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belonged to God. However, by plausibly allegorizing such things, fabricated along with Hellenic myths, he deceives many, especially by performing many monstrous wonders, so that, if we had not known that he does these things by magic, we ourselves would have been deceived. But since we were his associates at the beginning, when, in doing such things, he did no wrong to the cause of piety, now that in his great madness he has begun to try to deceive those in piety, we have withdrawn from him. For he has even begun to commit murder, as he himself, still as a friend to friends, revealed that having separated the soul of a child from its own body by unspeakable rites, as an assistant for the apparition of things that seem good to him, and having depicted the boy on an image, he has it set up in an inner room where he himself sleeps, claiming that he once formed this boy from air by divine transformations and, after painting his form, returned him again to the air. And he explains that he performed the deed thus: first, he says the human spirit, having been turned into the nature of heat, draws in and compresses the surrounding air like a cupping-glass, then, having come to be within the form of the spirit, he turned it into water. And he said that, being unable to be poured out because of the continuity of the spirit, he changed the air within it into the nature of blood, and that the blood, having coagulated, made the flesh, and thus, with the flesh solidified, he revealed a man not from earth, but from air. And thus persuading himself that he could make a new man, he said that by dissolving the transformations, he had given him back to the air. And while he was believed when saying these things to others, by us who were present at the rite he was piously disbelieved. Therefore, condemning his impiety, we withdrew from him. When Aquila said these things, his brother Nicetas said: It is necessary, our brother Clement, for me to call to mind the things omitted by Aquila. For first, God is my witness that we collaborated with him in nothing impious, but that we observed him acting; and as long as he performed harmless demonstrations, we were even delighted, but when he began to say that he performed by divinity the things done by magic for the deception of the pious, we no longer put up with him, although he promised us many things, first that we should be deemed worthy of statues in temples and be considered gods and be worshipped by crowds and be glorified by kings and be deemed worthy of public honors and be rich with unlimited wealth. These things and what is considered similar to them he promised us, only that, being with him, we should be silent about the evil of his undertaking, so that the things of his deception might advance, and yet we did not agree, but we even advised him to cease from such madness, saying to him: 'We, Simon, remembering our friendship for you from childhood, lovingly advise you for your own good. Cease from such audacity; you cannot be a god. Fear the true God, know that you are a man and that the time of your life is short. And if you should become very rich or even be a king, in the short time of your life, you have little for enjoyment, and things procured impiously, fleeting immediately, obtain eternal punishment for the one who dared them. Therefore we advise you to fear God, by whom each person's soul is to be judged for what it has done here.' But he, on hearing these things, laughed. And when we said: 'What of ours to you

