“May peace be with you,” said the prince of apostles on entering. “We have nothing to do with your peace,” answered Simon. “It is by war that truth is discovered. Peace between adversaries is the victory of one and the defeat of the other.”
DISPUTATION BETWEEN SIMON THE MAGICIAN AND SS. PETER AND PAUL
St. Peter answered: “Why do you reject peace? The vices of men have created war, but peace ever abides with virtue.”
“Virtue is power and skill,” said Simon. “For myself I face the fire, I rise in the air, I restore plants, I change stones into bread; and you, what do you do?”
“I pray for you,” said St. Peter, “that you may not perish the victim of your enchantments.”
“Keep your prayers; they will not ascend to heaven as quickly as myself.”
And behold the magician passing out by a window and rising in the air outside. Whether this was accomplished by means of some aerostatic apparatus concealed under his long robes or whether he was lifted up, like the convulsionaries of Paris the Deacon, owing to an exaltation of the Astral Light, we are unable to say; but during this phenomenon St. Peter was praying on his knees, and Simon fell suddenly with a great cry, to be raised with his thighs broken. Nero imprisoned St. Peter, who seemed a far less diverting magician than Simon; the latter died of his fall. The whole of this history, which belongs to the popular rumours of the period, is now relegated, though perhaps wrongly, to the region of apocryphal legends.[124] On such account it is not less remarkable or less worthy to be preserved.
The sect of Simon did not end with himself, and his successor was one of his disciples, named Menander.[125] He did not pose as a god, being contented with the role of a prophet; but when he baptized proselytes, a visible fire came down upon the water. He also promised immortality of soul and body as the result of this magical immersion, and in the days of St. Justin, there were still followers of Menander who firmly believed themselves immortal. The deaths which occurred among them by no means disabused the others, for those who died were excommunicated forthwith, on the ground that they had been false brethren. For these believers death was an actual apostasy and their immortal ranks were filled up by enrolling new proselytes. Those who understand the extent of human folly will not be surprised to hear that in this present year, being 1858, there exists in America and France a fanatical sect in continuation of that of Menander.[126]
The qualification of magician added to the name of Simon rendered Magic a thing of horror to Christians; but they did not on this account cease to honour the memory of the Magi-Kings who adored the Saviour in His cradle.