Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

X PREFACE.
mance", I have been obliged to print each of these
histories from a single, and comparatively modern
manuscript; every student of MSS. will know how
much harder the labour of the editor and translator
is made by the lack of duplicate copies of texts.
In printing these histories I have tried to reproduce
the text of the MSS. as closely as possible; only
some trifling clerical errors have been rectified
without comment. Probable emendations and cor-
rections of typographical errors are relegated to
the notes to the translation. Further study of
Arabic legends and histories of Alexander such as
those contained in Brit. Mus. MSS. Rich, Nos. 7366,
7367 and 7368, would, no doubt, have added to
the list of emendations, but these together with
the necessary remarks would have swollen to undue
limits an already bulky work.
The English translation has been made as
literal as possible, and all added words have been
enclosed between brackets [
A perusal of the Ethiopic histories of Alexander
will shew that they are not mere translations of
the Arabic texts which the scribes had before them,
but that they reflect largely the Christian Ethiopian
idea of what manner of man an all-powerful kino-
and conqueror should be. The historical facts and
legends connected with the birth, and life, and
].