After he had dealt with the succubus onoskelis, Solomon at once bade another demon to be led unto
him; and instantly there approached him a spirit, intimidating and menacing, but he was bound,
this was the demon Asmodeus. And the king asked him: "Who are you?''
But Asmodeus shot him a glance of anger and rage, saying: "And who are you? And Solomon said to him:
"You are subject to me and to be punished by me, you must answer me" But the demon,
with rage, said to him: "How shall I answer to you, you who are born of a man, whereas I was
born of an angel's seed by a daughter of man." No word of our heavenly kind addressed to you
earth-born can be too offensive and arrogant. Behold, my star shines bright in heaven,
men call it the Great Bear, some call it the dragon's child, and I keep near unto this star.
So ask me not many things; for your kingdom after a little time, will fall, and your
glory is but for a season, and short will be your tyranny over us; and then
we shall again have free range over mankind, so as that they shall revere us as if we were gods, and
being men that they are, they shall not know the names of the angels set higher above our kind."
And Solomon, on hearing this, bound Asmodeus more carefully, and ordered him to be flogged
with the whip of ox-hide, and to tell him humbly what was his name and what was his business.
And the demon answered him thus: "I am called Asmodeus among mortals,
and my business is to plot against the newly wedded, so that they may not know one another,
and I sever them utterly by many calamities. I waste away the beauty of virgin women,
and estrange their hearts." And Solomon said to him: "Is this your only business?"
And the demon answered him: "I tempt men into fits of desire and madness over other women,
when they already have wives of their own, so that they leave them, and go off by night and day,
to women who belong to other men; so that they fall into sin and commit murderous deeds.
Solomon listened in awe to this demon, this was the same act for which his father - David
committed murder. He apealed to the demon by the name of the Lord Sabaôth,
saying: "Fear God, Asmodeus, and tell me by what angel you are frustrated."
And Asmodeus said: "By Raphael, the archangel who stands before the throne of God.
But the liver and gall of a fish also put me to flight, when smoked over ashes of the tamarisk.
Solomon again asked him: "Hide nothing from me, For I am Solomon, son of David, King of
Israel. Tell me the name of the fish which you fear." And the demon answered: "It is the Glanos,
by name, and is found in the rivers of Assyria. It is why I merely roam about in those parts.
And Solomon said to him: "Have you nothing else about you, Asmodeus?" And he answered:
"The power of God which has bound me with the indissoluble bondsof your seal, knows,
that whatever I have told you is true. I pray you, King Solomon, condemn me not to go into water."
Solomon smiled, and said to him: "As the Lord God of my fathers liveth, I will lay
iron on you to wear. But you shall also make the clay for the entire construction of the Temple,
treading it down with your mighty feet." And the king ordered his men to give him ten water-jars
to carry water in. And the demon groaned terribly, and did the work he was ordered to do.
As an act of caution, Solomon had the liver and gall of the Glanos fish hung on the spike of a
reed and burned it over Asmodeus, because this demon was so strong, because this demon knew
even the future. And this he did, to frustrate this demon's unbearable malice.