Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

THE EGG AND THE SERPENT. IJ
do so, and straightway died.' And Philip sent
and called'' Abdikon^ the interpreter of dreams,
for he was much skilled in these things, and he
told him concerning the bird, and concerning the
^%'g^ and concerning the serpent which went round
about it and went into it, and concerning the death
of the serpent. Then the interpreter of dreams
meditated and made him to know concerning the
import of these things, and he spake unto him,
saying, "There shall be given unto thee a son, The augur
"and this son shall go round about throughout the si^n^cL '
"whole world. By his power he shall ride over"'
"his own kinsfolk, and in his dominion he shall be
"lord over all kings, and he shall never be con-
"quered. But his days shall be few, and being in
"his early manhood he shall die; for the serpent
"must be interpreted as representing a king, and
"the ^g^
is the world. And inasmuch as the
"serpent went forth from the ^gg, and then turned
"back to it, and went round about it seeking to
"enter into it again, but was not able so to do
"[p. 14] because death came upon it swiftly,
' Read mf-^- - - Read (Dh^OhP :
3 The Greek texts do not give the name of the cTrnaeioXuins
for whom Alexander sent, but the Latin version mentions
an Antiphon (Rex denique Antiphontem, qui conjector id
temporis egregius habebatur, arcessiri jubet) who may be the
author of the work on the interpretation of dreams referred
to by Cicero Z>e divinatiotie, I. 20, 51; II. 70. The Syriac
version also has preserved the name of the man who there
is called "the chief of the Chaldeans".
Da
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