Nilus of Ancyra→Helion|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Helion the Magistrianus. [a magistrianus was an agent in the imperial administrative service]
If God has forbidden the doing of evil, and consigns those who pursue such things to the gehenna of fire, how could He cooperate with those who do wicked deeds? Do not say, then, that God listens to people corrupted, polluted, and rotten in their practices, and that He murders human beings and breaks the horses running in the circuses. God forbid! These are not the works of God, but the operations of wicked demons. For the sorcerers make images of certain supposed saints, and binding up she-demons [lamiai] by certain magical arts, they bury them in the back of the image; and whenever they wish either to make a woman commit adultery, or to put a man to death, or to break horses, they fast an accursed and abominable fast, and they keep vigil before that image, and lighting candles and lamps they stay awake calling upon demons, until they obtain their appearance; and some things they bring to accomplishment, but in most cases they fail. Therefore guard yourself against them, lest at some point you be ensnared.
To Helion the Magistrianus. [a magistrianus was an agent in the imperial administrative service]
If God has forbidden the doing of evil, and consigns those who pursue such things to the gehenna of fire, how could He cooperate with those who do wicked deeds? Do not say, then, that God listens to people corrupted, polluted, and rotten in their practices, and that He murders human beings and breaks the horses running in the circuses. God forbid! These are not the works of God, but the operations of wicked demons. For the sorcerers make images of certain supposed saints, and binding up she-demons [lamiai] by certain magical arts, they bury them in the back of the image; and whenever they wish either to make a woman commit adultery, or to put a man to death, or to break horses, they fast an accursed and abominable fast, and they keep vigil before that image, and lighting candles and lamps they stay awake calling upon demons, until they obtain their appearance; and some things they bring to accomplishment, but in most cases they fail. Therefore guard yourself against them, lest at some point you be ensnared.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.