." McCown and later recensions confirm the 22nd speech is absent from this branch.

Reader C

Not put to this reader.

← all the gaps