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ὑπῆρχεν θεῷ. πλὴν τοιαῦτά τινα Ἑλληνικοῖς μύθοις συνπεπλασμένα πι- θανῶς ἀλληγορῶν ἀπατᾷ πολλούς, ἐξαιρέτως πολλὰ τερατώδη θαυμάσια ποιῶν, ὡς, εἰ μὴ ᾔδειμεν ὅτι μαγείᾳ ταῦτα ποιεῖ, ἠπατήθημεν ἂν καὶ αὐτοί. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ συνεργοὶ αὐτοῦ ἦμεν τὸ κατ' ἀρχάς, ὅτε τὰ τοιαῦτα ποιῶν τὸ τῆς θεοσεβείας οὐκ ἠδίκει μέρος, νῦν ὅτε πολὺ μανεὶς τοὺς ἐν θεοσεβείᾳ ἀπατᾶν ἐπιχειρεῖν ἤρξατο, ἀπέστημεν αὐτοῦ. καὶ γὰρ μιαιφο- νεῖν ἤρξατο, ὡς αὐτὸς ἔτι ὡς φίλος φίλοις ἐξέφανεν ὅτι παιδίου ψυχὴν τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος χωρίσας ἀπορρήτοις ὅρκοις, συνεργὸν πρὸς τὴν τῶν αὐτῷ δοκούντων φαντασίαν, τὸν παῖδα διαγράψας ἐπὶ εἰκόνος, ἐνδο- τέρῳ οἴκῳ ὅπου αὐτὸς ὑπνοῖ ἀνατεθειμένην ἔχει, φάσκων ποτὲ τοῦ- τον ἐξ ἀέρος πλάσας θείαις τροπαῖς καὶ τὸ εἶδος ἀναγράψας ἀποδε- δωκέναι πάλιν τῷ ἀέρι. τὴν δὲ πρᾶξιν ἑρμηνεύει οὕτως πεποιηκέναι· πρῶτον τὸ ἀνθρώπου πνεῦμα λέγει τραπὲν εἰς θερμοῦ φύσιν τὸν περι- κείμενον αὐτῷ σικύας δίκην ἐπισπασάμενον συνπιεῖν ἀέρα, εἶτα ἔνδοθεν τῆς τοῦ πνεύματος ἰδέας γενόμενον αὐτὸν τρέψαι εἰς ὕδωρ. ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς συνεχείας τοῦ πνεύματος χυθῆναι μὴ δυνάμενον εἰς αἵματος φύσιν μετατρέπειν ἔφασκεν τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ ἀέρα, τὸ δὲ αἷμα πῆξαν τὰς σάρκας ποιῆσαι, εἶθ' οὕτως τῆς σαρκὸς παγείσης ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἀπὸ γῆς, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀέρος ἀναδεῖξαι. καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτὸν πείσας καινὸν ἄνθρωπον δύνασθαι ποιῆσαι, τὰς τροπὰς ἀναλύων πάλιν ἀποδεδωκέναι ἔλεγε τῷ ἀέρι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἄλλοις λέγων ἐπιστεύετο, ὑφ' ἡμῶν δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ τῇ τελετῇ συμ- παρόντων εὐσεβῶς ἠπιστεῖτο. διὸ ἀσεβείας καταγνόντες ἀπέστημεν αὐτοῦ. Ταῦτα τοῦ Ἀκύλα εἰπόντος ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ Νικήτης ἔφη· Ἀναγ- καῖόν ἐστιν, ἀδελφὲ ἡμῶν Κλήμης, τὰ παραλειφθέντα τῷ Ἀκύλᾳ ἐμὲ ὑπομνῆσαι. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ μάρτυς ὁ θεὸς ὡς οὐδὲν αὐτῷ ἡμεῖς συν- ειργασάμεθα ἀσεβές, ἀλλ' ὅτι αὐτοῦ πράσσοντος ἱστορήσαμεν· καὶ μέχρις ὅτε ἀβλαβῆ ποιῶν ἐπεδείκνυτο, καὶ ἐτερπόμεθα, ὅτε δὲ τὰ μαγείᾳ γινό μενα θειότητι ποιεῖν πρὸς ἀπάτην θεοσεβῶν ἔλεγεν, οὐκέτι αὐτοῦ ἠνε- σχόμεθα καίτοι πολλὰ ἐπαγγελλομένου ἡμῖν, πρῶτον μὲν ναῶν ἀνδριάντας ἡμῶν καταξιωθῆναι καὶ θεοὺς νομισθῆναι καὶ ὑπὸ ὄχλων προσκυνηθῆναι καὶ ὑπὸ βασιλέων δοξασθῆναι καὶ δημοσίων τιμῶν καταξιωθῆναι καὶ χρήμασιν ἀπεριορίστοις πλουτῆσαι. ταῦτά τε καὶ τὰ τούτοις νομι- ζόμενα ἡμῖν ὑπέσχετο, μόνον ἵνα συνόντες αὐτῷ τὸ τῆς ἐνχειρήσεως κακὸν σιωπῷμεν, ἵνα αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς ἀπάτης προκόπτῃ, καὶ ὅμως οὐ συνε- θέμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν τῆς τοιαύτης ἀπονοίας παύεσθαι συνεβουλεύσαμεν, λέγοντες αὐτῷ· Ἡμεῖς, Σίμων, τῆς ἐκ παίδων φιλίας πρὸς σὲ μεμνημένοι στέργοντές σε τὰ συμφέροντα συμβουλεύομεν· παῦσαι τῆς τοιαύτης τόλ- μης· θεὸς εἶναι οὐ δύνασαι· φοβήθητι τὸν ὄντως θεόν, γνῶθι ὅτι ἄνθρω- πος εἶ καὶ ὅτι σου μικρός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς ζωῆς χρόνος. κἂν μεγάλα πλου- τήσῃς ἢ καὶ βασιλεύσῃς, τῷ τῆς ζωῆς σου μικρῷ χρόνῳ ὀλίγα τυγχάνει πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν, καὶ ἀσεβῶς πορισθέντα, εὐθέως φεύγοντα, αἰωνίαν κό- λασιν περιποιεῖται τῷ τετολμηκότι. διὸ φοβεῖσθαί σοι τὸν θεὸν συμβου- λεύομεν, ὑφ' οὗ κριθῆναι ἔχει ἡ ἑκάστου ψυχὴ περὶ ὧν ἔπραξεν ἐνταῦθα. ὁ δὲ ταῦτα ἀκούσας ἐγέλασεν. ἡμῶν δὲ εἰπόντων· Τί ἡμῶν τὰ σοὶ