HAUPT— TOBIT'S BLINDNESS AND SARA'S HYSTERIA. 73 



asked his shoemaker to make him a pair of shoes which would last 

 for seven years, also at a magician who was exhibiting his skill. 

 When Solomon questioned him about his strange conduct on the 

 journey, he replied that he judged persons and things according to 

 their real character, and not according to their appearance in the 

 eyes of men. He cried when he saw the bridal procession, because 

 he knew the bridegroom had not a month to live ; and he laughed at 

 the man who wanted shoes which would last for seven years, be- 

 cause he knew the man would not wear them for seven days. In 

 this respect he corresponds to Asmodce in Lesage's " Le Diable 

 Boiteux." 



Asmodeus dwelt on a mountain. He went to heaven every day 

 to take part in the discussions at the celestial house of study. Then 

 he descended again to earth to be present, invisibly, at the debates in 

 the earthly seats of learning. This may explain the malice we often 

 notice in learned discussions. In the Christian pseudepigraph, " The 

 Testament of Solomon " (translated by Conybeare in JQR ii, 1-45), 

 Asmodeus answers Solomon's question concerning his name and 

 functions as follows : I am called Asmodeus among mortals, and 

 my business is to plot against the newly-wedded, so that they may 

 not know one another. I sever them utterly by many calamities. 

 In this respect Asmodeus corresponds to Oberon in Wieland's poem, 

 but the calamities which befall Huon and his spouse are merely 

 disciplinary trials, just as Job's suffering is but a test of his faith in 

 God. Asmodeus tells Solomon : I waste away the beauty of virgins 

 and estrange their hearts ... I transport men into fits of madness 

 and desire when they have wives of their own, so that they leave 

 them, and go off by night and day to others that belong to other men, 

 with the result that they commit sin and fall into murderous deeds 

 (JE 2, 217-220). 



The first mention of Asmodeus is found in the Book of Tobit — 

 i.e., about 167 B.C. Sennacherib in the Book of Tobit represents 

 Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria (175-164 B.C.), who appears in the 

 Book of Daniel, which originated about the same time, as Nebuchad- 

 nezzar. The Second Book of the jNIaccabees (9, 15) says that 

 Antiochus Ephiphanes had judged the Jews not worthy so much as 



