unless I be delivered by the hands of men. Therefore,
Virgilius, I pray you release me from this
pain, and I will show you many books of necromancy,
and how you may study them easily,
and know the practice therein, so that no man
in the science of magic shall surpass you; and
moreover I will explain how you may gratify
all your desires, help your friends, and make
your enemies writhe." Virgilius was tempted
by these promises; but first of all he bade the
fiend show him the books of which he spoke.
This was done (in what manner does not
appear); and "Virgilius pulled up the board,
revealing a little hole, at which the devil wriggled
out like an eel, though a moment after he stood
before Virgilius like a big man. The youth was
greatly astonished how so huge a figure could
have proceeded from so small a place; so he
said to the demon, " Could you return into the
hole you came out of?" The devil said he
could. But Virgilius still doubted, or affected
to doubt. " I will wager the best pledge that
I have," said he, " that you cannot do it." " I
consent," rejoined the devil; and he wriggled
himself back again into the hole. Virgilius
immediately closed the board down on him; and,
the word written thereon having apparently a
talismanic power, he was unable to come forth.
Then he called out dreadfully to Virgilius,
"What have you done?" And Virgilius
answered, " Abide there to your appointed day!"
And there he remains still, and will to the end
of all things.

The reader cannot fail to perceive in this story
a marked similarity to the release of the
rebellious spirit in the Arabian Nights tale of the
Fisherman and the Genie. The fisherman,
however, only acted in self-defence when he lured
the genie back into the brazen jar, and, upon
receiving a solemn promise of good treatment,
finally released him. Virgilius behaves with
shabby ingratitude; but to steal a march on a
fiend has always been regarded as fair enough,
even though at the same time you avail yourself
of the fiend's forbidden arts. The similitude to
the Arabian legend is the more noteworthy from
the fact that nothing was known in Europe
about the Arabian Nights until the commencement
of last century, when Galland's French
translation made its appearance in Paris; while
the fictions concerning Virgilius, as we have
seen, date from the middle ages. There can be
no doubt that much of the legendary lore of
those times was brought from the East by the
Crusaders.

Having in this disreputable way acquired a
knowledge of the black science, Virgilius soon
became famous; but in the course of a few years
he was summoned by his mother to Rome, where
several of the great lords had possessed
themselves of the family inheritance. This they
refused to give up; whereupon, Virgilius threw a
stream of air over all the fruit and corn in the
land which his enemies withheld from him, and
caused it to be brought into his own house.
The nobles then gathered together a mighty
army, and went to besiege the enchanter in his
castle ; but he closed all his lands with a stream
of air which no living creature could pass ; and
he cast another stream of air at the rear of the
invading host, so that they could neither go
forward nor backward. Then said Virgilius,
addressing them: " You came to disinherit me,
but you shall not; and be assured that you
shall have no profit of the lands as long as I
live. You may tell the emperor that I will tarry
four or five years till he take better counsel. I
desire not to plead according to the law, but
will seize my goods where I find them; and you
may also tell the emperor that I care not for all
his power, nor for anything he can do to me."
These haughty words being reported to the
monarch, he determined on revenge, and marched
at the head of his army to the residence of
Virgilius; but he was caught in the same
necromantic device that had foiled his nobles, for it
seemed as if he were surrounded by a great
water, which left him no means of escape. The
enchanter furthermore tantalised him and his
followers by dressing a large quantity of meat, of
which they were not allowed to partake, though
they could see the steam from it. But one day
Virgilius almost found his match; for a man
learned in conjurations came to the emperor,
and said that he knew of a method by which
Virgilius and his people might be thrown into a
profound sleep. He was permitted to make
trial, and succeeded so well that Virgilius
himself could hardly keep himself from slumber.
Matters began to look serious; for the spell
which held the beleaguering forces in check was
broken, and the enemy was beginning to assault
the walls of the castle. Virgilius in all haste
consulted his books of necromancy, and
discovered in what manner he might deliver his
people from sleep; when he conjured to such
good purpose that he brought the emperor and
his army to a stand-still again. Like the
inmates of the palace in the Sleeping Beauty in
the Wood, all were struck motionless in the
attitude which they had chanced to assume at
the moment. The emperor and the baffled
conjuror stood as though they were dead; and
those who were on the ladders, with one foot up
and the other down, remained in that posture
immovably for a whole day. In the night,
Virgilius went to the monarch, and taunted him.
with his inability to proceed; but the latter,
being quite humbled by his discomfiture,
answered by offering to restore Virgilius his lands,
and to make him his chief adviser, if he would
remove the spell. Virgilius consented, and,
straightway admitting the emperor and his host,
feasted and rewarded them with unparalleled
magnificence.

Notwithstanding all this penetration and
necromantic skill, Virgilius was frequently tricked
by women. Having fixed his abode in Rome,
he fell in love with the fairest woman in that
city, who, being resolved to deceive her admirer,
desired him to repair at midnight to the walls of
her castle, which stood in the market-place,
promising that she would pull him up to her
window in a basket. At the appointed hour,