Jannes and Jambres

James1920 fragment dossier, printedpage 33

THE OLD TESTAMENT 33 the shade of his brother. The soul of Jannes answered him saying : I thy brother died not unjustly, but of a truth justly, and judgment will go against me, for I was wiser than all wise magicians, and I withstood the; two brethren, Moses and Aaron, who did great signs and wonders : therefore died I and was brought down from among moi into hell, where there is great burning, and the pit (lake) of perdition, whence there is no coming up. And now, my brother Mambrcs, take heed to thyself in thy lifetime to do good to thy sons and thy friends : for in lull there is nothing of good, but sadness and darkness : and w'hen thou shalt have died and shalt be in hell among the dead, thy dwelling-place and thy abode (seat) will be twenty {probably two) cubits broad and four cubits long." With the Penitence of Jannes and Mambres in the Gclasian Decree is classed the Penitence of Cyprian (the magician and martyr of Antioch, the parent of the Faust-legend). This we have, and it gives an account of his initiation into the devil's service. There are two mentions of our wizards in it : § 6. The prince of the devils praises Cyprian, and calls him a youth of good gifts, a new Jambres, apt for the ministry. § 17. Cyprian says of himself : "I do not believe there was ever a worse man than I was : I ovitdid the Jannes and Jambres of history. They in the midst of their lying wonders acknowledged the finger of God, but I was wholly set upon it that there was no God. If God did not pardon them who even partly recognized Him, how should He pardon me who ignored Him altogether?" In this view the Egyptian magicians, it seems, did not find forgiveness. The Greek Acts of St. Kaiherine are printed in three texts by J. Viteau (Paris, 1897). The first says that Katherine had studied all the art of Hippocrates, Galen, Aristotle, Homer, Plato, Philistion, Eusebius, and the necromancies of Jannes and Jambres and the Sibyl. The second repeats this, more than once, and also gives two quotations from Jannes and Mambres, the first of which defies translation, but adds : " They show, to