Chapter LVI.—The demons still mislead men.

But the evil spirits were not satisfied with saying, before Christ’s appearance, that those who were said to be sons of Jupiter were born of him; but after He had appeared, and been born among men, and when they learned how He had been foretold by the prophets, and knew that He should be believed on and looked for by every nation, they again, as was said above, put forward other men, the Samaritans Simon and Menander, who did many mighty works by magic, and deceived many, and still keep them deceived. For even among yourselves, as we said before,120    [See cap. xxvi. above, and note p. 187, below.] Simon was in the royal city Rome in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and so greatly astonished the sacred senate and people of the Romans, that he was considered a god, and honoured, like the others whom you honour as gods, with a statue. Wherefore we pray that the sacred senate and your people may, along with yourselves, be arbiters of this our memorial, in order that if any one be entangled by that man’s doctrines, he may learn the truth, and so be able to escape error; and as for the statue, if you please, destroy it.

[56] Οὐκ ἠρκέσθησαν δὲ οἱ φαῦλοι δαίμονες πρὸ τῆς φανερώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰπεῖν τοὺς λεχθέντας υἱοὺς τῷ Διῒ γεγονέναι, ἀλλ' ἐπειδή, φανερωθέντος αὐτοῦ καὶ γενομένου ἐν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ ὅπως διὰ τῶν προφητῶν προεκεκήρυκτο ἔμαθον καὶ ἐν παντὶ γένει πιστευόμενον καὶ προσδοκώμενον ἔγνωσαν, πάλιν, ὡς προεδηλώσαμεν, προεβάλλοντο ἄλλους, Σίμωνα μὲν καὶ Μένανδρον ἀπὸ Σαμαρείας, οἳ καὶ μαγικὰς δυνάμεις ποιήσαντες πολλοὺς ἐξηπάτησαν καὶ ἔτι ἀπατωμένους ἔχουσι. καὶ γὰρ παρ' ὑμῖν, ὡς προέφημεν, ἐν τῇ βασιλίδι Ῥώμῃ ἐπὶ Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος γενόμενος ὁ Σίμων καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν σύγκλητον καὶ τὸν δῆμον Ῥωμαίων εἰς τοσοῦτο κατεπλήξατο, ὡς θεὸς νομισθῆναι καὶ ἀνδριάντι, ὡς τοὺς ἄλλους παρ' ὑμῖν τιμωμένους θεούς, τιμηθῆναι. ὅθεν τήν τε ἱερὰν σύγκλητον καὶ τὸν δῆμον τὸν ὑμέτερον συνεπιγνώμονας ταύτης ἡμῶν τῆς ἀξιώσεως παραλαβεῖν αἰτοῦμεν, ἵν', εἴ τις εἴη τοῖς ἀπ' ἐκείνου διδάγμασι κατεχόμενος, τἀληθὲς μαθὼν τὴν πλάνην φυγεῖν δυνηθῇ. καὶ τὸν ἀνδριάντα, εἰ βούλεσθε, καθαιρήσατε.