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I have already had experience of waiting. But your promise puts me to shame and leads me to hope. But I am afraid, reflecting that perhaps the demons sometimes do not yield to the magicians in the things they are commanded. And Appion said: Allow me to know these things more than you. But, so that you may not seem to have heard nothing from me concerning what you said, learn how the demons are under necessity to yield to the magicians concerning the things they are commanded. For just as it is impossible for a soldier to speak against his commander, and it is not possible for the commanders themselves to disobey the king (for if anyone contradicts those set over him, he is certainly deemed worthy of punishment), so it is impossible for the demons not to serve their ruling angels. By whom being adjured, they shudder and yield, knowing well that if they disobey they will certainly be punished. But also the angels themselves, being adjured by magicians in the name of the greater one, yield, lest having been judged for disobedience, they should be destroyed. For if all things, being ensouled and rational, did not foresee the punishment from the greater one, confusion would have arisen, with all things being in strife with one another. And I said: Then is what is said by the poets and philosophers correct, that in Hades the souls of the impious are judged and punished for what they dared, such as those of Ixion and Tantalus and Tityus and Sisyphus and the daughters of Danaus, and as many others as have ever acted impiously here? And how, if these things are not so, could magic exist? And when he said that things in Hades are so, I asked: Why then do we not also fear magic, since we are persuaded of the punishment in Hades for adultery? For I do not agree that it is just to compel an unwilling woman by magic. But if someone undertakes to persuade her, for this I am ready, along with acknowledging my gratitude. And Appion said: Does it not seem the same to you, whether you obtain her by magic or by persuading her with words? And I said: Not at all similar; for each is very far from the other. For the one who forces an unwilling woman by the violence of magic, as one who has plotted against a chaste woman, undergoes the most severe punishment, but the one who persuades her by reason and makes the choice depend on her own power and will, has not used force. And I think the one who persuaded will be punished less than the one who used force. Therefore, if you can persuade her, I will be grateful upon succeeding; otherwise it is more pleasant for me to die than to violently force one who is unwilling. And Appion, being truly at a loss, said: What must I say to you? For at one time, as though troubled by love, you pray to succeed, and at another, as though not in love, you prefer fear to desire. And you think that if you persuade her, you will be without sin and without accountability, but that if you succeed by the force of magic, you will suffer punishment. But you are ignorant that the end of every matter is judged by the fact that it happened, not by how it happened. And if you commit adultery, will you surely be judged as impious for being able to do it by magic, but be absolved of the sin of adultery for having persuaded her? And I said: Because I am in love, it is altogether my objective to obtain my beloved, and it is necessary for me to choose one of the two, and I will choose, if possible, to flatter rather than to use magic. But it is not easy to persuade her even with flattery. For the woman is very much a philosopher. And Appion said: For this reason I am more hopeful that I will be able to persuade her

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μένων ἤδη πεπείραμαι. πλὴν δυσωπεῖ με καὶ εἰς ἐλπίδας ἄγει ἡ σὴ ὑπόσχεσις. δέδοικα δὲ ἐνθυμούμενος μὴ ἄρα οἱ δαίμονες τοῖς μάγοις ἐνίοτε πρὸς τὰ κελευόμενα οὐχ ὑπείκουσιν. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων ἔφη· Ταῦτα ἐμοὶ σοῦ μᾶλλον συγχώρει εἰδέναι. πλὴν ἵνα μὴ δοκῇς πρὸς ὃ ἔφης, μηδὲν ἀκηκοέναι παρ' ἐμοῦ, μάθε πῶς ἀνάγκην ἔχουσιν οἱ δαί- μονες τοῖς μάγοις ὑπείκειν περὶ ὧν κελεύονται. ὡς γὰρ ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν στρατιώτην ἀντειπεῖν τῷ ἡγουμένῳ, αὐτοῖς τε τοῖς ἡγουμένοις οὐχ οἷόν τε παρακοῦσαι βασιλέως (εἰ γάρ τις ἀντερεῖ τοῖς ἐφεστηκόσιν, πάντως τιμωρίας ἀξιοῦται), οὕτως ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν τοὺς δαίμονας μὴ ὑπουργεῖν τοῖς αὐτῶν ἡγουμένοις ἀγγέλοις. καθ' ὧν ὁρκιζόμενοι φρίττοντες εἴκου- σιν, εὖ εἰδότες ὅτι ἀπειθήσαντες πάντως κολάζονται. ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι κατὰ τοῦ κρείττονος ὑπὸ μάγων ὁρκιζόμενοι ὑπείκουσιν, μή- πως ἀπειθείας κριθέντες ἀπόλωνται. εἰ γὰρ μὴ πάντα ἔμψυχα ὄντα καὶ λελογισμένα προεώρα τὴν ἐκ τοῦ κρείττονος δίκην, σύγχυσις ἂν ἐγεγόνει, τῶν πάντων στασιαζόντων πρὸς ἄλληλα. κἀγὼ ἔφην· Oὐκοῦν ὀρθῶς ἔχει τὰ ὑπὸ ποιητῶν καὶ φιλοσόφων λεγόμενα ὡς ἐν ᾅδου αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν ἀσεβῶν κριθεῖσαι ἐφ' οἷς ἐτόλμησαν κολάζονται, οἷον Ἰξίωνος καὶ Ταντάλου Τιτυοῦ τε καὶ Σισύφου καὶ τῶν ∆αναοῦ θυγατέρων καὶ ὅσοι ποτὲ ἄλλοι ἐνταῦθα ἠσέβησαν; καὶ πῶς, εἴγε ταῦθ' οὕτως μὴ ἔχει, δυ- νατὸν ἂν μαγείαν ὑφεστάναι; τοῦ δὲ εἰπόντος οὕτω τὰ ἐν ᾅδου ἔχειν, ἐγὼ ἐπυθόμην· ∆ιὰ τί δὴ καὶ αὐτοὶ μαγείαν οὐ πεφοβήμεθα, ἐπὶ μοιχείας πεπεισμένοι τὴν ἐν ᾅδου δίκην; μαγείᾳ γὰρ βιάσασθαι τὴν μὴ θέλουσαν οὐ συντίθεμαι εἶναι δίκαιον. εἰ δέ τις αὐτὴν πείθειν ἐπαγγέλλεται, πρὸς τοῦτο μετὰ τοῦ καὶ χάριν ὁμολογεῖν ἑτοίμως ἔχω. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων ἔφη· Oὐ δοκεῖ σοι ταὐτὸν εἶναι, εἴτε μαγείᾳ αὐτῆς ἐπιτύχοις εἴτε πείσας λόγοις; κἀγὼ ἔφην· Oὐ πάντως ὅμοιον· πολὺ γὰρ ἀφέστηκεν ἀλλήλων ἑκάτερον· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἄκουσαν γυναῖκα τῇ τῆς μαγείας βίᾳ ἐπαναγκάσας ὡς ἐπιβουλεύσας σώφρονι χαλεπωτάτην ὑπέχει τὴν δίκην, ὁ δὲ λόγῳ πείσας καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ αὐτῆς ἐξουσίᾳ καὶ βουλῇ ποιησάμενος τὴν αἵρεσιν οὐκ ἐβιάσατο. ἧττον δὲ οἶμαι κολασθήσεσθαι τὸν πεπεικότα τοῦ βιασα- μένου· τοιγαροῦν εἰ μὲν πεῖσαι δύνασαι, χάριν ἕξω ἐπιτυχών, ἄλλως δὲ ἥδιόν μοι τεθνάναι μᾶλλον ἢ τὴν μὴ βουλομένην βιαίως ἐπαναγκά- σαι. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων ἀληθῶς διαπορῶν ἔφη· Τί με χρὴ πρὸς σὲ λέγειν; ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ ὡς ὑπὸ ἔρωτος ἐνοχλούμενος εὔχῃ ἐπιτυχεῖν, ποτὲ δὲ ὡς οὐκ ἐρῶν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας προτιμᾷς τὸν φόβον. καὶ οἴει πείσας μὲν ὡς ἀνα- μάρτητος ἔσεσθαι ἀνεύθυνος, βίᾳ δὲ τῇ τῆς μαγείας ἐπιτυχὼν ὑφέξειν δίκην. ἀλλ' ἀγνοεῖς ὡς τὸ τέλος παντὸς πράγματος κρίνεται ὅτι γέγονεν, οὐ τὸ πῶς γέγονεν δοκιμάζεται. καὶ σὺ δὲ ἐὰν μοιχεύσῃς οὐ δήπου μα- γείᾳ μὲν δυνηθεὶς ὡς ἀσεβήσας κριθήσῃ, πείσας δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν μοι- χείαν ἁμαρτίας ἀπολυθήσῃ; κἀγὼ ἔφην· ∆ιὰ τὸ ἐρᾶν πάντως μοι προ- κειμένου τυχεῖν τῆς ἐρωμένης, ἀνάγκη μέν μοι ἑλέσθαι θάτερον, αἱρή- σομαι δέ, εἰ οἷόν τε, κολακεῦσαι μᾶλλον ἢ μαγεῦσαι. ἀλλ' οὐδὲ κολα- κείᾳ πείθειν αὐτὴν ῥᾴδιον· πάνυ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ γυνὴ φιλόσοφος. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων ἔφη· Ταύτῃ μᾶλλον εὔελπίς εἰμι πείσειν αὐτὴν δυνήσεσθαι